Right Click: Encrypt/Decrypt Files from Context Menu

Jason — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 15:04:36 GMT

By default, Vista allows you to encrypt and decrypt files, but you have to do a lot of mouse clicking to get there. You have to right-click the file, select Properties, click the Advanced button and then finally select to encrypt the file. Wouldn't it be much more convenient to just right-click the file and select Encrypt? Here's how:

1. Open Notepad.

2. Copy and paste the following into Notepad:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"EncryptionContextMenu"=dword:00000001

3. Save the text file as Vista_RightClickEncrypt.reg.

4. Double-click the newly created file.

5. When the UAC prompt appears, click Continue.

6. When the confirmation box appears, click Yes.

7. The file will be merged to the registry. A confirmation box will appear, click OK.

Now you can just right click a file and hit encrypt.

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Right Click: Encrypt/Decrypt Files from Context Menu