Is it possible to password protect certain folders/drives/files on my PC. I have several user acounts set up and things I don't want to share. I don't think there's an option in the settings anywhere so does anyone know of any third party software that will do it.

cheers :thumbsup:

If you have a number of User Accounts, each account has it's own My Documents folder (so it will be John's Documents, Fred's Documents etc.) You can set these so they aren't shared between users.

As I'm not using XP on my PC anymore I can't tell you exactly how but it can be done.

Cheers I'll try that :thumbsup:

In XP Home edition, right click the folder you don't want to share, select 'Sharing and Security', on the 'Sharing' tab check 'Make This Folder Private'. Your User Account log in must be password protected to stop other users of the same computer having access to the folder.

In XP Professional you have a whole host of folder and file security options.

if you need anything stronger than that, try BestCrypt from http://www.jetico.com/

i think you have to be using the NTFS file system to password your files in XP

There is one way to password protect folders in XP without using third party software....

Providing your disk is formatted using NTFS (most likely if you are using XP but worth checking), you can compress (zip) the folder by right clicking the folder, selecting 'Send to' and then 'Compressed (Zipped) Folder'. You will then get an option to password protect it.

Originally posted by simonj
There is one way to password protect folders in XP without using third party software....

Providing your disk is formatted using NTFS (most likely if you are using XP but worth checking), you can compress (zip) the folder by right clicking the folder, selecting 'Send to' and then 'Compressed (Zipped) Folder'. You will then get an option to password protect it.

Do you not need to buy winzip for this option?? I think I tried it once but it says you need to buy it?:confused:

Originally posted by twichibi
Do you not need to buy winzip for this option?? I think I tried it once but it says you need to buy it?:confused:
Not sure about passwording, but you can certainly create normal zip files in XP without Winzip.

On the subject of security settings in Windows, it really depends what level of protection you want. For someone who knows what they are doing, bypassing folder ownership is trivial, but it might be fine for your purpose. A password protected archive, PGP etc is a safer option, but may be overkill!