We all need a little privacy, but that can be difficult when your sharing a PC with others at home.
Windows doesn’t really offer an automatic way to simply mark a folder as private. There’s no way to password protect a file or folder.
In this guide. I’ll show you how you 6 methods of either hiding or password protecting your files and folders to keep them private.
Hiding Files On Your Computer.
To help keep your files private, you could simply hide them from view. the old adage “What the eye doesn’t see, the heart won’t miss” or something like that.
Anyway, the point is that keeping your private files and folders out of plain view works really well. Unless someone is actually searching your PC for hidden files, most people are unlikely to find them.
Protect Your Privacy By Hiding Your Files.
There’re various methods of hiding files on a computer. The easiest is to just change the file or folder properties to Hidden.
Or you could make your file “invisible”. I don’t really know why this is even possible, but it is.
The invisible file or folder can only be seen by the normal highlight that appears around it when it’s moused over.
It’s quite weird, but it works.
Find out how to do it here –
Not Really Secure.
Using either of these 2 ways to keep your files private is brilliant because you still have instant access to them. They’re both very quick and easy to do, requiring only a few clicks of the mouse.
The downside is that neither way is particularly secure. If your hidden files/folders are discovered, then they’re easily opened and your privacy is compromised.
Hide A File Or Folder Inside An Image.
Another way to protect your files and folders is to hide them inside an image file.
If someone should click on the image, it’ll open in exactly the same way as any other image would.
However, the image is also hiding any files or folders that you want to keep private.
Good For Archives.
This way of hiding your files is a little more involved than the previous two methods. You’ll need to use the Command Prompt to achieve it, but it is pretty good.
The downside to this method is that it’s not really suited to files and folders that are in constant use. It’s best suited to a folder that you’re going to archive. Something that you want to keep but don’t use that often.
Password Protecting Files.
Hiding your files and folders from view is all very good and well, but it isn’t in any way secure. It relies solely on your files not being discovered.
Password protecting files and folders is different. No password, no access, simple. It’s much more secure.
There are two ways you can add a password to your files, the first is by zipping the file and the second is to encrypt the contents of the file or folder.
Add A Password To Zipped Files.
Using the excellent free program 7 Zip, you can create a compressed (zipped) archive of any file or folder that you want to protect.
You can then password protect that archive so that it can only be unzipped when the password is typed in.
It’s very easy to do and only takes a few moments to open the file or folder.
Zip It.
Using 7-Zip is a really secure way to protect your files. Although I’ve seen various guides claiming to be able to crack the password (and therefore open the zipped folder), I’m not entirely convinced. And besides, that would require the use of hacking software and quite a high level of technical ability, a little more than you’re average user.
Password protected archives are great for storing sensitive files in the cloud, on external storage media (USB hard drives and flash drives), and also for sending across the Internet to another device.
Encrypt Your Files And Folders Using VeraCrypt.
In my view, VeraCrypt is the best way to protect your private files and folders on your computer. It is very secure, free, open source and will run on virtually any operating system.
VeraCrypt creates an encrypted “virtual drive” on your computer.
Anything stored in that drive will be automatically encrypted. The drive can only be accessed by using the password that you set.
The VeraCrypt drive shows up in File Explorer (rather like a USB drive might) and you can access and edit any of the files stored in it just as you would with any other drive on your computer.
You can even save files directly into the VeraCrypt drive from programs and apps.
How To Password Protect And Encrypt A File Or Folder On Your PC.
East To Use, Not So Easy To Setup.
The only real downside to using VeraCrypt to protect your data is setting it up.
While it’s not difficult, it isn’t easy either. On the plus side, once it is setup, VeraCrypt is easy to use.
Very secure
Using Microsoft BitLocker To Protect All Your Files.
When talking about protecting your files, I couldn’t not mention BitLocker.
BitLocker encrypts all the files and folders on your computer. Everything.
Using BitLocker, your computer won’t even start until it has been unlocked.
You can use BitLocker to protect your system drive and any other drives attached to your PC, either internally or externally (such as USB drives).
BitLocker.
BitLocker is very secure and easy to set up and use. The two main drawbacks with BitLocker are, firstly, it’s only available if you have the Pro versions of Windows. Unfortunately most home users will have the Home version of Windows installed on their machines.
Secondly, once your computer has been unlocked, then all your files and folders are unencrypted. meaning that if you walk away from your computer whilst you’re signed in, anyone can access your files.
For me, the main reason for using BitLocker would be to protect your data in the event your PC was lost or stolen.
Summary.
So there you have 6 different ways in which to protect your private files from prying eyes. 3 ways of hiding the files and then 3 ways to password protect and encrypt your files.
