There are already so many application and tools available used to protect any files or folders using passwords. But do you know if you are using windows 7 then you don’t need to really being dependent on such utility or application to protect your applications or files as there is an inbuilt tool called BitLocker already implemented to provide you this functionality.

Using this utility you can encrypt any drive whether it hard drive or pen drive from being accessed until the password is provided thus relaxing you from any confidential data access even if it is stolen.

So if you are willing to know more about it then below is the step by step instruction to assist you:

1. First of all go to Start > Control Panel and choose BitLocker Drive Encryption.

2.Now to apply BitLocker on any specific drive, click  Turn On BitLocker.  Here is the dialogue box which will be displayed.

3.Set password of the particular drive by checking “Use a password to unlock the drive” and entering password twice.

4. You can also use your smart card to unlock the drive by using Use my smart card to unlock the drive or you can Automatically unlock the drive on this computer. Click Next to proceed to next step, at this step choose where you want to save your unlock key. This will be needed if you forgot your password, then you will be able to unlock the drive by using this key.

5. Click Next and  you will be taken to last step, confirm to encrypt the drive by clicking Start encrypting.

6. That’s all, Now your drive will be protected and in case someone steals your hard drive or USB drive, that person will not be able to access your data. Enjoy!