How to hide a folder on a laptop. Making the icon transparent

Likewise, you can protect your files with a password, hide them in pictures, and post them publicly.

By the way, the program has one feature: when processing a picture, its original is not saved. That is, you will no longer have this picture without the archive - it will be overwritten. You will not be able to re-use this image to hide another file.

Therefore, it is better to do this: take a ZIP or RAR archive that you want to hide, copy it to the desktop, copy the picture there (only suitable JPG format), in which you want to hide this archive, and in the program indicate the paths to these copies, and not to the original archives and pictures. This is more correct.

Sometimes you need to hide a file or folder from prying eyes on the desktop: from children, wife or husband, bosses. Our instructions have 4 ways to do this in 1 minute.

Method 1: popular

Create a folder

First, create a regular folder. This can be done on your desktop or any other place where it is convenient for you. Right-click in the free area → “New” → “Folder”. You can put any name.

Making the icon transparent

Right click Click on the new folder and open Properties.

On the Settings tab, click the Change Icon button.

In the list of available icons, find transparent icon, select it and click OK. You can also download it separately and specify the path to it.

In the folder properties window, click “Apply”, “OK”.

Now the folder has become transparent, only the name remains.

Hiding the folder name

Right-click on the folder - Rename. With a clamped Alt key On the numeric keypad (right) enter the code 0160. This is a non-breaking space symbol. Release Alt and press Enter. If that doesn’t work, try replacing the code with 255, or holding down the Fn button on the laptop together with Alt.

Some laptop models do not have digital block keyboards. In such cases, type non-breaking space in Word using a combination Ctrl keys+ Shift + Space. Copy and paste into the folder name.

Method 2: alternative

I have on virtual machine I didn’t want to install with Windows 10 hidden icon for the folder. It was possible to make it only for a shortcut to a folder, but it was indicated by an arrow in the corner. So I found additional method make an invisible folder.

In the folder properties, check the “Hidden” option.

In Explorer, open the “View” tab and check the “Hidden elements” checkbox.

This option can also be changed through the Control Panel:

Open Control Panel. It is located in Pusk. Find it through the search or right-click on the Start icon - Control Panel.

Select Appearance and Personalization.

On the “View” tab at the very end of the list, select the “Do not show” option hidden files, folders and disks."

Click "Apply" - "OK".

Method 3: simple

If you don't want to mess around with the OS settings, use the free one Free program Hide Folder, which can be downloaded from the official website: http://www.cleanersoft.com/hidefolder/free_hide_folder.htm. It hides the folder completely: it cannot be found even through a search.

After installation and launch, the program will prompt you to enter a password with confirmation. The next step will ask for a registration code; you can skip it with the “Skip” button.

To hide a folder, add it to the program using the “Add” button. A warning appears about the creation backup data to access the folder in case of deletion and reinstallation program, so as not to lose access to it, click “Backup”. Click "OK" and the folder will disappear.

To access the folder in the program, click on the Unhide button.

Method 4: genius

Another unusual way hide the folder - inside the image. Before you begin, make a copy of your important files so you don't lose them if something goes wrong.

For example, let's take a folder with important data and a photo with a secret cat.

Make an archive of a secret folder (in zip format or rar).

Create a folder, the closer to the root of the disk, the easier it is. For me it is C:\setupik\ . Move the created archive and photo of the cat inside this folder.

Open command line: Press Win + R, type cmd and click OK.

Use the cd command to navigate to the created folder. Like this: cd c:\setupik\ .

Enter COPY command/B kot.jpg + secret.rar secret-img.jpg . Change the file names to your own: the first is a photo of a cat, the second is an archive with a hidden folder, the third is new file with a secret picture.

After running the command, open the created secret-img.jpg file. You will see the same picture with a cat. But if you open this file using an archiver or change the extension to rar or zip, you will see hidden files. Magic!

