How to clear hidden files in windows 7. Hidden files and folders

To do this, call the “Properties” component folders" This can be done in one of several ways. Click the Start button and select Control Panel from the menu. In the “Appearance and Themes” category, click on the “Properties” icon folders» left mouse button.

Another option. Open any (visible) folder from any directory on your computer. Select “Service” from the top menu bar. In the drop-down menu, click on “Properties” folders» left mouse button. A new dialog box will open.

In the window that opens, go to the “View” tab. Using the scroll bar under Advanced Options, find Hidden Files and folders" Place a marker in the field opposite the inscription “Show hidden files and folders».

System files are often hidden and folders, the data of which your operating system accesses during operation. If the desired folder belongs to the system category, you can additionally remove the checkbox from the field in the line “Hide protected system files (recommended)” in the same window. This action not necessary, display of system files and folders can be configured in the window folders Windows.

After making changes, click on the “Apply” button in the properties window for the new settings to take effect, and close the window by clicking on the OK button or the [x] icon in the upper right corner of the window.

Go to the directory where your hidden folder is located. After changing the settings it will become translucent. Click on the icon folders right-click and select “Properties” from the drop-down menu. A new dialog box will open.

In the “Properties” window that opens: [your name folders]" go to the "General" tab and remove the marker from the field opposite the inscription "Hidden" in the "Attributes" section. Apply the new settings by clicking the “Apply” button, close the properties window using any of the methods described above.

Sources:

  • how to remove hidden folders

When you copy, move, or delete files and folders, you sometimes encounter problems related to their attributes. For example, if one file in a folder has the Read Only attribute, the folder cannot be deleted. Let's fix the situation.

You will need

  • - computer
  • - Windows operating system

Instructions

Video on the topic

Please note

On operating systems with file encryption and protection enabled this method may not work.

Useful advice

The operation of changing attributes for folders looks similar.

Attributes file, such as "hidden", "archived" and "read-only", determine the ability to quickly access and search the file, as well as the ability to edit. Thus, files marked with the “hidden” attribute are not displayed under certain folder view settings. In order for the file to be visible under any circumstances, you need to clear the attribute in the file properties.

Instructions

Attribute file or folder - a characteristic that affects access to its location, editing and some other key processes. Adding or removing attributes occurs in the “Properties” menu.

Instructions

Make sure the file is not open for viewing or editing. In this case, neither the desktop panel nor the Applications tab in the Task Manager should have its name. Otherwise, property changes and added attributes may not be applied to the file.

Right-click and find in context menu"Properties" item. Click it by clicking the mouse once.

Open the General tab and look at bottom part opened parameters and options. Find the word " Attribute y" and next to several optionally configurable attributes: "Hidden", "Read Only", "Archive", etc. Select the attributes you want by clicking on the boxes next to a specific one. Attribute will be enabled if a check mark appears in the field.

Click the "Apply" button and then "OK". This way you will activate and save the applied attributes.

Video on the topic

Please note

By using the Read-Only attribute, you deny access to editing the file to all users on the computer. The “Hidden” attribute will make the file invisible if the “Do not show hidden folders and files” option is set in the folder view settings; in other words, you may not see the file again until you change this option.

The problem of changing the attribute "hidden" and "system" can be solved standard methods operating system Microsoft Windows, regardless of the reasons that forced the user to take up its execution - the need to see system files or a virus that made folders on a USB drive hidden.

Instructions

Click the "Start" button to open the main menu of the system and go to the "Settings" item to perform the operation of changing the settings for displaying hidden folders on the computer.

Uncheck the “Hide protected system files” box and click “Yes” in the warning window that opens to confirm the command.

Click OK to apply the selected changes.

Return to the main Start menu and go to Run to initiate the procedure for changing the display settings of files and folders on removable media that have received the “hidden” attribute as a result of the actions of a virus program.

Enter cmd in the Open field and click OK to confirm that the Command Prompt tool will launch.

Enter the value dir a:\ /x in the command line field, where a is the name of the infected removable media and /x is the syntax for displaying all files and click function key Enter to confirm the execution of the command. This action will allow you to see all files and folders hidden by the virus on the USB drive.

Enter the value ren g:\infected_folder_name desired_folder_name to perform a rename of the hidden folder in the command line tool and press Enter to apply the selected changes.

Use the FAR file manager to change the “hidden” attribute on an infected removable drive: specify the desired folder and call and press the F9 function key to call the service menu.

Select File Attributes from the drop-down menu and simultaneously press Cntr+A.

Clear the Hidden, Archive, and System attribute values ​​and press Enter to apply the selected changes.

