If you don't trust passwords to protect your computer, you should take a look at Rohos Logon Key.

With Rohos Logon Key you can block access to your computer using any USB memory stick you have previously configured with the program as access key. So, instead of a weak, easy-to-forget password, Rohos Logon Key uses a combination of hardware (the USB device) and software (the PIN code associated to that device) to protect the computer.

Rohos Logon Key is very easy to configure and use. It features a wide variety of configuration options with which you can not only customize security settings, but also graphic settings such as the welcome message or the logon screen Rohos Logon Key will use.

Some other interesting features in Rohos Logon Key include the Emergency login option in case you lose your USB key and the restricted access based on time limitations, which I personally find very handy to control the amount of time your children spend on the PC.

Rohos Logon Key is a comfortable and powerful alternative to traditional passwords you can use to protect your PC from unauthorized access.

Download Rohos Logon Key 2.5 in Softonic

Being the boss may sound great: a well considered job position with a large income. But being a boss also involves less enjoyable tasks, such as monitoring your employees.

Fortunately there are software apps like Activity Monitor which make this unpleasant task much easier for you. With Activity Monitor you can fully control what your employees, kids or whoever needs to be monitored do with their computer.

Activity Monitor watches over everything, from visited webpages to active applications, including any text typed into any window. You can even see the remote computer's screen in real time, run applications, open webpages and send messages to it.

Activity Monitor needs a client app to be installed on the computer you want to control, so make sure you do that when nobody's watching. After that, the client app runs unnoticed in the background.

Activity Monitor is certainly one of the most complete monitoring applications I've ever seen. Its wide array of features and ease of use make it a great choice for your monitoring needs.

If you'd like to control what other people (employees, young kids) do with the computer when you're not around, Activity Monitor features anything you need.

Download Activity Monitor 4.3 in Softonic

We're always being bombarded by warnings about the dangers of malware and although the level of threat is probably not as high as the antivirus companies make out, it's still essential to take precautions. Although it's far from a complete antivirus tool, DriveSentry does a very thorough job of preventing certain applications trying to access the Internet without your knowledge.

A good thing about this program is like, unlike many of its rivals, it doesn't bombard you with pop-up messages warning you whenever a program is trying to access the Net. Instead, you have an easy-to-manage list of programs that are automatically granted permissions, which you can quickly add to at any time.

What's more, permissions can also be applied on a Registry level, meaning you can give writing access to certain common processes. With an instant access System Tray icon thrown in for good measure, this is a great no-frills firewall app for those who want their system protection to be done in the background.

Download DriveSentry 3.1 in Softonic

Download Anti Boss Key and protect your privacy by hiding the windows on your screen. It will instantly cover all (or some) programs on your screen with a single key stroke in order to prevent uninvited persons from seeing them. It will serve you well at your work place or at home. By hiding windows you have the freedom to protect your privacy and hide sensitive information from prying eyes.

Download Anti Boss Key 4.4 in Softonic

Internet filtering and parental control software program, gives you the ability to control and monitor your child’s use of the Internet, irrespective of where you are: in the neighboring room, at work, or even on vacation, thus enabling you to protect your child from the dangers of the Internet.

Features of CyberSieve

• Filter harmful websites and newsgroups
• Restrict Internet time to a predetermined schedule
• Decide which programs can have internet access
• Limit the amount of data that can be sent or received to/from your computer
• Block e-mails, online chats, instant messages and P2P connections containing inappropriate words
• Set different levels of restrictions for every member of your family depending on their maturity, interests, habits, and parental control needs
• Monitor your child’s use of the Internet, irrespective of where you are; in the neighboring room, at work, or even on vacation.
• Get detailed Internet activity logs
• Comes provided with a huge built-in database

Download CyberSieve 2.6.1 in Softonic

Disk Password Protection is complex protection for your computer, disks, partitions and confidential information against unauthorized access. Protect your disks and partitions with a password, hide and protect your information from other people, restrict viewing and launching files. Protect starting operating systems on your computer with a password.