How to find a hidden folder

In the first case, a folder with an invisible icon and name will become visible if you select it. This can be done with the key combination Ctrl + A (select all) or manually select the entire desktop area.

In the case of a hidden folder using an attribute, you can find it when you enable the display of hidden files and folders through the control panel. That is, you need to repeat the described steps in reverse order.

You can also access a hidden folder if you write down its path somewhere. For example: C:\Users\Admin\AppData\My hidden folder. Paste this path into Explorer and the desired folder will open.

As you can see, there is a chance that your hidden folder they will find it by chance. Therefore, it is better to remove it from the desktop somewhere away. And the most reliable way- put a password on the folder. When archiving a folder in WinRar, the options will allow you to set a password and hide file names.

Or why protecting data through encryption is better than simply hiding folders in Windows.

Briefly: There are many programs on the Internet for hiding individual folders and files from other computer users. These programs offer a simple method for hiding folders by filtering requests to file system. But this does not mean 100% data protection.

In fact, hidden files and folders can be seen and viewed using other means. If more reliable protection is required, disk encryption programs should be used.

How to hide a folder or file - the standard way

One of the greatest desires of the user is often the desire to hide his personal documents, programs and other data somewhere away from prying eyes. The most common way to do this is:

• Use programs to hide files and folders. There are quite a lot of them now: Folder Lock, Hide Folders XP
• Use standard means in Windows: mark the folder/file as hidden, or deny access to the folder/file by specifying the rights to access the object.

Directories and files marked as “hidden” in Windows are not visible in Explorer to other system users if the user has the flag enabled: Do not show hidden folders
Visible in programs: FAR, Total Commander, etc., which do not use a standard dialog to display files and folders.

We intentionally left out EFS (Windows 2000/XP's built-in encryption) because setting up this feature requires significant effort and skill.

The convenience of these methods of hiding folders is that you don't have to do anything extra to hide them. Everything is quite simple: just one click of the mouse is enough to hide a particular folder/file, regardless of its size. But what are the disadvantages of this type of program? Let's try to figure it out.

What is the degree of protection?

Not all utilities for hiding folders will reliably hide your data. Moreover, even fewer of them, in addition to hiding them, will reliably protect them with encryption from various techniques. Many of these programs hide folders and files for only one operating system. What if there are several operating systems installed on the PC? From one system the data will not be visible, but from the other - everything is at your fingertips!

Simply hiding folders and restricting access to files does not help following cases:

Booting a PC on a different operating system or loading another OS from CD-ROM. For example Linux Live CD, Windows Live CD.
- in another OS that will connect to yours HDD drive y, all files will be visible, since there will be no restrictions or protection.

Remove HDD drive and connect it to another Computer.
If you remove hard drive(HDD drive) and connect it to another computer, you can see and open all hidden folders and files. Even those folders to which access is prohibited (on an NTFS disk) will be visible.

There is another opportunity to view files hidden by various programs. To do this, you must have Administrator rights ( Account with Administrator powers). Because if you are a system administrator, you can uninstall programs to hide folders, or boot into crash protection mode, and then all hidden objects will become visible.

Enhanced data protection - through Encryption

How to get around all the obstacles mentioned above?

One method of protecting data is to encrypt it. Everything is quite simple. You select the data you need and assign a password to access it. If only you know the password, then only you will get access to the information!

To further increase the reliability of data storage, it is encrypted. That is, using special encryption algorithms, they transform the data in such a way that even if the file is opened, it will be impossible to read it - it will be a mess. To convert the “porridge” into normal data, they are decrypted using the same encryption algorithm.

Encryption allows you to:
Hide folders and files from prying eyes (or other users of the same computer). And also Protect data from viewing using the methods listed above and other “power” attacks.

Rohos Disk Encryption program: encrypts and hides

As practice shows, the greatest reliability of information storage is achieved by combining several methods of protection. This is the path chosen when creating the program Rohos Disk Encryption.

