How to Lock a Text File Using a Free Tool Called Locknote

by Tina Gasperson

If you have a need to keep your notes really secure and private, a little tool called Locknote should work well for you. Locknote is free and easy to use. All you do is download Locknote and run it. There’s no installation required.

To make things simpler, save Locknote in an easy-to-find location, such as your desktop. After you’ve downloaded Locknote to your hard drive, double click on its icon to run it. When Locknote opens, you’ll see that it looks just like the built-in text editor that comes with Windows. There’s a paragraph of information that you should delete after you read it, and replace with your own text. When you’re done typing, click “File,” and “Save.” Give the file a name and click “OK.” Locknote asks you to choose a password. Choose carefully: a password shouldn’t be easy to guess, but it also shouldn’t be so cryptic that you will never remember it – unless you have a secure place to keep that password written down. If you forget your password, you can forget about opening your file.

When you want to retrieve your locked file, keep in mind that Locknote saves the files with an .exe extension, not .txt or .doc. Once you find it, double-click the file and Locknote will open and ask you to enter the password. There’s your note. It’s as easy as that. To make a new note, you can add information to the existing file and resave it with a new password, or delete the text, add your new note, and resave the file with a new name and a new password. Or you can just double-click the Locknote icon and start fresh. If you want to make a locked note portable, just save it on a flash drive. The Locknote utility is built right into the file.

Tina Gasperson (tinahdee@gmail.com), affectionately known as Computer Lady by her family, has been writing about IT, home computing, and the Internet for more than a decade.