Is it possible to hide the windows folder. How to hide information from prying eyes in Windows. How to hide a folder. How to view files and make them open

Experienced PC users often use camouflage techniques for their folders with important information in order to hide her from prying eyes and thereby avoid accidental deletion or unwanted viewing by others. We will tell you about these simple methods that even beginners in working on a computer can easily master.

Windows stores a large number of various files, some of which we do not see, thanks to the functionality. This moment allows you to save important system information untouched and help in a situation when you urgently need to hide a necessary element or the entire folder with data.

Let's select the folder and rename it “Important”. Let's right-click on it and go down to the "Properties" command. In the window that opens, change the attribute parameter by activating hidden elements– “Important” will disappear. If the folder is not hidden, but has acquired some transparency - in the parameters Windows systems the “Show” command is activated hidden files, folders..." and it needs to be removed. Go to the control panel, select the small icons to view and open the “Folder Options” window. Next, go to the “View” tab and activate “Do not show hidden files...”. You will find the hidden folder later by returning to the original settings. Next, we will give a funny way to create an invisible daddy right under your nose - i.e. on the desktop. Open the sign Windows characters, it is usually hidden in utility programs. Find an empty window in the sign, select it and copy it. Drag your secret folder to the center of the table and rename it to the given blank symbol with the "Insert" command - the result is a folder with no name. Next, click on it, selecting “Properties” from the list, go to the “Settings” tab and the “Change Icon” button. Scroll the wheel and find the space between the icons. Click on it, then “Apply” and “Ok”. The folder has disappeared, but if you select an empty area in the place where our invisible is hidden, it will appear as a square. You can also use “Ctrl+A” while pressing simultaneously. Hiding information using Windows is an unreliable method that is used as an emergency short-term option. To be safe, it’s better to pack “Important” into an archive and protect it with a password. Download from the official website or via torrent WinRAR archiver program– it is the best existing software for working with archives, run installation file.

If an icon appears with three stacked books, the archiver is installed. Return to your top-secret folder, click the mouse and select from the list the command with the WinRAR icon “Add to archive”. If necessary, come up with a different name for the daddy, for example: patch - this name is present in almost all applications. Next, select the archive format and set a password. If you wish, you can encrypt the file names. To store your archiver, find a secluded place somewhere in your file folder installed programs on the main drive, then there is a chance that it will not be detected and will not be deleted.

It should be noted that there are a lot of additional software for Windows. This includes ransomware programs both for personal needs and for work purposes, but unless absolutely necessary, you should not expose your PC to malicious code, which strives to leak into the system from sites on this topic.

Sometimes you need to hide a file or folder from prying eyes on your desktop: from children, wife or husband, or bosses. Our instructions have 4 ways to do this in 1 minute.

Method 1: popular

Create a folder

First, create a regular folder. This can be done on your desktop or any other place where it is convenient for you. Click right click mouse in the free zone → “Create” → “Folder”. You can put any name.

Making the icon transparent

Right-click on the new folder and open Properties.

On the Settings tab, click the Change Icon button.

Find the transparent icon in the list of available icons, select it and click OK. You can also download it separately and specify the path to it.

In the folder properties window, click “Apply”, “OK”.

Now the folder has become transparent, only the name remains.

Hiding the folder name

Right-click on the folder - Rename. With a clamped Alt key On the numeric keypad (right) enter the code 0160. This is a non-breaking space symbol. Release Alt and press Enter. If that doesn’t work, try replacing the code with 255, or holding down the Fn button on the laptop together with Alt.

Some laptop models do not have digital block keyboards. In such cases, type non-breaking space in Word using a combination Ctrl keys+ Shift + Space. Copy and paste into the folder name.

Method 2: alternative

I have on virtual machine I didn’t want to install with Windows 10 hidden icon for the folder. It was possible to make it only for a shortcut to a folder, but it was indicated by an arrow in the corner. So I found additional method make an invisible folder.

In the folder properties, check the “Hidden” option.

In Explorer, open the “View” tab and check the “Hidden elements” checkbox.

This option can also be changed through the Control Panel:

Open Control Panel. It is located in Pusk. Find it through the search or right-click on the Start icon - Control Panel.

Select Appearance and Personalization.

On the “View” tab, at the very end of the list, select the “Do not show hidden files, folders and drives” option.

