"Do not show hidden files" for one folder only (XP)

[skylark42]

Is "do not show hidden files and folders" possible for A SINGLE FOLDER (& subfolders)? Every time I try to do this, XP resets things so that _all_ hidden files & folders everywhere are either visible or invisible. In general I want to see them.

What I want to do is hide certain files that are in a personal folder called Letters. I can go into Properties of the individual files and select 'hidden' but that just causes the icon to go dull - it's still there in plain sight.

Even if you select 'do not show hidden files' Explorer still reports "N objects (plus M hidden)". So these files are still visible -and readable- to people who like to read other people's correspondence and know how to change views.

 

[PhilFrisbie]

Windows does not have a way to hide files the way you would like.

If you want to restrict access to certain files you can create a user account for others to log into the computer, and have a separate administrator account for yourself. They can still see them, but they cannot access them. Or, you can use encryption to encrypt a folder to contain your private files.

 

[skylark42]

Thank you, Phil. That's very clear and simple, even if the news about Hide is not what I wanted to hear!

I'll look into the encryption option. Cheers.

 

[mahmoudman]

dude to hide one folder only right click on the folder then choose properties then choose hidden then apply and ok ............... that's all happy if i helped

 

[skylark42]

Sorry, Mahoudman, but that just causes the folder icon to go dull - it's still there in plain sight. Then the only way to disappear it is to tick "don't show hidden folders" which sadly is not folder-specific. Thanks for your reply, anyway!

 

[mrfatbox]

what about this
http://www.howtogeek.com/104825/make-a-super-hidden-folder-in-windows-without-any-extra-software/

 

[skylark42]

Woo.. this looks like it'll work. It hadn't occured to me that it might be possible to make this docs folder look like a system folder. Thanks, Mrfatbox. I shall try this when I get home! (Of course, one will still be able to see the folder by unticking "hide protected system folders" but most folk looking for a docs folder will not think to do this.)

 

[hang-the-9]

If you use different accounts on the PC, the other accounts can't see your files unless they have local administrator rights. If you make a it a system folder, you can set to show system folders as easily as you can with hidden files. Don't see why people would play around with unhidding hidden folders but not bother with the other file types.

You can also password protect the files themselves so they can see them but not open them. Just don't name the files like "My Secret Love for the girl sitting next to me".