I read your explanation of how to password protect individual files or folders on a Mac (see How to encrypt folders on your Mac), but is there a way to do that easily in Windows? Thanks!
This seemed like an easy enough query, so I popped into Window XP Help and typed in “encrypt”, just to find lots of information on the Encrypted File System (EFS) but nothing else of value to a typical Windows user. EFS looks interesting, but it’s not at all what you’re talking about: in fact, it’s a completely invisible encryption system that only matters if your files are copied onto a different computer. Not useful.
I then popped over to a favorite Windows software site, download.com, and started searching there. Lots and lots of solutions, but precious little that was freeware. If I wanted to spend $39.99 or higher, there were solutions, but jeez, I just wanted to password protect a file or two.
A few people suggested that PGP would be a good alternative, as an open source encryption standard, but while there are plenty of free PGP apps for Linux and Unix systems, the only desktop Windows app I could find was a commercial program with a 30-day trial. Still not quite right.
I thought about the problem obliquely and realized that one simple solution would be to use a ZIP or other archive program and simply assign a password to the archive. Again, it’s not easy to find a free, open source archive program that was available for Windows, but after much digging, I did find a winner, an open source archiver called PeaZIP.
I downloaded the application, installed it and during the installation process, came across this screen:
This lets you add PeaZIP features to your Send To contextual menu, including the one we want: “+ Encrypt”. I checked it off, as you can see, and continued with the installation.
Finally, I can encrypt my test file, a PDF called “Annual Report”, by simply popping up the contextual menu (right-click on the desktop icon) and choosing Send To –> + Encrypt:
It pops up a window that asks for a passphrase / password, exactly as I’d hope:
Once it’s done encrypting (and, conveniently, compressing it too), you’ll see this:
On your desktop are now two versions of your file (or files), the original unprotected and the encrypted archive, as you can see on the left here:
I launched the above window by simply double-clicking on the encrypted file. Decrypting / unscrambling the file is easy: just click on “Extract All” and…
Enter the same password as you used to encrypt it (hint: use a short sentence!) and you should see:
Done! Now your file is back to its original state and neatly tucked into a folder.
To use this, I suggest that you encrypt the original file, then drag it to your trashcan and delete it. It’s still recoverable with an undelete application, but for a casual user, the original has vanished and the encrypted copy is all that’s visible.
Hope this helps you out!
great work dave…i was looking for this one…thanks alot
Hi,
Nice post. There is also a way where in you can encrypt folders as well. I found it on this site:
http://dummy-essentials.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-to-encrypt-folders.html
I’ve found that Truecrypt is the best Free open-source disk encryption software for Windows Vista/XP, Mac OS X, and Linux. Website is http://www.truecrypt.org/
Recent microsoft operating systems have built in features for encrypting/password-protecting files.
Please check:
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000705.htm
for a detailed discussion
Nice, I use PeaZip too! I like it features encryption for various file types: pea, 7z, arc and zip.
BTW, to delete the original file you can use secure deletion feature of the same program: + Wipe file(s) in the screenshots (renamed “Secure file deletion” in last release)
Seven-zip is also very nice.