15-Minute Reviews :: Folder Castle v1.2.0b72

Hello all and welcome to another 15-Minute Review! Today’s application is Folder Castle version 1.2.0 build 72 by MagneticSoft – An application useful for hiding your files and folders.

Software Description

As Giveaway of the Day states:

“Folder Castle hides your confidential documents, images, other files and folders on your computer. Hidden files become completely inaccessible for others: they cannot be read, copied, moved, deleted or even seen. Hidden files cannot be seen in Windows Explorer or in any other file manager on the local computer. Also the program protects files from accessing by viruses, trojans and spyware.

To raise the security Folder Castle has Stealth mode. It prevents the very attempt of hackers’ access to your confidential data. In Stealth mode nobody will even know that the program is installed, and protected data is stored on the computer.”

Quick Pros

• Interface is basic but dead-simple
• Multiple methods to hide files and folders
• Ability to go into stealth mode

Quick Cons

• Stealth mode should be able to hide its Start menu group and folder
• Does not appear to reliably work with files on the desktop
• Starting in Safe Mode seems to kill the functionality

Expansion

This application with a relatively simple interface is a breeze to use. The main window is very simple; The main tab, Objects List, possesses a listing of all files and folders currently hidden, with check boxes to temporarily show and hide the file without fully removing the file from the list. Along the bottom of the window is four self-explanatory buttons; Add File(s), Add Folder, Remove from list, and Close. To add new files, you can drag and drop files into the window to add them, or use the Shell extension and right-click files or folders you would like to hide. To show files that have been hidden, you can either use the check box as mentioned above, use the Remove from list button, or the Shell extension again offers the ability to show files within your selected folder. The second tab, Preferences, gives you access to changing your password, enabling Stealth Mode (See below for more) and enabling or disabling the Shell extension. That’s all there is essentially to the interface; Very simple to use.

One of the most interesting features with this application is Stealth Mode; Stealth Mode hides the application, its files, disabling the Shell extension as well as Start menu shortcuts, leaving you to use three keyboard shortcuts to access the application. Two of the shortcuts allow you the same functionality as the Shell extension (Hide files and folders as well as unhide all files in a folder) and one keyboard shortcut to open the application itself. This is a great idea, though it would be nice to see this expanded a bit further; To hide the actual MagneticSoft start menu group altogether and not just the icons held within, and hide the application’s folder altogether instead of just the files; Give a complete sense of nothing visible. I would also likely suggest removing the dialog title text so that if someone would stumble upon the key combinations, they don’t know what they are being prompted for.

I did have a few issues and concerns; First off, I found that while hiding files anywhere in the Windows Explorer worked well, hiding files and folders on the desktop was unreliable. Most of the time during a reboot, the files would still appear on the desktop until you hid another file on the desktop, showed a file on the desktop, and sometimes it would hide it at a later time too. If I were to regularly use this application, I would much prefer to hide files that I need common access to from the desktop while still making them invisible. I don’t know if this is a bug or a limitation of this application, but it is a bit awkward.

I also tried rebooting into Safe Mode to see if the functionality may have been driver-based or otherwise. When I did reboot in Safe Mode, everything showed back up; Nothing was hidden at all. This is a pretty big downfall and limits the use of this application to casual hiding and makes the application more of a preventative than a security tool. The application does seem to hide the files from the command prompt however, which does mean someone would have to figure out to try looking for files in Safe Mode. While I don’t have the time to test it, I would like to see if you mounted the drive through another OS to see if the files would show as well.

Final Verdict

While this application does seem to work for hidins stuff from prying eyes, I don’t believe I would rely on it for true security. For free, this application still functions well for the most part and may be worth playing with, if you’re looking for hiding instead of encryption/protection. As for paying $24.95, I would like to have protection from Safe Mode as well as a little better functionality with hiding on the desktop (As well as better hiding its own files in stealth mode) before I would feel comfortable with a purchase of this title.

Posted by BladedThoth on Wednesday, December 05, 2007