How an I place a password on a specific file or folder using windows xp home?

Question

I dont know how to do it, if you can at all. Can someone please help me??

Answer 1

Windows XP Home Edition does not have a encryption feature, only the Professional Edition. However, there are two freewares that can do the job. To encrypt a file (i.e. password protect it), you can use Axcrypt, download link is http://sourceforge.net/projects/axcrypt

Below are the instructions to use it: Courtesy of Jameser's Tech Tips (http://jameser.blogspot.com/2006/07/tip-11-simple-file-encryption-for.html)

After you have downloaded and installed AxCrypt, you should notice that it has added a context menu in Windows Explorer... If you right-click on any file or folder, an AxCrypt menu is now available... We'll go through the process of encrypting and decrypting a file, but to further understand and explore its advanced features you should read the documentation that is installed with the application...

To encrypt an existing file, right-click on the file and select "Encrypt" from the AxCrypt context menu... This will encr! ypt the original file and replace it with an encrypted version! ... If y ou'd rather keep the original as is, and create a copy for archival or distribution, select "Encrypt to copy"... To create a self executing copy which can be distributed to someone who does not have or use AxCrypt, you can also select "Encrypt copy to .EXE"...

After you have selected "Encrypt" from the menu, you will be prompted to enter a passphrase to use as a key for the encryption process... The strength of the encryption is relative to the length of your passphrase, so be creative and try to use a passphrase of at least 20 characters... You will then need to verify your passphrase to ensure that you have entered it correctly... For our purposes, you can ignore the other op! tions in this window and click "OK"...

You should now have an encrypted version of your file, which now has a filename of the original with .axx appended to it... While this is convenient to remember the name of the encrypted file, you can safely change the file name to obscure the contents of the document... When AxCrypt decrypts the file, it will revert to its original name... For example if you have a file called FinancialData.xls.axx, you can rename it to 2006BeachPhotos.axx... When decrypted the file will revert back to FinancialData.xls...

Now that we have our encrypted file, let's double-click on it to open the document... You will be prompted for the password wi! th which it was encrypted... After entering the password, you ! have the option to "Remember this for decryption"... If you mark this checkbox, you will no longer need to enter a passphrase for this file, or others with the same passphrase, until you reboot or logoff... You'll appreciate this option if you created a long password... If you'd like to clear the passphrase from memory, you can right-click on a file and from the AxCrypt menu, select "Clear Passphrase memory"...


To decrypt a file back to its original self, right-click on the file and select "Decrypt" and enter your passphrase... The file will return to its original state, complete with original name...

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To encrypt an entire folder, use Truecrypt (http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads.php).

Here are the instructions to use it. Courtesy of Lifehacker (http://www.lifehacker.com/software/top/geek-to-live--encrypt-your-data-178005.php)


Everyone's got files they'd like to keep out the the hands of intruders or casual passerby. Ever concerned you'll lose the thumb drive where you backed up four years of post-graduate research? Every worried your 5-year-old will accidentally open the um, grownup files just meant for Mommy and Daddy? Worry no more. Today we'll go over a simple way to encrypt sensitive files or entire external disk drives to protect them from prying eyes.

Recently-featured TrueCrypt is a free, open source encryption application that works on Windows and Linux. Given the right credentials, TrueCrypt will create a virtual hard drive that will read and write encrypted files on the fly. Huh-wha? Fear not; this'll make sense once we get it set up. Let's get started.
Set up the encrypted volume location

1. Download TrueCrypt, install and launch.
2. Hit the "Create Volume" button to launch the wizard that prepares the encrypted drive location. Choose "Create a Standard TrueCrypt Volume" and hit Next. Hit the "Select File" button and navigate to a location to store your encrypted files and type a name for it. I'm going with "C:\Documents and Settings\gina\My Documents\gtrapani.4meonly"

# (That .4meonly extension is my own creation; your file can have any - or no - extension.) Keep in mind that this isn't the file you want to encrypt; it's a big file container that will store the files you want encrypted all scrambled up like eggs inside it. Hit Next.
# Choose your encryption algorithm. The curious can flip through the dropdown and view info on each option, but you pretty much can't go wrong here; the default AES selection will work for most purposes. (Hey, if it works for Top Secret government files, it probably will work for you.) Hit Next. Choose the size of the virtual drive - for example, 100MB.

3. Yes, it's a pain to have to commit to a size beforehand, but the advantage here is that the file will always look like it's exactly 100MB, giving no hint to the actual size of its contents. Hit Next.
4. Choose your volume password. TrueCrypt wants something totally badass, like 20 characters with letters and numbers mixed together, something hard to crack. The whole point here is to keep snoopers at bay, so make your password reasonably difficult to crack or guess.
5. Format the "volume." This part is cool: TrueCrypt gathers random information from your system - including the location of your mouse pointer - to format the file drive location with random data to make it impossible to read. Hit the Format button to go ahead with this operation, which may slow down your computer for a few seconds. (And don't be scared by the word "Format"; you're not erasing your hard drives or anything, you're just formatting the drive location file - in this example, the gtrapani.4meonly file - you just created.)

Congrats! Your encrypted volume location is ready for use.
Store and retrieve files from the encrypted volume

Now you've got a TrueCrypt file that can hold all your highly-sensitive data files locked up tight as a drum. Here's how to get to it.

1. From TrueCrypt, choose "Select File" and navigate to the volume file you created above,

2. Select an available drive letter from the list in TrueCrypt, like Z:. Hit the "Mount" button, and enter the volume password you created above.

3. truecrypt-zmount.jpgIf you enter the correct password, the virtual drive Z: will be mounted. Go to My Computer and listed alongside all the other drives on your computer, there will be a new one listed "Local Disk Z:." Drag and drop all your sensitive data to this drive and work from it as if you would any other disk.


4. Once you're finished working with the data, in TrueCrypt, select the mounted drive (like Z:) and hit the "Dismount" button. The Z: drive will no longer be available, and all you'll have left is the gtrapani.4meonly file you created, which can be dropped onto a thumb drive, emailed to yourself, burned to CD or placed on your iPod, totally encrypted.

Answer 2

I use winRAR an archiving program similar to winzip. You can password protect the archive. Then I just enter the password and extract the file whenever I need it. You can get the program on download.com

Answer 3

Sorry, you can't in XP Home. That security feature is only available in XP Professional.

Answer 4

Winzip or winrar has that option