Click "Apply" - "OK".

Method 3: simple

If you don't want to mess around with the OS settings, use free program Free Hide Folder, which can be downloaded from the official website: http://www.cleanersoft.com/hidefolder/free_hide_folder.htm. It hides the folder completely: it cannot be found even through a search.

After installation and launch, the program will prompt you to enter a password with confirmation. On next step You will be asked for a registration code; you can skip it using the “Skip” button.

To hide a folder, add it to the program using the “Add” button. A warning appears about the creation backup copy data to access the folder in case of deletion and reinstallation program, so as not to lose access to it, click “Backup”. Click "OK" and the folder will disappear.

To access the folder in the program, click on the Unhide button.

Method 4: genius

Another unusual way hide the folder - inside the image. Before you begin, make a copy of your important files so you don't lose them if something goes wrong.

For example, let's take a folder with important data and a photo with a secret cat.

This is a photo with a secret cat.

Make an archive secret folder(V zip format or rar).

Create a folder, the closer to the root of the disk, the easier it is. For me it is C:\setupik\ . Move the created archive and photo of the cat inside this folder.

Open command line: Press Win + R, type cmd and click OK.

Use the cd command to navigate to the created folder. Like this: cd c:\setupik\ .

Enter COPY command/B kot.jpg + secret.rar secret-img.jpg . Change the file names to your own: the first is a photo of a cat, the second is an archive with a hidden folder, the third is new file with a secret picture.

After running the command, open the created secret-img.jpg file. You will see the same picture with a cat. But if you open this file using an archiver or change the extension to rar or zip, you will see hidden files. Magic!

How to find a hidden folder

In the first case, a folder with an invisible icon and name will become visible if you select it. This can be done with the key combination Ctrl + A (select all) or manually select the entire desktop area.

In the case of a hidden folder using an attribute, you can find it when you enable the display of hidden files and folders through the control panel. That is, you need to repeat the described steps in reverse order.

You can also access a hidden folder if you write down its path somewhere. For example: C:\Users\Admin\AppData\My hidden folder. Paste this path into Explorer and the desired folder will open.

As you can see, there is a chance that your hidden folder will be accidentally found. Therefore, it is better to remove it from the desktop somewhere away. And the most reliable way- put a password on the folder. When archiving a folder in WinRar, the options will allow you to set a password and hide file names.

Hi all!

This feature is simply necessary when someone else is using your computer.

After all, this “someone” can “accidentally” spy on your personal information.

Or children use the computer - their “activities” can generally lead to the destruction of personal data.

I'll tell you how to hide files on your computer, using the example of the currently most popular operating system for personal computers– Windows 7. I use it for both work and entertainment, and I think most readers do too.

Established funds

So, let's get straight to the point. The first method is based on using the capabilities of Windows itself - those tools that are created to hide important files operating system from the user to avoid causing harm to it. The method allows you to make arbitrary files and directories invisible. The important thing is that in this case any conflicts with Windows are excluded, since everything is done using its own means.

How it's done? For experiments it is better to create a new folder:

select a free area on the desktop,
click with the right mouse button,
click “Create”,
then - “Folder”.

That's it, a “New Folder” has appeared on the desktop. Now open its properties (again through the right button) and check the “Hidden” attribute, click “OK”.

As a result new folder should either disappear or become translucent. In the second case, additional manipulations need to be done.

We turn to the “Control Panel” (through the menu opened by the “Start” button), where in the “Folder Options” section, open the “View” tab and check the box next to the line “Do not show hidden...” (at the bottom of the list of options). Click “Ok” and that’s it, the new folder on the desktop has become invisible!

To “return” it (as well as any other hidden directories), that is, to make it visible and accessible, you just need to set it to “Show hidden files, folders and drives.”

The method is proven and reliable, does not require additional programs and some special knowledge.

There is only one minus - a person who is well versed in computer intricacies can easily find your personal files if desired, by disabling hiding in the settings. But someone who doesn’t know how to find what’s hidden will try to “dance” away from the search, however, even after entering the name of the hidden file correctly, he will not receive any information about it from the operating system - the file is not there, and that’s it!

A tricky way to hide information

If you want to make it so that some video file on your computer cannot be watched, then you can simply change its extension (the icon of the video file will change and it will not be possible to play it with a simple click).

