How to hide files/folders

[crazed]

Hey there, I've tried finding answers to this on Google but I only get half of what I'm after.

I'm looking for a way to hide some of my files and folders from other users on my computer, and make them unsearchable. I also want them to be hidden and unsearchable on my user name too. This is for a Vista computer by the way. Let me know if this is possible, it's for important files I have.

Thank you

[Deleted]

I've moved this over to the computer forums.

[Deleted]

what kind of folders do you want to "hide"?
im thinking an encrypted partition would be a better option.

sensible information is best kept safe this way currently : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deniable_encryption
no way to prove it's excistence nor what is inside due to multi layering option.

maybe too specific but what kind of files do you want to hide/store safely?

[mojo6912]

This is not exactly what you asked for but...

You can use winrar to compress and password your files.

[Cowt]

If the other users aren't very knowledgeable, you could simply hide them.

Right-click the folder/file -> Properties -> At the bottom of the first tab, check the box 'Hidden'. -> Apply.

Then go to any folder in your OS, click the 'Tools' drop-down menu at the top. (You may have to press Alt for the menu to become visible). -> Folder Options -> View -> Check the box 'Don't show hidden files, folders or drives'.

Folders and files tagged as 'Hidden' are now invisible and unsearchable while the option for their display is turned off.

[chazus]

It really depends on what you're trying to hide, how, and from whom.

Of course there's the hide option. As a computer tech, I can find those easily.
You could put the files in your my documents area, put a password on your account, and enable the 'hide private files' option. I could also find those, but most people (parents you don't want finding your porn) probably wont.
A step further is the secret zip file business.
And yeah, you could actually encrypt the files.

What/who are you trying to hide stuff?

[Cyanotical]

if you encrypt them, you dont have to hide them, just rename them to avoid suspicion

however, if the person you are hiding them from has a advanced level of tech knowledge, it's going to take some serious work to hide a file, if they have a very high level of tech knowledge (cissp/ceh) there is nothing you can do

[Deleted]

if you encrypt them, you dont have to hide them, just rename them to avoid suspicion

however, if the person you are hiding them from has a advanced level of tech knowledge, it's going to take some serious work to hide a file, if they have a very high level of tech knowledge (cissp/ceh) there is nothing you can do

Depends on the level of access the other person has.

If the other person also only has a regular user account and is unable to install something like a keylogger then encryption can be pretty damn secure (as in, no, they won't be able to get to your files).

[Cyanotical]

Depends on the level of access the other person has.

If the other person also only has a regular user account and is unable to install something like a keylogger then encryption can be pretty damn secure (as in, no, they won't be able to get to your files).

to an extent, free encryption like bitlocker and truecrypt are pretty easily cracked by someone with training in computer forensics, (which is why i mentioned cissp and ceh), but if you are simply hiding "personal" files from your parents, truecrypt is probably enough

[traen]

Hiding your gay porn?

Encrypted hidden partition is the only reliable way to go.
This software is free, well written, reliable, and does what you need.

http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/?s=hidden-volume

[starkey]

If someone is using your computer and you dont want them too, hide the power cable lol or are you hiding child porn.

[chazus]

I wonder how secure renaming a virtual machine drive file would be.

Have secret data on VM, uninstall VM software. Rename VM virtual drive to something like pagefile.sys that would be large.

[Deleted]

to an extent, free encryption like bitlocker and truecrypt are pretty easily cracked by someone with training in computer forensics, (which is why i mentioned cissp and ceh), but if you are simply hiding "personal" files from your parents, truecrypt is probably enough

would that even apply to multi layer encryptions aswell? i know brute forcing is doable for say bitlocker but a heavy truecrypt gives the best decrypters at the FBI/NSA a run for their money? (thinking of those porn encryptions with insane passwords and a multple sacrifice layers etc)
all depands how far one wants to go in their encryption, still the best guarded files are the ones that don't excist. (deniable ones or in the mind)

[Cyanotical]

would that even apply to multi layer encryptions aswell? i know brute forcing is doable for say bitlocker but a heavy truecrypt gives the best decrypters at the FBI/NSA a run for their money? (thinking of those porn encryptions with insane passwords and a multple sacrifice layers etc)
all depands how far one wants to go in their encryption, still the best guarded files are the ones that don't excist. (deniable ones or in the mind)

its a great sales line, but it's not true, everyone knows the NSA has the most powerful computer in the world, the question is how powerful is it? i imagine we wont find out till it's declassified 100 years from now, for now we can only guess at the 20-30 petaflop range

considering most encryption crackers run 5-10 teraflops of compute power, the NSA has a serious 1up on everyone else

the purpose of encryption is not to prevent decryption, but to delay it, only quantum encryption is uncrackable, everything else is a matter of time

you can add multiple levels of encryption, but that only slows the decrypter, it doesn't stop them, you want to either delay them till the information is no longer valid, such as password policy, tcp sessions, etc, or delay them into giving up, ie, that script-kiddie is not getting anything decrypted this century with his macbookpro,

the problem is that decryption has now become and enthusiast hobby, and they are much better at building systems to bruteforce just about anything, than coders are at developing new protocols

