HELP -- How Can I Make ONE FOLDER Private???

Hi.

How do I make the contents of one file folder private? How would that work? Can I set it up to ask for a password everytime someone tries to open the file? I share my laptop with my girlfriend and I want to keep my journals (Word documents) private, but don't want to have to create a New User for her.

Thanks!!!!!!!!

 

Probably the best thing you could do is (1) make it a hidden file or (2) use a utility like WinRAR to compress them with password-protection.

 

Folder Locker 3.0.0.1

 

just read the user reviews. I don't know about this program...

 

If you are only concerned about Microsoft office documents (Word and Excel etc..) then you can use MS office built-in password protection feature.
Have a look : How to Password Protect Microsoft Word and Excel Documents

 

You might try this.. They offer a free version which i use.
http://www.splinterware.com/products/idailydiary.htm

 

...moved to s/w and o/s...

 

You could always use TrueCrypt. One thing it's got going for it is that it's free, on the downside it may be a little overkill for what you're asking.

 

What OS are you using? If you have XP Pro, then you can set folder permissions so that only your user has access to the folder and its contents. Just disable simple file sharing and you'll then have access to the full permissions.

 

they're using the same account.

If you have the built-in windows compressed and zipped files program associated to zip files (if you havn't installed a 3rd party archive program), you can make a password protected zip file and it is treated as a folder.

Right-click somewhere in explorer, New>Compressed/zipped folder
Then double-click the zipped folder. In the top menu select File then click "Add a Password".



If you have a 3rd party program associated with .zip files, like winzip or winrar or 7-zip, the options won't come up. You'll have to use your archive program to add a password to a zip file, which most archive programs are capable of.


The drawback to this is you have to be careful when saving/editing your files, cause when you open a file from within a .zip file, it will open from a temporary location, so saving from there won't necessarily replace the actual file inside the archive; you might have to save the file to a normal folder then copy it to the archive; then you can delete the unprotected file.

 

Use winRAR or WinZip to encrypt it, something light like a 64 bit blowfish should work fine.

 

Just create another account for her to use. Jeez.

 

I use AxCrypt and think it does a great job. Works on individual files or folders. Works on Windows 98 through Vista.

Open source, so it's freeware.

And, as kegobeer said, she should have her own separate logon/user account. Seriously. There's no reason for her not to.

 

when I was in school, I had 4 roommates, and my GF was over often as well. We usually had at least 3 laptops laying around the living room, and if you had to look something up quick you just grabbed the closest one. taking the time to log in every time would suck.

 

Is anything that important that you cant wait 45 seconds for everything to load so you can look it up? Im just curious?