How to Hide a Windows Folder

Folder hiding is a simple way of keeping prying eyes away from your private documents.

From a human point of view it's a good solution; what you can't see, you don't know you want.

Encrypting a folder can have the opposite effect. The folder is visible and if access is attempted, the need to enter a password positively shouts the message that someone is trying to hide something.

This probably explains why there are so many commercial utilities that claim they can securely hide folders.

I use the word "claim" deliberately. It's actually quite difficult to securely hide a folder in Windows without risking creating problems in the operating system itself.

And there can be all sorts of practical problems. For example, what happens to the hidden folder when you delete a visible folder above it in the folder tree? Will the hidden folder be backed up? Will it be scanned by your AV program? Can the files in the folder be recovered in an emergency such as a system crash?

These are not theoretical problems; they are real and need to be seriously considered.

I've used a number of commercial folder hiding programs over the years and have ended up un-installing them all. They were simply not worth the trouble.

Instead of using complicated and expensive security utilities, I suggest you stealth your folders using a far simpler method using the Windows "hidden" attribute. And once you have hidden your folders you can then protect them using free open source encryption programs.

The Windows hidden attribute works similarly to the more familiar "read only" attribute. It's a property of every file and folder that can be turned on or off. Let's try it.

Create a folder in My Documents and call it "test." Now copy a couple of unimportant files to the folder.

To turn on the hidden attribute right click on the folder icon, select Properties, then the General Tab and check the Hidden box.

The folder should disappear from My Documents. If it doesn't then you have Windows Explorer configured to display hidden files.

To change this, select Tools / Folder options / View then check the "Do not show hidden files and folders" box. Now the test folder should disappear. To make it re-appear select the "Show hidden files and folders" option.

So now you have a way of hiding a folder and revealing it again using your folder settings. Now I'll show you a simple trick that allows you access your hidden folder without constantly changing the folder settings. However, before I can demonstrate this we have to make the folder hidden but the files within it not-hidden.

Go to My Documents and make sure your folder "test" is visible. Open "test" and select all the files by using Control A. Now right click anywhere on the selected files and select Properties / General and uncheck the Hidden attribute. Now your folder is hidden but the files are not.

Go back to My Documents and hide the folder by changing the folder settings. Your test folder should disappear from My Documents.

Now here's the trick. Windows allows you to navigate to a hidden folder. So while in the My Documents folder, type into the address bar "\test" immediately after "My Documents" with no spaces between and hit enter.

Voila you are now in your secret "test" folder and all your documents are visible!

Of course locating your private folder in My Documents is not a great idea as it will be immediately revealed should another user enable the display of hidden files. Better to stash your folder in some obscure location well away from prying eyes but easy to navigate to. Additionally, name the folder to be as uninteresting as possible.

Hiding your folder like this is fine if you only want to keep information from prying eyes but if you really want to properly protect your hidden folder you should encrypt it.

Luckily that's easy; simply use the free open source program AxCrypt:
http://axcrypt.axantum.com/

Using AxCrypt is dead simple so I won't explain how. AxCrypt is also near-unbreakable so make sure you don't forget your password. If you do, your data is lost forever.

Using this technique you can hide and protect your folders without spending a cent and, unlike commercial folder hiding utilities, this technique is not going to potentially create a whole set of other problems.

How to increase your Internet Speed

1.Increase bandwidth by tweaking QoS in Windows XP Pro

The following tweak applies only to Windows XP Professional edition.

The default system behavior is that all 100% bandwidth is available, however, if there is a running application that indicates to the OS it needs to send high priority/real time data, then as long as it has the socket open, Windows XP will restrict “best effort” traffic to 80% of the bandwidth so that high priority traffic can be accommodated. Basically, applications can make this request to the operating system for QoS support using the QoS application programming interfaces (APIs) in Windows and this only applies if a specific app is requesting QoS.

If you’d like to change how much bandwidth is reserved for QoS (the default is 20% of the total bandwidth), do the following:

1. Make sure you’re logged in as “Administrator” (not just any account with admin privileges).
2. Navigate to START>Run and type: gpedit.msc
3. Navigate to Local Computer Policy > Administrative Templates > Network > QOS Packet Scheduler
4. In the right window, double-click the limit reservable bandwidth setting
5. On the setting tab, check the enabled setting.
6. Where it says “Bandwidth limit %”, change it to read 0 (or whatever percentage you want to reserve for high priority QoS data)
7. Click OK, close gpedit.msc

Under START > My Computer > My Network Connections > View Network Connections, right-click on your connection and under Properties (where it lists your protocols), make sure QOS Packet Scheduler is enabled.

