Keep your private folders well hidden from inquisitive eyes

Launch a web browser and click here to go to the Cleanersoft website. When the website loads, scroll down the page and click on the Free Hide Folder link – then when the product page loads, click the Download Now link. If the File Download Security Warning dialogue box appears, click Save and then choose a location for the downloaded file. Firefox users should select Save File to save the download to Firefox’s default download folder. When the file has downloaded, locate and double-click it to launch the installation. Follow the installation wizard and, at the last screen, click Finish to start the program.

Find the new Free Hide Folder shortcut icon on the Windows Desktop and double-click it. The first time the program is launched, it will ask you to set a password. It is important to choose something you can remember because, if this code is forgotten, you will be forever unable to open any folders hidden in the following steps – so take care with this step. Type in the password, then repeat it and click OK. Free Hide Folder asks you to register and make a donation towards the program’s future development. If you don’t want to, click Skip – everything will still work fine.

When Free Hide Folder starts it displays an empty window. Let’s hide a folder by clicking the Add button. When the Browse for Folder dialogue box appears, locate the folder to be hidden. We’re going to choose a folder called ‘Computeractive’. For demonstration purposes, we have opened Windows Explorer behind the Free Hide Folder program so you can see it there as well. Locate the folder using the Browse for Folder dialogue box, select it by clicking on it once and then click OK.

Three things happen all at once. First, the chosen folder will appear in the main Free Hide Folder window and it will be labelled ‘Hide’. Second, if you opened Windows Explorer to display the folder as we did in the previous step, you may notice that it has disappeared from there. Third, Free Hide Folder prompts you to back up the hidden item just created. This is an important step and it is also important to understand that this is not a backup of your data: it is a backup of the information created by the software and it will be needed it if something goes wrong. Click OK. Remember, you should have backed up your personal files and folders before beginning this workshop (if not, stop now and do it).

Back at the main Free Hide Folder window, click the Backup button on the toolbar. Next, navigate to the folder where you would like to store the backup information. It doesn’t matter where this is stored but we would recommend creating a folder specifically to store the backup and then tucking it away somewhere unobtrusive where a snoop will never find it. Make sure you remember where it is, in case anything ever goes wrong with the Free Hide Folder program. Click Save to finish.

Hide as many folders as desired in the same way and then click the Exit button. To access the hidden folders again, start Free Hide Folder, type in the password created in Step 2 and click OK. Highlight the folders in the list that you wish to make visible once more and then click the Unhide button to reveal them. To hide and unhide all the folders in the list at once, open the File menu and choose the relevant menu item.