Hiding those files

[jon_breen]

When you have a lot of files that you don't want someone to see, even when they have experience with Windows XP, here's a little proven solution of mine.

On each drive I have there is a hidden file called "System Volume Information", when clicking on this there is an .ini file called "Desktop" normally present.

I changed the icon for this "System Volume Information" (which is basically a folder) to that of a pie chart with a chunk coming out, and I did this for each "System Volume Information" folder that there was (which was four in my case). I then deleted the Desktop.ini file (sometimes it is not present in which case just do what I say next>>), and then created a folder and named it...yes you guessed it..."Desktop" - giving it the icon of a .ini file.

Now when someone is looking around on your computer, like my friend so frequently does no mine, they will not notice anything out of the ordinary - it's just a Windows file thing to them.

It works, but you may find this a pile of pooh. Works best on younger brothers or sisters though who so often don't have a clue.

 

[Faner]

and then of course, there is a MUCH simpler way of doing thins. If you have only one user profile on the puter, then it's a bit tricky, bu why not just use the utility included in XP that lets you encrypt files. And then of course, if you're not THAT picky, you could always make a folder, and deny access to it to any others than your own user profile

 

[Binary]

Keeping Your Own Files Private
If you create a new account during setup, or if the Windows Setup program automatically creates your user account when you upgrade from Windows 98 or Windows Me, your account starts out with no password. As the final step when you add a password to your own account from User Accounts in Control Panel, Windows displays a dialog box which offers to help you make your files and folders private. (This option does not appear if your user profile is stored on a FAT32 drive.)

Using this option to make your files private is convenient, but it’s not the only way to exercise your right to privacy. Regardless of which choice you make when presented with this dialog box, you can change your mind later. You can add or remove protection from your entire profile, or apply the Make This Folder Private option to selected subfolders in your profile.


To protect your entire profile, follow these steps:

In the Run box or from any command prompt, type %systemdrive%\documents and settings.
Right-click the icon labeled with your user name and choose Sharing And Security.
Under Local Sharing And Security, select the Make This Folder Private check box.

Select the Make This Folder Private check box to prevent other users from accessing files in your user profile.
Click OK to close the dialog box and apply your changes.
Other users who log on to the same computer and open the My Computer window can no longer see the folder icon that represents your My Documents folder if you’ve made your user profile private. Other users who try to access your profile by opening the Documents And Settings folder will receive an "access denied" error message when they double-click the folder that contains your profile. The result is the same if another user tries to open a subfolder that you’ve made private.

You can apply protection to selected subfolders within your user profile. For instance, you might want other users to be able to work with some files in your My Documents folder while keeping other files protected. To set up this sort of partial protection, create a subfolder and give it a descriptive name like Private. Then move the files andfolders you want to protect into that subfolder, and select the Make This Folder Private option for that folder only.