Need to better Hide Windows Folder for User with Admin Privs

[Phil C.]

Hi. I am trying to configure a laptop for a non technical friend which has
WinXp Pro Sp2.
She normally logs in with an administrator privileged account, but I had
done some
work on her pc and accidentally left the os and hidden files visible and she
deleted them
thinking they were junk. Of course this took 4 days and data recovery
software (no backup) to repair this mess!!
I would prefer to leave her with admin privs, however, using explorer, the
double pane tree viewof the windows folder, the right pane is blued out with
the os system file warning,
but the left pane tree view still shows the folders in the windows
directory, which I'm afraid that she may mistake again (less likely that
she's been warned, but I want to make this foolproof).

Is there any way to hide the windows sub folders in the left pane tree
view(prevent the subtree/folders form being listed), or a way to
hide the folders I deem need to be hideable better???
I tried experimenting with the desktop.ini file in the windows directory,
but it gets reset when the computer is rebooted. I tried changing the
privileges for the windows folder, removing the "list folder contents"
attribute, but that unchecks other privs, and doesn't seem to work. There
are a few "hide and lock and or encrypt" folders products on the market, but
I'm not sure if they are stable and reliable. I really don't need to lock
the
folders, just prevent their viewing, unless necesssary.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

 

[Galen]

In Phil C. <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Hi. I am trying to configure a laptop for a non technical friend
which has WinXp Pro Sp2.
She normally logs in with an administrator privileged account, but I
had done some
work on her pc and accidentally left the os and hidden files visible
and she deleted them
thinking they were junk. Of course this took 4 days and data recovery
software (no backup) to repair this mess!!
I would prefer to leave her with admin privs, however, using
explorer, the double pane tree viewof the windows folder, the right
pane is blued out with the os system file warning,
but the left pane tree view still shows the folders in the windows
directory, which I'm afraid that she may mistake again (less likely
that she's been warned, but I want to make this foolproof).

Is there any way to hide the windows sub folders in the left pane tree
view(prevent the subtree/folders form being listed), or a way to
hide the folders I deem need to be hideable better???
I tried experimenting with the desktop.ini file in the windows
directory, but it gets reset when the computer is rebooted. I tried
changing the privileges for the windows folder, removing the "list
folder contents" attribute, but that unchecks other privs, and
doesn't seem to work. There are a few "hide and lock and or encrypt"
folders products on the market, but I'm not sure if they are stable
and reliable. I really don't need to lock the
folders, just prevent their viewing, unless necesssary.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

In to the tools, options menu, view tab of explorer hide system files and
folders and protected OS files. Then if there are more files to hide you can
right click on them, select properties, in the attributes you can tick
hidden to hide it.

Galen
--

"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the
very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be
made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby."

Sherlock Holmes

 

[Phil C.]

Galen,
I've already done this. These default settings still allow the viewing of
the windows
folder tree sub folders in the LEFT pane in explorer view. They remain
hidden in the right pane.

 

[Phil C.]

Galen,

However, I did recursively apply the hidden attribute to the root Windows
folder
and its children, and it did re-hide the folder tree in the left pane.
Thank you.

 

[Galen]

In Phil C. <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Galen,

However, I did recursively apply the hidden attribute to the root
Windows folder
and its children, and it did re-hide the folder tree in the left pane.
Thank you.

No worries, and for future reference you can do it from the command line if
you are at all interested. I've never done it but it seems logical that if
you're often fixing PCs and you want to hide certain folders from end-users
who are not technologically inclined (not that I see a problem with this
though you should probably make them aware that you're hiding folders for
their own protection I suppose) you could actually write a small batch file
(or something of your choice) that would set the hidden folders back to
default when you're done and, beyond that, you could potentially add other
folders that you might wish to keep hidden that weren't hidden by default.
Just an idea for you to mull over when you get a free moment or ten. Should
be interesting and if you decide to go that route let me see your results if
you don't mind.

Galen
--

"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the
very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be
made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby."

Sherlock Holmes

 

[Phil C.]

Galen,
Actually, I forgot there would be a catastrophic problem. If you set the
windows
subfolders attributes to hidden, all programs or new program installations
that write to system32 or other directories will not work any more. So this
is not an acceptable solution.

 

[Galen]

In Phil C. <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Galen,
Actually, I forgot there would be a catastrophic problem. If you set
the windows
subfolders attributes to hidden, all programs or new program
installations that write to system32 or other directories will not
work any more. So this is not an acceptable solution.

Good catch, I'd completely forgotten that as well... Hmm... Alright... How
about tools > options > show common tasks? It's pretty mean but it hides the
left hand pane

Galen
--

"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the
very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be
made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby."

Sherlock Holmes

 

[Sharon F]

Hi. I am trying to configure a laptop for a non technical friend which has
WinXp Pro Sp2.
She normally logs in with an administrator privileged account, but I had
done some
work on her pc and accidentally left the os and hidden files visible and she
deleted them
thinking they were junk. Of course this took 4 days and data recovery
software (no backup) to repair this mess!!
I would prefer to leave her with admin privs, however, using explorer, the
double pane tree viewof the windows folder, the right pane is blued out with
the os system file warning,
but the left pane tree view still shows the folders in the windows
directory, which I'm afraid that she may mistake again (less likely that
she's been warned, but I want to make this foolproof).

Is there any way to hide the windows sub folders in the left pane tree
view(prevent the subtree/folders form being listed), or a way to
hide the folders I deem need to be hideable better???
I tried experimenting with the desktop.ini file in the windows directory,
but it gets reset when the computer is rebooted. I tried changing the
privileges for the windows folder, removing the "list folder contents"
attribute, but that unchecks other privs, and doesn't seem to work. There
are a few "hide and lock and or encrypt" folders products on the market, but
I'm not sure if they are stable and reliable. I really don't need to lock
the
folders, just prevent their viewing, unless necesssary.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Phil, why not give her a list of folders that she should not delete files
from? I can understand having to leave her account at admin status so she
can operate programs that don't work correctly for limited users. But the
flip side of that will include problems such as the ability to delete
files. Anything you do to protect her from herself, she can undo as an
admin.

Another thought: Windows File Protection replaces any system files deleted.
However, it can't protect for those files it doesn't monitor and that
includes files added by programs to \windows\ or \windows\system32. Perhaps
obtain some imaging software that would make it very easy to restore her
system when it barfs? In my opinion, Acronis True Image is about easy as it
gets for newbies.