Vista handles file encryption through the Properties dialog for the file or folder you want to encrypt. Go to the folder in Windows Explorer, right-click it, and choose Properties; in the resulting Properties menu, click Advanced. Here, click the Encrypt contents to secure data option and then OK. Note that although both the encryption and the compression options (oddly enough, this choice isn't presented as a pair of radio buttons as you'd expect); Windows does not allow compressed files to be encrypted via EFSWhen planning a full-security strategy, be sure to keep that limitation in mind, either deleting compressed files from all drives or securing them using third-party software:



The final step is the Confirm Attribute Changes dialog, in which you choose to encrypt only the current folder or the folder plus all subfolders (and all files within those subfolders). Make the choice, click OK, and prepare to watch the progress bar as EFS performs the encryption on the selected items.