I am grateful to Bruce and Rick for their kind responses to my query
yesterday about password-protecting folders, but the suggestions haven't
really solved the problem.

I am simply trying to limit access to a single folder on an external hard
drive so that, should this ever be stolen, the contents would be difficult
(maybe not impossible) to access. Is there a simple way of doing this?

(Bruce/Rick - perhaps I should have been more specific. Your solutions
sound great but none of them work for this particular application!)

Terry Bennett wrote:

> I am grateful to Bruce and Rick for their kind responses to my query
> yesterday about password-protecting folders, but the suggestions
> haven't really solved the problem.
>
> I am simply trying to limit access to a single folder on an external
> hard drive so that, should this ever be stolen, the contents would be
> difficult
> (maybe not impossible) to access. Is there a simple way of doing
> this?
>
> (Bruce/Rick - perhaps I should have been more specific. Your
> solutions sound great but none of them work for this particular
> application!)

You may want to encrypt the files. I certainly wouldn't do this with
Microsoft's EFS (and if you have Home Edition I don't believe you can,
anyway). Here are links to third-party software. I haven't used any of
these programs myself, but I got the links from MVP Torgeir Bakken.

SafeGuard PrivateDisk
http://www.utimaco.com/indexmain.html

(Torgeir is using their "SafeGuard Easy" product for local hard disk
encryption on all laptops, and is very satisfied with the product).

More on encryption from Torgeir: A friend of mine has tested a free
product called TrueCrypt to encrypt data on USB sticks, and he was very
satisfied.

TrueCrypt - http://www.truecrypt.org/

The BestCrypt product found at http://www.jetico.com/ also looks
interesting. Just be sure to export any encryption keys and save them
in a safe place (outside your computer).

Malke
--
MS-MVP Windows User/Shell
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic"

Thanks Malke. Having looked at these, and bearing in mind the solutions
suggested by Bruce and Rick, I think the answer to my question is 'no',
there isn't an easy way of doing this. Al of the encryption stuff just
looks far too cumbersome and it's not possible to put passwords on zip or
compressed files on my version of XP.

I just find it very surprising that there's no solution for what would
appear to be a very straightforward issue!

Thanks anyway.

"Malke" <notreally@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:uv%233k%23n$FHA.344@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> Terry Bennett wrote:
>
>> I am grateful to Bruce and Rick for their kind responses to my query
>> yesterday about password-protecting folders, but the suggestions
>> haven't really solved the problem.
>>
>> I am simply trying to limit access to a single folder on an external
>> hard drive so that, should this ever be stolen, the contents would be
>> difficult
>> (maybe not impossible) to access. Is there a simple way of doing
>> this?
>>
>> (Bruce/Rick - perhaps I should have been more specific. Your
>> solutions sound great but none of them work for this particular
>> application!)
>
> You may want to encrypt the files. I certainly wouldn't do this with
> Microsoft's EFS (and if you have Home Edition I don't believe you can,
> anyway). Here are links to third-party software. I haven't used any of
> these programs myself, but I got the links from MVP Torgeir Bakken.
>
> SafeGuard PrivateDisk
> http://www.utimaco.com/indexmain.html
>
> (Torgeir is using their "SafeGuard Easy" product for local hard disk
> encryption on all laptops, and is very satisfied with the product).
>
> More on encryption from Torgeir: A friend of mine has tested a free
> product called TrueCrypt to encrypt data on USB sticks, and he was very
> satisfied.
>
> TrueCrypt - http://www.truecrypt.org/
>
> The BestCrypt product found at http://www.jetico.com/ also looks
> interesting. Just be sure to export any encryption keys and save them
> in a safe place (outside your computer).
>
> Malke
> --
> MS-MVP Windows User/Shell
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic"

Terry Bennett wrote:

> Thanks Malke. Having looked at these, and bearing in mind the
> solutions suggested by Bruce and Rick, I think the answer to my
> question is 'no',
> there isn't an easy way of doing this. Al of the encryption stuff
> just looks far too cumbersome and it's not possible to put passwords
> on zip or compressed files on my version of XP.
>

Use WinZip then. You can password-protect zipped files with WinZip. I
don't know if you can also encrypt but I'm sure their website has that
information.

Malke
--
MS-MVP Windows User/Shell
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic"

Sun, 11 Dec 2005 12:26:34 -0800 from Malke <notreally@invalid.com>:
> Use WinZip then. You can password-protect zipped files with WinZip. I
> don't know if you can also encrypt but I'm sure their website has that
> information.

As does the help file. :-)

There are two choices, "Zip 2.0 encryption" (not recommended by
Winzip) and AES.

Winzip is really excellent product and I heartily recommend it. It's
one of the VERY few system tools that I routinely use in GUI rather
than command line.

http://www.winzip.com


--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
"If there's one thing I know, it's men. I ought to: it's
been my life work." -- Marie Dressler, in /Dinner at Eight/

Stan

All I am trying to do is to prevent unauthorised access to a single folder
which is stored on an external hard drive. There were various solutions
suggested for this but I either didn't understand them or couldn't make them
work. The same, I regret, is the case with your own suggestion .

