Making a folder and files password protected

Hello everybody. I'm leaving my country to live in the US for 10 months and while I'm gone I would like to protect certain private files and folders with a password.

So I was wondering does anyone know how to do this? I've been poking around in 'Get Info' and I can't seem to figure it out.

BTW I'm using 10.4.11, and there is only one user on the computer, so any guests using the computer will be on this user too.

Any help will be appreciated!

I tried this once and it was really easy.
Here is the website: http://www.eakes.org/archives/2006/11/how_to_password.html
and the article:

Password Protect a Folder on the Mac

I was looking for a way to password protect a folder on the Mac. I needed to be able to backup a large collection of files onto a USB hard drive and then send it securely through the mail for safe off-site storage. For some reason, this functionality is not integrated directly into Finder.

Finally I stumbled upon a way to do it with built-in OS X software. That is perfect because I wanted to avoid using random 3rd-party trialware for something that an operating system ought to be able to do for free.

How to Password Protect a Folder on the Mac:

Open up the "Disk Utility" application
File -> New -> Disk Image from Folder...
choose a folder to protect
choose "AES-128" encryption and press Save
Enter your desired new password twice (Do not forget it.)
This process creates an ordinary Macintosh disk image (.dmg) file. The disk image contains the entire contents of the folder, but cannot be opened unless the correct password is supplied. To open it, just double-click the .dmg file in Finder. A password dialog box will appear. Once you supply your correct password, Finder will automatically unencrypt your data and mount the image as a disk.

Wow thanks!

Kir-Java said:

BTW I'm using 10.4.11, and there is only one user on the computer, so any guests using the computer will be on this user too.

Click to expand...

Which is a really, really stupid idea.

Even if these guests cannot read the files you leave, they will still be able to delete them, delete other files on your computer, change important settings, and generally cause all sorts of damage, either deliberately or accidentally.

Making new user accounts takes far less time and effor than creating an encrypted image and provides far greater security.

Heh, yeah I was actually thinking that before I posted the thread. Even though I'm sure nobody would delete anything or change settings (we already got a bunch of other computers in the house other people could use) I'd say it's a good idea to make a new user. Hassle-free and I don't have to worry about a thing