What is Encrypting File System (EFS)?
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Encrypting File System (EFS) is an advanced security feature of Windows XP Professional. It is used to protect unauthorized users from opening the files that are stored on a disk using the NTFS file system. EFS uses symmetric key encryption in combination with public key technology to ensure the security of files. It encodes the files so that even if a user gets access to a file, he cannot read it. It is an integrated system, which is easy to manage, hard to attack, and transparent to the owner of the protected file. No one except the owner of the protected file can open the file and work with it. However, in the absence of the owner of the protected file, the encrypted file can be recovered by granting any user account the recovery agent rights. EFS is not available in Windows XP Home Edition. The administrators can enable or disable EFS on a Windows XP Professional computer in the Group Policy console.
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