How to password protect files in Windows 11 – Guide
Windows 11 and Windows 10 have strong built-in encryption, especially if you use BitLocker. However, encrypting your drive only protects against people who cannot log into their account on their computer. And the doers? Let’s say, for example, that you have a family PC in your living room and you leave it open for a bit. In an ideal situation, each family member would have their own account, but not you. Or maybe you have a very secure account that only you use, but you want to password protect a folder for an extra layer of security. There are many ways to lock specific folders or even individual files. The cheapest and easiest one we’ve found to password protect folders in Windows 11/10 is to use Easy File Locker, a freeware application that gives you fine-grained control over what you protect. This way.
Protect Folders in Windows 11 Without Installing Apps
The first method that we show you to protect files or folders in Windows 11 It is the solution that, natively, Windows 11 offers us. Of course, this function is only available in the Windows 11 Pro, Windows 11 Enterprise and Windows 11 Education version. if you have the Home Windows 11 version, you will not be able to use this option as it is not enabled on the system. You will have to choose one of the other solutions that we have at our disposal using third-party applications. To lock a folder or file with Windows 11, we must perform the steps that I show below: The certificate assistant will be guide throughout the process to create the password and save the certificate to an external drive. This method is the same one that is available in Windows 10 to protect files and folders, so if you have not upgraded to Windows 11 or your computer is not compatible, you can use it without any problems.
WinRAR
One of the oldest computing applications on Winrar, an application that we can use completely free of charge and without any limitation, despite continually showing us a warning message inviting us to buy a license. Winrar allows us to protect files and folders in a very simple way, protecting the files with a password, without which we will not be able to unzip or open the file in any way, although we can access the contents of the folder through the visualization. To add a password to a file or folder with Winrar on Windows (the method is the same in all versions of Windows since XP), the first thing to do is download it from its website by clicking on this link. To create a compressed file from a folder or file, we must put ourselves in it, press the right button and go to the option Add to file, option that shows the Winrar logo. Then the image that heads this section will be displayed, where we must establish the name of the file that will contain the compressed files, and click on Set password, which will show a new window where we must enter the password to be used to protect the file or folder . If you forget the password used, you will never be able to unzip or access the files inside.
7-zip
If you don’t like the design of Winrar, an interesting application that allows you to zip files and folders with a password, we can find it in 7-Zip, an application that, like Winrar, we can download completely free of charge through this link . To create a zipped file from a folder or file, we must put ourselves in it, press the right button, point the mouse to 7-Zip and select from the drop-down menu Add to file. Next, the image that heads this section will be shown, where we must establish the name of the file that will contain the compressed files, and in the Encryption section, we must establish with which password we want to protect access to the data that is inside it, and finally, click in OK. If you forget the password used, you will never be able to unzip or access the files inside.
How to choose the best password
The password we use will be the barrier we put on the file or folder that we don’t want anyone but us to have access to. Forget about using the typical passwords like password, 123456789, 111111111, your pet’s name, date of birth, a combination of both, as anyone who knows you can find out quickly, just try combinations. When creating a password, we must: That’s all very well, but you’re probably wondering how you’re going to remember a password like idUG934jghYt. Well, making use of applications that allow us not only to generate passwords, but also to store them so that we always have them at hand. The ideal is to use an application that is multiplatform and that allows us to access each and every one of the passwords that we store in it from any device, be it a mobile phonetablet, via browser, Windows or Mac computer. 1Password, LastPass, Dashlane are some of the most interesting options when managing our passwords from any device and anywhere.
Protect Office documents
If what we want is to protect documents created with Word, Excel or PowerPoint, we do not have to resort to third-party applications or the operating system itself, since all these applications allow us to add a password, a password that will allow us to:
Final note
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