How to Add Encrypt / Decrypt Options to Windows 7 / Vista Right-Click Menu

 

Some people are really really security conscious. If you are one of them and always searching to protect your files etc etc. they you may be using the built-in file encryption in Windows 7 or Vista. This is for you. Actually it should have been included by Microsoft.

Now You might be interested in adding an option to the right-click menu to encrypt and decrypt your files (rather than having to use the file properties dialog.)

Adding this to the menu is very simple as there’s only a single registry key to add.

1. Open up regedit.exe  and find the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

2. In the right-hand pane, create a new 32-bit DWORD value and name it  EncryptionContextMenu

3. Give it a value of 1.

4. Right-click on any file, and  you’ll see a new option called Encrypt.

 

 

When you choose this option, you’ll be asked if you want to encrypt just the file, or also the parent folder. You can also choose just the file as the default.

Once the files are encrypted, the title of the file will become green, indicating that it’s been encrypted. The right-click option on this file will also now change to Decrypt.