Hidden Windows XP and Vista Folders "How to hide files and folders"

i will try..................

Just remember never to depend on user ignorance as a form of security ;) Doing so is kinda like hiding your house key under your door mat -- the people you're not concerned with won't care to look.... but those "other" people...

Every form of security relies on some level of ignorance, just not how you see it usually. If I'm "smarter" than you any level of security is in jeapordy. Go ahead, encrypt you network...I can aircrack WEP. Password or delete files, we know those are recoverable. Personal Security. Sure lock your doors and car, you can make keys...if you know how. Any security on your Bank account? I can't get your account #, PIN or social security myself....but others have and it does and will happen....no matter how secure..

Sometimes the easiest is the least likey suspected never obvious and if you can't even suspect the technique no level of sophisicated tools or utilities will help you.

This is just a fun hack...

Dang it, stop it with the internet tough guy. No one cares that you can "hax into their computers"

Generally, depending on ignorance is viewed as poor security.

The best systems have open source algorythms, so everyone can see how they work, and yet without the key / hash / seed they're only crackable to brute force (or reversing the algorythm, which most of the time will take longer than brute force).

this is awesome lol i'm using to hide my stuff from my brother =)

Dude, hide Gxy Pxxn stuff in HIS folders....hehe

rofl i did that with my bro it turns out he found it told my parents and they thought I was gxy....i am strate like a pencil though

CRAP!!!!!
IT wont DELETE

help please

lol there's much easier way to hide,
instead of making the icon invisible, change it into a dll icon, rename it Whatever Dll name you like.dll, click hidden, then change your folder option to show hidden folder. and finally put it in system32. if you think that is not enough. just add more Dll and invisible folder in it.

Never mind; I found that great picture where you can "customize" and make it blank! Then I just shoved it to the bottom, and voila! Thank you so much!

Is there any way to do this without a number keypad? My stupid laptop doesn't have one; it just has the long bar of numbers at the top...

I made my file name ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
and arranged the folders by name so nobody could find my folder.

This is nice. There is another way to hide data on NTFS partitions. You use Alternate data streams to fully hide the data, which can only be viewed with an ads aware application. To hide data such as text, or jpegs, or mp3's you use this command format. Run CMD at the run prompt. Then switch to the directory where the file you want to hide is located. Now type this without the quotes and substituting your filename. " type yourfile.bla > blahblah.txt:yourfile.bla" Only the txt file will show up and it can be ran or whatever but will not give away your ads file. If it is moved away from an NTFS partition the hidden file will be lost. This is for long term storage of your data, because it takes awhile to do. To get the file back just type this without the quotes and substituting your filename. " more < blahblah.txt:yourfile.bla > yourvisiblefile.bla " To hide exe files youll need a tool called cat.exe that is a Unix file, but is available as a win32 port somewhere, google it.

Excellent!

I like to hid data & files in these 'invisable' folders with enccrypted JPEG's. People are suckers for a pretty picture, flowers, puppies, bikini's etc...

Data can be hidden inside JPEG uptp many megabytes of text, exe or others... See te free cryptobola.com

Here is a pretty picture...it has my COMPLETE inventory and prices for my Amazon store, cost, sales, profits etc...safe from you guys, posted here freely, but safe and secure!

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so, what exactly do you need to type in the box that is for the name that says new folder?

• i have a laptop.
• i dont get the"

<
Windows XP - no Media or Language support - Use ASCII codes in the name field with "num lk" keypad then 'alt'+0160 in the Name field from the Properties tab "New Folder".
>
" if you could tell me what exactly this means, i dont have unicode.

OK type alt+0160 into the "Name" field.

but on a laptop or desktop keyboard you MUST use the numeric keypad.

On a laptop you MUST click (NumLk) then use the left alt key, old down and press the KEYPAD "+" and then the 0160 on the KEYPAD ONLY.

Press KEYPAD Enter...

Save, OK and test...!

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Uh, oh, collaborators aren't invisible.

(removed by community request)

I'm not too savvy with the collaboration things.

(removed by community request)

Noob... You "Joined" the group...so you get to see and type something useful.

Or take up space...

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The text was being invisible

<font color="white">Making the text color white</font>

Try this instructable on getting Windows Passwords:
http://www.instructables.com/id/SAEPSY3F1B3RBOT/

ooops....a typo? or can't cut and paste?

perhaps an instructable on <ctrl>-c and <ctrl>-v

If I have your password I still cannot 'find' your hidden files. ANY COMPUTER you can get to the 'console' can be easily hacked, boot in single-user mode on UNIX or use D: recovery partitions on a PC/Laptop...

