Password Protect Compressed (zipped) Folders and Hence Your Files and Folders
With the release of Windows XP and include Windows Me and Windows Vista, Windows operating system has native support for zip compression and decompression call Compressed Folders or zipped folders. This basic feature allows any zipped format files to be able to open in Windows without any third-party tool. Beside, files can be compressed and zipped easily too with the feature. In Windows Explorerer, compressed folders are treated just like a folder, allowing you to do some function (e.g. drag and drop to copy or double click to open) easily.
How to Compress Folders and Files
To compress all files and sub-folders inside a folder, right click on the folder in Windows Explorer. To compress a file, right click on the file in Windows Explorer. After that, choose “Send To”. And when sub-menu comes out, click and select “Compressed (zipped) Folder”. Windows will now compress all the contents inside the folder or the file and create a compressed folder, more commonly known as zipped file. Rename the compressed folder to your desired name, and if you want, delete the original file or folder.
To compress multiple files and/or multiple folders, just launch the Windows Explorer, and select all the files and folders (sub-folders will be included automatically) by holding the Ctrl key while clicking. If you want to select files and folders that listed continuously, just holding the Shirt key, select the first item and the last item, and all items between them will be selected. Once selected, again, right click and click on “Send To”, and then “Compressed (zipped) Folder”. The name of the compressed folder will be based on the first file been compressed, so locate it and rename it to something meaningful. Delete the original files if you want.
How to Password Protect Compressed Folder
If you want to enhance the security and do not want others to view the contents of your compressed folder, you can assign password to the compressed folder or zip file. Locate your compressed folder or zip file in Windows Explorer or My Computer, then open the folder by double clicking on it. From the File menu, choose “Add a password…” (Encrypt in Windows Me), and key in your password twice then click on OK.
Note that all of the files in compressed folder are password-protected at the time of encryption or password adding. Any subsequent files will not be password-protected, to password protect subsequent files, the password needs to be removed and added again.
Note: Add a password to compressed folder (ZIP) is only available in Windows XP. Windows Vista and Windows 7 have removed such option, and user has to use third-party tool such as SecureZIP to password-protect compressed folders.
How to Remove and Disable Compressed Folder (zip file) Password
To remove the password of compressed folder or zipped file, just locate and open the compressed folder by double clicking it in Windows Explorer or My Computer, then from File menu, choose “Remove password” (”Decrypt” in Windows Me).
Tips and Tricks
1. Instead of compressing existing files or folders, it’s possible create an empty zipped and compressed folder to store future files in. Just go to the folder you want to store your compressed folder, click the “New” from File menu or from menu after right-clicking inside the folder. Then choose Compressed (zipped) Folder. Type in the name for the compressed folder.
2. To protect your sensitive files and folders on your PC from viewing by others, just send them to compressed folders and add a password to the compressed folder to keep it private.
3. You can drag and drop files or folders to a compressed folder. To do this, open the compressed folder first. Drag and drop does not move the files into the compressed folder, but copies them. If you want to move the files, hold down the Shift key when droping the files into the compressed folder. Alternatively, you can manually delete the existing files.
4. Same with drag and drop, Send To function does not move the files either. To move, delete the existing files manually.
5. File names in password-protected compressed folder are visible even though the files themselves are inaccessible without the password. To hide them, create another compressed folder (not necessary to be password-protected) inside the compressed folder which will be password protected. With this, those unauthorised users can view the contents of protected zip file, which is another zip file, but not the contents inside the secod zip file.
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Entries (RSS)
August 28th, 2009 16:45
It’s great.Thanks for sharing
April 23rd, 2009 10:56
John, using a simple dual-core Intel Core 2 Duo processor, and brute-forcing with All printable characters it took my PC 33 minutes to crack a passworded zip file containing letters (Capital and lowercase), numbers and symbols with the password length being 8 characters long. I am able to attempt ~4,850,000 passwords per second using the Zip Password Tool. Next time before posting, do your homework.
January 4th, 2009 10:15
A password protected zip file cannot be cracked any faster than trying all known combinations of the password, which means that the cipher is secure.
The protected zip file is as strong as the password is.
Choose 8 character passwords or longer, with a mix of number, letters, and upper and lower case.
July 26th, 2008 05:42
John, Google rainbow tables. No password is secure and most are crackable in under a minute. You are talking without any knowledge.
April 23rd, 2008 01:56
Thorsten Claus you are talking without knowing anything i wasn`t going to do any observation but your lack of knowledge ask for one.for a password of 5 characters my computer need 10minutes for a 6char needs 3h and for a 7 char neet 3,5 days and for 8chars 2months or so and that counting that i am searching an archive with ONLY small letters and NO special characters.My procesor is Quad Core XEON E5420 @ 2,50Ghz with 4Gb DDRamII. I am cracking @ this moment 2 archives one with capital letters and one with small letters.Both programs are searching 25.000 pswd per seconds that means processor up to 60% all of the 4 processors.So how do you crack any password in 2,1hours is an enigma to me. this is my processor for the non believers. SO PLS 4 the future if you do not know what to say is better to shut up. http://s53.photobucket.com/albums/g53/xXGrim-WardXx/?action=view¤t=CopyofPIC-0087.jpg
March 6th, 2008 13:05
Good person always want to seen this wesbsite becasue that is need and important for knowledge.
shahid
August 8th, 2007 03:05
Errr, I saw that my previous posting SHOULD’ve started with:
“Microsoft Vista doesn’t offer the password protection feature of ZIP files anymore – and for a good reason.”
August 8th, 2007 02:58
Microsoft could have implemented the zip pwd feature again and lull people into a false sense of security, as a quick search on Google for “zip password recovery” will show many freeware, shareware, and commercial cracking utilities, from brute force mechanisms to dictionary attacks. The average time to crack a zip pwd for me is 2.1 hours, and I have an old processor. I can imagine the headlines in the news: “Microsoft doesn’t fix security hole.”
Now on the other hand, Microsoft could’ve implemented a proprietary mechanism – probably also provoking the wreath of the people
Or you just use freeware or the fingerprint reader software that came with your computer.
Or, looking forward, you store and share your docs in a safe place online (if only SSL would be secure, haha)
Cheers,
Thorsten
August 2nd, 2007 06:59
i was removing the password from a compressed folder that i made and when it finished removing the password from the files it deleted all but one of the files.it didnt send the files to the recycle bin or anything but just made them disappear.my system is a windows xp.
please help me as these files are quite important.
April 14th, 2007 02:10
[...] or My Computer, then from File menu, choose