We always want to Protect our desktop computer and laptop from unauthorized person. Because sometimes we store sensitive information and if the someone sees our data and steal information then we may have to face serious consequences. Therefore it is very important for us that first, we protect our PC privacy from others. So here you will learn about how to protect File, Folder, Drives on Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 along with Windows security.
Page Contents
- Protect Windows, Files, Folder, Drive from unwanted peoples
- What are the Solutions?
- #1. Protect Windows 10 with Username and Password.
- #2. Protect Windows 10 with Motherboard Bios password.
- #3. Protect Hard Drive from Unauthorized access.
- #4. Protect Files, Folder, Drives using Softwares.
- #5. Hide and protect Content from other users without Password.
- How to view hidden content in Windows 10?
- Give some advance protection to the hidden content
- More Advance protection:
- What are the Solutions?
Protect Windows, Files, Folder, Drive from unwanted peoples
Basically, four types of persons can harm us:
1) Coworkers: If We are working in a company then we work together with colleagues. Think about that one day your one colleague jealous to you because of your day by day progress. And after that, he/she can harm you by doing tinkering in your work.
2) Friends: If you have friends then you and your friends will share everything with each other. And if your PC-Laptop has some games installed or has an Internet connection then they will definitely use your PC and you can’t deny them. They can mistakenly damage your work anytime without your knowledge.
3) Family Members: It is almost for everyone. When you have a system at your home then all of the family members will use it. Eg: Brother, Sister, Husband, Wife, Kids. It is the most Complected thing because such as computer you can’t protect with the password.
4) Thieves: It rarely happens but happens. You may get stuck in big trouble. Why is big trouble? For Example, you have stored lots of your private videos and photos. If a thief steals your PC-Laptop, after that He/She can leak your personal info via social media such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter etc. And could be causing your notoriety.
What are the Solutions?
There are several ways available to protect your privacy. Mostly methods depend on the password and some work without the password.
#1. Protect Windows 10 with Username and Password.
When we install Windows 10. Along with the installation, it asks you to create Password for your User account. So Windows 10 automatically enables first security option without any extra effort. Or if you’re Administrator and have not enabled Password Protection then follow the steps below to enable Password protection on your User account:
- Type User Accounts in Start menu search bar and hit the enter button.
- In the User Accounts click on Manage another account.
- Double click on your account to open.
- Click on Create a Password option.
- Now Enter the New Password, Confirm password and enter a password hint. After filling password information click on Create password button. And Restart the Computer.
Note: Windows Password lock isn’t enough to protect your system completely because this protection is only for Honest people not for thieves and attackers because it can be easily by-passed and a smart person can brake using some techniques. So also try other alter way to protect your data completely.
#2. Protect Windows 10 with Motherboard Bios password.
This is another security feature and most of us don’t know about it. Every Computer and Laptop has password protection built in motherboard bios and UEFI firmware. So we can protect our system with a good protection at the system Bios-CMOS level. But for this, you will need to setup your Administrator password in the Computer bios settings. To enable System Bios password to follow the steps:
- Start your system and during the bios boot screen press exact key with which you can open Bios Settings. The key may be different on different computers such as Delete, Esc, F1, F2, F10 or F12. You can check your Computer Documentation and can search online with your Computer or Motherboard Model number. Sometimes Boot screen also shows you the appropriate key to open Bios settings.
- In the Bios Settings screen, Find the Password section (Such as Administrator password) and set the password. After this press F10 and click Yes to save changes. Now, whenever you will open the Computer/laptop it will ask you to enter the password.
Reset Bios/CMOS password?
In case you have forgotten the Bios or UEFI password then you will need to clear Bios CMOS settings, if you are using Desktop Computer you can remove the Motherboard CMOS battery and start the system without battery, So the system Bios will be reset to default. And after the system shut down again put the battery in the slot. But if you are using a laptop then it is more difficult to reset because you can’t open the Laptop. So you can visit nearest Company Laptop repair shop and they can clear the password. For more information on this topic read Howtogeek post.
Windows Vista, 7, 8.1 and 10 have a powerful drive encryption software, which we call BitLocker. With BitLocker, you can enable drive encryption feature. If your system has hard-drive multi partitions eg: C, D, E, F. Then you can Encrypt any drive except the system drive. And nobody can access your favorite drive without the password. So how to enable BitLocker to a drive:
- Right click on the drive that you want to protect against Windows BitLocker and choose Turn On Bitlocker option.
- Tick the checkbox Use a Password to unlock the drive.
- Enter & Reenter your Password. And click on Next button.
- Now Bitlocker will ask you to backup your security key. These key needs in case if you forget the password then the drive can be easily unlocked using this key. And it is better to save this key on USB Drive or you can Print a copy and keep this copy in safe place. After making a Recover key click on Next button.
- On next you will need to decide how much of your drive to encrypt. Choose an option between Encrypt Used Disk space only and Encrypt entire drive. Better Choose Encrypt Used Disk Space only option because it is faster and better for new PC’s and drives. After selection click on Next button.
- Now BitLocker will start Drive encryption and it will take some time. Wait until the encryption is not completed.
- And now you have been successfully secured your drive partition.
#4. Protect Files, Folder, Drives using Softwares.
A File and Folder encryption software can also give some alternate protection. And users can protect file, folder and drive with a password and without the password. Folder Lock, Folder Guard is the best file-folder protection Software.
#5. Hide and protect Content from other users without Password.
If you using a multi-user computer and can’t protect your folder with a Password. Then You can try to Hide Content from other users. But the thing does not work in most cases because today most of the computer users have great knowledge about the Windows OS and they can find all of your content easily. So Think before to hide content that it is safe for you or not. To hide the Content from other users follow the process below:
- Locate the files and folder that you want to hide.
- Right Click on the file and folder and choose Properties.
- In the General tab tick the Hidden checkbox and click OK to save changes.
- Locate the files and folder, where you have hidden the content.
- Click on View Menu tab and tick the Hidden items.
If you want to protect your content more than hidden protection then you can change the file extension. As all, we know every type of file has a unique file extension eg: .jpg, .png and .bmp for images. .mp4, .Avi, .MKV etc for Videos. you can change file extension name to other file extensions. For example, if you have a photo with .jpg extension eg: myphoto.jpg then rename it to something other extensions eg: mybook.doc then an honest person will not understand what is about the file because when they will open the file. The file will open with an error. To change file extension follow the below steps:
- In the Windows 10 Locate to the files and click on View menu tab.
- And tick the File name extensions check box.
- Now just replace the file extension with other. If you would like then you can also leave this file without extension. And when you need it then again follow the steps and change file extension to exact one.
More Advance protection:
This is another and more advanced protection for hidden and renamed file extension content:
- Right Click on Hidden content and choose Properties option.
- In the Properties click on Security tab.
- In the Security click on Edit button.
- Now in the Edit click on a user from the Group or User names list.
- And in the permissions for Authenticated users tick the Full Control Deny check box and click on Apply button. Now follow the same steps for every user on the list. After this Click on OK button.
Now nobody can remove your files. As long as he/she does not regain full permission. And when you think to use the file or folder then again follow the steps and Choose users one by one and tick the Full Control Allow check box.
I hope these tricks will help you.
Read More:
Hacking and virus attacks are becoming very common these days and windows 10 is more vulnerable than the predecessors, because it is more flexible and there are many bugs that require to be fixed. To keep a computer secure, We always use an antivirus software but the idea of setting Mother board BIOS password never cross my mind. By adding password protection in the system, we can make it difficult for the hackers to steal the information from our system.