How to hide a folder's contents in Windows XP

image courtesy of deviant stridsberg

Yes I'm back, alive and kicking. Living in a new chapter of my life, getting back from a 3-month hibernation and ready to kick some real ass.
Let me give you some nice tip in Windows XP, so far my favorite OS Microsoft has made. It is how to hide a folder's content from Windows Explorer. This will be useful to hide some nasty content to your friend or to anyone as big as the airport security in a strict country, unless they are reading my blog, which is not likely, but who knows. It's best not to bring those illegal files.
As far as we know, there is a "Show hidden files and folder" in Windows Explorer options. And if you just set the "hidden" property of a folder, then your busted. Thats level 1.
Next level is what they call the "superhidden" which means a folder has a property of "system" attribute, and thus called a system folder. But Windows does not allow us to make a system folder all by its folder properties. The trick is to go to DOS/Command prompt (i.e. running cmd.exe) and go to the folder containing your folder to be made system. Type "attrib +s +h foldername" then Enter and its done. There are 3rd party programs like XYplorer who can set a system attribute by folder properties alone.
To bust this is to set an option not everybody is aware of (at least the average user) "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)" in Windows Explorer options hidden just below the "Hide extensions...". You need to scroll down to see it, that is why not everybody knows there's a superhidden attribute in a folder.
But there's always a catch, and a next level to outwit the catch. There's an option in "gpedit.msc" to hide the "Folder options" menu in Windows Explorer. Its pretty self explanatory when you arrived at the Group Policy(gpedit.msc) interface.

Now if you think I'm finished, I'm not. There is a level 3, which in my humble opinion outwits level 1 and 2 and using 3rd party programs that needs to be installed in the other computer to work.
It is as simple as renaming a folder, appending the ".{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}", of course without the quotation mark. The icon of the folder will automatically be a Control Panel icon. And what is amazing is when you double-click it
to see the contents, alas! your files are gone. Replaced by the real content of the Control Panel.
Similarly, you can make a "desktop.ini" file inside the folder with the contents.

[.ShellClassInfo]
CLSID={21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

Which does the same effect but there is no need to rename the folder. Yet another but... the effect is not immediate, sometimes or most of the time, it needs a restart. They can search your disk all day but they will never find a file inside that folder, nothing but the regular contents of a control panel which is suspicious. But then it will just show when you search all files (i.e. *.*), usually, to inspect a disk's contents they will search specific file types such as pictures and videos.

Finally, you can combine all the 3 techniques. after making it a "control panel", hide it, superhide and lastly, hide the "Folder options" in the Windows Explorer. Like what I said, there's always a catch. They just need someone you cannot outwit. If still you think you're gonna be busted, you got to swallow your stick! (I mean your USB stick/pen drive...whatever you call it). If you're afraid of the consequences, safest way is not to bring illegal files. Just save it in an FTP server and you can download anytime. This is just for fun, cheers. :D

Quicker than a cup of Coffee!

Image courtesy of HBO Boxing

The Pacquiao Hatton match this morning is of course fulfilling for us but at the same time a bit frustrating. It was a good fight but spectators want a better match.
When Michael Buffer introduces the two fighter, I made my coffee quickly so as not to miss anything from the fight. Fight started, enjoying the game as I am enjoying my coffee. Hatton was knocked down twice in the first round, one with a right hook by Pacquiao. For those who are not boxing aficionados, Pacquiao’s right is his jab hand. It was unexpected that a power punch will come from it.
As the second round started, Hatton is a little bit uncomfortable, making a close hug shots that in my opinion annoys Manny. In return, Manny kept a distance taking advantage of his 5cm reach advantage. With 8 seconds remaining in the 2nd round, a hard left hook by Pacquiao lands on Hatton’s face and brought him down. That’s it, the fight is over. Hatton lying on the ring as if wondering what he was doing there. The fight was shorter than we expected. In fact it was quicker than my cup of coffee.
Nevertheless, we enjoyed the fight. We’re proud of you Manny, you made us even prouder being Filipinos. To the Pacquiao Team, congratulations, keep up the good work.

Death of my Hard Disk

Well, actually this is an old news. I just wasn't able to post it for I need to recover from its depressing effect.
Three weeks ago I bought a new portable hard drive 320GB in capacity. It was a cheap one, with a not so tough casing and set my mind they are all just the same. Because I need to save money for a more important needs, I went for that one. I then transferred my files, cutting from my old dying HD to save the files. I then formatted the old one but that was a big mistake.
To cut the story short, I accidentally dropped my new HD for just a couple of feet or less. It was devastating. I lost my files. The HD is physically damaged and I can't recover from my old one.
Luckily, I was able to reconstruct part of my 3D libraries from my friends but what I lost are my collection of family pictures and personal work files, including the 2 books that I'm working on. The pictures I hope there's a copy back home but the books that I'm working on, there's no other copy but the one I lost.
It was double saddening situation. I lost the files and I lost the whole price of the disk because I can't return it to the shop since dropping it was not covered by the warranty. I'll just charge what happened to experience and learn the lesson from it. Making a mistake once is accident, committing the same mistake all over again is foolishness.