Nifty Windows Trick (Reposted from Valley!!!)

[Desslock]

Im willing to bet me, and quite possibly a few others know about the hidden system files windows keeps on your hard drive. No, not talking about the ones you can see when you toggle "show hidden files"... these are much more hidden. So hidden in fact, they were never discovered until a few months ago, and they'd been around since Win95!

 

Well, I've been able to recreate how windows makes these files hidden so well.

 

There is a program in every Dos and windows shell called Attrib , short for attribute. It is used to set flags on various things, namely how Windows explorer identifies the file. Using this, and making the folder you wish to keep secret, you will probably deter 99% of the people looking for the data you are trying to hide. Only a VERY dedicated hacker could find the hidden information. First, I'll show you how to hide the files, then how to find them yourself (since you dont want to hide your entire windows directory and essentially fry your system.)

 

Fire up a good ole Dos command prompt. Minimize, then make a folder in your C:\ drive. Name it something small, and rememberable. I used test throughout my testing. Once the folder is created, go into the folder and create a couple of text files (used as examples). Now, close the C:\ drive window. Go back to your Dos prompt. Type C: and hit enter. Your prompt should appear as C:\>_

 

Once thats done, type attrib +s +h X (where X is the name of the folder you created.

 

Now, open up your c:\ drive window. You should now find that the folder is no where to be seen, even if you have show hidden files enabled. Now, go back to your prompt, and type CD X (where X is the name of the folder you created). Notice you can enter in the folder and type DIR and you'll see any files you created in it.

 

What this does: When you set the attributes s and h, Windows marks the folder as super important and cloaks it from normal viewing. You cant even see it in dos unless you add a parameter to the dir command. That parameter would be /a. It will reveal the folder. Windows Find cant even see it. Simply put, you essentially block the folder from anyone outside of DOS. There is a loophole though. Notepad, or any other program for that matter, can enter the folder, but you need the folder name and you need to be in the right directory.

 

To remove the attributes, simply type attrib -s -h X (you should know what X is by now! ) and the folder will seemingly appear from another dimension.

 

Tricky huh?

 

The original article can be found at www.F***microsoft.com (I think you know what the censored word is). The article is written by a guy named TheRiddler. Props to him for writing this extremely informative article. I dont believe information on hiding files so well can be found in that article, so I take credit if not.