Restrict access to a folder by EXE

I don't think this is standard Windows functionality.

Access right are based on users, not applications.

You can however run the programs as different users. From the context menu (hold the Shift + Right Mouse click on the program) select Run as different user. You will need different user accounts with the correct access control settings to the folders based on the users.

Brad's answer above is a good answer. However, I have found a neat solution to provide this functionality. Basically I want to restrict access to files in a folder to my application only.

I will implement a Windows Service which is started by the administrator (this has access to my special folder). A standard Windows user does not have access to that folder.

My Windows Servies can expose functionality to access content in a particular folder. My custom application EXE uses the Windows service to access that content. This means that my application can edit files in the special folder via the Windows Service, but users with restricted access to the folder cannot make changes.