It is low-level protection. It works directly with the disk and does not depend on any operating systems, programs or other equipment. Passwords are encrypted and stored in the protected areas of the disk. Owing to this, the protection will work on any computer and can be controlled from any computer.

Disk Password Protection allows you to select the type of protection that best meets your requirements. Having an original, simple interface and a step-by-step wizard, the program allows users of any level to work with protection.

Download Disk Password Protection 4.9.0.0 in Softonic

Lock My PC is an easy to use and compact tool for quick computer locking when you leave it unattended. It shows a lock screen, disables Windows hot keys and the mouse. You can lock your PC with a hotkey or from the system tray. To unlock the computer you must enter correct password only. The program can log invalid password entry attempts and has option to keep your PC locked even if power failure occurs or someone switches it off and on.

Download Lock My PC 4.7 in Softonic

With more of us keeping sensitive data on our computers than ever before, the need to protect your data from the eyes of unwanted intruders is greater than ever. Of course, there are plenty of applications that allow you to encrypt your private data, but many of them come at a high price. Folder Vault is a relatively cheap alternative that blocks access to files, folders and archives through an interesting interface, which is completely styled around the theme of locking and protection.

Once installed, the program create a default protected folder called Folder Vault, to which any file on your PC can be added. One of the neat features of the software is that it can be run in Stealth mode, to avoid being detected and attacked. There are plenty of cool options locked within the app, such as the ability to auto-shutdown your machine after a designated number of failed password attempts. Handily the program includes a feature whereby once you enter a password, all of the files and folders within your protected folder become unblocked, saving you a lot of time.

I found the program was great for blocking files thanks to its powerful encryption algorithms. However, I was a little disappointed with the Hack Prevention and Automation modes, as these did not seem to work at all when I tried them.

Download Folder Vault 2.0.0.46 in Softonic

If your PC is shared by many people, then you don't know what's happening to it when you're not there. Or maybe you administer a network of PC's used by several different users. Public Access Desktop makes your life easier by allowing you to make a foolproof workstation easy and safe for any public place.

Once installed and setup, it prevents anyone unauthorised from configuring the system or filling the hard disk with unwanted files. You can create an Internet Kiosk for cybercafes, library information terminals, in-store terminals or other public access PCs. Another option is a configuration designed to stop children accessing your home PC.

For most home usersd however, the most useful application is to completely disable access to the files installed on your PC and prevent users from changing PC settings while allowing full access to all necessary applications you specify. You can selectively enable to launch any program installed on your PC, not only the web browser, mail client and office applications but also any other software you specify. You can even specifiy a time limit for each user.

Public Access Desktop is a powerful program that puts professional network admin tools at your fingertips. However, it's not 100% secure and anyone with some hacking experience could probably circumvent it fairly easily.

Download Public Access Desktop 6.1 in Softonic

Hide, lock and protect your local, network, Floppy and USB drives, and disable the AutoRun feature for them using this fabulously designed software. Functionality and simplicity is put in every corner of the program; intuitively understandable user interface gives you an ability to start using the program right out of the box without learning anything.

All you need to do is to click on the checkboxes located within the group boxes representing individual drives. Another great feature you can use lets you disable the AutoRun feature based on drive types. This means you can disable, for instance, only all USB drives, regardless of the drive letters that can be associated with them. The program lets you protect itself from an unauthorized access by assigning a password that can be requested on each program start..

Download Disk Drive Administrator 2.3 in Softonic

Crawler Parental Control's easy-to-use application provides you with comprehensive control of user activity on your computer.

Crawler Parental Control gives you a holistic overview of your children's activity on your computer and allows you to individualize and restrict their actions and time spent at the computer. Amongst it's main features are Content Control, Time Control, Usage Logging and Email Notifications, Application Usage Restrictions and System Restrictions. If you're worried about them looking at your own personal data, you can hide content on your computer that you don't want them to see. If you're tired of them screwing up your PC with malicious programs, you can also prevent your children and other users of your computer from installing unwanted and potentially harmful software and uninstalling applications that you need to use. Most importantly however, you can have control over the content that they are viewing and specify keywords and dangerous content that you want it to look for. This includes porn sites or those that require credit card for unauthorized online shopping.

