Hidden or Locked Folder?

Anyone know how to lock or hide a folder that you don't want other people getting into? I have a computer that will be shared in the future and I want to be able to block some personal documents and things from the users...

"Personal documents" eh? ;)

Right Click - Properties - Sharing - Click Make this Private - Make a Password - Ta Da!

k, well I accidentally made it a hidden folder, and now it is hiding from me... how do I find it???

There are folder settings that allow you to see all hidden files.

start>control panel>folder options>click the view tab> and look for hidden folder and files> click to have it show

hey when i try to do that 'make this folder private' its greyed out. i can only use this feature if its already shared?

I thought you meant you wanted to lock it if someone sits on your computer. I think the shared thing is for getting to a file if you're another user on the PC. I may be wrong.

IIRC encrypted (private) folders is a feature in XP Pro only, not in XP Home. I could be mistaken though, since I don't have a Home install to confirm, but I was thinking it was one of those extras you get with Pro. Although I would think rather than being grayed out in Home, it wouldn't show in the menu at all...

so if you hide folders n stuff, can they still be shared like through bittorrent?

If you set up a guest account or another account and just don't let anyone use your account (don't tell them the password or change it), then when creating a new account on XP for them, you can choose to have your files (I think it's just My Documents) hidden from them.

They can see the My Documents folder, they just get an "Access Denied" message when trying to open it.

[quoteece368fcde="toiletpaper55"]so if you hide folders n stuff, can they still be shared like through bittorrent?[/quoteece368fcde]
Yes, they are tied to your login. If you are logged in (and you would be when running your BT client) then the folder is visible just like normal.

The difference is when another user logs in. Even if they have Admin priviledges, they cannot access your encrypted/private folders. So your stuff stays hidden unless YOUR login credentials get compromised.

[quoted51b39bbd2="dmorris68"][quoted51b39bbd2="toiletpaper55"]so if you hide folders n stuff, can they still be shared like through bittorrent?[/quoted51b39bbd2]
Yes, they are tied to your login. If you are logged in (and you would be when running your BT client) then the folder is visible just like normal.

The difference is when another user logs in. Even if they have Admin priviledges, they cannot access your encrypted/private folders. So your stuff stays hidden unless YOUR login credentials get compromised.[/quoted51b39bbd2]

by visible just like normal you mean visible to the bittorrent client right? not literally visible if you hide it?

Well, let me clarify, as we seem to be using hidden/visible and private/encrypted interchangeably, when they're different things.

You can't permanently "hide" a folder in Windows, at least not without some 3rd party utility. Hidden folders in Windows can be viewed with the aforementioned folder option enabled. And ordinary hidden folders are accessible by BT clients or anything else -- all "hidden" means is they don't show up in Explorer by default (unless you change that setting). But if you know it's there, or for example have a torrent referencing it by absolute path, then it will find it.

However private/encrypted folders prevent anyone else from accessing the contents of those folders, even to browse them, unless they do it while your account is logged in.

Oh, and I just thought of another reason by the folder encryption stuff might be disabled for some folks -- since it is tied to a login, if you use the default security (i.e. no security) from an XP install and you don't login with a password, then that's probably the reason you can't use it. You will have to enable login security. I didn't think of that at first since I never leave Windows in such an unsecured state -- I turn off that goofy Welcome screen and use the old-fashioned NT login prompt.

http//www.download.com/Folder-Access-Pro/3000-2092_4-10256008.html

Link to trial of Folder Acess. You can only lock 4 folders at a time, but otherwise theres no restrictions or anything.

howd i see hidden files again? i had an old ipod that i took all the songs from and put on an external HD and now i got a new ipod so i need to see the folders/songs....when i go to the folder where theyre stored it says its 2.5 gigs but i cant see anything

EDIT NVM I GOT IT