Encryption refers to securing a file or folder with a password. The purpose of encrypting a file is to prevent unauthorized people from accessing it. Windows 7 allows you to encrypt your file and folders with a password. Microsoft did not include the encryption capability in all the Windows 7 editions. The file encryption is only available in Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate. If you have children, you can encrypt the file to prevent your children from accessing it.
The key to the encrypted file is assigned to the administrator only. The administrator can access the file as if they are not encrypted. If someone steals your hard disk, he won’t be able to access the file. He can open a word document file but it will present junk characters to him.
How to Encrypt Files and Folders in Windows 7
If you want to encrypt a file, you must click Computer from the start menu. When the Computer windows appear, you should navigate to the files that you wish to encrypt. After you have located the file, you should right click it and select Properties. In the Properties dialog box, you should click on the Advanced button under the General tab. By clicking on the Advanced button, the Advanced Attributes dialog box will appear. In the Advanced Attributes dialog box, you should check the Encrypt contentes to secure data checkbox. After that, you can click on the OK button in the Advanced Attributes dialog box. If you click on the Apply button, the Encryption Warning dialog box will pop up and warn you that the file which you are about to encrypt is located in an unencrypted folder. If you want to encrypt the file and folder, you should select the Encrypt the file and its parent folder radio button. If you want to encrypt a file, you can select Encrypt the file option. If you want Windows 7 to always encrypt the file only, you can check the Always encrypt only the file checkbox.
If you want to encrypt a folder, you can right click it and select Properties from the right click menu. In the Properties dialog box, you should switch to the General tab and select Advance. When the Advanced Attributes dialog box pop up, you should check the Encrypt contents to secure data checkbox and click on the OK button. After clicking on the Apply button, the Confirm Attribute Changes dialog box will pop up to confirm about the changes. The Confirm Attribute Changes dialog box offers two options including encrypt the folder only or encrypt the folder, subfolders and files. It is recommended that you choose the Apply changes to this folder, subfolders, and files option. After you have selected an option, you can click on the OK button to let the changes take effect. After clicking on the OK button, the Encrypting File System pop up will prompt you to back up the encryption key. You should choose Back Up now to backup the encryption certificate and key.
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