If you're looking for an easy to use, comprehensive protection system for your PC, then Parental Control ticks all the right boxes.

Download Crawler Parental Control 1.1.0.226 in Softonic

We've all been in that horrible scenario where an essential file has seemingly disappeared into thin air - either via accidental deletion or malware which has invaded your system.

First thing's first - this is no substitute for an anti-virus checker but it does offer you extra protection against the worst case scenarios in file deletion. It's mainly aimed at those that want to protect their files from kids or another unauthorised users that may purposely or accidentally delete files. Of course, if you are using Windows, I suggest the best way to do this is is to create an entirely new user profile for each person but if this is not possible, then this is an excellent alternative.

System Protect allows you to pick those files and folders that you want to protect such as important documents, your favorite music, vacation photos, movies etc. It's best used as an extension to your currently existing security suite. to keep your system stable and get automatic deletion alerts - a virus checker may inform you of a virus attack but it won't tell you whether the target is going to be deleted - System Protect will.

If you don't have much faith in your antivirus software or are worried about other users on your PC, then this is an excellent solution.

Download System Protect 1.0.0.83 in Softonic

Sharing a PC is never a good idea if you've got sensitive or confidential information that you don't want strangers, or even loved ones, to access.

My favourite way to protect myself is simply to create another profile for other users on my system but this is not always possible if Windows isn't working properly. In which case, one good option is to lock those files and folders that you don't want accessed by prying eyes. System Vault simply can't hide files and folders but it can require users to enter a password before accessing them. It also allows you to remove common files or folders that are accessed from your MRU files on your PC so that anyone using your machine, can't see what you've just been looking at.

One word of warning though - if you install the program, uninstall it and then reinstall it again, your protected files are completely reset. This means that anyone that really wants to access your files merely has to uninstall the program so it's a good idea to use some kind of system protection system in addition to this program. However, the developers advise that to avoid losing your directories and files when re-installing the application in future you should export your list of paths and import them again on reinstallation.

A simple way to protect your files but be warned that it's not very secure any anyone who uninstalls it will have access to your files.

Download System Vault 1.16 in Softonic

It often happens that we have to hide files or folders, especially when working on a shared computer. The most effective way to do it is by using a specific program.

Free Hide Folder is a free application that lets you select a list of folders you would like to keep protected. By clicking the Hide button in the main menu, all the selected folders will magically disappear on your computer. In order to have access to them you will have to pass through the program which has a pre-selected password to enter.

It's all very easy to use and actually effective if you have sensitive files to protect, but I have little issues on the usability side. It's not possible in fact to hide a folder just from the right-click menu; you will always have to pass through the Add function of the program. Again, if you want to see a folder that has been previously hidden, a double click on it in the program's window is not enough; you will have to select the right button in the right-click menu of the application.

The program installs icons in the Start menu, letting other users know you are hiding something, so maybe a combination of keys to launch the application would have been more effective. I suppose you can always delete the Start menu link but then you will not have direct access to your folders.

Free Hide Folder is a useful free tool to protect and hide sensitive folders on your computer. Some usability issues may render slightly annoying using it, but they don't affect its efficiency.

Download Free Hide Folder 2.0 in Softonic

Protect your computer and restrict access to the Internet with Security Administrator. This nice password-protected security utility enables you to impose a variety of access restrictions to protect your privacy and stop others from tampering with your PC.

You can deny access to each individual component of several Control Panel applets, including Display, Network, Passwords, Printers, System and Internet Options. You can disable your boot keys, context menus, DOS windows, Registry editing, Internet and Network access. Hide your desktop icons, individual drives, Start menu items, or even the entire taskbar.

