The Secret Life of Files: How To Master File & Folder Properties

The Secret Life of Files: How To Master File & Folder Properties

Every file and folder on your computer possesses digital DNA – file format, creation date, author, modification date, descriptive tags, etc. These inner attributes follow a file and folder. It doesn’t matter where it moves on your system, or whether it’s copied and forwarded elsewhere — those attributes are coming along with it.

The attributes are stored in each file or folder’s Property Manager; that can be accessed by right-clicking on the file name or its icon. Most of time we have no need to examine a file or folder’s properties. But when viewing or editing attributes are required –be it for security or personal reasons– that’s when we need to be our own property manager.

Metadata: Exploring the Inner Workings of Files

If Groucho Marx was to jokingly refer to metadata he would probably exclaim “I never metadata I didn’t like,” or something like that. But seriously, metadata is usually defined as the data that provides information about other data. In other words metadata is the instruction manual that tells a computer what’s up with a particular file.

When security cops are called in to examine, say, a politician’s deleted emails, they can actually glean the origins of the message, when it was transmitted, and its contents from the file’s metadata. Similarly we can often see and manipulate the files and folders on our computers by examining their Properties. And like those deleted emails, your files’ metadata (live or deleted) can sometimes expose your privacy. And for many of those files—photos, text, videos, audio tracks–you can edit that metadata of personal elements.

Let’s take a look at the Properties of various file formats – documents, images, and video/audio – to see what is stored there and how to change the data, if so desired. Examining the files themselves by right-clicking and choosing Properties is the same in Windows 7, 8, and 10. Viewed from Windows Explorer, there are a few surface differences which I will also point out.

Use Properties to Follow the Life of Documents

Legendary screen siren Mae West once said, “Keep a diary, dearie and someday it will keep you.” In digital terms the Properties of a document are its diary and the minute details and history of the document are saved here. In Windows Explorer, find your document file and right-click on it.

The first screen you will see lands on the General tab. There are two buttons for customization to note here. The first labeled Change is to the right of Open with: allows you to switch the application used to open this file format. For example, if you don’t like the app Windows defaults for playing videos, you can switch to another. In this case, I changed to Videolan’s VLC Player. The second button appears at the bottom of the General tab window and is labeled Unblock. This is handy if the files was downloaded from the Internet. For security Windows blocks making changes to Properties until you click Unblock.

The real nitty-gritty of file info is found on the Details tab. From the Properties window, select the Details tab. Here before you is the author or authors of the doc, the version number, the application used to create it and the times it was created and since revised, when it was last printed, and total editing time.

By default Windows allows users the ability to add, delete, and edit various Properties. In Figure 1, I was able to enter notes in each field under Description. But in the fields below under Origin most are locked except for the Author field where I could not delete my name but could add additional authors.

To actually know what fields in Properties are able to be modified, just double-click on each line. Ones that allow changes will pop open with a fillable space.

By clicking on the Security tab in Properties you can change the permissions tor reading, writing, and modifying both Properties and the document itself. Click the Edit button to execute changes to Permissions and then check or uncheck each function box. That way you can control what other authors or readers can do with the document.

Scrolling farther down on the Details tab reveals more details about the work that went into the document, right down to the number of keystrokes and words. Again, here some fields allow for data entry of notes or comments and a double-click on each will reveal that possibility.

Photo Properties Tell Who Took the Shot and How

While the Properties window for photo files is the same as revealed for documents, the fields are adjusted for the different components inherent in photo images. Image dimensions, width, height, copyright, camera model, exposure time, F-stop, and all the other characteristics of how a photo was shot – the entire DNA – are listed in a photo’s properties.

Notice now the copyright line was changed in Figures2 and 3 from Brent Winebrenner to John Q. Public. Because this field was left unlocked it allowed me to change the photographer’s name. Although this was done merely to demonstrate how Properties information can be altered and will not be saved, it does reveal how valuable file information can be altered. If a photo was, say, to be used as evidence in a court case, changes like this as well as in date taken and location fields could change ultimate verdicts. That’s one reason it is important to use the editing control offered under the Security tab.

Adding tags can be useful for notes, subject classification, or other credits. Curiously, you cannot add tags or ratings to some file formats such as BMP, PNG, AVI, or MPG. Go figure. Add a semicolon after each tag you want to enter.

Video file properties work much like those for images. The only difference is that elements unique to a video are included in the Details, such as running time, frames per second, mono or stereo, etc.

Remove Properties Option Erases Your ‘Fingerprints’

On every Details window there is a blue colored link at the bottom: Remove Properties and Personal Information. Click it and you will see a popup window with two buttons. By default the Create a copy with all possible properties removed is checked. Click okay to save a copy of the file, be it document, image, or other format, and all the file’s details will be deleted. Privacy is now protected.

The other option, Remove the following properties from this file, let you cherry pick the particular properties to be eliminated. A new file is not created but the current file is saved with only the elements you want to remain in the future.

Using the Ribbon View in Windows Explorer 10

Starting with Windows 8, Windows Explorer appeared with the Ribbon menu interface. It provides more information about folders and files than the previous, flat view Windows Explorer had in Windows 7.

