RSFP (Really Simple Folder Protector)

GeoTrail · Post by **GeoTrail** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 11:00 pm

RSFP (Really Simple Folder Protector)
RSFP is a really really simple way of protecting a folder from prying eyes. I didn't write it to be useful, mostly to test an idea I got. It isn't very secure either, specially from someone with some Windows experience. But might be enough to protect from people with less then average computer skills.

Just select the Protect Folder setting, select the folder you want to hide and hit the protect button. To check if it's really hidden, try browsing to the selected folder with Explorer and see if you can access it

Download here:

ts-soft · Post by **ts-soft** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 11:34 pm

Works only with explorer, i only use TotalCommander

greetings
Thomas

milan1612 · Post by **milan1612** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 11:36 pm

Quite interesting, how did you implement the redirection?

GeoTrail · Post by **GeoTrail** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 12:43 am

ts-soft wrote:Works only with explorer, i only use TotalCommander

Yeah I know, it's just the way Explorer works

milan1612 wrote:Quite interesting, how did you implement the redirection?

Well, it's not really a redirection. It's more like using Explorer's shortcut handling towards the Control Panel

PB · Post by PB » Wed Aug 29, 2007 12:30 pm

I'm sorry to report that your program has a few problems.

First: I get this error message with one particular folder:

Code: Select all

---------------------------
Protected Folder
---------------------------
Selected folder could NOT be protected!
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

The folder is named "E:\Program Files\0-MyApps\~BUGS~\zxcvg8i" (don't ask why).

Second: If you browse for a folder, then protect it, and then select
unprotect and click the "Protect" button to unprotect it, the app says:

Code: Select all

---------------------------
Protected Folder
---------------------------
The selected folder has already been protected!
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

It seems you have to browse to the protected folder name and select that,
before you can unprotect. A bit inconvenient.

Third: The protection is extremely weak, because all one has to do is
rename the folder and all contents are accessible. You need to think
of something stronger. The code in this post is a good starting point:

http://www.purebasic.fr/english/viewtopic.php?t=23493

Edwin Knoppert · Post by **Edwin Knoppert** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 3:22 pm

truecrypt.org

GeoTrail · Post by **GeoTrail** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 4:14 am

PB wrote:Second: If you browse for a folder, then protect it, and then select
unprotect and click the "Protect" button to unprotect it, the app says:

Code:
---------------------------
Protected Folder
---------------------------
The selected folder has already been protected!
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

It seems you have to browse to the protected folder name and select that,
before you can unprotect. A bit inconvenient.

Yeah, I was thinking of adding the feature to allow unprotecting right after protecting 'cause I noticed that problem myself but didn't think it would be an issue in normal use.

PB wrote:Third: The protection is extremely weak, because all one has to do is
rename the folder and all contents are accessible. You need to think
of something stronger. The code in this post is a good starting point:

http://www.purebasic.fr/english/viewtopic.php?t=23493

Didn't you read this

It isn't very secure either, specially from someone with some Windows experience.

hehehe
It's just something I knocked up in a few minutes to test an idea.

Rook Zimbabwe · Post by **Rook Zimbabwe** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 4:59 am

I surmise that the program does not work because of a slice of the directory name

E:\Program Files\0-MyApps\~BUGS~\zxcvg8i" (don't ask why).

the " ~ " symbol (or tilde) is nominally NOT a useable folder name(ok I have no idea whay that exists in my brain, or even if it is true!). I am not sure if it should be a directory name either... (the same parenthesis excerpt applies here too!)

Just opinion... I have the extereme advantage of not knowing anything about what I am talking about... this gives me total freedom!

GeoTrail · Post by **GeoTrail** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 5:12 am

PB, what Windows version are you running?
I have tried the program on a folder I named zxcvg8i inside a ~BUGS~ folder and that worked fine here. XP SP2

Fangbeast · Post by **Fangbeast** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 8:18 am

Apparently, these are the illegal chars to use in file names

\\/:*?\"<>|

and directories (some of them will be obvious to most of you.

I've tested the tilde and XP seems to have no trouble using it in dir names here.

The following is an interesting reference.

http://threebit.net/mail-archive/carbon ... 01314.html

PB · Post by PB » Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:16 am

You can definitely use ~ in a file or folder name; it's not an illegal character.
I have Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 2. Interestingly, if I create the
same folder path on my C drive (instead of E) then it works just fine.

GeoTrail · Post by **GeoTrail** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 4:43 pm

That's strange. Might it have something to do with NTFS security?

PB · Post by PB » Thu Aug 30, 2007 9:31 pm

Don't think so, because I can protect other folders on my E drive; just not
that one (so far). I haven't tested it further. Anyway, good job with it as a
concept thing, but as you initially said (which I missed), it's not for serious
protection.

And TrueCrypt is not an alternative (IMO) as it takes too long to encrypt
a folder with over 4000 files, or with large file sizes (4 GB). Too impractical.
In these days of large hard drives and file sizes, encryption is obsolete.