Subject: Hiding files and directories

20. *****
 Q: How can I hide files and directories?

 A: Each MS-DOS file has a set of attributes: read-only, archive,
system, and hidden. You can hide both files and directories by
turning on their hidden attribute. The usual MS-DOS attrib command
(before MS-DOS 5.0) can only change the read-only and archive
attributes, so you'll need a program that can change all the
attributes.
   Some users have suggested naming a directory as ascii 255, but
this is non-solution, since the directory will show as blank by the
usual dir command.
   A file, or a directory that has the hidden attribute set, does
not show in a directory listing by (the pre-5.0) MS-DOS dir command.
Notice, however, that there are many utilities which will show also
the hidden files. This means that these methods are good for
elementary hiding only.
  For more advanced protection you need different tools. One
possibility is encrypting files. There are many encrypting
facilities around including my crypter.exe in the
ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/ts/tsfcom24.zip file utilities collection.
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