Folder Secure

CNET Editors' review

by: CNET Staff on February 27, 2009

This overzealous program promises to protect others from accessing your PC, but if you follow the default installation process, it locks you out instead. We strongly suggest you don't even test this flawed app.

Folder Secure installs fine, displays the default password, and then instructs you to restart your computer. Don't take that step until you open the program's plain interface. Change the app's defaults that block access to key system areas and programs. Even then, this unsafe little app can still cause major access issues that will waste your valuable time.

Some testers followed the prompt without changing defaults. Their PCs would start as normal, but the desktop would disappear as the screensaver opened. Mouse, keyboard, and hot-key combinations would not bring back the desktop. Opening the Control Panel or Task Manager immediately on desktop load failed to stop the app from blanking the desktop and loading the screensaver. The solution was to quickly uninstall the program in the 30-second interval immediately after bootup.

Reliable access programs at least pull up a dialog to allow a password to bypass the system block. Not so with Folder Secure. Novice users are strongly cautioned not to install this demo. There's only a 15-day trial, but that is 14.95 days longer than you'll need to realize your best option is to uninstall it.