How to Hide Your Local Drive and Folder Options in Windows XP

You can hide your file or folder using Properties to protect those from theft. But this process can not be applied to advanced users. They know this process and can access that file or folder easily. Hidden files are not seen normally. But hidden files can be seen after clicking on "Show the Hidden File and Folder" from "Folder Options" of "Tools" menu.





Hide Folder Options:

If you remove the "Folder Options" from the "Tools" menu then noone can go to "Folder Options" and can not see the hidden file. I am describing now this process:

1. Go to "Start Menu > Run", write "gpedit.msc" and press "OK".
2. A window will be appeared to the screen. Click on "User Configuration" from left side.
3. Then go to "Administrative Templates > Windows Component > Windows Explorer", right click on "Removes the Folder Options menu item from the Tools menu", go to "Properties", select "Enabled" and press "OK".

4. Now see that your "Folder Options" is remove from "Tools" list.
5. If you want to get your "Folder Options" in the list again, just follow the steps from the first and select "Not Configured" or "Disabled" instead of "Enabled".
6. You may have to restart your computer in this point.

Hide Your Drive:

If your computers are used by too many people then its privacy will be lost. You may have too many private files. So it must be a boring job to make all the file or folder property as hidden. But you can follow a trick. Just put all your private files in a particular drive and then hide that drive. Now I am showing you this proess.

1. Go to "Start Menu > Run", write "gpedit.msc" and press "OK".
2. A window will be appeared to the screen. Click on "User Configuration" from left side.
3. Then go to "Administrative Templates > Windows Component > Windows Explorer", right click on "Hide these specific drives in My Computer", select "Enabled", then select drive from "Pick one of the following combinations" list and press "OK".

4. Now see that your selected drive is not showing.
5. If you want to see your selected drive again, just follow the steps from the first and select "Not Configured" or "Disabled" instead of "Enabled".
6. You may have to restart your computer in this point.