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An easy way to password-protect certain folders Desktop
To password protect a specific folder in any version of OS X, if you're an administrator, simply change the permissions in the "Get Info" box so that the folder is owned by the system. You'll be prompted for a password. To access the folder again, just change the ownership back - and it will require a password to be made accessible.

Fairly obvious. Useful on a shared machine for semi-private documents.
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An easy way to password-protect certain folders | 8 comments | Create New Account
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An easy way to password-protect certain folders
Authored by: BMarsh on Dec 04, '03 03:12:51PM

one note about this:

Once you do authenticate, it will not ask for another password for about 5 minutes,
especially in Panther (10.3) this will then let you trash system folders without requiring a password until that 5 minutes mark has passed.



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An easy way to password-protect certain folders
Authored by: pwharff on Dec 04, '03 04:37:33PM

Wow, I use to use a third party program called lame secure to do this, I really like this method much better and is built into every Mac with Panther!!! Thanks a bunch!!!

--Paul



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An easy way to password-protect certain folders
Authored by: RickoKid on Dec 04, '03 05:09:31PM

And Jaguar for that matter.

---


RickoKid



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An easy way to password-protect certain folders
Authored by: dpolzine on Dec 04, '03 05:29:10PM

Of course you could also use Disk Utility to turn the folder into a read/write encrypted disk image. Then the contents are actually encrypted not just hidden where anyone with admin access can access them.



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An easy way to password-protect certain folders
Authored by: timcrawf on Dec 05, '03 01:14:37AM

How does this give any more protection than just keeping things in folders in your user folder. These are already password protected.
If this is not enough, go with the comment above and use an encrypted disk image.



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An easy way to password-protect certain folders
Authored by: cybergoober on Dec 05, '03 09:52:35AM

Well if you had multiple users accessing one shared account, rather than each user having their own login account, this would be semi-useful.



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An easy way to password-protect certain folders
Authored by: timcrawf on Dec 06, '03 02:22:30AM

so the tip is for people who don't understand OS X?
or at least the multiple user aspect.



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An easy way to password-protect certain folders
Authored by: mcritz on Dec 06, '03 07:41:04PM

Let's say you get up from your work computer and are gone for a few minutes. You forget to log out or switch to "Login Window" screen. Your password-protected screen saver doesn't activate for 15 minutes, but you can be sure that noone has read your payroll recommendations while you went to the GM's office because you had that extra little bit of protection on your "Semi-Critical Data" folder. Let's agree that it's good to have lots of security options rather than just a few.
That being said, I don't recommend changing the ownership of files unless you know exactly what you're doing. Also, truly top secret files should be encrypted in a Disk Image.



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