When working with objects and other instances of a class, accessing attributes is one of the usual operations for a programmer. Gaining access to certain data stored in objects can be difficult, given the security methods used for them. Thus, attributes closed by the private and protected specifiers can be pulled out from an instance of a class only in a method that belonged to an object of the same or a child (for protected) class.

The simplest case of calling an attribute is direct appeal to it anywhere in the program. However, this is only possible for public data described in a class with the public modifier. Direct access through an object looks like this: myObj1.attr1, where attr1 is an attribute of this class. For a pointer, the call will be like this: рObj1–>attr1.

If the attribute you need to access has a hidden status and is described in a class with the private modifier, then access to it is possible only from a method belonging to that same class. The method or function of the class must have public status. Add to class new method, where specify the processing of the required attribute. In this case, parameters can be passed to the function, depending on the value of which certain actions are performed. The function itself can also return data, such as the contents of an attribute. Program code in C++ that implements both functions for working with a private attribute: class CMyClass ( protected: int attr1; // public attribute: void funcA1(int param) ( attr1 = param; ) int funcA2() ( return attr1; ));

Thus, to set the private attr1 attribute to the value you need, call a method of the same class using the object created earlier: myObj1.funcA1(10) - a similar implicit operation places the value 10 in the attr1 attribute. When working with a pointer to a class instance, a similar operation will look like this: рObj1–>funcA(10). To retrieve the private attr1 attribute and find out the value stored in it, call another class method: int Res = myObj1.funcA2(). IN in this case the integer variable Res will be assigned the value of the hidden class variable.

If you need to call an attribute with protected status in all objects of child classes, access its variable directly. However, when working in functions of foreign classes, access to protected data will have to be obtained in the manner described above.

To call an attribute without creating an object, declare its variable in the class as static using the following construct: static int attr1. In this case, you can pull out the attribute anywhere program code, specifying the entry: CMyClass::attr1.

On the computer. They are there, but they are not visible.

1. Right-click on the file or folder and select Properties.

2. A window will open. Check the “Hidden” box and click “OK.”

The file (folder) will disappear. In fact, it will remain on the computer, we’ll just hide it this way.

By the way, many users know how to open hidden files and folders. So think about whether it's worth hiding something this way.

How to open (show) hidden files and folders

If there is no such item, then click on the Start button and open Control Panel. Among the icons, find and open “Folder Options” (Appearance and Personalization → Folder Options).

In Windows 10, to do this, click on “View” at the top of the window and select “Options”.

Place a dot on the item “Show hidden files, folders and drives” (below) and click “OK”.

Files and folders that are hidden will be lighter than normal files and folders.

Regular folder:

How to make a hidden folder normal

  1. Right-click on the file or folder you want to make normal and select Properties.
  2. Uncheck “Hidden” and click “OK”.

How to disable showing hidden files and folders

Open any folder on your computer. Click on “Organize” (at the top of the window) and select “Folder and Search Options”.

If there is no such item at the top of the window, click on the Start button and open Control Panel. Among the icons, find and open “Folder Options” (Appearance and Personalization → Folder Options).

In Windows 10, to do this, click on “View” and select “Options”.

A window will open. Click on the “View” tab (top).

Place a dot on the item “Do not show hidden files, folders and drives” (below) and click “OK”.

Note: In Windows 10, you can do it easier: View → Show or Hide → Hidden Items.

The computer has many hidden files and folders in the Local Disk where the operating system is located (usually Local Disk C). This is necessary so that you don't accidentally spoil anything.

If you delete any of these files or folders, even if you just change the name, your computer may stop working or start to freeze seriously. So be careful with system hidden files and folders!

Sometimes there is a need to protect personal files or folders. This is especially true if more than one person is working with the computer. One solution is hiding. Of course, it will not help in the case of an experienced user. But it will hide information from unsuspecting eyes.

How to hide/show files and folders on a Windows 7 computer

Standard method

To hide a file or folder, you need to go through two steps:

Disable visibility of hidden folders


If the “Do not show...” option is set in the settings, then hidden files and folders will still be displayed, with the only difference being that the label for such objects is dimmer compared to a regular element.

Changing folder/file settings

After these steps, the folder or files will become hidden and will not be displayed.

Enable visibility and view

To show hidden items, you need to go to the folder settings and check the box next to “Show hidden files, folders and drives”. And for a specific object to stop being invisible, you need to uncheck the “Hidden” option.

How to make a folder invisible - video

Via Total Commander

This method is related to the previous one in that in the “Folder Options” there should also be a checkmark next to the “Do not show hidden files, folders and drives” item.

How to view files and make them open

To show hidden files and folders, press Ctrl + H.

To make documents visible again, you need to use the Alt + A combination and uncheck the “Hidden” checkbox.