The tweak desribed below helps boost priority for DNS & hostname resolution in general. What this means is, it helps web pages load faster, and has negligible effect on downloads (not counting the couple of ms gain with the host resolution at connect-time).

Applying this tweak assumes some proficiency in editing the Windows Registry using Regedit (Start > Run > type: regedit). As always, backup your Registry before making any changes so you can revert to the previous state if you don’t like the results.

2.Host Resolution Priority Tweak

host name resolution priority
Windows 2k/XP

First, open the Windows Registry using Regedit, and (after backing up) navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipServiceProvider

Note the following lines (all hex dwords):
Class = 008 (8) – indicates that TCP/IP is a name service provider, don’t change.

LocalPriority = 1f3 (499) – local names cache
HostsPriority = 1f4 (500) – the HOSTS file
DnsPriority = 7d0 (2000) – DNS
NetbtPriority = 7d1 (2001) – NetBT name-resolution, including WINS

What we’re aiming to do is increase the priority of the last 4 settings, while keeping their order. The valid range is from -32768 to +32767 and lower numbers mean higher priority compared to other services. What we’re aiming at is lower numbers without going to extremes, something like what’s shown below should work well:

Change the “Priority” lines to:
LocalPriority = 005 (5) – local names cache
HostsPriority = 006 (6) – the HOSTS file
DnsPriority = 007 (7) – DNS
NetbtPriority = 008 (8) – NetBT name-resolution, including WINS

Windows 9x/ME

The tweak is essentialy the same as in Windows 2000/XP, just the location in the Registry is slightly different. For a more detailed description see the Windows 2000/XP section above.

Open the Windows Registry using Regedit, and (after backing up) navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetServicesVxDMSTCPServiceProvider

You should see the following settings:
Class=hex:08,00,00,00

LocalPriority=hex:f3,01,00,00
HostsPriority=hex:f4,01,00,00
DnsPriority=hex:d0,07,00,00
NetbtPriority=hex:d1,07,00,00

The “priority” lines should be changed to:
LocalPriority=hex:05,00,00,00
HostsPriority=hex:06,00,00,00
DnsPriority=hex:07,00,00,00
NetbtPriority=hex:08,00,00,00

Reboot for changes to take effect.

In addition to the tweaks already covered in Win 2k/XP Registry Tweaks and More Win 2k/XP Tweaks, the Windows XP Service Pack 2 introduces a few new issues covered in the article below. Please make sure you understand what you are doing before making any changes to your Operating System. Note the information below only applies to Windows XP Service Pack 2.

3.Remove the limit on TCP connection attempts

Windws XP SP2 introduces a few new twists to TCP/IP in order to babysit users and “reduce the threat” of worms spreading fast without control. In one such attempt, the devs seem to have limited the number of possible TCP connection attempts per second to 10 (from unlimited in SP1). This argumentative feature can possibly affect server and P2P programs that need to open many outbound connections at the same time.

Rant: The forward thinking of Microsoft developers here is that you can only infect 10 new systems per second via TCP/IP ?!?… If you also consider that each of those infected computers will infect 10 others at the same rate:
second 1: 1+10 computers
second 2: 10+10*10 computers (110 new ones)
second 3: 10+100*10 computers ( 1110 new ones)
second 4: 10+1000*10 computers (11110 new ones)
….
all the way to 10*60 + 10^60 computers in a single minute (that’s a number with 60 digits, or it would far exceed Earth’s population). Even if we consider that 90% of those computers are unreachable/protected, one would still reach ALL of them within a minute.

In other words, even though it is not going to stop worm spreading, it’s going to delay it a few seconds, limit possible network congestion a bit, and limit the use of your PC to 10 connection attempts per second in the process ! I have no problem with the new default setting limiting outbound connection attempts. Still, users should have the option to easily disable or change this setting. I might be going out on a limb here, but ever since the introduction of Windows XP I can’t help thinking that I dislike all the bult-in Windows “wisardry” in a sense that the system also limits user access. That irritating trend to ease the mental load on end users is somewhat insulting, considering that Windows is to make the more “intelligent” choice instead of the end user, as well as limit their access to tuning such settings…
End of rant.

