Do you share your Windows XP Home computer with other users? If so, you might want to make a folder private so that other users on that computer can't access the contents of your folder. If you've formatted your disk using NTFS (which you should always do unless you're dual booting with another OS and want to be able to access the files with that OS), you can lock up that folder so that only you can get to it. Here's how:

1. Right click the folder that you wanted to make private.
2. On the Sharing tab of the folder, put a checkmark in the Make this folder private checkbox.
3. Click Apply. If you do not have a password on your account, you will see a Sharing dialog box that asks if you want to assign a password to your account. You must assign a password to your account if you want to make your folder private. Click Yes.
4. Type in your new password and then confirm it. Click the Create Password button. Close the Password window.
5. Click OK on the folder's Properties dialog box.

When another user logs onto the computer, that user will not be able to access the contents of your private folder.