Encrypting files in windows 8

The folder, or file, you encrypted displays in green text now. If you encrypted a folder and all its subfolders and files, any folders and files inside the main folder are also encrypted and displayed in green. Any files or folders you create in the main folder in the future are also encrypted.

You will also see a popup in the Notification Area on the Taskbar recommending that you backup your encryption key in case the original one is lost or corrupted. Click this popup to backup the key. On the Encrypting File System dialog box, click Back up now. It is not recommended to Never back up the key. Accept the default selection for the file format for the exported encryption certificate and key and click Next. Select the Password check box and enter a strong password in the Password edit box and again in the Confirm password edit box.

Click Next. Navigate to the location where you want to save the encryption certificate and key file. You can save it on the hard drive initially, but be sure to move it to an external drive, such as a USB flash drive. Click Save. You can undo the encryption on encrypted files or folders by selecting Properties for the files or folders and turning off the Encrypt contents to secure data option described in this article.

You can also use the free tool TrueCrypt to protect your data and even to hide data in a hidden volume within a TrueCrypt volume. Use Google Fonts in Word.

Customize the Taskbar in Windows What Is svchost. Best Home Theater Systems. Best Smartwatches. Thanks for your feedback. I have not changed status of this. By default the services would be stopped and set to manual.

You can click on start and there's no harm. How to perform a clean boot to troubleshoot a problem in Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8. Note: When the troubleshooting is over do not forget to reset the computer to normal startup. I am running Windows 8 and would like to encrypt certain files. Unfortunately, the encrypt contents button is greyed out. Any advise? This thread is locked.

You can follow the question or vote as helpful, but you cannot reply to this thread. I have the same question Report abuse. In the Info window, select Protect Document. In the menu that appears, select Encrypt with Password. In the dialog box that appears, enter the password you want to use for this document. How to delete any possible unencrypted copies of the file Click Start , then type temporary into the search box.

In the menu that appears, select Delete temporary files. This opens the Storage settings window. Windows 10 scans your system and displays a list of file types that are stored on the various disk drives of your system.

Select Temporary files to see a list of the file types that are available to delete. In that list, set the Temporary files and Recycle Bin checkboxes, then click the Remove Files button at the top of the list to obliterate any unencrypted copies of the file that might still be floating around on your system. How to encrypt hard drives on Windows 10 When it comes to disk encryption on Windows 10, BitLocker Device Encryption is the tool that Microsoft provides.

This sounds ideal, but there are some drawbacks to using BitLocker. BitLocker has different capabilities depending on what hardware your computer has built onto its motherboard. Called VeraCrypt , it addresses all of the drawbacks we just saw: VeraCrypt is significantly easier to install than BitLocker.

VeraCrypt is not dependent on special hardware built into your computer. VeraCrypt works on every version of Windows 10, not just Pro and Enterprise. You will also need a program that can unzip files. We recommend 7-zip, the free and open source zip program we have discussed elsewhere in this guide. You can download 7-zip here. Go to the VeraCrypt download page and look for the Windows Installer. Launch the VeraCrypt setup program and accept all the default options displayed in the Setup Wizard.

VeraCrypt will display the message shown below. If you are new to VeraCrypt, it is worthwhile to follow the advice given here and view the tutorial. Click Yes to view the tutorial, or No to skip it. Either way you go is fine since we will walk you through the rest of the steps right here. Launch VeraCrypt.

The Wizard asks what type of system encryption you want: normal, or hidden. Normal simply encrypts the system partition and is what we want, so select Normal , then click the Next button to continue.

Next the wizard will ask you whether to encrypt just the Windows system partition, or the entire drive. If you have multiple partitions with important data, you can encrypt the whole drive. If you only have one partition on the drive as we do on this computer , VeraCrypt will only let you select the Encrypt the Windows system partition option. Make your choice and click Next when ready. VeraCrypt recommends you to make backup copies of all your important files before you encrypt your system.

This will allow you to recover if something drastic like a power failure or system crash occurs in the middle of the encryption process. Once you are done with that, take a deep breath and click Encrypt.

VeraCrypt will display more documentation it wants you to print if possible, covering when to use the VeraCrypt Rescue Disk after the encryption process is complete, then will finally begin the actual encryption process. Once the encryption is done, you will need to enter your VeraCrypt password every time you start the computer. What We Learned Encrypting important information is one of the best things you can do to protect yourself from everyone who is trying so hard to get their hands on your personal information.

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If a laptop is lost or stolen, it is possible that thieves could access the contents of the hard drive. The solution is to encrypt your files and folders in Windows Encrypting files on your computer ensures that it will be much more difficult to steal your valuable information, even if your computer is hacked. In this guide, we will explain how to encrypt files in Windows using native features and third party apps.

This is your choice, but most people use encryption to protect the following kinds of data assets:. Alternatively, you could use a third party encryption application. If you are looking for a way to encrypt text files such as Word documents and PDFs, you can also encrypt those files inside Microsoft Office.

And, if you want to encrypt Excel databases, you can do that too. Below we will walk you through some of the most popular methods for encrypting on your computer. The easiest and fastest way to encrypt files securely on your hard drive is to use Windows native encryption tool. This kind of encryption is secure and fast, which means it can be used to encrypt any individual files you need to secure - no matter their size.

If you are a Home Edition user, you will need to encrypt files using a third party encryption app instead, which we cover later in this guide. If you have got a compatible version of Windows 10, you can encrypt files almost right away. Before you get to this, however, you will need to do two things:.

Ensure that your Windows user account has been set up with a password that is strong and hard to crack. Using EFS requires your user account to have a password, and unless that password is strong, it might be brute forced by someone with physical access to the computer.

Your file encryption will only be as strong as your user password, so make sure it is robust. Get a USB thumb drive so you can save the backup key. This will allow you to access your encrypted files if you lose access to your user account.

Password managers are very useful if you plan on password protecting your documents as they can generate long complex passwords and save them securely. Check out our article on the best password managers for a list of the best services and the pros and cons of using one.

Now that you have done the preliminary preparation steps, you are ready to enable EFS for specific files or folders. To do so, follow these simple steps:. A window will pop up asking you whether you want to encrypt the selected folder, or the folder, sub-folders, and files. Choose either Apply changes to this folder only or Apply changes to this folder, sub-folders, and files.

Now that you have encrypted your first file, Windows EFS will serve you an icon in the system tray in the bottom right-hand side of your screen.