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kevbayer
Joined: Nov 11, 2003
Posts: 9
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 Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 11:11 am Post subject: Password-protect a single file or dircetory? |
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| I'm trying to figure out how to password-protect a single .exe file, or the directory it's in - using WinXP (and doing it for free, without paying for an expensive security suite).
I read about compressing the file/folder and then encrypting it, but after compressing the encryption options are grayed-out. I thought I had remembered seeing a service for encrypting files that I had turned off - but I checked and didn't see any services that said they were for encrypting files (there was an encryption service running, but it's description didn't say anything about encrypting files).
Any ideas?
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Gem
Joined: Feb 01, 2003
Posts: 83
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| Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 11:32 am Post subject: Re: Password-protect a single file or dircetory? [Login to view extended thread Info.] |
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kevbayer
Joined: Nov 11, 2003
Posts: 9
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| Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 12:35 pm Post subject: [Login to view extended thread Info.] |
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Hmm... that one didn't work for me. But I appreciate the suggestion.
It seemed to do what it said - but after locking the folder, if I tried to access the folder or files in the folder, I wasn't prompted for a password and was even able to delete the folder without a password!
Any other ideas? Especially for locking just one .exe file? |
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zlim
Joined: Mar 11, 2005
Posts: 2422
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| Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 9:58 pm Post subject: [Login to view extended thread Info.] |
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Download 7zip http://www.7-zip.org/download.html
Right click the file you want to password protect and select 7zip, hen select archive.
A window will come up and in the first box, on the left select 7zip format.
I didn't change any other settings but that. In the right hand column, I put in a password. It was zipped up. When I went to unzip it, using WinRar, a password box came up. I had to enter a password before it would unzip. |
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goretsky
Joined: Dec 07, 2002
Posts: 8733
Location: Southern California
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| Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2007 2:04 am Post subject: Re: Password-protect a single file or dircetory? [Login to view extended thread Info.] |
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Hello,
Have you considered changing ownership rights on the directory and its contents so that no one by you can access it?
Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky |
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Werebo
Joined: Aug 09, 2003
Posts: 4077
Location: SE London, UK...
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| Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2007 10:59 am Post subject: [Login to view extended thread Info.] |
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Alternatively, a cheap but rather 'messy' way would be to just rename the file to something innocuous. i.e. 'Secret Program.exe' renamed to 'boring work stuff.doc'.
As long as you can remember specifically what file you renamed and what it should be, just rename it back when you need it  . |
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MacMax
Joined: Dec 16, 2007
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:50 pm Post subject: [Login to view extended thread Info.] |
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Check it out:
http://www.truecrypt.org/
I haven't used it personally, but I've seen it used on Hak5 2x08 (btw, amazing geek show), and it seems pretty neat. |
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kevbayer
Joined: Nov 11, 2003
Posts: 9
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| Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 11:09 pm Post subject: [Login to view extended thread Info.] |
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| zlim wrote: |
Download 7zip http://www.7-zip.org/download.html
Right click the file you want to password protect and select 7zip, hen select archive.
A window will come up and in the first box, on the left select 7zip format.
I didn't change any other settings but that. In the right hand column, I put in a password. It was zipped up. When I went to unzip it, using WinRar, a password box came up. I had to enter a password before it would unzip. |
I'll try 7-zip.
| Quote: |
| Have you considered changing ownership rights on the directory and its contents so that no one by you can access it? |
You know - I can do this with ease at work on our network (windowsxp), but I don't know how to do it at home on a single PC.
| Quote: |
| Alternatively, a cheap but rather 'messy' way would be to just rename the file to something innocuous. i.e. 'Secret Program.exe' renamed to 'boring work stuff.doc'. |
That won't work because it's a file I use practically everyday. It's a game executable that I want to restrict access to so my kids can only play it when I let them.
I looked at that website - that just encrypts a drive or a creates a new partition to encrypt. I just want to password protect a single .exe file.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I really appreciate the help! |
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