Protect you physical machine even better than your web, network or virtual ID's.

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Hmm... an interesting idea, I must say. Would probably fool most novice computer users.

It makes itself pretty obvious if you change view, say to 'details' and/or disable thumbnail caching.

But on the whole a pretty nice idea, you could have an invisible icon on the corner of your desktop.

..yeah I show some examples...but if you do not know to look how would you know to change a view?...also

If I have a normal folder called "ERCK" and and it is empty of any files, is there still a missing icon or folder? Would you look in three empty folders? changing views? When nothing is thier or I name them "New Folder"...hum?

You'd have to change the view for every subdirectory and scan for a blank visually, the search command will not help as our file does not have a "Name" you can see as it is just non printing characters.

We just need to work on the rest of the clues to make a truely 'hidden' folder like Vegas says on the Mac's and UNIX/Linux.

Can you lock a view or all sub directories? hum?

How deep can you place a directory? Any limits.

What about a shell game ...I give you three blank folders, four levels deep or more ...can you look in them all efficiently? Chaning views How hard is it? IS a empty folder harder to pick out the hidden file?

ideas here?

I give you a VMWare image of a XP system with a single hidden file...you can find it by scanning folders and chinging views or using search etc?

good luck....it's a GUI and visually driven, your commands to 'unhide' or search/find are not useful here.

ideas?

Well, for someone like me, I've disabled thumbnail caching and the remembering of directory views anyway. And either way, the name of the file isn't its biggest give-away usually, most of the time, that's too obvious.

For instance, if you find a folder that looks empty, but has a substantial file size, it's a bit of a giveaway.

And as was said, once the secret's been revealed, it's not much of a security thing anymore.

I think the Zip - Ace - Rar technique is pretty good. Although you have the obscurity, you also have the tripple encryption, so it's a nice balance.

hi my Win Xp system was hit by a malware and now even when i chose " show hidden folders" options, my hidden folders do not appear, however the status bar does show i have 3 hidden folders..pls advice.Cheers!

Advice ....Yes, post your issue on wiki.answers.com, I address 100's of issues there where comments and feedback are dynamicly self correcting...

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If you're really serious about hiding your stuff, there are lots of software available to do it for you. One example is Hide Files and Folders. This program is free and can do lots of stuff. It can hide your folders completely such that people or programs cannot access it or see it, it can turn folders invisible but still accessible, it can turn your folders read-only and can apply a setting where you have to enter a password before opening the folder. I really like this program and use it often.

$49

It's kind of silly isn't it? If you make a folder invisible in Windows it still takes a place holder?

To make a folder (or any file for that mater.) invisible on the Mac, use Terminal to rename it with a leading period. It not only becomes invisible, but doesn't use the space in a listing, nor is it counted as an existing folder. The only way to open it is to know the path to it and use the Open Folder command.

The . applies to all unix-based systems.

...and your point is?

Advantage of a UNIX kernel...! Windows will never be able to pile on newer and newer versions while maintaining backwards compatability. Question is how do we do this on XP or Vista? Can we find a .ini file or a registry setting that controls the remaind place holders....It can be done..I hope!

...might fool my kids, but not my peers..

This is one thing that astounded me about Vista! I was expecting a brand new OS that got rid off all the problems carried over from Win95. Especially viruses! Instead, they added an irritating confirmation for just about everything you do and it still requires a 3rd party virus filter!

An easier method, use truecrypt and make a hidden file, plus it also has high encryption, it also works on USB flash drives. Now, not only are your files hidden but they are also encrypted. Read the instructions before using, and try a small file to test it out.

There is another method in xp, go to the folders security setting and change the permissions. It will be visible, but inaccessible to other users, just make sure you don't accidentally block yourself out.

Just as easy is a password on a zip file or a 'rar' archive...however many password crackers are easy to download and use keywords or brute force. Even WEP has been cracked ...some even say single DES is easy. However PGP and hopefully RSA....but you CAN encrypt any file then...

Remove permissions
compress/zip & encrypt/RSA
embed in a JPG image
Save as a "blank" file
Hide the icon
Hide the directory/icon
place in obsure sub-directory with common name(s)
Disable search and indexing
place a 'blank' "link" on your desktop as per instructable in a fixed position then lock the desktop icons.