Computer Tips and Tricks - How to Create a "Private" Folder

We all use computers in our life. Whether it be for banking, GPS in a car, or just a normal computer but how many of use know of the lesser known "dark secrets"? That's right, there is a "dark" side to computers. Ever wanted to have a "private" folder so your wife can't see what's in it. Ever wanted to freak someone out by having know folder names? Well in this article, I am going to tell you how to do all this and more.

Having no folder name can be fun for pranks, and also for real use. If you do not want to have your folder name as "New Folder" but need a new folder this trick can do just that. All you have to do is follow these simple steps:

Setup 1:

Select the folder you want to hide or have no name. In this case, the folder "G Man".

Step 2: RIGHT click the folder and select rename.

Step 3: This is the tricky part. You MUST use the number pad on your keyboard. USING THE NUMBERS ABOVE THE LETTERS WILL NOT WORK. Now, hold down alt and type 0160 in your number pad. Release alt and press Enter/Return. That's it. If that does not work try alt and type 255 on your number pad. If you want to create more than 1 folder, you can do alt + 0160 and push space. The next one can be alt + 0160 and push space space, etc.

Step 4:
This is only if people want to hide their folder to the naked eye. RIGHT click the folder you want to make invisible and click properties.Click The customize tab at the top. Next, click the change icon button. Copy: %SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll and Paste it under "Look for icons in this file" You can scroll through the icons. 2-3 of them should be blank. Select that one and click OK. You are done!

Step 5: Remember where your folder is!

Private and Encrypted Folders.

OK, so hidden folders can be fun, but they can be found too. If someone refreshes the desktop, the folder can sometimes show. There was a free program from Microsoft at one time called My Private App. Sadly, it was around for only a couple weeks because Microsoft did not support it. You can read the full article about that here: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,1989425,00.asp. Back on topic, there is still a way to download this free program! Although it may not work on Vista, it does work on XP. To download it go to: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Lockdown/Microsoft-Private-Folder.shtml. As I know this file will not stay up forever, I have a mirror here: http://rapidshare.com/files/73848223/MSPF10ENU.rar. Once you download the file, you have to "unzip" it. You can do that by using the free program called alzip from here: http://www.download.com/ALZip/3000-2250_4-10631836.html.

Since this program is not supported, we have to "fool" the system into thinking it is. To do this, we have to use the "quiet" setting. How ironic!

All you have to do is press start, run or push the windows key and r at the same time. Type "cmd" (without the quotes) and push continue. Now we have to go where we saved the file. You can find out where by right clicking on the file and clicking properties. It will be under "Location". Now in CMD, type cd C:\YOURLOCATIONHERE\ where YOURLOCATIONHERE is where you saved it. For example, if you saved it in C:\Users\Bob\Desktop\Setup\Setup.exe, that is what you would type. Now type setup.exe, where setup.exe is the name of the file you downloaded and unzipped earlier. The full command is "MSPF10ENU.msi /quiet" where MSPF10ENU.msi is the name of the setup file. Follow the install normally. That's it. You find a folder called my private folder on your desktop . Double click it, and it will walk you through the setup. Enjoy!

I hope you have enjoyed this. This is my first article and I will be posting a new one with 2 tricks hopefully each week. Check back every day just in case. Also look for special editions and bonuses on random days. Thanks for reading!

The "G" Man