How to Encrypt and Decrypt Files / Folder In Windows in 2024

Last updated: January 18, 2024 Reading time: 9 minutes
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Encrypt and Decrypt Files

Windows is admittedly popular and unexceptionally easy to use. However, you might also know it is one of the most vulnerable OS available. According to various reports, almost 83% of malware attacks Windows users, and a malware attack means facing data leaks and losing valuable information in case of no backups. Amidst this, encrypting your files and folder in Windows is smart.

What is Data Encryption

In layman’s terms, data encryption converts information into an indecipherable form. Data encryption involves converting the files, folders, and sensitive data to ciphertext format to encrypt and using an encryption key to decrypt the file. These encryption keys can be 128-bit to 256-bit long, making ciphertext more complex and impossible to decrypt without a key. 

Why do we need to Encrypt Files and Folders?

Files and folders contain personal data, pictures, documents, video files, and lots more things you always want to keep. But what if something happened with your laptop or system, and you would have to leave the computer to some tech guy? Would you leave your data along with it? Sometimes you have to leave the drive as well for diagnostics.