Copy-Protect my Files?

[lazyturbo]

Is it possible to copy-protect files so that certain files on my computer can't be copied or transferred? The files can still be accessed like normal, but just can't be copied.

I know you can do this in Mac OSX, but I'm using XP. Or is there some program that I can download to do this?

Thanks.

[redwudz]

It depends somewhat on what type of files you mean. Some programs will block changes, but not making copies. Generally if you can access a file you can copy it. Most file protection limits access and with no access, no copy. You can also encrypt your files, then, even if copied they would be useless. Or you could disable your drives to prevent copying.
You may be able to give each user a separate logon and set their access to read only. As long as they aren't too computer savvy, that may block them.

You can do some Google searches for 'copy protection' or 'securing computer files' or similar. There's a lot out there and it depends on how much protection you want and how much inconvenience you can tolerate..

[lazyturbo]

Is it possible to just stop someone from using the "ctrl-c" and "ctrl-v" functions (copy-paste) on certain files? and prevent drag-and-drop?

[TJohns]

XP Security 101
==========
Under XP, right-click file, select PROPERTIES, select SECURITY tab (not available on XL Home??). You should see several users/groups that have access rights to the file.

ADD your own login name to the list (if not already there), and REMOVE the others. XP will now ensure only you have access to the file.

Note that ANY user with administrator rights can "override" these security settings and take control of the file again.

Trev

[SingSing]

You can zipped them up with password, so the files can get copied, but the content are not accessibled.

[TBoneit]

one hundred percent sure way to protect them. Don not put them on the computer. Only use something removable and when that is atached make sure you killed the Internet connection too.

If it can displayed you can copy it. You could kill cut/paste/copy and still be able to copy it.

Did you ever hit a paranoids web page where they have disabled the right click? I right click on a wb page all the time especally here to refesh the screen. Just hit Print Screen button and paste into Word or Wordpad. It will not be text at that point as it is an image. OTOH OCR to get back to text. Image edit s/w for pictures.