My computer literacy varies wildly, so I apologize in advance for anything I say that is incorrect or stupid.
I want to assign a passcode to a specific folder on my Windows 10 PC. I do not want to encrypt the information, because it's full of art and memes that I post on various boards and want to access quickly. My research claims that it is impossible to password protect a folder without encryption, whether you use Window's native content encryption or third party software, but I swear I have read anecdotes from people who seem to have assigned a password and nothing else. To clarify, because this is a common question and subsequent recommendation, this is a personal laptop that only I use, so I don't want to create a separate user account. But very occasionally a family member will need to use my PC briefly and access my files, and I don't want them to see some of my images with a darker sense of humor. Is there any way at all to apply a simple password to an entire file folder that does not encrypt or zip the information inside and only requires the password to open the folder? Or am I asking for something impossible and should just use one of the recommendations I've already found? Thank you very much for any advice.