The Simple Way to Keep Your Private Files Private

Make Encrypted Files Stand Out

To see at a glance which files or folders on your system are encrypted (or which use NTFS compression, for that matter), open Explorer and choose Tools, Folder Options. Click the View tab, and in the Advanced Settings box, make sure that Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color is checked. Encrypted items are green, compressed ones blue. On the other hand, if you don't want others to see which files are encrypted or compressed, uncheck this option. Click OK. XP Pro and Vista users need this tip only if they want to disable the display of encrypted and compressed files in color, which the OSes do by default. To open the Folder Options dialog in Vista's Explorer window, click Organize, Folder and Search Options.

Give others permission: To give people who are using your system access to encrypted files, you can specify the individuals by their user name. First, right-click a single encrypted file (not a folder or multiple files, unfortunately), and choose Properties. In the General tab, click Advanced, and next to 'Encrypt contents to secure data', choose Details. In the middle of that dialog box, click Add to open the Select User dialog, which lists others who have a certificate (a digital document that helps confirm authenticity) on your system. Users can acquire certificates in various ways, but one of the simplest is by encrypting one of their own documents. (For more about certificates, choose Start, Help and Support, type certificates overview, then press <Enter>.) Select a trusted user and click OK. Note that the Find User button in the Select User dialog box won't work unless your network uses Active Directory, a Windows service in which administrators can store and make available information on network objects.

Disable, don't delete: Because encrypted files are associated with user profiles, deleting profiles prevents those people from accessing their encrypted files. For example, if an employee named Scott goes on leave but may return, disable rather than delete Scott's profile: In XP, choose Start, Run, type lusrmgr.msc, and press <Enter>. In Vista, click Start and enter the same command in the Start Search field. Click the Users folder icon in the left pane and double-click Scott's profile in the right pane. In the General tab, check Account is disabled and click OK; when Scott resumes working, uncheck this box.