Is it possible to download free software that will protect my documents/files from unwanted users, password protection or something? My OS is Windows XP. Cheers
Certainly but before you consider such actions, doesnt WindowsXP come with a feature to "make files private"? (when you create new user accounts). Also you can mess around with the security policies and access management (i.e., just allow read/write/blahblah acccess for a folder to only one user and put all of your stuff in it). Keep in mind that most simple security schemes fail if other users have access to the physical drive (i.e., they take your harddrive out and read it using another machine). To protect against that you may consider harddrive encryption.
Ok, how do you stop file sharing between user accounts? & with XP it is not possible to give a password to a folder. What is the best encryption software that you would recommend? Thanks!
Yes you can..... allow only YOURSELF access to that filder and NOBODY else. For the other "user folders" do the same. Then only the owners of those folders can access them. Also disable simple file sharing. If you have to have a certain login to access the folder it is like having a password. If you need some more security check out: -AccessDenied -Folder Shield 2003 -FolderView -Hide Folder -SafeHouse -WinLock
I don't know much about the above listed programs but I can suggest an excelent free program that is very widely used. Enough suspence the program is pgp or pretty good privacy. I don't remember the exact address for the homepage but its a simple google search. The program itself encrypts files very well with a user-definable number of bits(128, 256...) I haven't used pgp in a while so if anything written here is incorrect another user can correct it; but I do feel I have given the ghist of the program. Good Luck. If you don't mind spending a little money, stealthdisk can very effectively hide your files, perhaps a combination of both would provide very good file protection but in my opinion that would be overkill. Good Luck.
In windows Xp, go to Start go to All programs Open Windows Explorer In windows Explorer find the folder you what to protect. Right click on the folder. You will see as one of the options "sharing and security" select this. Now you have three tabs at the top. In the General tab you can make the folder hidden, in the Sharing tab you can make the folder not accessable to other people. At the bottom in the sharing tab you can read more about sharing. Try that first, if you are at work and don't have addmister access, that might not work. But you also will not be able to install a program to hide files if you don't have adminster access.
