I was wondering if you could protect folders with Windows 7.
Currently I am protecting each file individually in the folder, but it takes up too much time. If I could just protect the folder, by password, this would save me a lot of time.
Assign a different user account to each person using the computer, and then set the permissions on your folder so that no other account can access it. Then you don't need a password—nobody else will be able to access the folder at all. And if someone does need to access it, you can reset permissions on the folder for that user's account so that he can do whatever you wish to permit (looking at the folder, looking at files, modifying files, whatever).
On Windows, if you set permissions just for yourself, even the administrator cannot get to them. He can only reset the permissions, but then you will notice that he accessed the folder (which is exactly why it works this way).