Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!comp.vuw.ac.nz!canterbury.ac.nz!phys169
From: phys169@canterbury.ac.nz
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
Subject: Re: How can I hide files?
Message-ID: <1990Nov16.164311.9800@canterbury.ac.nz>
Date: 16 Nov 90 04:22:12 GMT
References: <5001@discg1.UUCP>
Organization: University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Lines: 23

In article <5001@discg1.UUCP>, izslc19@discg1.UUCP (james cook) writes:
>  Is there a way I can hide files on my directory so that someone else
>  could not see them if they did a DIR.  I want to put some games on 
>  my directory, but my boss uses my PC on occassion and looks at files.
>  Is there a way these game files would be invisible to him if he did
>  a DIR?

(1) Yes, there are lots of public domain programs to hide files.
(2) There is even an "ATTRIB" supplied with DOS (but most versions don't set
    the hidden attribute)
(3) You might be able to put the executables in a directory with a name made
    up of ALT-255 characters (if you don't know how to do this don't worry, 
    it's not a very good idea anyway)
(4) (best suggestion yet) Don't keep the games a secret from your boss. As a
    general rule, people bringing games disks along and running them on PC's
    doing important work can introduce viruses and other nasties. If you
    don't know enough about DOS to hide a file, you probably don't know
    enough to avoid viruses. (Okay, anybody can bring a virus onto a computer,
    but if one is discovered, your games files are going to be found when
    somebody thoroughly scans the computer, and you might be shot at dawn
    then!)

Mark Aitchison.