With the new implementation, if a P2P or some other network program attempts to connect to 100 sites at once, it would only be able to connect to 10 per second, so it would take it 10 seconds to reach all 100. In addition, even though the setting was registry editable in XP SP1, it is now only possible to edit by changing it directly in the system file tcpip.sys. To make matters worse, that file is in use, so you also need to be in Safe mode in order to edit it.

You only need to worry about the number of connection attempts per second if you have noticed a slowdown in network programs requiring a number of connections opened at once. You can check if you’re hitting this limit from the Event Viewer, under System – look for TCP/IP Warnings saying: “TCP/IP has reached the security limit imposed on the number of concurrent TCP connect attempts”. Keep in mind this is a cap only on incomplete outbound connect attempts per second, not total connections. Still, running servers and P2P programs can definitely be affected by this new limitation. Use the fix as you see fit.

To change or remove the limit, you can use the following program:

Event ID 4226 Patcher v2.11

http://www.speedguide.net/files/xp_sp2/EvID4226Patch211a-en.zip

- A patching program for removing or changing the limit imposed on connection attempts in SP2. The patcher has the ability to restore tcpip.sys back to the original… Still, you might want to back up tcpip.sys, use it at your own risk. The author of this patch can be reached @

http://www.lvllord.de/

4. Recommended settings for Windows 2000 / XP

Windows 2000 & XP, unlike NT supports large windows as described in RFC1323 ( the ‘RcvWindow’ has a maximum value of 2**30 rather than 64K), and includes some other improvements over its predecessors you can use to speed up any TCP/IP transfers. , the descriptions and other options are added to provide you with better understanding and enable you to customize your settings.

All the following entries, unless otherwise noted should be placed in the Windows 2000/XP Registry under the key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters

TCPWindowSize

The value of TCP Window in the Windows 2000 Registry is DWORD, representing number of bytes, with range from 0 to 2^30. The recommended values (in red) optimize TCP for any high speed Internet connection and work best in most cases, however if you’d like to use a custom value follow these guidelines:

For best results, the TCPWindow should be a multiple of MSS (Maximum Segment Size). MSS is generally MTU – 40, where MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit) is the largest packet size that can be transmitted. MTU is usually 1500 (1492 for PPPoE connections). To determine the MTU value of your ISP, check out the Advanced Registry Editing section of our site.

There are three places in the Windows 2000 Registry where you can add the TCP Window parameter.

HKLM/SYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters
GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize=”256960″ (DWORD, number of bytes) Valid range is from MSS to 2^30. Add the value as a decimal. Note: For best results RWIN has to be a multiple of MSS lower than 65535 times a scale factor that’s a power of 2, i.e. 44 x 1460 = 64240 x 2^2 = 256960. If you choose to use a RWIN lower than 65535, you can simply make it multiple of MSS and turn scaling off (Tcp1323Opts=0)

HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters
TcpWindowSize=”256960″ (DWORD, number of bytes) Valid range is from MSS to 2^30. Add the value as a decimal. TcpWindowSize can also exist under TcpipParametersInterface – if added at this location, it overrides the global setting for this particular . Note (10/20/00): Seems MS has found another bug in Windows 2000, the TCPWindowSize should be configured with the global setting (GlobalMaxTcpWindowsSize) rather than this one – Q263088

Note: For best results RWIN has to be a multiple of MSS lower than 65535 times a scale factor that’s a power of 2, i.e. 44 x 1460 = 64240 x 2^2 = 256960. If you choose to use a RWIN lower than 65535, you can simply make it multiple of MSS and turn scaling off (Tcp1323Opts=0)

Tcp1323Opts

Tcp1323Opts is a necessary setting in order to enable Large TCPWindow support as described in RFC 1323. Without this parameter, the TCPWindow is limited to 64K.

HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters
Tcp1323Opts=”1″ (DWORD, recommended setting is 1. The possible settings are 0 – Disable RFC 1323 options, 1 – Window scaling but no Timestamp options, 3 – Window scaling and Time stamp options.)

Note: Tcp1323Opts=”3″ might help in some cases where there is increased packet loss, however generally you’ll achieve better throughput with Tcp1323Opts=”1″, since Timestamps add 12 bytes to the header of each packet.