While you can still right-click file icons to see the Properties windows – and I think that is still the most convenient option –the Ribbon now has Properties as a choice. By clicking Properties from the Ribbon, the highlighted file’s Properties window will open.

But if you click on the down arrow on Properties on the Ribbon, you will reveal Remove properties which proves to be shortcut to the Remove properties window that saves two additional clicks required if you reach Properties by the standard right-click method.

How to Control Windows 10 Security via Group Policy

You can adjust and strengthen Windows 10 security settings through Group Policy. Here’s how.

You want to tighten the security features and policies in Windows 10 but you’re not sure where to go. Well, there is a Settings screen where you can enable or disable several privacy settings. But if you want to manage and maintain the security settings in the OS, one method is through the Group Policy Editor. Using this tool, you can control settings for anyone who uses the same computer. You’ll find settings for password length and complexity, the account lockout policy, the Windows firewall, and the audit policies. Though Group Policy is typically used in an organization, it can also be recruited to tweak settings on an individual computer, whether that PC is used by one person or by multiple people in a home or small office.

The local security policies for Windows 10 are contained in a Group Policy snap-in called secpol.msc. By opening this snap-in in your Group Policy Editor, you can tweak each individual setting. This gives you the power to set security policy for any Windows 10 computer in your home or office. Anyone who logs into a computer for which you’ve set the security policies will be subject to the same settings, so group policy is an ideal way to set security for all users of a single PC.

To open the local security policy in Windows 10, type secpol.msc in the Cortana search field. Right click on the search result that reads secpol.msc Microsoft Common Console Document and click on Run as Administrator. The local security policy then opens in your Group Policy Editor displaying all the security policies and settings organized by folder and type.

Okay, let’s look at some of the security policies.

You can control the types of passwords that people use to log into Windows on your current computer, specifically configuring such factors as complexity, minimum password length, and maximum password age. Let’s try the following scenario: Click on the right arrow for Account Policies and then click on the setting for Password Policy. Double-click on the policy for Enforce password history. Here you can set a number for how many times new passwords must be used before an old password can be reused. Clicking the Explain tab describes how the policy works. Enter a number between 1 and 24 and then click OK.

Double-click on Maximum password age. Here you can set how many days a password can be in effect before the user must change it. Enter the number of days and then click OK. Double-click on Minimum password length. Here you can establish the least number of characters a password may contain. Enter a number and then click OK. Finally, double-click on the policy for Password must meet complexity requirements. Enabling this policy requires that the password meet certain criteria in terms of length, alphanumeric characters, and non-alphanumeric characters. Click Enabled and then click OK. All of the policies you tweaked will now be in effect for all users of the computer.

Click on the setting for Account Lockout Policy. Double-click on the policy for Account lockout threshold. This sets the number of failed logon attempts before an account is locked out. You’ll want to be careful with this setting otherwise you may face complaints from colleagues or family members who get locked out because they forget their password. But it can protect a computer residing in an open office or one that gets lost or stolen.

Click on the right arrow for Local Policies and then click on the setting for Audit Policy. Here you can establish which actions generate an event, meaning something you can access and read in Windows Event Viewer. For example, the policy for Audit login events can generate an event if someone uses an invalid password to log into Windows. To set that up, click on the checkbox for failure so that a failed logon attempt is recorded. You’d probably use the audit settings sparingly unless you need to keep track of failed logon attempts and other activities that might raise a red flag.

Click on the setting for User Rights Assignment. Here you can set policies for which users can change the system time and time zone, log into the PC using Remote Desktop, remotely force the computer to shut down, and take ownership of specific files. Click on the setting for Security Options. At this screen, you can establish policies for who can add or log in with a Microsoft account, who can install printer drivers for shared printers, whether someone can access the CD-ROM drive over the network, and whether the User Account Control feature requires a username and password.

Click on the right arrow for Windows Firewall with Advanced Security and then click on the setting for Windows Firewall with Advanced Security – Local Group Policy Object. On the right pane, click on the link for Windows Firewall Properties. Click on the tab for Private Profile. Here you can determine the Windows firewall configuration for a private network, such as one you’d use at home. Click on the tab for Public Profile. Here you can set up the firewall for a public network, such as one you’d use at a library or coffee shop. If you already use third-party security software with its own firewall, then you can leave these settings as they are. Also, note that even though the policy may say the Windows Firewall is not configured, it’s most likely already enabled, just not through group policy. To check the Windows Firewall status, open Control Panel and then click on Windows Firewall. In this case, using group policy is a way to tweak settings for the Windows Firewall, even if it’s already turned on.

At this point, you can browse through the rest of the security settings and policies. However, you’ll probably find little else here that you need to configure or control, at least in a home or small office.

Finally, if you have another Windows 10 computer and want the same security settings and policies to be in effect, you can export the policies from your current computer to the new PC. To do this, click on the setting at the top for Security Settings. Then click on the Action menu and click on Export Policy.

Name and save your policy as an INF file in a place accessible to your other computer. Then on the other computer, open the secpol.msc snap-in. Click on the Action menu and then click on Import Policy. Browse to and select the INF file you saved, and the security settings will take effect on your current computer.