Password protection on a folder

[Alex Martinez]

Hello,
I am using Windows XP professional on my laptop and I am always worried
about my laptop gets stolen and I am wondering if its possible that I can
apply password protection on a windows folder? Any hints or suggestions
will be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

Not natively, you would need a third party program for that. You might also
look into EFS (which is part of WinXP Pro), as that can also protect your
files.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Googleman]

not sure if this is adding anything of value... but I have laptop (with
sensitive info work related) running xp pro too.. and I have a required
password right at the point of login.. and if I'm away from my desk.. or
briefly away, I hit the windows key on my dell and the L key .. and that
locks my machine..and only can be accessed when I input my password again.

if someone stole machine, the BEST they'd be able to do (I?? think??) is
reformat my drive and start from scratch. I could be wrong.

I do believe as well you can click on a folder and select the sharing
option.. and make that folder a private folder ?!?

not 100% on everything here, but hopefully something helps.

good luck

 

[Ron Bogart]

In

not sure if this is adding anything of value... but I have laptop
(with sensitive info work related) running xp pro too.. and I have a
required password right at the point of login.. and if I'm away from
my desk.. or briefly away, I hit the windows key on my dell and the L
key .. and that locks my machine..and only can be accessed when I
input my password again.
if someone stole machine, the BEST they'd be able to do (I?? think??)
is reformat my drive and start from scratch. I could be wrong.

I do believe as well you can click on a folder and select the sharing
option.. and make that folder a private folder ?!?

not 100% on everything here, but hopefully something helps.

good luck

All that does is lock the desktop - press the Power button - shut off the
machine - restart and they are hopefully presented with your logon screen.
The problem with this is there are several programs out that can bypass that
within a few minutes. My recommendation is to set a BIOS password to
prevent access to the machine at all. Also, if you have material that is
sensitive enough to warrant it, make the drives NTFS and use the EFS
Encryption available to it. Use caution with this though as a repair
install can cause you to lose your data if you haven't exported your
encryption key to a safe and recoverable location.

 

[Dude]

My recommendation is to set a BIOS password to prevent access
to the machine at all.

Won't stop someone ripping out the hard drive and putting it as
a slave in another machine. Encrypted File System (via NTFS)
is probably the safest way, as you said in your post.

 

[steve eddy]

this works great.........magic folders

http://pc-magic.com/des.htm#mf

 

[Harry Ohrn]

The problem with these programs is that while they make folder "invisible"
they do so when Windows is running. However if you pull the drive and
connect to a system without the software running the folders are no longer
hidden. You can do the same by booting with Bart's PE or Knoppix.

 

[Harry Ohrn]

Nope. If the system is stolen there will always be a way to get the data off
it.

 

[Harry Ohrn]

Can't a thief simply reset the BIOS?

 

[Harry Ohrn]

Check here http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1508 However a
diligent hacker will still get at your software/files/data.

 

[Harry Ohrn]

I guess "simply" is too light. I forgot how hard it can be to reset a laptop
BIOS :-(

--

Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp

Can't a thief simply reset the BIOS?

--

Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp

In

All that does is lock the desktop - press the Power button - shut off the
machine - restart and they are hopefully presented with your logon
screen. The problem with this is there are several programs out that can
bypass that within a few minutes. My recommendation is to set a BIOS
password to prevent access to the machine at all. Also, if you have
material that is sensitive enough to warrant it, make the drives NTFS and
use the EFS Encryption available to it. Use caution with this though as
a repair install can cause you to lose your data if you haven't exported
your encryption key to a safe and recoverable location.

--
Ron Bogart {} ô¿ô¬
Associate Expert
Expert Zone -
"Life is what happens while we are making other plans."

 

[Alex Nichol]

Won't stop someone ripping out the hard drive and putting it as
a slave in another machine. Encrypted File System (via NTFS)
is probably the safest way, as you said in your post.

The thing though is that the encryption is totally transparent to the
user/owner once he has logged in. So the security is no better than the
logon, which is to say not at all. Even if you have a good password
for that there are programs that will readily retrieve it

 

[Bob I]

Look up EFS. Without the certificate, data is nothing more than random
magnetic bits.