password protect zip file windows 10 7zip

However, 7-Zip also offers the ability to encrypt and decrypt files. Related: Secure your emails by changing a few important settingsĪnother solid option is 7-Zip, a tool that’s typically used for zipping and unzipping files. You’ll need to either delete or pull the original file onto a USB or cloud-based storage service to get it off of your desktop. Once you click OK, your new file will be encrypted. The program will ask you to enter the password twice. You’ll need to select that option and enter the password you’ve chosen for your files. Select it.įrom there, a pop-up window will appear with an option to Encrypt file names. Another menu will open during this process with an option for Set password. It will contain the same contents as the original. Doing so will create a new - but smaller - copy of the file or folder. You’ll see an option for Add to Archive - select it. To encrypt files, you just need to right-click the folder or file. Once you’ve identified files you want to encrypt and WinRar is installed, you can get started with the process.

Before you start, though, you may want to take note of the files or folders you want to encrypt so you aren’t digging around for them. Using the WinRar tool to encrypt files is easy. The specific information you need is listed under System type. All you have to do is click on the Windows icon on your home screen and search for System. This software is free and open source, 7Zip is available from the 7Zip Project website.If you don’t know that information off-hand, there’s a simple way to check. We will look at 7Zip File Manager to manage the encryption and password protection of the zip files. There are both free and paid software that can do this. The recommended way is to use some software that uses a strong encryption system. This is not recommended as the quality of the encryption is very poor and there are a number of third party software tools that can crack it. Enter the password and confirm the password.

Right click on the compressed folder and select Explore.In Windows XP password protecting zip files is built in. This is good for when you want to take important documents on a USB stick, then if you lose it your files are encrypted and password protected.

The methods of password protecting also uses encryption which scrambles the data to protect against third party software being able to read the data. This can allow you to password protect your files using a very common format.

Password protect zip file windows 10 7zip