You can apply password protection to Windows and restrict users from running specific applications, view statistics of computer usage and security restrictions can be applied universally or to specific computer users.

Download Security Administrator 11.5 in Softonic

The program can be used to restrict read or write access to removable media devices such as CD, DVD, floppy, flash and USB drives. You can also restrict access to partitions of hard disk drives. You are given two choices when you secure your data: you can hide your devices or lock access to them. Access password has to be entered to gain access to the devices back. This software will never endanger your protected data.

If you lose or forget your password, you'll never lose your data stored on the protected media. Moreover, it works much more faster than any other software using cryptooperation mechanisms. The main purpose of the program is to restrict an ability of copying data between removable media and hard disk drives. You can also deny access to the media itself. This program also allows you to avoid many of headaches connected with unauthorized software installations from any removable media and it prevents data leaks through removable media.

Download DVD Device Lock 2.72 in Softonic

WinLock is a comprehensive security program for personal or publicly accessible computers running the Windows 95/98/Me or Windows NT/2000/XP operating system. It is a program that ensures that only authorized people can access sensitive information on your computer. With WinLock you can control how long others can use your computer. It runs from the Windows System Tray and requires a password to gain access to the available settings.

The program loads automatically with Windows and allows you to add an optional startup message, provide audio notification, and set the time limit. Once that limit is reached, Windows is summarily shut down. You can toggle the timer on and off from the tray. Whether you're worried about coworkers going on the network and gaining unauthorized access to your private files, or your kids messing up your work files, WinLock is a software-only solution to your security needs.

Download WinLock 4.64 in Softonic

If you're worried about unauthorised access of your files but regularly share a PC, then one of the best ways to protect yourself is by encrypting your folders.

This might be a laborious and time consuming process if you've got lots of data to protect - as encryption can frequently take time - but it doesn't have to be too painful with Kaka Folder Protection. The program is fast and straightforward and once installed, you'll notice a "lockdir.exe" in your folders. Double click on this to run the program and it instantly asks you for a password to encrypt the folder. You can choose to encrypt either the current folder or an alternative folder of your choosing. The program would have been better if it installed itself directly into Windows Explorer shell and required a right click to activate but it's really no big drawback to double-click the .exe.

The developers claim that the program uses strong encryption technology although it doesn't reveal exactly what this is. This may cause some concern for those who are worried about the strength of the encryption. Once encrypted however, the good thing is that the folders are protected against illegal copying, deletion or adding extra files to. The program also adds a padlock symbol to protected folders so that users can immediately see what is protected and what isn't it - which is OK unless you're trying to protect files discreetly.

A simple and easy to use program that doesn't reveal what kind of encryption it uses but should be enough for most home users.

Download Folder Protection 4.8 in Softonic

Watchman is the tool of choice for restraining access to applications and documents, and stopping users from messing around. This means you can prevent people using programs and files you want to remain protected.

Features:

• Protect windows, files, apps.
• Keep a log of used software.
• Warn users, notify them.
• Simple and productive interface.
• Wizard option to guide new users.

Download Watchman 7.2 in Softonic

If you're ever worried about what's happening with your PC when you're not around then this is an ingenious solution.

If you've got a USB stick, dod you know you can use it for more than just portable storage? You can in fact use it to block people accessing your PC by installing USB PC Lock Pro and inserting it into any available USB port - nothing more. Once plugged in, it blocks everything from keyboard access to MSN Messenger messages and audio of any kind - so no need to worry about any embarrassing noises whilst you are away from the PC. Once installed on the stick, the upper part of the screen shows the main features such as the Presence and Security Status. Below this are a number of "Plugins" which you can enable separately depending on what you want blocked such as media player, messenger etc. Once set, the program sits in the system tray discreetly so that no one even knows its running.

If you're worried about leaving your PC for long periods of time and have a USB stick, this is an effective and simple solution although obviously, anyone who knows what it is can simply take it out and access whatever they want to.

Download USB PC Lock Pro 1.6 in Softonic