If you have a computer that many people use through their own separate accounts, then you may want to encrypt some of your private documents. Windows 7 provides an easy way to encrypt any file or folder. Here is how you can encrypt files and folders in Windows 7 :
- Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the file you want to encrypt.
- Right click on the file and select Properties from the right-click context menu.
- In the file properties window, click on the Advanced button under the General tab as shown :
- In the Advanced window, check the checkbox labeled Encrypt contents to secure data as shown :
- Click OK to save and encrypt the file.
- You can see the color of file name change to green in Windows Explorer, which means it is encrypted.
You can use the same process for encrypting a whole folder. If you move or copy an un-encrypted file into an encrypted folder, then it automatically gets encrypted.