One of the additional layers of data security is encryption. On Windows, too, encrypting your Windows files or folders makes them inaccessible to unauthorized users from outside. Let’s look at how you can get started.
How to Encrypt Files or Folders on a Windows PC
You can perform encryption on your Windows files or folders in many ways. We’ll start with the most straightforward method: using the Properties section of your Windows file or folders.
How to Encrypt Windows Files or Folders via Properties
The easiest way to encrypt your folder or file on Windows is by using the built-in tools on Windows. One such tool is the Properties section of every file or folder, which hosts the feature for encrypting your files as well. Let’s see how.
Right-click on the file or folder you want to encrypt, select Properties, and then click Advanced. Then select the Encrypt contents to secure the data checkbox and click on OK, and finally, click on Apply.
Click on OK again, and the app will then confirm if you want to make these changes just to the folder or also to the subfolders and files inside your main folder. Pick one of the options and click on OK. You might get a new dialog box asking for administration privileges as soon you do this. Click on Continue to go ahead.
That’s it. Your folder or file will be encrypted from now on.
How to Encrypt Files and Folders on Windows With 7-Zip
7-Zip, as its name suggests, is primarily a file compression software that aims to reduce the size of your files or folder without losing any data simultaneously available to both Windows and Linux users.
However, apart from zipping your files for compression like similar tools, the app also lets you encrypt your data. 7-Zip uses AES-256 encryption, the first and only publicly shared cipher created by NSA.
To get started, grab the 7-Zip installer from the downloads section first. Install the app as soon as the download is finished, and head to the file or folder you’d like to encrypt now.
Once you get to the file or folder, right-click on it and select 7-Zip -> Add to archive.
From the Add to Archive dialog box, set a specific password in the Encryption section. Apart from choosing the location for your file after 7-Zip has finished compressing it, you can also fiddle with other settings if you’d like. Finally, when you’ve picked all the settings, click on OK.
Your file or folder will be compressed and protected with a password you can rely on later on.
At a later time, when you’d like to decompress the files, head to the file or folder, right-click on it again, and select 7-Zip > Extract Here.
As soon as you do this, you’ll get asked for a password for decryption first. Enter it and click on OK and your data be decrypted.
Download: 7-Zip (Free)
Encrypting Your Files or Folders on a Windows PC
Even a couple of decades back, encryption used to be this vast, obscure thing used only by big corporates or research universities. Of course, that’s no longer the case now. For Windows users, encrypting your files and folders is as easy as creating new folders now, and we’d go on to say, even a regular affair for the privacy-obsessed bunch of us.
However, as you probably already know, there’s more besides simply encryption. We’ve covered everything necessary to keep your Windows security and privacy game at the top; make sure you don’t miss out on it.
