What does encrypting and decrypting files mean?

Question

When i turned on my computer this morning i had a message to choose files to either encrypt or decrypt.

Answer 1

Well you got an answer of what encrypting is, but the really strange part is that you got this message. If you didn't put a program on your computer to do this it sounds very suspicious. Or maybe you got a new USB flash drive with this feature?

It is not Windows XP Pro encryption, that works differently and doesn't ask you this kind of question. For Window XP Pro encryption you just turn it on for a folder or a file by right click -> Properties -> Advanced, selecting encryption and from then on it will encrypt them and and decrypt them as you use those files and it doesn't ask for a password because it is tied to your normal user password.

Answer 2

Decrypt Definition

Answer 3

Encryption is simply scrambling the info or code of different file to make them unreadable without a password or decryptor. DVD are encrypted to prevent copyright infringement for example. Your DVD player is the only thing that is supposed to read it. You must be running Win XP Pro. Its the only version of XP that offers encyption built in. Use encyption for sensitive documents.

Answer 4

encryption is a way to secure information by scrambling it into a pattern that can only be read by decrypting. It can be done with files or text.
example:
SECRET
SXEXCXRXEXT

that's a simple one but the point is that without knowing the pattern, you can't read the secret code.

Answer 5

What Exactly IS encryption? --- click here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encryption

http://www.thunk.com/index.cgi = simple code box

One-time pad -= http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=%22One+Time+Pad%22&btnG=Search

use FileAssurity OpenPGP by ArticSoft.com to encrypt confidential data.

TrueCrypt = http://sourceforge.net/projects/truecrypt = On-the-fly encryption software, which can create a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mount it as a real disk. It can also encrypt an entire hard disk partition or a storage device such as USB memory stick. TrueCrypt supports plausible deniability.