The program works according to the following principles:

• All data is stored on a separate virtual disk that the program creates. This disk is stored on your PC either USB flash storage device The disk is encrypted using high-speed encryption, that is, “on the fly”, directly during operation. This disk is called .
• After finishing working with files, you disconnect the disk. The drive itself and all information stored on it become inaccessible until the drive is turned on again. The disk consists of one file, which is equal in size to the disk space. This file can be seen, but it is encrypted, so information cannot be extracted from it.
• Allows you to hide and encrypt on your PC separate folders and applications such as Skype, Firefox, Chrome.

How to hide a folder using Rohos Disk Encryption:

Previously in the Rohos program Mini Drive(free) or Rohos Disk Encryption, you need to create your encrypted virtual disk R:.

In the Hide Folder dialog box, select predefined folders, such as My Documents, Profiles folders Skype and other programs.

Or specify the Folder manually by clicking on the “...” button.

Hi all!

This feature is simply necessary when someone else is using your computer.

After all, this “someone” can “accidentally” spy on your personal information.

Or children use the computer - their “activities” can generally lead to the destruction of personal data.

I'll tell you how to hide files on your computer, using the example of the currently most popular operating system for personal computers– Windows 7. I use it for both work and entertainment, and I think most readers do too.

Established funds

So, let's get straight to the point. The first method is based on using the capabilities of Windows itself - those tools that are created to hide important files operating system from the user to avoid causing harm to it. The method allows you to make arbitrary files and directories invisible. The important thing is that any conflicts with Windows are excluded, since everything is done using its own means.

How is this done? For experiments it is better to create a new folder:

1. select a free area on the desktop,
2. click with the right mouse button,
3. click “Create”,
4. then - “Folder”.

That's it, a “New Folder” has appeared on the desktop. Now open its properties (again through the right button) and check the “Hidden” attribute, click “OK”.

As a result new folder should either disappear or become translucent. In the second case, additional manipulations need to be done.

We turn to the “Control Panel” (through the menu opened by the “Start” button), where in the “Folder Options” section, open the “View” tab and check the box next to the line “Do not show hidden...” (at the bottom of the list of options). Click “Ok” and that’s it, the new folder on the desktop has become invisible!

To “return” it (as well as any other hidden directories), that is, to make it visible and accessible, you just need to set it to “Show hidden files, folders and drives.”

The method is proven and reliable, does not require additional programs and some special knowledge.

There is only one minus - a person who is well versed in computer intricacies can easily find your personal files by turning off hiding in settings. But someone who doesn’t know how to find what’s hidden will try to “dance” away from the search, however, even after entering the name of the hidden file correctly, he will not receive any information about it from the operating system - the file is not there, and that’s it!

A tricky way to hide information

If you want to make it so that some video file on your computer cannot be watched, then you can simply change its extension (the icon of the video file will change and it will not be possible to play it with a simple click).

To do this, select “Rename” in the menu with the right mouse button, edit the file name - replace (or remove) all the characters after the period, usually there are three of them. Although... it’s better not to change it, but to add one more dot, and after it put three new symbols, which obviously will not match any standard extension.

For example, the following are suitable: 00A, 11B, 5AB... (with numbers). In the future, to return the normal extension, you will simply need to remove the added one.

This method works with files of any type (but not with folders): Word documents, pictures, executable files...

The problem may be that the extensions are not showing operating system. Then you need to go to the settings before renaming (as described in the previous paragraph), turn off hiding extensions, and turn it on again after renaming.

A knowledgeable person, of course, will be able to figure this out, but this may take a lot of time.

You can hide it in the archive

A good option might be to use . An appropriate program, for example, WinRAR or 7-Zip, will help you securely hide documents or photos. As a rule, there is no need to select strong compression in the settings, but assigning a password to the archive is mandatory.

By moving files and folders to a password-protected archive, you will leave no chance for anyone to use them. Write down the password so you don’t forget.

