However, the free trial seems to last forever even after the 40-days trial. WinRAR has a 40-days trial which you can use for free. Without a password it is impossible to view even the list of files in the archive encrypted with this option. If you want to prevent third parties from drawing conclusions about you or the content based on the meta files, you may enable this function. If you set “Encrypt file names” option, WinRAR will encrypt not only file data, but all other sensitive archive areas like file names, sizes, attributes, comments and other blocks. Once you are able to view the files and folders inside the RAR file, you can extract any or all of them to anywhere you want.

To decompress and unlock the folder, simply double-click on the RAR file, enter the password you’ve set earlier, and then click OK to unlock it. Finally, click OK to confirm the compression.

Optionally, enable “ Encrypt file names” if you would also like to also encrypt your folders (*learn what this option does below).Enter your desired password twice (one for confirmation).In the “Archive name and parameters” pop up window, go to General tab and click on the “ Set password” button.

How to lock a folder on your desktop