HIDE DRIVES AND PARTITIONS FILES AND FOLDERS
Do you have data on a partition or hard drive that you don't want tampered with or easily accessible to other users? Well, you can hide any drive/partition in Windows XP, NT, and 2000. That means that they won't show up in Explorer or My Computer.
If you want access to that drive from your user account you should create a desktop shortcut before proceeding. Once hidden, you can still access by typing the drive letter and a colon in Start/Run—for example, "D:" will bring up a folder of the contents on your D drive.
The easiest way with Win XP is to use the TweakUI power toy from Mcft. Go to Start/Run and type in "tweakui" (without the quotes).
Go to My Computer/Drives and uncheck the drive/partition(s) you want hidden. Click "Apply" or "OK" when finished.
If you have XP but not Tweak UI you can download it here...
http://www.Mcft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
For Win NT, 2000, and XP you can use the following Registry edit:
*Be sure to back up the Registry before proceeding
http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/401
Open the Registry Editor by going to Start/Run and typing in "regedit" (without the quotes). Find your way to...
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Mcft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
Click on "Explorer".
Double-click the "NoDrives" key in the right column. If you don't find a "NoDrives" registry key, just right-click in the right pane and choose "New/DWORD Value" then name the key "NoDrives".
You'll see a value like "0000 00 00 00 00". This is where the fun starts. The four sets of double zeros (after the "0000") are where you'll enter the values for the drive/partitions. Now, stay with me on this—it's not as complicated as it sounds:
The first column is for drives A-H, the second for I-P, the third for Q-X, and the fourth for Y-Z.
The values for each drive are as follows:
1 - A I Q Y
2 - B J R Z
4 - C K S
8 - D L T
16 - E M U
32 - F N V
64 - G O W
80 - H P X
So, let's say you want to hide drive D. In the first column you would put "08". For drive K you would put "04" in the second column.
But what if you want to hide more than one drive in a column? Simply add the values together: D+E = 8+16 = 24. So in the first column you would put "24".
Still baffled? If you have XP then go get TweakUI and save yourself the math.
Whichever method you use, you can rest easy knowing that the files on that drive or partition are less accessible to other users.
As well you can make folder private here are the steps to be followed
Keep Files Private
If you want to encrypt the contents of an individual file or directory, Windows XP Pro will do the trick, provided you enable NTFS on your hard drive. To encrypt a file, right-click on it to bring up the Properties window. Click on the Advanced button, then in the Advanced Attributes dialog box click on Encrypt contents to secure data. This will encrypt the file (using either DES, which employs a 56-bit key on each 64-bit block of data, or 3DES, which uses a 56-bit key three times on each 64-bit block of data), and it will provide a certificate just for you. This certificate is key; if you reinstall Windows or otherwise lose your user account, your access to the encrypted files will be gone, too. You need to export your certificates to back them up: For detailed instructions, search on export certificate in Windows Help.
Windows XP does not require you to enter your password when you open the encrypted file. Once you log on to a session, encrypted files are available for you—and anyone who walks up to your system—to view.
Windows XP Home doesn't support this method. Both XP Home and XP Pro, however, let you create password-protected compressed files. To do this, right-click on the desired file and choose Send To | Compressed (zipped) Folder. Open the resulting folder and select Add a Password from the File menu; delete the original file. Note that this encryption is relatively weak. It should dissuade casual users but won't put up much of a fight against someone determined to hack it apart.
Keep Folders Hidden
first create a new folder somewhere on your hard drive when you name it hold down "Alt" and press "0160" this will create and invisible space so it will appear as if it has no name.
then right click in and select "Properties" select the tab "customize" and select "change icon" scroll along and you should a few blanc spaces click on any one and click OK when you have saved the settings the folder will be invisible to hide all your personal files
If you want access to that drive from your user account you should create a desktop shortcut before proceeding. Once hidden, you can still access by typing the drive letter and a colon in Start/Run—for example, "D:" will bring up a folder of the contents on your D drive.
The easiest way with Win XP is to use the TweakUI power toy from Mcft. Go to Start/Run and type in "tweakui" (without the quotes).
Go to My Computer/Drives and uncheck the drive/partition(s) you want hidden. Click "Apply" or "OK" when finished.
If you have XP but not Tweak UI you can download it here...
http://www.Mcft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
For Win NT, 2000, and XP you can use the following Registry edit:
*Be sure to back up the Registry before proceeding
http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/401
Open the Registry Editor by going to Start/Run and typing in "regedit" (without the quotes). Find your way to...
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Mcft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
Click on "Explorer".
Double-click the "NoDrives" key in the right column. If you don't find a "NoDrives" registry key, just right-click in the right pane and choose "New/DWORD Value" then name the key "NoDrives".
You'll see a value like "0000 00 00 00 00". This is where the fun starts. The four sets of double zeros (after the "0000") are where you'll enter the values for the drive/partitions. Now, stay with me on this—it's not as complicated as it sounds:
The first column is for drives A-H, the second for I-P, the third for Q-X, and the fourth for Y-Z.
The values for each drive are as follows:
1 - A I Q Y
2 - B J R Z
4 - C K S
8 - D L T
16 - E M U
32 - F N V
64 - G O W
80 - H P X
So, let's say you want to hide drive D. In the first column you would put "08". For drive K you would put "04" in the second column.
But what if you want to hide more than one drive in a column? Simply add the values together: D+E = 8+16 = 24. So in the first column you would put "24".
Still baffled? If you have XP then go get TweakUI and save yourself the math.
Whichever method you use, you can rest easy knowing that the files on that drive or partition are less accessible to other users.
As well you can make folder private here are the steps to be followed
Keep Files Private
If you want to encrypt the contents of an individual file or directory, Windows XP Pro will do the trick, provided you enable NTFS on your hard drive. To encrypt a file, right-click on it to bring up the Properties window. Click on the Advanced button, then in the Advanced Attributes dialog box click on Encrypt contents to secure data. This will encrypt the file (using either DES, which employs a 56-bit key on each 64-bit block of data, or 3DES, which uses a 56-bit key three times on each 64-bit block of data), and it will provide a certificate just for you. This certificate is key; if you reinstall Windows or otherwise lose your user account, your access to the encrypted files will be gone, too. You need to export your certificates to back them up: For detailed instructions, search on export certificate in Windows Help.
Windows XP does not require you to enter your password when you open the encrypted file. Once you log on to a session, encrypted files are available for you—and anyone who walks up to your system—to view.
Windows XP Home doesn't support this method. Both XP Home and XP Pro, however, let you create password-protected compressed files. To do this, right-click on the desired file and choose Send To | Compressed (zipped) Folder. Open the resulting folder and select Add a Password from the File menu; delete the original file. Note that this encryption is relatively weak. It should dissuade casual users but won't put up much of a fight against someone determined to hack it apart.
Keep Folders Hidden
first create a new folder somewhere on your hard drive when you name it hold down "Alt" and press "0160" this will create and invisible space so it will appear as if it has no name.
then right click in and select "Properties" select the tab "customize" and select "change icon" scroll along and you should a few blanc spaces click on any one and click OK when you have saved the settings the folder will be invisible to hide all your personal files