[Christan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOg7Y...layer_embedded

this might be something you are looking for? i believe you can do it with winrar / zip as well, 7z is free also and better imo

btw any system encryption on your files in "my documents" is pretty much useless even with the cipher command in prompt, as l0phtcrack amazingly enough gets your system passwords, other utilities do it as well, if you are gone from your computer more than a couple hours, unless you have an long and complex password on your account, they can easily access your account and files only your login can see.

with your account logged in windows will also conveniently auto decrypt any files you did.

do not use windows encryption lol. third party always, and some are better than others
actually don't use windows for any sort of security or file hiding at all, safest bet would be to save files on a flash drive and keep them with you, get a program for your comp called ccleaner and it will delete the "recently opened" cache, temp files etc.
safest bet because flash drive = on your person.

[traen]

its a great sales line, but it's not true, everyone knows the NSA has the most powerful computer in the world, the question is how powerful is it? i imagine we wont find out till it's declassified 100 years from now, for now we can only guess at the 20-30 petaflop range

considering most encryption crackers run 5-10 teraflops of compute power, the NSA has a serious 1up on everyone else

the purpose of encryption is not to prevent decryption, but to delay it, only quantum encryption is uncrackable, everything else is a matter of time

you can add multiple levels of encryption, but that only slows the decrypter, it doesn't stop them, you want to either delay them till the information is no longer valid, such as password policy, tcp sessions, etc, or delay them into giving up, ie, that script-kiddie is not getting anything decrypted this century with his macbookpro,

the problem is that decryption has now become and enthusiast hobby, and they are much better at building systems to bruteforce just about anything, than coders are at developing new protocols

The least people have to worry about is encryption strength. Bruteforce is not an option to break a truecrypt volume if you have strong password. And any additional character you add to your password will encrease time needed to break it by 2 degrees. All current truecrypt bruteforces are extremely slow and no supercomputer would ever break your 15-char password while you are alive even considering the Moore's law.

If there is someone with enough skills and knowledge to start breaking you truecrypt volume, the first thing he would do is to install either keylogger or some external monitoring device. A camera or hardware keylogger, like this one link

And also don't forget about the greatest password breaker of all times.

[Deleted]

its a great sales line, but it's not true, everyone knows the NSA has the most powerful computer in the world, the question is how powerful is it? i imagine we wont find out till it's declassified 100 years from now, for now we can only guess at the 20-30 petaflop range

considering most encryption crackers run 5-10 teraflops of compute power, the NSA has a serious 1up on everyone else

the purpose of encryption is not to prevent decryption, but to delay it, only quantum encryption is uncrackable, everything else is a matter of time

you can add multiple levels of encryption, but that only slows the decrypter, it doesn't stop them, you want to either delay them till the information is no longer valid, such as password policy, tcp sessions, etc, or delay them into giving up, ie, that script-kiddie is not getting anything decrypted this century with his macbookpro,

the problem is that decryption has now become and enthusiast hobby, and they are much better at building systems to bruteforce just about anything, than coders are at developing new protocols

one can circumvent bruteforcing by installing a self erase after x amount of attempts? (also why would they ever need that NSA pc to crack any civillian's pc?)
or am i out of date on how brute forcing works?
also with guarding files isn't it usually that the person breaks before the encryption?( in the cases where they really really want whatever data is on a drive?)

[outflow]

Put the files on a USB pen then swallow it.

Regurgitate the pen when you want to retrieve your files.

[demonskies]

I love how this turned into an all out top of the line encryption super security conversation in like 2 posts when the OP just asked how to hide some files. Classic computer forums of MMO Champ . If the people arent the smartest you can always just create a small partition for your data that you want hidden. Then in disk management you can just remove the drive letter and it wont show up in my computer. Then reaasign it a drive letter when you use it. Like I said earlier this will only work if the people arent the most computer literate. Other wise flash drives and external HDDs would probably be the best way to go so you dont even have to worry about hiding it on the computer. You can get fairly large flash drives for a few bucks.

[Frozenbeef]

http://www.askvg.com/add-show-hide-h...p-vista-and-7/

i have that for hiding all my unmentionables :S