How to Encrypt Files & Folders?
Folder Lock encrypts and password-protects your files with a single click. Folder Lock can encrypt all file types whether they are your personal photos, videos, documents, archives, music or any other formats; using military grade 256-bit AES Encryption. [1] [2]
To begin, sign up with your email and password in Folder Lock. When creating a password, make sure that it is easy for your to remember but hard for others to guess. We recommend you to use a password at least 8 characters long with at least one capital letter, one small letter, one digit and one special character. The image below shows you the sign up and login screens.
Note: Since there are no backdoors in Folder Lock, if you forget this password and email combination; there is no way to get it back so make sure you never forget them.
Once you login or signup for the first time in Folder Lock, based on which Locker is your default folder, a Virtual Drive (Z:\) pops up in front of you. Drag and drop all your personal files and folders in this folder and they will be encrypted on-the-fly (encrypted as they’re moved). ‘Desktop Locker’ keeps all your files encrypted on your Computer only. However, if you want to keep your files encrypted on your Computer as well as on the Cloud then you can keep your files in ‘Dropbox Locker’, ‘Google Drive Locker’ or ‘OneDrive Locker’, depending on which cloud service you use.
You can open each of these Lockers by clicking the Unlock button next to these Lockers or choose a default Locker to open each time you login to Folder Lock. You will see these Cloud Storage folders only if you are a Cloud Storage user of any of these three major providers and have their application(s) installed on your Computer. If you do not have these Cloud Applications installed on your computer, you can click ‘Install’ button next to their icons to install them on your computer. Folder Lock will automatically sync encrypted files to the Cloud Storage services you use. The program will create a Locker folder on the root path of these Cloud Storage services. For example, if you use Dropbox, then you will see a folder at ‘Dropbox\Dropbox Locker’ containing all your encrypted files.
Whenever you require to decrypt or view your files; you will need to run Folder Lock and login with a correct password. Make sure you have Folder Lock installed on the Computer where you wish to decrypt your files. Once you’re done moving your files to designated Locker(s), click the Lock button to dismount (close) the virtual drive as given below. You can also click the Unlock button to unlock any of the Lockers you wish to keep your files in. You can also set clean your Windows History automatically by going to Settings > General Settings > On Exit so when Folder Lock exits, it cleans Windows History as well. The image below shows you the application’s main screen and the mounted Desktop Locker containing protected files.
Folder Lock doesn’t only offer a convenient way to secure ALL your data in one single location – your Locker – but gives you additional features like saving and syncing your encrypted Wallets, Passwords and Notes across devices – all utilizing the same location. This makes it possible to keep your complete digital life in Folder Lock and restore it anytime; anywhere; using any device.
To sync your encrypted files to a iPhone/iPad or Android, keep files in ‘Mobile Locker’ folder. Also make sure that you have chosen a ‘Default Cloud’ from the program main screen or from Settings > Preferences > Default Cloud. Your Default Cloud Storage service will be used when syncing files across devices.
Unlike slow encryption programs, the program uses folder-based on-the-fly encryption, a method that takes seconds to encrypt even GBs of files and doesn’t ask you to create a File-System file that consume a lot of storage space. The Locker folders grows as your data grows – automatically. You don’t need to do anything – Just drag and drop your files in the Lockers and voila!
Whether viruses, hacker tools, trojans, malware, spyware, ransomware, third-party apps, malicious programs or harmful scripts – Since Folder Lock encrypts files on their original location and displays content only in virtual drive and offers backup on a Cloud Storage of your choice, it offers a reliable method to protect you from all these threats.[3]
Thanks to on-the-fly encryption –
1) Your encrypted data is decrypted only when run; not when viewed
2) Data is decrypted in Memory, not in Hard Drive
3) Leaving no footprints or recovery possible
4) Not consuming any additional Hard Drive space
5) And no shredding needed of accessed files as there is nothing to be shredded in the first place.