JagsFan53

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Is it possible to password protect certain folders on WinXp? This computer is frequently used by friends/family while I am not at home, and I wanted more of a sureproof way for protecting various projects other than creating new profiles(Which is rather useless actually)

wolf68k

Folder Lock
Of course if you mentioned which version of XP you're using, Home or XP, it would be easier since Pro has this built in

ButterMup

P'shaw!
You don't need some half-assed 3rd party software to do that at all, so long as you're running Windows XP Professional.
If you're on XP Home Edition however, then you're S.O.L., my scarcely-posting little friend, and would indeed be better off dropping a few bucks on something like wolf68k linked to.
Shop around - there are tons of those programs out there, some better than others.

...With that said, I assume you're on XP Pro if you're still reading this, which means that you'd probably like to know how to do it also, wouldn't you?
That's the trickier part (though, fortunately, it's not too hard to pull off; monkeys have been trained to perform more complex tasks).

The first thing you should know is that WinXP won't let you set a password on a folder which isn't inside of your Personal User Directory (or your "PUD" for those of us who appreciate tasteless acronymic humour).
If we assume that you've installed the OS on drive C: and that your login name is "chumpy", then that folder would be located at C:\Documents and Settings\chumpy.
Folders inside of that one are the only ones which Windows XP will allow you to set a password for, so think of that as your personal playpen, of sorts; everything you want to protect should be stored in there, although if you want to then create shortcuts to those files or folders and place them elsewhere in order to keep yourself organized, that won't affect anything.

It might be handy for you to note, however, that the "My Documents" folder (the same one which you probably see a shortcut to on the Desktop) is considered to be an extention of your profile directory, so anything you save in there can be passworded also.
Just something to keep in mind, if you like to have everything in one centralized, easy-to-get-to location without creating shortcuts all over hell's acre.

So create a folder in your PUD, or move one in from elsewhere.
Next, right-click the folder you just created/relocated and select "Properties" from the menu.
After that, select the "Sharing" tab in the window which opens up.
You'll see a small subsection called "Local Sharing And Security" or something like that, inside of which will be a checkbox beside the option to "make this folder private".
That's your baby.
Go ahead and click that box to protect the folder and all its contents. Mind you, this doesn't make the files themselves invisible to anyone who passes by, so if you have some of the files named in a suspicious fashion, you might consider renaming them to something more innocuous. All the password protection does is prevent people from actually opening the files without supplying the proper credentials.

Repeat those steps for every folder which contains something you want to keep private, and voila!
Your 400 gigabytes of porn...erm, I mean your "various projects"...are safe!

bleh123

Another way to keep them safe, (this is fool-proof against the *average* computer user. ) Password protecting the files will prevent them from being opened, but won't stop them from seeing the content or name sof the files. To do this, open up my computer and go to the directory of the folder you want to hide. Select all the files/folder you wanna hide right click on them and select properties. In the window that pops-up, select "hidden". Now no one will be able to see them, even if they search for it with a file-finder. When you wanna access your... "projects" just do this starting with the file menu "tools" > Folder Options... > view > select "show hidden files and folders"

Just remember when you're done working on your projects to do that again and select "DO NOT show hidden files and folders"

JagsFan53

well, the projects i'm referring to are programming projects, and my friends show no mercy when it comes to pranks, hidden thing wont exactly work too well, most of my friends are fairly knowledgable with computers, which is why i havnt persued a 3rd party program... thx for info I guess i should just update to XP Pro, i have a cd of it lieing around anyways, just no real reason to upgrade as of yet...

Juan.©amaney

Buy a 1 gig usb portable file key chain looking thing and call it a day.

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