How to password protect a folder easily using Winrar?

Hello guys! First of all Merry Christmas to you all. Do you know why Christmas is just like your job? Because you do all the work and the fat guy with the suit gets all the credit. However, jokes apart. In this holy Christmas, I'm back with a new windows tutorial. This article is quite similar to a post I written a few days earlier. If you missed it here's the link, go grab it —

• How to password protect a folder using notepad?

Now today I'm gonna write about password protecting a folder using a third party app called WinRAR. You may ask, "Why the thunder do I need to install software to do that, if I can do that with notepad, eh"? Relax; I'm not a crack-head. Using notepad to protect the directory is not at all a secure process. Anyone can crack that. So if you have awesomely-personal stuffs which you want to keep fully secured in a highly encrypted place, then you must read this post minutely. Okay, now let the party start.

You'll need:

• WinRAR compatible to your computer. Download it here.
• A goat (optional).

Okay, now? 

First of all, install the software (hope you know how to). Then copy/move your ultra-personal stuffs to the targeted folder (any folder). After that right click on the folder and click Add to archive. See the screen shot bellow.

Next a pop up should appear. You will see few tabs like General, Advanced and blah blah! Go to advanced tab. Click on Set Password. Enter any password and for additional protection check mark 'Encrypt file names'. This would disable viewing the file names while opening the archive. Refer to the following picture.

Lastly, click all OKs that come in your path (you know what I mean). Then the compression process will begin and take time according to the amount of load you put on the folder. After the completion compression process you will view a WinRAR archive file. Now delete the original files or the folder (careful, don't delete the archive!). You're done. At later times if you want to open that folder or get the original files, all you have to do is, right click on the archive file and click 'Extract here' then enter password and hit 'OK'. Or if you simply want to view one file of that archive, just double click on it and enter password and you're done!

Few Bonus Tips this Winter:

• For better encryption, change the compression method from Normal to Store. You can get it at the 'General' tab (right beside the 'Advanced' tab where you set your password while adding the archive).
• If you have some 'really' personal stuffs (if you know what I mean by 'really'), just copy those files to a folder in a 'seriously-complicated' location. For example to a path like: 'C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerTrust\xyz'. Then archive it. Well, I do that often (hope, none of my family members are reading this).

Easy piece of cake, wasn't it? Anyway, enjoy these holidays and do not forget to keep visiting the site. Don't share this article to any of your family members (lol). For any question ask me in comments. Follow me on Twitter and Google+. Respect goats. #Peace.

The folder icon in this post's cover photo is a creation of Jimmac which is taken from Flickr. So it falls under the same licence as the original.