Hide protected operating system files

[Muse]

It's recommended by default in Windows and if you uncheck it you are warned. Do you leave these hidden or do you want to see that they are there? I've generally exposed them, don't remember being burned. I also do not hide extension for known file types, that's never made sense for me. How else do I know what the files are (unless I depend on icons or something)? What do you do? Also, do you leave hidden folders hidden?

 

[Mushkins]

I always always always turn on extensions for known file types. As a power user, it lets me easily change a filetype just by renaming the file, and for my users at work it's one more layer of defense when they can see that "cat picture.jpeg.exe" has two extensions and something looks kind of off.

I personally turn on show hidden files as well, just because I do a lot of digging in places like the AppData directory and dont always want to have to type it out instead of clicking through. I also like to see if something *else* happened to make a directory and marked it hidden hoping I wouldnt know its there. For users I leave it off, it's one less place for them to accidentally save important work documents (and then subsequently delete a dozen critical .dll files).

 

[ArisVer]

I used to expose them in WinXP until I figured out that I do not know what I can do with them.

 

[Muse]

I used to expose them in WinXP until I figured out that I do not know what I can do with them.

I just want to know they are there. For instance I might be in a directory that has hidden files. If I don't know they are there I'm a little clueless about what's going on. I can see they are hidden because their icons are kind of ghost like.

I generally hate the notion that I as user shouldn't know about what's under the hood. I figure the more I know the better. I know that Windows isn't constructed with this in mind but that doesn't change the reality.

 

[corkyg]

I have nothing hidden.

 

[Muse]

I have nothing hidden.

Yo, I leave nothing hidden either.

 

[SimMike2]

Most people are better off keeping the system files hidden. Just because some power users brag about keeping nothing hidden, doesn't mean it is a good idea for average users. There is this persistent semi-myth that people's computers slow down because there is "too much junk on there." If these people start deleting stuff, and the system files aren't hidden, guess what, they get a flaky install where it might not run or certain programs might not run. Way worse with XP. Windows 7 is way safer for average users.

 

[Muse]

My start in computing was a DOS class. I'd rather see it's there than not know it's there. It won't be lost on me that it's "hidden." When Windows is configured to show "hidden" files the "hidde" attribute is clearly in evidence.

 

[Dude111]

I used to expose them in WinXP until I figured out that I do not know what I can do with them.

I have all files showing but My windows Search ignores all files with the SYSTEM ATTRIBUTE checked anyway....