Community Newsletter: Q&A forum: Encrypting and password protecting files and folders on my PC

Dear Mudiaga,
While there are a number of programs that create encrypted partitions or folders or even drives (Cryptainer, PGP), after consulting with some windows people I felt were knowledgeable, I ultimately decided to just stick with using Windows File Encryption (Win2k, WinXP). Simply pick the folders or drive letter (even external USB hard drive), right click, select "properties", go to the general tab of the dialog box that opens, press the "advanced" button, press "encrypt contents" option in the new dialog box that appears, click "ok", then click "apply" or "ok" back at the first dialog box. Your system will start to encrypt the items you selected. The names of those items will be written in green type when you see them in an explorer window after they have been converted. Be sure to remember your password for your PC's login. Don't share your account with anyone, and keep your login and password secure. You may also want to consider programs that shred your recycle bin, temp folders, and even your swap file as an added measure of security. Note that when you copy or move encrypted files to a CD you are burning, they will lose their encryption. Because encryption takes up processing time, you probably don't want to encrypt videos and music that are not sensitive data. It slows down your computer to encrypt and unencrypt big files like that, but for documents, photos, etc., no problem. Good luck.