NA Password protecting folders

Let'sgoflying!

Let'sgoflying!

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Dave Taylor
Win XP
Is there a way to make some folders protected.
We dont have individual users set up, that would be cumbersome.
 
Get off of XP. Setup user accounts. Windows 7 and above Enterprise edition has encryption or there are third party encryption solutions. Alternately, you could store data in a cloud account (like Dropbox), but that would also require individual sign ins. As Denver pointed out in another thread, you give up some convenience for security. If you want to secure data, you will need to have people log in separately.
 
Windows XP is end of life and no longer being patched. You risk being hacked hardcore and your data stolen if you continue to use it.

Without individual user accounts I don't think you can password protect folders. What you "could" do is create password protected .zip files that contain the folders. Cheap, quick, and easy.


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nonono you guys don't understand.
These computers have no, ie zero connection to the outside world.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
nonono you guys don't understand.
These computers have no, ie zero connection to the outside world.
Click to expand...

Windows XP has serious issues. It was not a robust operating system. Your need for securing data is dictating the individual user accounts, not your access to the outside world. I am not sure how secure it needs to be, but even individual user accounts won't protect you from someone accessing a folder, even if they don't have permissions. You will need to take it a step further and encrypt the folder, otherwise, it would be trivial to boot the drive to another OS and simply browse to the folder.
 
No this is just to prevent the casual user perusing semiprivate files in a very small office.
I don't need Fort Knox. I just need a tiny padlock.
 
Look, I googled this, I think it will do the trick. Thank you.

"If you want to encrypt a file or folder, this can be done by following these steps:
https://www.google.com/#q=password+protecting+windows+xp+folders
Select the file or folder you want to encrypt.
Right-click the file or folder and select Properties.
Click the Advanced button.
Check the box for the "Encrypt contents to secure data" option.
Click Apply and then Ok."
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Look, I googled this, I think it will do the trick. Thank you.

"If you want to encrypt a file or folder, this can be done by following these steps:
https://www.google.com/#q=password+protecting+windows+xp+folders
Select the file or folder you want to encrypt.
Right-click the file or folder and select Properties.
Click the Advanced button.
Check the box for the "Encrypt contents to secure data" option.
Click Apply and then Ok."
Click to expand...

You will need to be on an NTFS file system (an option with Windows XP and not the default) and I think, if you are home edition not pro, you will need a hack to unlock that feature. If you are going to do this, back up your data. The zip file option mentioned above may be a safer bet.

Edit: This also requires individual user accounts.
 
On XP, if you're just trying to keep snooping eyes from reading a file, something like gpg4win or whatever gpg/pgp encryption tool you like (tons of them out there) would work fine, unless you need to know who accessed it each time.

I wouldn't rely on something that just password protects the file at the OS level in XP. Too easy to get local admin rights and the local admin can read everything.

But tons of tools out there to encrypt single or groups of files and password protect the encrypted resulting file.
 
I changed the security on the folder in question, and as suggested by Joe, I did have to set up users on the private computer to do it. It did the trick famously. Thanks.
 
Glad everything worked out for you!


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