The network is full of software, problem solver if not hiding files, then prohibiting or restricting access to them. As a rule, these are encryption programs. I strongly advise you to use such programs carefully (and!), otherwise your files may become inaccessible to you.

For those who want to understand this topic thoroughly, or simply become more experienced user PC, there is a training course " Computer genius" I advise you to take it, as a result of training you can learn a lot of useful and interesting things from the world of computers.

Sincerely! Abdullin Ruslan

The problem of protecting information from prying eyes is very relevant if relatives, colleagues or friends have access to your computer. You probably have files that are not intended for public viewing. This article will discuss how to hide and protect such information.

The methods that I will show will not hide the folder from an advanced PC user, but the protection will be reliable from inexperienced users. Effective protection can provide encryption. How to do it is written at the end of this instruction.

I would like to note that there are more effective methods data protection. For example, . Still, simply hiding is also one of the methods. Use cases will be held in Windows system 7.

Hide in Windows Settings

The easiest way is to disable showing hidden folders. Anyone familiar with this setting can easily detect the hidden folder.

To do this, go to Start menu >> Control Panel ( make it look like big icons) >> Folder options.

Then go to the “View” tab and check the “Do not show hidden files, folders and drives” checkbox as in the image below.

Now you need to go to properties. Right-click to bring up the context menu and select it.

Here, check the “Hidden” attribute and save the result.

This will hide the folder. To see it, you will need to turn on the display of hidden elements again.

This video shows another method using num numbers on the keyboard ( may be missing), which will make the name and icon invisible on the desktop. Perfect for use with other methods.

Change your appearance

The whole point is to change the name and icon. I'll show you with my own example. This is what my hidden folder looks like.

To do this, go to properties.

Select the “Settings” tab and in it find the “Change Icon” button as in the image below.

Select the icon that looks like a printer ( or any other you like) and rename the folder accordingly to completely mask it.

Outwardly, no one will guess that you have any files stored there. Can be effectively combined with the other two.

Advanced method

In this method, you need to pack the folder and image into an archive. Change the default opening program and change the icon. At double click The image will open, and when opened using the archiver, the hidden folder will open.

Before this, you should prepare. In the folder options, make extensions invisible if they are visible.

Now find any ordinary picture. Select it along with the folder and create an archive.

Then rename it to the image name and go to properties. Here you will need to change the application with which the archive will be opened.

Select the application you usually use to open images.

Half the job is done, but the icon looks unnatural. We need to fix this. Download the utility for changing icons and run it. It does not require installation. Go to file extension.

Here, in the search, enter the extension of your archive. I have a ZIP.

Now select the icon that appears on the rest of the images.

It should look something like mine. Now, to get to the hidden folder, select in context menu>> open with >> Windows Explorer (or archiver). At simple opening a picture will be shown.

But unfortunately there are 2 drawbacks:

1. The icon and program for opening changes for all archives with a certain extension.
2. The file type is not hidden in properties.

If these shortcomings do not bother you, then feel free to use it.

Forbidden file program

This program does not hide, but encrypts the folder, thereby ensuring reliable protection information. Very convenient and can be used in conjunction with other methods. The main thing is not to forget the decryption password.

You can only gain access using a password and this program. If you forget it, you will lose your files forever.

I will show an example of use on my folder ( sitemozg). Download it and. Run the source. A window will appear in front of you in which you need to specify the path to the folder.

Specify the path.

Now enter your password and check the box to delete source file. Perform encryption.

Since the program does not require installation, it can be stored on a flash drive.

The extension .ciphered will be added to all files stored in this folder.

The opening process is just as simple. Launch the program and in the “Decryption” tab, specify the path to the folder, and then enter the password. Click "Decrypt" as in the image below.

Then go into it and you will see that the extension ( .ciphered) is gone and you can safely work with files. Don't forget to encrypt again when you're done.

Which method did you use?