DefaultTTL

DefaultTTL determines the time in seconds and the number of hops a packet lives. While it does not directly affect speed, a larger value increases the amount of time it takes for a packet to be considered lost, discarded and retransmitted. A value that’s too small can cause packets to be unable to reach distant servers at all.

HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters
DefaultTTL=”64″ (DWORD, recommended setting is 64. Other settings that are widely used are 128 and 32)

EnablePMTUDiscovery

When set to 1 (True), TCP attempts to discover MTU automatically over the path to a remote host. Setting this parameter to 0 causes MTU to default to 576 which reduces overall performance over high speed connections. Note that this setting is different than our Windows 9x recommendation.

HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters
EnablePMTUDiscovery=”1″ (DWORD – boolean, valid settings are 0–>False and 1–>True. Many connections perform better with this entry at 1, however, if you prefer to set your upstream to send fixed 1500 packets, you might want to use 0 instead). When set at 1, establishing connections and initial transfer speed might slow down a bit, however you will get better throughput if somewhere in the path large packets need to be fragmented.

EnablePMTUBHDetect

Setting this parameter to 1 (True) enables “black hole” routers to be detected, however it also increases the maximum number of retransmissions for a given segment. In most cases you’d want to keep BHDetect to 0 (False).

HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters
EnablePMTUBHDetect=”0″ (DWORD – boolean, valid settings are 0–>False and 1–>True. Recommended setting is 0)

SackOpts

This parameter controls whether or not SACK (Selective Acknowledgement) support is enabled, as specified in RFC 2018. SACK is especially important for connections using large TCP Window sizes.

HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters
SackOpts=”1″ (DWORD – boolean, recommended setting is 1. Possible settings are 0 – No Sack options or 1 – Sack Option enabled).

TcpMaxDupAcks

This parameter determines the number of duplicate ACKs that must be received for the same sequence number of sent data before “fast retransmit” is triggered to resend the segment that has been dropped in transit.

HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters
TcpMaxDupAcks=”2″ (DWORD – range 1-3, recommended setting is 2).

Patches

This Includes

1. sguide_tweak_2k.zip
Description: Generic patch for Windows XP and Windows 2000 (all versions). This patch will optimize your TCP/IP Registry settings for high speed Internet connections. To install, extract the .inf file first, then double-click (or right-click on filename and choose install from the pull-down menu) and reboot for changes to take effect.

http://www.speedguide.net/files/sguide_tweak_2k.zip

2.sguide_tweak_2k_pppoe.zip

Description: Generic patch for Windows XP/2000 and DSL connections using PPPoE. This patch will optimize your TCP/IP Registry settings for high speed Internet connections. It is specifically designed for PPPoE DSL connections. To install, extract the .inf file first, then double-click (or right-click on filename and choose install from the pull-down menu) and reboot for changes to take effect.

http://www.speedguide.net/files/sguide_tweak_2k_pppoe.zip

3. winxp_dnscache.zip

Description: Patch Windows 2k/XP not to cache failed DNS entries. By default, when a DNS lookup fails (due to temporary DNS problems), Windows still caches the unsuccessful DNS query, and in turn fails to connect to a host regardless of the fact that the DNS server might be able to handle your lookup seconds later. This patch fixes the problem by configuring the DNS client to continue sending queries to an unresponsive network. To install, save to your HD, unzip the .reg file, then double-click the filename.

Web Patches – faster loading of Web Pages

The following patch increases Web page loading speed, by doubling the number of possible concurrent open connections. For example, imagine a web page has 20 images and some text – in order for your browser to get all these files, it opens 2 or 4 concurrent connections, depending on the Web server. Increasing the number of open connections allows for faster retrieving of the data. Please note that the patch sets some values outside of the HTML specs. If you decide to install it, backup your Registry first. Changes will take effect after you reboot. Download the patch appropriate for your OS:

OS: Windows 9x/ME

http://www.speedguide.net/files/sg_webtweak_9x.zip

OS: Windows 2K/XP/2k3

http://www.speedguide.net/files/sg_webtweak_2k.zip

TCP OPTIMISER

Description: The TCP Optimizer is a free, easy Windows program that provides an intuitive interface for tuning and optimizing your Internet connection. Just download and run, there is no installaion required. The program makes it easy to find the best MTU and RWIN values, test latency and tweak all the important broadband related registry parameters. The Optimizer can be helpful with tuning any Internet connection type, from dialup to Gigabit+

URL

http://www.speedguide.net/files/TCPOptimizer.exe