How do I password protect my files and folders in Windows?

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  1. maria.rose profile image38
    maria.roseposted 13 years ago

    How do I password protect my files and folders in Windows?

  2. jacoz21 profile image60
    jacoz21posted 13 years ago

    Unless you really know what your doing and without having to start encrypting files etc. the easiest way is probably to download some free software that will allow you to password protect/hide folders. It is very simple to do then.

  3. Just Ask Susan profile image91
    Just Ask Susanposted 13 years ago

    Open My Computer.
    Double-click the drive where Windows is installed (usually drive (Csmile, unless you have more than one drive on your computer).
    If the contents of the drive are hidden, under System Tasks, click Show the contents of this drive.

    Double-click the Documents and Settings folder.
    Double-click your user folder.
    Right-click any folder in your user profile, and then click Properties.
    On the Sharing tab, select the Make this folder private so that only I have access to it check box.
    Notes

    To open My Computer, click Start, and then click My Computer.
    This option is only available for folders included in your user profile. Folders in your user profile include My Documents and its subfolders, Desktop, Start Menu, Cookies, and Favorites. If you do not make these folders private, they are available to everyone who uses your computer.
    When you make a folder private, all of its subfolders are private as well. For example, when you make My Documents private, you also make My Music and My Pictures private. When you share a folder, you also share all of its subfolders unless you make them private.
    You cannot make your folders private if your drive is not formatted as NTFS.

  4. ABDELRASOUL profile image51
    ABDELRASOULposted 13 years ago

    Which MS office word do you use:?
    This will determine the procedure how to save

  5. Kylo88 profile image61
    Kylo88posted 13 years ago

    Just Ask Susan: thank you so much for that answer! that was basically exactly what i needed to know.
    and Maria.rose: thank YOU for asking the question! i had fogotten that this was something that i need to know. and even if i remembered i wouldn't have thought to ask the kind ppl of the hubbing world! lol. thank you again! ^^

  6. BlissfulWriter profile image82
    BlissfulWriterposted 13 years ago

    I use 7-zip.org (free).  It has the ability to zip up (meaning compress) a set of files.  And then there is an option to encrypt it by supplying an arbitary password.  Now the zip file can not be unzipped without the password.  The encryption agorithm is  Strong AES-256 encryption.

  7. keyenhancer profile image75
    keyenhancerposted 13 years ago

    It depends on which operating system you use. I do know that if you have WindowsXP, then you can do it Susan's way. If you have Windows 7 (not sure about Ultimate), the option to make the folder private appears to be nonexistent in the sharing tab (that could just be my problem).

    However you can manage the security of these files and folders: Right-click the file or folder and choose 'properties' and in the menu find the security tab across the top. Under this you can easily manage permissions by selecting the user name, and checking or unchecking boxes.

    Problem is that anyone with a cursory knowledge of computers (and an administrator account) will be able to bypass that with ease. Best, and simplest approach would be password lock your profile. You can do that in User Accounts found in the Control Panel.

    In the User Account Settings, so long as your an administrator of the computer, you can change the properties of other user accounts, even restrict them from individual folders and files. You'll need to downgrade their account from administrator as well. If you need help on that, I'd be more than happy to do a step by step on how.

    Last but not least, a good option is to get a third party software tool that will allow you to password lock individual files and folders. One is Folder Lock. I just downloaded it, and scanned it with Malewarebytes, appears to be clean - just in case you had any concerns. smile

    Hope this helps!

  8. flutterbygems profile image62
    flutterbygemsposted 13 years ago

    I am not sure about password protect but you can easily hide files and folder by right clicking on them and then click properties.  Usually at the bottom of the properties window it will say Attributes.  There will be a few options such as Read Only or Hidden.  Click the box next to Hidden and click apply and then ok.  This will make the files not appear when you open up your folder.

  9. Davorunner profile image71
    Davorunnerposted 13 years ago

    It depends if you mean all your files on your pc, then just ask susan I guess:P
    Alternatively you can set a password on your pc so that only you can log into it with your own password. That's the easiest way to go about it I'd say

  10. ishadi profile image60
    ishadiposted 13 years ago

    using the program "My Lockbox" (free). you can download here

    http://www.freewarefiles.com/My-Lockbox … 23012.html

 
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