To do this, select “Rename” in the menu with the right mouse button, edit the file name - replace (or remove) all the characters after the period, usually there are three of them. Although... it’s better not to change it, but to add one more dot, and after it put three new symbols, which obviously will not match any standard extension.

For example, the following are suitable: 00A, 11B, 5AB... (with numbers). In the future, to return the normal extension, you will simply need to remove the added one.

This method works with files of any type (but not with folders): Word documents, pictures, executable files...

The problem may be that the extensions are not displayed by the operating system. Then you need to go into the parameters before renaming (as described in previous paragraph), turn off hiding extensions, and turn it on again after renaming.

A knowledgeable person, of course, will be able to figure this out, but this may take a lot of time.

You can hide it in the archive

A good option might be to use . An appropriate program, for example, WinRAR or 7-Zip, will help you securely hide documents or photos. As a rule, there is no need to select strong compression in the settings, but assigning a password to the archive is mandatory.

By moving files and folders to a password-protected archive, you will leave no chance for anyone to use them. Write down the password so you don’t forget.

The network is full of software, problem solver if not hiding files, then prohibiting or restricting access to them. As a rule, these are encryption programs. I strongly advise you to use such programs carefully (and!), otherwise your files may become inaccessible to you.

For those who want to understand this topic thoroughly, or simply become more experienced user PC, there is a training course " Computer genius" I advise you to take it, as a result of training you can learn a lot of useful and interesting things from the world of computers.

Sincerely! Abdullin Ruslan

Or why protecting data through encryption is better than simply hiding folders in Windows.

Briefly: There are many programs on the Internet for hiding separate folders and files from other computer users. These programs offer a simple method for hiding folders by filtering requests to file system. But this does not mean 100% data protection.

In fact, hidden files and folders can be seen and viewed using other means. If more is required reliable protection, follows a disk encryption program.

How to hide a folder or file - the standard way

One of the greatest desires of the user is often the desire to hide his personal documents, programs and other data somewhere away from prying eyes. The most common way to do this is:

Use programs to hide files and folders. There are quite a lot of them now: Folder Lock, Hide Folders XP
Use standard means in Windows: mark the folder/file as hidden, or deny access to the folder/file by specifying the rights to access the object.

Directories and files marked as “hidden” in Windows are not visible in Explorer to other system users if the user has the following flag enabled: Do not display hidden folders
Visible in programs: FAR, Total Commander, etc., which do not use a standard dialog to display files and folders.

We intentionally left out EFS (Windows 2000/XP's built-in encryption) because setting up this feature requires significant effort and skill.

The convenience of these methods of hiding folders is that you don't have to do anything extra to hide them. Everything is quite simple: just one click of the mouse is enough to hide a particular folder/file, regardless of its size. But what are the disadvantages of this type of program? Let's try to figure it out.

What is the degree of protection?

Not all utilities for hiding folders will reliably hide your data. Moreover, even fewer of them, in addition to hiding them, will reliably protect them with encryption from different techniques. Many of these programs hide folders and files for only one operating system. What if there are several operating systems installed on the PC? From one system the data will not be visible, but from the other - everything is at your fingertips!

Simply hiding folders and restricting access to files does not help following cases:

Booting a PC on a different operating system or loading another OS from CD-ROM. For example Linux Live CD, Windows Live CD.
- in another OS that will connect to yours HDD drive y, all files will be visible, since there will be no restrictions or protection.

(safe mode).
After such a download, all folders will be visible, even those that were hidden programmatically. After all, when loading into safe mode, Windows loads only the drivers necessary for the system to operate, and skips all additional ones (filter drivers) in order to discard potential failures in advance.

Remove HDD drive and connect it to another Computer.
If you remove HDD(HDD drive) and connect it to another computer, you can see and open all hidden folders and files. Even those folders to which access is prohibited (on an NTFS disk) will be visible.

There is another opportunity to view files hidden by various programs. To do this, you must have Administrator rights ( Account with Administrator powers). Because if you are a system administrator, you can uninstall programs to hide folders, or boot into crash protection mode, and then that's it. hidden objects will become visible.

Enhanced data protection - through Encryption

How to get around all the obstacles mentioned above?

One method of protecting data is to encrypt it. Everything is quite simple. You select the data you need and assign a password to access it. If only you know the password, then only you will get access to the information!

