[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by mikeis41

Hey, is there any way to password protect my music files on my computer so they can't be copied? Would it still allow an employee to use the files during a show but just on that computer?

I did quite a bit of research and testing on using Microsoft's encryption for this tonight. Here is what I found:

1. This will only work on XP Pro and not XP Home. I don't know about Vista but I am sure the same will apply.
2. You can encrypt the files or better would be to encrypt the folder which also encrypts the files in it but you must be an administrator on the machine.
3. Create your user, add to Power User group and set password.
   • Log in as this user.
   • Verify you can open Hoster then close it.
   • Open Windows Explorer find a file (not a system file), right click on it and go to properties.
   • On General page click on Advanced, check the encrypt file box, and click OK. On General page click Apply.
   • Click on Advanced again and next to encrypt click Detail button. You should see the user name listed. Click Cancel button then on General page click OK.
   • Right click on file again, go to properties.
   • Click on Advanced and uncheck the encrypt file box. Click OK and then OK on General page.
   • What all this did was to establish the user's certificate.
4. Now log off of this user and log back in with your administrator account.
5. Go to the folder you keep your KMA files in, right click on the folder go to properties and:
   • On General page click on Advanced, check the encrypt file box, and click OK. Depending on the number of files this can take a long time. I only did a test folder with 108 files and it took 4-5 minutes.
6. This next step is the real killer. To allow additional users (your host user that you created) to use the files you will have to:
   • Right click on each file individually (can't open a group) go to properties.
   • Click on Advanced button. Click on Add and a new window opens listing the users. Click on the User you want to add, then click OK three times.
7. When you finish you need to change the security for this folder and files so that Power Users only have Read and Execute permissions. This prevents them being able to copy the files to another computer or even another drive.

That is what I have found so far, but will continue researching.