Although I can easily create a new compressed folder I can see no way in
which this can be password-protected. Can you tell me, specifically, how
this is achieved?

Many thanks.

Terry

"Stan Brown" <the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm> wrote in message
news:MPG.1e08a7edf1037554989d32@news.individual.ne t...
> Sun, 11 Dec 2005 12:26:34 -0800 from Malke <notreally@invalid.com>:
>> Use WinZip then. You can password-protect zipped files with WinZip. I
>> don't know if you can also encrypt but I'm sure their website has that
>> information.
>
> As does the help file. :-)
>
> There are two choices, "Zip 2.0 encryption" (not recommended by
> Winzip) and AES.
>
> Winzip is really excellent product and I heartily recommend it. It's
> one of the VERY few system tools that I routinely use in GUI rather
> than command line.
>
> http://www.winzip.com
>
>
> --
> Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
> http://OakRoadSystems.com/
> "If there's one thing I know, it's men. I ought to: it's
> been my life work." -- Marie Dressler, in /Dinner at Eight/

Fri, 16 Dec 2005 21:44:54 -0000 from Terry Bennett <terry.bennett1
@virgin.net>:
> All I am trying to do is to prevent unauthorised access to a single folder
> which is stored on an external hard drive. There were various solutions
> suggested for this but I either didn't understand them or couldn't make them
> work. The same, I regret, is the case with your own suggestion .
>
> Although I can easily create a new compressed folder I can see no way in
> which this can be password-protected. Can you tell me, specifically, how
> this is achieved?

Run Winzip, and check "Encrypt added files" in the dialog box that
appears when you add files to the archive.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
"If there's one thing I know, it's men. I ought to: it's
been my life work." -- Marie Dressler, in /Dinner at Eight/

Thanks Stan but really far too cumbersome. Seems to want to add a password
to every file in the folder which is not what I want to do, and comes-up
with error messages in the process.

Think I'll just have to accept that this can't be done.

"Stan Brown" <the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm> wrote in message
news:MPG.1e0d288b14432e11989d6c@news.individual.ne t...
> Fri, 16 Dec 2005 21:44:54 -0000 from Terry Bennett <terry.bennett1
> @virgin.net>:
>> All I am trying to do is to prevent unauthorised access to a single
>> folder
>> which is stored on an external hard drive. There were various solutions
>> suggested for this but I either didn't understand them or couldn't make
>> them
>> work. The same, I regret, is the case with your own suggestion .
>>
>> Although I can easily create a new compressed folder I can see no way in
>> which this can be password-protected. Can you tell me, specifically, how
>> this is achieved?
>
> Run Winzip, and check "Encrypt added files" in the dialog box that
> appears when you add files to the archive.
>
> --
> Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
> http://OakRoadSystems.com/
> "If there's one thing I know, it's men. I ought to: it's
> been my life work." -- Marie Dressler, in /Dinner at Eight/

Terry Bennett wrote:

> Thanks Stan but really far too cumbersome. Seems to want to add a
> password to every file in the folder which is not what I want to do,
> and comes-up with error messages in the process.
>
> Think I'll just have to accept that this can't be done.

On the contrary, it *can* be done and you were given a lot of different
ways to do it. For whatever reason, you didn't want to use third-party
encryption programs like SafeGuard PrivateDisk or WinZip, or use XP's
built-in zipping functionality, etc.

You might consider taking the machine to a local professional and have
them set you up and then give you a simple "click here" set of
instructions. I'm not saying this to hurt your feelings; we all have
our areas of expertise. But to say that you can't protect a file folder
is inaccurate.

Malke
--
MS-MVP Windows User/Shell
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic"

Malke

What I should have said (and the prefix that I used in previous postings) is
that this cannot be done 'simply'. I studied all of the advice given (for
which I am, genuinely, very grateful) but each of the products suggested
seemed to offer a panoply of features way beyond what I need. For somebody
who has no occasion to use encryption or any of the more advanced features
of Widows, it needs to be simple.

I believe that this group is titled 'Windowsxp.**basics**'?!

So, I am afraid that I do remain of the opinion that there is no 'simple'
way of doing this ... although others may of course disagree.

Terry

"Malke" <notreally@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:ONuok9wAGHA.504@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Terry Bennett wrote:
>
>> Thanks Stan but really far too cumbersome. Seems to want to add a
>> password to every file in the folder which is not what I want to do,
>> and comes-up with error messages in the process.
>>
>> Think I'll just have to accept that this can't be done.
>
> On the contrary, it *can* be done and you were given a lot of different
> ways to do it. For whatever reason, you didn't want to use third-party
> encryption programs like SafeGuard PrivateDisk or WinZip, or use XP's
> built-in zipping functionality, etc.
>
> You might consider taking the machine to a local professional and have
> them set you up and then give you a simple "click here" set of
> instructions. I'm not saying this to hurt your feelings; we all have
> our areas of expertise. But to say that you can't protect a file folder
> is inaccurate.
>
> Malke
> --
> MS-MVP Windows User/Shell
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic"