@John
The difference between “Free” and “Paid” version of Protect Folder is not much in this old version. For the users who pay, they will receive a registration code to use on Protect Folder, after the code is validated, the user will be able to change the features:
– Change the name/text that appear on Folders Context Menu
– Change the icon that appears on the Folders Context Menu
– Every text on the software asking you to pay for full version will disappear

This is nothing special, and that’s why the amount is very low.
Consider this as a donation to give incentive to continue developing this software.

Currently, due to ZIP limitations, Protect Folder cannot protect folders bigger then 3.5GB, nor the free or paid version
There is a new version of Protect Folder available, you can now protect folders with any file size and many new features were introduced. Click here to get latest version.

@John

Thank you for your feedback. That feature is being studied for next release. This wasn’t implemented from the beginning because this is meant to be a portable software, and usually the passwords hints are stored locally on the system. Also, passwords aren’t 100% safe and with hints or recovery methods, even worse, because everything is crackable these days. That’s why a recovery method was not implemented since the beginning. But we’ll change this on next release to better serve the users of Protect Folder.
There is a new version of Protect Folder available, you can now protect folders with any file size and many new features were introduced as the ability to recover lost passwords. Click here to get latest version.

Update: Consider it done! There is a new version of Protect Folder available, you can now protect folders with any file size and many new features were introduced as the ability to recover lost passwords. Click here to get latest version.

Hi, the folder you protected is encrypted and there’s nothing we can do to unlock it.

You can, however, try as many password combinations as you want, because Protect Folder will not stop you for trying.

Please try it with CAPS lock ON and then OFF, first capital letter and the rest lower case, the opposite, and so on…

Some users reported being locked outside their folders already, and this is not a bug in Protect Folder because it was tested several times to avoid this.

I again, advice EVERYONE to test Protect Folder in test dummy folders BEFORE protect sensitive stuff.

Sorry if this wasn’t the answer you were looking for.

Hello avj, sorry on delay to answer you but I’m fixing some false positive virus warning on this site.

About your comment, there’s nothing I can do. The folder it’s locked and encrypted so anyone can’t retrieve it’s contents if the password is forgeted.

Please make sure that you’ve entered your password correctly, and pay attention to the CAPS Lock key or a SHIFT key accidentally holded.

TIP: You can try a lot of password variations as many time as you can because Protect Folder will not block repeated attempts to unlock a folder.

And please remember:
Protect folder was highly tested, however, we encourage you to make some tests in sample folders to know how to use this software, before start protecting sensitive folders.