How do I put a password on a folder?

[Lolzords]

Quick question, a few people use this computer and they are the nosy sort. I'd rather keep my files private.

[Ego Slayer]

Do you mean a password on the user account?

Is there a way to password folders? Not something I've ever heard of.:smallconfused:

[B-Man]

You can put passwords on zip folders IIRC. I'm not sure if you can password encrypt regular directories in Windows.

[Darkforge]

I know that there are a few third party programs that allow you to password protect folders, but very few of them are free.

One option that i've used before is to simply hide files.

just go into your program files folder and make a new folder with the name of a common program and dump your files in there. Its not foolproof as people can still find your files if they do a full search but people won't randomly come across it.

[Exeson]

I know you can password things like word files but I don't know about folders.

[preserver3]

Quick question, a few people use this computer and they are the nosy sort. I'd rather keep my files private.

Need to know some specifics.

Is this a Windows XP Home, XP Professional, Media Center Edition or Vista?

Do each of the users on this machine have different User accounts?

If there are different user accounts on this machine, and you're using Pro, Vista or Media Center edition you can actually encrypt your files and hide them from any non-admin user on the system with Windows default tools.
They're not super secure by any means, but they are protected.

If you'd like to get really scary with this there are several encrypted vaults available on sourceforge.net but they can be tricky to use and recover from.

More details will make this question easier to answer.

[Lorn]

With great difficulty, because first you need to find a program to do it that's virus free.

If you don't need to use the files a lot or at least change them, just put them in compressed (zipped) folders. Go into the folder, right click outside any icons, add password.

Or hide them. In Explorer (My Documents) click Tools-Options and ensure that "Hide hidden files and folders" is on.

From there, have one hidden folder. Put EVERYTHING of yours in this.

Then just have a USB stick with an autoplay file linked to a shortcut, which opens that folder.

Done :)

Autoplay file:

[Autorun]
Open=SHORTCUTNAME.lnk /run
Icon=autoplay.ico
Title=SHOWDOCS
Action=Show Documents
[Language]
Name=eng

Where it says SHORTCUTNAME.lnk, just put the name of the shortcut. Just for the love of god, keep the .lnk on - it WILL NOT WORK without it.

(To make this, open Notepad, paste that in, edit as needed, and then press File>Save As. Change from Text Document(.txt) to All Files, and put a .inf on the end of the file. Put it in the root folder of your pendrive. Feel free to delete the icon starting with Icon, I just copy/pasted from mine :p And changed it, my pendrive's insanely complex.)

Or just shove your stuff on a portable hard drive.

Or just make your own account. I'm assuming you're running XP? Start menu, click on the picture at the top, press Home on the new window, create a new account. It'll guide you through it.

From there, copy everything over, then logon to the new account. Click the Start menu picture again, press Home again, click on the new account, click Add Password.

May want to create a password reset disk so you don't lose the account by forgetting the password - just click Prevent a Forgotten Password.

Simple, no? :)

Any more problems, then say, and I'll do what I can then. IE, after Motorhead :D

[Amotis]

Dude, just label it "porn" and put it smack dab on your desktop.

[Exeson]

Dude, just label it "porn" and put it smack dab on your desktop.

Depending on who uses the computer that might not work.......<.<.....>.>

[Ashtar]

At work and at home, I use Truecrypt (http://www.truecrypt.org/). It's free and open source software.

It works on Windows Vista/XP/2000 and Linux.

You install it on your computer and when you load a Truecrypt file, you are asked for a password. Give it the password and the file is opened like a new drive on your computer (just like you had inserted a USB stick, it has a letter under windows). No password ... no data.

At work, we use it for the sensitive banking data we get from our customers. It's as close to idiot proof software as I have ever seen.

[Lord_Butters_I]

Just flag the folder as hidden, bury it somewhere, and give it a wierd name. Search for that name, and it will come up but if people actively search for it it will never come up because it's hidden. That's how I hide stuff on my computer.

[RS14]

You can use 7-Zip (http://www.7-zip.org/) to compress files and add a password when you do so. It has the advantage of being simple.

GnuPG (http://www.gnupg.org/) also offers good encryption, but you'll need to make your folders .tar files or something similar with 7-zip as well. It also happens to be secure against all known attacks so long as you can keep your private key secret.

If you use windows XP (and presumably other versions), you can right-click on the files in question to compress/encrypt them.

[Gungnir]

You will need:

(1)Folder
(1)Sharpie

1. Place folder on a hard, flat surface.
2. Remove protective cap from sharpie.
3. Write "A Password" on folder w/ sharpie.
4. ?
5. Profit!

[hyperfreak497]

You will need:

(1)Folder
(1)Sharpie

1. Place folder on a hard, flat surface.
2. Remove protective cap from sharpie.
3. Write "A Password" on folder w/ sharpie.
4. ?
5. Profit!

Brilliant!

[Lord_Butters_I]

You will need:

(1)Folder
(1)Sharpie

1. Place folder on a hard, flat surface.
2. Remove protective cap from sharpie.
3. Write "A Password" on folder w/ sharpie.
4. ?
5. Profit!

This borders on art...

[bluewind95]

When I don't want people looking at folders of mine, I hide them in system folders. I give them system-like names, too. People don't poke around there, yup. I used to do that in school computers, when I didn't have a disk to save my work in, always used the same computer and people would be VERY likely to erase my work. It actually worked wonders. Changing file extensions to other things can also help. You just change the file extension back when you open it, of course.

Incidentally, changing file extensions also does wonders when it comes to email filters. At school, there was this filter that blocked all exe files from reaching the teacher's email. Problem? We needed to send exe files to the teacher in a class. People kept going "We can't sned it!" till I went "Why don't you just change the extension to txt? Then the teacher just changes it back.". Problem solved. :smalltongue:

No, really. To hide a tree, use a forest, as the saying goes. I don't know how to put passwords on folders (and if people are nosy enough, you'll just get them trying to guess it), so it works just fine if you hide it all from them.