In Joomla prior to 1.6 i could set a menu-item to public, and its contents: an article for example to registered.
This lead to a si
Go menu CONTENT, create or edit a section to the items you want to protect.
You'll see an option: Access Level
There is 3 options:
Public, Registered and Special
Set it to: Registered
Then you'll need to change your articles for this section and that's all.