A feature I discovered the other day is the ability to encrypt a file in Windows without using any external tools:
- Right click on the file to encrypt.
- Select Properties.
- Click the Advanced button.
- Select the option to encrypt the file.
- When prompted, you can encrypt the entire folder or just the file.
- Apply your changes.
- You will see the color of the file has changed in the file listings.
By doing this, you restrict who has access to the data. For example, if you share a computer with several people, you can encrypt your files so only you can access them. You could do the same with file security, but your user account may not always allow you to make these changes.
To view or set who has access, repeat steps 1-4 above and then click the details button. You may not use this feature a lot, but it’s good to know it is available.
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Addendum:
Applies only to XP Pro –
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307877
IMPORTANT:
As a reader has pointed out, this can be very dangerous to use as once you encrypt a file, it is essentially “tied” to your XP install by a security key. This means if your computer were to crash, the only way you could recover the file is if you had a backup which was NOT encrypted, as encrypted files cannot be recovered once your local installation is gone.
Please be sure you consider this before using the encryption feature.
There is a free program called AxCrypt which does essentially the same thing, without being tied to your XP install.