To further increase the reliability of data storage, it is encrypted. That is, with the help special algorithms encryption transforms data in such a way that even if the file is opened, it will be impossible to read it - it will be a mess. To convert the “porridge” into normal data, they are decrypted using the same encryption algorithm.

Encryption allows you to:
Hide folders and files from prying eyes (or other users of the same computer). And also Protect data from viewing using the methods listed above and other “power” attacks.

Rohos Disk Encryption program: encrypts and hides

As practice shows, the greatest reliability of information storage is achieved by combining several methods of protection. This is the path chosen when creating the Rohos Disk Encryption program.

The program works according to the following principles:

All data is stored on a separate virtual disk that the program creates. This disk is stored on your PC or USB flash drive. The disk is encrypted using high-speed encryption, that is, “on the fly”, directly during operation. This disk is called .
After finishing working with files, you disconnect the disk. The drive itself and all information stored on it become inaccessible until the drive is turned on again. The disk consists of one file, which is equal in size to the disk space. This file can be seen, but it is encrypted, so information cannot be extracted from it.
Allows you to hide and encrypt individual folders and applications on your PC, such as Skype, Firefox, Chrome.

How to hide a folder using Rohos Disk Encryption:

First, in the Rohos Mini Drive program (free) or Rohos Disk Encryption, you need to create your encrypted virtual disk R:.

In the Hide Folder dialog box, select predefined folders, such as My Documents, Profiles folders Skype and other programs.

Or specify the Folder manually by clicking on the “...” button.

Hidden files (folders) are hidden folders or files. That is, those that are not visible, but in fact they are there.

How hide file (folder)? The simplest solution:

1) right-click on the file or folder and select “Properties”.

2) check the box next to “Hidden”. For example, like this:

Here important folder Documents and Settings just hidden:

Many users know how to see and open hidden files. So think about whether something is worth “hiding.” After all, if the notebook says “Top Secret. Do not open or read under any circumstances,” then the temptation to open and read is much greater than if this had not happened.

Usually on a computer there are many hidden files located on Local disk, where installed operating system(usually "C") This is so that you don’t accidentally spoil anything, because if you delete them or change the name, the computer may start to work poorly or stop altogether. So you need to be careful with system hidden files and folders.

How to view hidden files(folders). And you can see them like this:

“Tools” (at the top of the window) -› “Folder Options” -› “View” -› “Show hidden files and folders” (at the bottom) -› “OK”

Hidden folders are not shown here (files are hidden):

To show hidden files and folders, select this item:

Files and folders that are hidden will be lighter than those that are not hidden.

Hide a folder or file from others

There are many programs on the Internet for hiding individual folders and files from other computer users. These programs offer a simple method for hiding folders by filtering requests to the file system. But this does not mean 100% data protection.

In fact, look through other means. If more reliable protection is required, you should turn to serious cryptographic packages.

One of the biggest desires of the user is often the desire for programs and other data to be somewhere away from prying eyes. The most common way to do this isuse programs to hide files and folders.

There are quite a lot of them now: Folder Lock Hide Folders XP, Use standard tools in Windows: mark the folder\file as hidden., on NTFS volumes- deny access to a folder/file by specifying the rights to access the object.

But not all utilities for hiding folders will reliably hide your data. Moreover, even fewer of them, in addition to hiding them, will reliably protect them with encryption from various techniques. Many of these programs hide folders and files for only one operating system.

This is good if one operating system is installed on the PC - but what if there are several of them? From one system the data will not be visible, but from the other - everything is in full view!

One of the methods data protection is their encryption. This is so reliable protect your data.

Everything is quite simple. You select the data you need and assign a password to access it. If only you know the password, then only you will get access to the information!

To further increase reliability of data storage, they are encrypted. That is, using special encryption algorithms, they transform the data in such a way that even if the file is opened, it will be impossible to read it - it will be a mess. To convert the “porridge” into normal data, they are decrypted using the same encryption algorithm.

In general, these technologies are based on data protection from unauthorized access lies the science of cryptography, which is part of the science of cryptology. In turn, this science uses various methods and algorithms, which we will now get acquainted with.

In order for your information, after being encrypted, to turn into " information garbage", a meaningless set of characters for an outsider, specially developed methods are used - encryption algorithms.
Such algorithms are developed by mathematicians or entire teams of employees of companies or research centers.