Via Free Hide Folder

If you want to be sure that no one can see hidden information, you can use the Free Hide Folder program, which requires setting a password.

Free Hide Folder does not hide separate files. Available for free download on the Internet.

  1. When you launch the program for the first time, a window will appear in which you need to enter and confirm a password. By the way, you will also need it when uninstalling the program.
  2. The next window will ask you to enter a registration code, but this is not prerequisite. To continue working, you need to select Skip.
  3. Then click on the Add icon and select the folder that you want to hide.
  4. After the folder is selected, a message will appear indicating that it is advisable to make a Backup. It is advisable to follow the advice.

    Backup saves information about the program. If the latter is deleted, then after re-installation, access to hidden folders will be restored.

In addition to Add, the general window has buttons for:


How to find hidden information and transfer it to a flash drive

Free Hide Folder hides folders so that they cannot be found using search. The only way is to open the program and select the Unhide tool. Another special feature is that it does not hide documents located on removable disks.

Since Windows search cannot detect documents hidden using Free Hide Folder, copying cannot be used. Thus, invisible folders cannot be transferred to removable drives.

Using an image and an archiver

For this method you will need a folder with files, any image and the WinRAR archiver. The program is available for free download on the official website. In this case, the processor bit capacity must be taken into account. To find out, you need:


You can take any image, there are no restrictions.

  1. Add the desired folder to the archive.
  2. Place the archive and the image in one folder, preferably located in the root of the disk.
  3. Using the Win + R combination, launch the Run tool, enter cmd line and click “OK”.
  4. IN command line go to the folder where the archive and image are located. To do this, enter the cd command and the address. In this case it is cd c:\.
  5. Then press Enter.
  6. Now in the line you need to write the names of the image, archive and new file. Also, extensions must be specified in all three positions. In this case it turns out: COPY /B Image.jpg + FolderWithFiles.rar ImageWithArchive.jpg.
  7. Press Enter. If everything was written correctly, a message will appear on the command line indicating that the files were copied.

If you now open the created file, only the image that was taken as a basis will open.

The original files can be deleted.

How to view hidden files

To be able to view files hidden in the image, you need to open the illustration itself using WinRAR.

But the archiver must first be added to the list of programs that can open images:

  1. In the “Open with” menu, click on “Select program”.
  2. Click on “Browse” and in the window that opens, find the folder with the archiver.
  3. Open the folder and select the program launch shortcut.
  4. Next, WinRAR will appear in the list of programs that can open the image. You also need to uncheck the “Use the selected program for all files of this type” option. Otherwise, all images will be opened using the archiver.

When the user opens the image using the archiver, it will be visible that there is a folder inside.

But don't hide too much information in one file. If it takes up tens of megabytes, even an inexperienced user will become suspicious.

Possible errors

How to enable the “Show hidden files and folders” option

Sometimes a situation occurs that the user activates the “Show hidden files and folders” option, but the switch automatically switches to the “Do not show hidden files and folders” position. In this case you need:


Otherwise, the parameter must be created. To do this, right-click on a free area of ​​the window, select “New”, then “DWORD Value”. Call it CheckedValue and give the value 1.

  1. Go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced.
  2. Find the Hidden parameter (with value 0), type REG_SZ, in the list and delete it.
  3. If the list contains a Hidden parameter, type REG_DWORD, then change its value to 1. Otherwise, the parameter must be created.
  4. Find the SuperHidden parameter, type REG_DWORD, in the list and change its value to 1.
  5. Press "F5" to refresh the editor window and close it.

What to do if Folder Options is missing

This usually means that viruses have entered the system. Perhaps the antivirus simply failed to identify and remove malware. And so that the user cannot visually detect them, the authors of such applications use the “Hidden” or “System” attributes. In addition, the “Folder Options” menu item is removed.

Even if the malware is removed, the antivirus will not be able to restore this item. This will need to be done manually:


The Registry Editor may not have been blocked after a virus attack. In this case, you can use it:

  1. Using Win + R, launch the Run tool, enter regedit in the line and click OK.
  2. Go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.

In the right part of the window, find the NoFolderOptions parameter, type REG_DWORD. Double click LMB open it and set the value to 0.

Hiding files and folders - simple and quick way protect personal information. Of course, the first two are less reliable, and sophisticated users can accidentally or intentionally discover the secret. But FHF and the archiver will hide personal data even from experienced eyes.

Good day! In continuation of the article on removing the sdata/srtserv virus from your computer. Many people know the problem that after this virus, folders on disks (local or removable) are not displayed, as if they were deleted. But at the same time, the volume of the drive remains unchanged (the files are written to the drive but they are not visible). At the same time, the usual Windows Explorer does not want to cope with this task (I think you understand what I mean). We will look at several ways to return our folders to their place, i.e. they will be visible again.

