 How To Display Hidden Files
In Windows XP
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- Introduction:
- There are many reasons why someone would want to see all
the hidden files in Windows XP.
 One
of the main reasons is to find spy ware, viruses and the many
temporary files some programs create and drop on your hard drive.
All of these files carry potential damage to your PC, your personal
data, or even just to the response time of your system.
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- Microsoft believes you have no reason to see these hidden
files and by default they turn this feature off. They don't want
you to accidentally delete something they think you need. For
the novice computer user, that might be a fine concept; but in
reality it wasn't a practical idea
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- Gather Together:
- Your PC and some PC knowledge
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- Step 1:
- On your desktop find the icon
that says "My Computer" and click on it once.
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- Step 2:
- Click on the line that says "Local Disk (C:)
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- Step 3:
- When the contents of the C:\ drive are displayed. Click on
the menu item at the top that says "Tools" and then
select "Folder Options".
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- Step 4:
- A pop-up window will be displayed showing 3 tabs at the top;
"General", "View" and "File Type".
Click on the center tab entitled "View".
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- Step 5:
- There are 2 sections here. The top section "Folder Views",
dictates how your changes will be applied to your files. Make
sure the "Apply To All Folders" button is highlighted.
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- Step 6:
- The 2nd section at the bottom "Advanced Settings",
contains a number of folders with system settings under each
folder. By default Windows XP will display these folders in an
open status. Which means, the first folder you should see is
"Files and Folders" and it's contents. If you don't
see that, find that folder and click it open.
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- Under "Files and Folders" you will see a sub-folder
entitled "Hidden Files and Folders". If it's not open,
click it open and you will see 2 settings. The first setting
is the default and the radio button is probably clicked on. Click
on the second setting "Show hidden files and folders"
to display those files in your file display window.
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- Click OK and you're done. The hidden files and folders will
now be displayed in your file manager window for your computer.
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- Additional Tips:
- Scan through all the settings in the Advanced Settings window
and become familiar with how your system is configured. This
may not mean anything to the novice PC owner; but later on when
you want to change a configuration on your machine, you might
remember where you saw it.
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- If you have a problem with your PC, ALWAYS do a Google search
for the issue. You will find tons of information and good step
by step how to's out there on the web to help you out.
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- Be Careful:
- Be very careful removing files and folders from your PC.
It is very easy to delete program files that you need in order
for your Windows system to work properly.
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