Created several years ago by IObit as freeware, Protected Folder has gradually evolved into commercialware which you buy to own outright, and then more recently into rentalware, which you pay for again and again but never own.

Throughout all that time, IObit has failed to explain how Protected Folder protects anything, seeing as it's a Windows program which only functions if it starts with Windows. If it doesn't -- because the computer has been booted in Safe Mode -- then everything that a user may've thought was invisibly locked away can be quickly exposed using the excellent freeware search app, Everything.

In addition to its silence about Protected Folder's fatal flaw, IObit has likewise continued to remain tight-lipped about its pricing. Go to the product webpage:

http://www.iobit.com/en/password-protected-folder.php

and you'll see that it's yours for $19.95. It isn't. What IObit carefully omits to tell you on that page is that $19.95 is merely a recurring fee for continued usage.

Clearly, IObit has looked at the business model of AV and anti-malware developers and seen easy profits to be had, it being the case that although those specialist developers have a huge resource / time overhead to contend with in maintaining their products, IObit doesn't actually need to do anything with Protected Folder apart from an occasional cosmetic tinkering.

At the stage on its website where you finally discover that Protected Folder isn't in your outright ownership for $19.95, IObit seeks to assure you that it's all a bargain anyway. That actually, the true retail price of Protected Folder is $39.95. But this claim is as fictitious as so much else in IObit's marketing history, a history especially famous for that Forbes Magazine historic adulation of IObit 360 (sadly for this Chinese developer, it learned the hard way that this prestigious American magazine has never run a software review in its life). As for IObit and the Malwarebytes affair, well; best not go there.

Thanks, then, GOTD, but no thanks. Today's giveaway is just a six-month trial of a security product that can be easily defeated and which requires anyone who uses it to pay and keep on paying for no good reason at all. Yet further evidence of IObit's decline as a once-respected software developer and publisher, Protected Folder is an example of rentalware at its most cynical.

MikeR  –  8 years ago  –  War dieser Kommentar hilfreich? Ja | Nein (+86)

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More importantly what happens at the end of six months.

Am I still able to open my protected folder, or, is it lost forever?

Salvia  –  8 years ago  –  War dieser Kommentar hilfreich? Ja | Nein (+61)

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znpstldm, except for the files that are locked and you cannot access them any more, or unlocked for all to see. Personally, 6 months is nothing, if I wanted something like this, I'd look for a free version.

znpstldm, except for the files that are locked and you cannot access them any more, or unlocked for all to see. Personally, 6 months is nothing, if I wanted something like this, I'd look for a free version.
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Kiwi1960  –  8 years ago  –  War dieser Kommentar hilfreich? Ja | Nein (+18)

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My first thought on seeing Protected Folder Pro 1.2 is to compare it to an app called 7-Zip. Now, 7-Zip will encrypt the contents of your chosen folder with aes 256-bit encryption then lock the folder with whatever password you want. In addition, 7-Zip is a totally free program so there is no worry about a license expiraing. Therefore, 7-Zip seems to have a significant advantage over today's Giveaway. Am i missing something here?

starvinmarvin  –  8 years ago  –  War dieser Kommentar hilfreich? Ja | Nein (+34)

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Probably lost for ever ! Well, at least till you cough up to continue the license..... And you have to find the supplier, and get the licence, during which time you are not able to access your files -- so, effectively they are certainly lost for some time.

And what if you FORGET for a long time, since you locked those files away, never thinking you would need them for some time....?? You will then almost certainly find you cannot get them back again.... Too "dodgy" for me! Better to copy off to a flash drive, or a separate hard disk, lock them away -- and then YOU have the only key.

Just don't lose that, or you are back to square one.

Me, I think I will give this a miss.

Tranmontane  –  8 years ago  –  War dieser Kommentar hilfreich? Ja | Nein (+18)

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