How to remove a virus from a computer that hides your folders, see the article =>><<=

Method number one: Remove attributes using the command line.

We follow the instructions:

1) Launch the command line:

Start - Run - enter: cmd - click “OK”;

Press the key combination Win+R;

(Win key with the Windows logo);

Before us is the command line.

2) In the command line, enter the drive letter or USB flash drive (in our case it will be drive Z):

This takes us to the root directory of our disk.

attrib -s -h -r -a /s /d *.*

4) Press Enter.

We wait until the utility installs attributes for files. Once the operation is complete, the folders and files will become visible.

Method number two: Removing attributes using Total Commander

A very useful file manager with many features.

From the beginning, let's turn on the display of hidden files and folders so that we can see which files we need remove or change attributes.

Configuration -> Panel Contents.

In this menu sub-item, check the box -> “Show hidden system files”.

These hidden directories are indicated by an exclamation mark, so we mark them.

Now remove attributes:

We follow to:

File -> Change attributes.

And in this menu we remove unnecessary ones attributes namely hidden and systemic. Don't forget to click “OK”.

Method number three: Remove attributes when help Far Manager.

This manager is also very convenient, although with a less friendly interface. But there is a huge advantage compared to Total Comander, it is free. So let's look at how to change attributes of a hidden file using the free Far Manager.

Let's get started:

1) Open the disk we need in Far Manager: press the combination “Alt-F1? (left panel) or “Alt-F2? (right panel), select the required media.

2) Press the “Insert” key to select hidden folders and then press “Ctrl+A”, Removing attributes Hidden, Read only and System, leave Archive, confirm with the “Set” button.

It is also necessary to clean the RECYCLER folder, remove shortcuts (.lnk), unnecessary infected executable files (.exe) and, of course, the autorun.inf file, if there is one.

After these steps, the data on the media will be displayed in normal form.

This is where I will end this article, I will be incredibly glad if it helps you! Write comments if it helped you! And also comment on how you deal with the problems discussed.

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Displaying files and folders hidden by the virus

I had such a situation that when changing the operating system, I did not know how to show hidden folders in Windows 7. Previously I had XP, and there were no special problems with it.

Seven has undergone enormous changes that distinguished it from previous operating systems. I had to do some digging to figure out the basic settings. Now I will show you several ways to open hidden folders, since in Windows 7 they are invisible by default. Before starting the procedure, you can verify the results after following the recommendations. In the article we will go over the standard ones, software methods and use the command line.

Standard recommendations for showing hidden folders and files in Windows 7

First, you need to find the window where this option is enabled; to do this, you need to do one of the following:

1. Launch Explorer (my computer), in the window that opens, click “arrange”. Next, select “Folder and Search Options.”

2. Click “start” and type “settings” in the search. When the list is built, select the element shown in the screenshot below.

3. Click "Start" -> "Control Panel". Next, make sure that “large icons” or “small icons” is enabled, and then you can look for the “folder options” setting.

4. In the Explorer window, press the ALT key, you will see additional menu between the path bar and the main menu. Select "service" -> "".

After using one of the methods, a window with 3 tabs will open in front of you, go to the second one, which is called “view”. Move the scroll bar down and check the “show hidden files, folders and drives” option. Be sure to click on the APPLY button, then OK.

Note: If you need all elements to be visible, make sure that the “Hide protected system files” checkbox is unchecked.


As you can see, displaying hidden folders in Windows 7 is not difficult at all. To be sure of the result, go to the system drive and try to find hidden folders that have appeared and have a pale tint.

There is another interesting method with . To do this, run cmd and enter the command:

In the current directory all hidden folders and files will be displayed. If you want to change the current local disk, use the command:

Cd/d local drive letter:

The example shows the transition from drive C to D. To change to the directory, enter the following expression:

Cd/folder name

Once you have selected the desired directory, enter the first command.

Using total commander

As you know, total commander is a tool for working with files and folders. In my opinion, much more progressive than a standard conductor. Using his example, we will analyze the inclusion of hidden elements.

  1. Run total commander.
  2. From the menu at the top, select “configuration” -> “settings”.
  3. In the window that opens, click on “Panel Contents”.
  4. Check the boxes “show hidden files” and “show system files”.

Click APPLY and OK.

After completing the algorithm of actions, hidden elements will be marked with a red exclamation mark.

All recommendations work and will help show hidden folders and files in Windows 7. It's up to you to use one or the other. I would like to highlight the standard methods and use of total commander; as for cmd, this is rather educational information.