In XP this is done with NTFS permissions...the password protection of a folder or file is provided by the file attributes and user rights set on specific objects. You can however set up a compressed folder with password protection (by either right clicking on the desktop and selecting New-->Compressed Folder, or (My Computer | File menu | New | Compressed Folder)...you can then open the compressed folder that you want to password protect. On the File menu, click "Add a Password" | In the "Password" box, type the password that you want to use | Type the same password in the "Confirm Password" box, and then click OK.
There's a program called Folder Guard which you can use to actually password protect a folder in XP. You can find it here...
http://www.winability.com/folderguard
With it you can password protect or hide files and folders, restrict access to resources (more options as compared to the built-in Group Policy Editor), plus quite a bit more... the only drawback is it's not free. If you'd like to learn more about file/folder permissions in XP, the following MSKB article describes permissions in detail...
HOW TO: Set, View, Change, or Remove File and Folder Permissions in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...rodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/filesharing.mspx
Since you're running the Pro version of XP, you don't need to worry about this... but for those that are running the Home version, they can get around the "Simple File Sharing" issue by booting up in Safe Mode (use NTFS permissions to restrict access to a folder). Otherwise, if they don't mind using text interface commands, they can use the
cacls.exe command line tool (located in ...%Systemroot%\System32) in normal mode to modify the permissions.
You can also find out more Re: file sharing by opening Help and Support Center from your Start menu, then typing "File Sharing" in the Search field. That will bring up approx. 30 articles on file sharing in the online Help and Support Center, and another 15 in the MSKB.
