Shared folder protection in a mixed win7 and winXP LAN

[atzounis]

Hello,
I have spent several days trying to figure out how to implement the following scenario.
I work for a small company. We have a workgroup of 5 pc's. Two of them are winXp and the rest win7. I have bought a switch and put them all in one network. I have set some public folders with read/write permissions. Everything fine so far...
Here comes the problem... I can't setup homegroup, as this is a win7 feature, and could probably solve my problem. What I want to do is to password protect, or limit somehow some folders that will be available/ accessible only by some partners. Any ideas or workarrounds???
I have downloaded Kakasoft shared folder protector, but it doesn't seem to work so good. I encrypted a couple of folders and after a couple of attempts now I can't open and/or decrypt/restore them...
Thanks for your time everyone!
Regards,
A.

 

[edwar]

Right a Home group is only for Windows 7 computers. For a Mixed LAN with 7 & XP you must use the workgroup system and not the Home group.

EDIT:

As to password protecting Some Folders that can't be done. You allow access to LAN computer by Username and Password. Once you enter the correct username and password to access a PC you have access to all things shared on that PC.