patndoris TechnoGeek

You may or may not have a need, or any desire to try this one out - but it is kinda neat! I came across a video and a couple articles on how to create invisible folders on your computer. This is NOT a high security measure, but to the average person nosing around on your machine - they probably wouldn't notice them. The problem I found was that the "suggested" method didn't work for laptop users. Read on to find out why, and my solution to it.

Browse to the folder you want to make invisible, or just create a new one. If you're changing an existing folder you will want to single click on it (do not open it) to highlight it, then right-click and choose Rename. Delete the name of the folder, so that your cursor is sitting in the middle of where the name will go.

If you are on a desktop you can hold the "Alt" key down and type 255 on your number pad. The name of the folder will then be blank. This does not work however for laptop users since we don't have a number pad. I found a way around this by right clicking in the spot where you rename the folder and choosing "Insert Unicode Control Character", then choose the "Left To Right Mark" option and hit enter. The name of your folder will now appear empty and will look like this:

Right-click on the folder and choose Properties. Then choose Customize, and Change Icon. Browse to the right until you find the blank ones as shown below:

Select the blank icon, click on OK, then choose Apply, and Click OK again. You will now have something that looks like this:

When you, or anyone else, browses into your folders, the invisible folder will appear like this - almost invisible.

The truly curious can still get into it, certainly, but for the average snooper, they aren't likely to even notice it. If you really need more protection and security on your files, there are any number of software programs to handle this. But if you just have a few private documents or pictures, this may well suffice for you.