I checked out Windows XP's security features, and I find
it confusing. There should be an easy way for newbies to
set the permissions for files and folders/subfolders just
like it is so easy to create a new user under admin.

Perhaps it should be something like this...

Security Tab:
Groups and users
Security Options: (Each item with an access/deny option)
Change Owner
List Folder Contents:
[Do not] list Files/File Extentions/Pattern
Read Attributes:
Read Archive Attrib.
Read Hidden Attrib.
Read System Attrib.
Read Read-Only Attrib.
Read Compressed Attrib.
Read Encrpyted Attrib.
...
Read Modification Time
...
Read Security Settings:
List Folder Contents
Modify
...
Read Contents
....
Allow Change Read-Only Attribute
....

You know what I mean?

How about compressing and encrypting files, not compress
OR encrypt?

(Note: E-mail address above "kvscl@msn.com" is real, but
no email can ever reach the address because all email has
been blocked. Too much spam comes in.)