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From: barad@brand.UUCP (Herb Barad)
Newsgroups: net.micro.mac
Subject: Re: Making Folders Invisible on HFS
Message-ID: <234@brand.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 30-Jul-86 16:51:31 EDT
Article-I.D.: brand.234
Posted: Wed Jul 30 16:51:31 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 2-Aug-86 08:49:09 EDT
References: <1784@mb2c.UUCP>
Reply-To: barad@brand.UUCP (Herb Barad)
Organization: U. of So. Calif., Los Angeles
Lines: 46
Keywords: invisible hfs folders

In article <1784@mb2c.UUCP> jed@mb2c.UUCP (John Duncan) writes:
>...
>Is it possible to make a Folder on HFS "invisible"?  If so, how.  This could
>be the start of at least some form of security for hard disk owners -- eg.
>before you power off your machine, you activate a DA that secures the system
>by making all of the highest level folders and documents invisible.  When you
>reboot, the startup application would ask for your password which would be
>stored in an invisible file.  No password, nothing to see.  Even booting up
>with a normal floppy would not appear the desktop.  Sure, I know it can be
>beat, but its a start and would keep novice snoopers away.
>
>Any other security ideas would be greatly appreciated.  For example, do any
>of the SCSI hard drive manufacturers offer a keylock power-on switch?
>
>John Duncan	(mb2c!jed)	Michigan Bell		(313) 424-1167

Yes, it is possible and it does help with security.  You need ResEdit
(maybe simular programs will work).  Go into ResEdit and select the
folder you want to operate on.  Then select "Get Info (command-I)" and
you will then be able to change some attributes.  Set the Invisible
flag.  Now the folder (and all its contents) still exists and can even
be used to some extent.

What we did here is to put all our applications (MacDraw, MacPaint,
etc.) into a folder that was then made invisible.  I had created
sample blank documents that were locked.  These blank documents (one
for each program) were needed to start up an application.  Suppose
someone wants to create a new MacWrite file, he can then open the
sample document and MacWrite will start up (even though it is in an
invisible folder!).  This is not perfect security, but does keep
people from throwing applications into the trash, etc.


-- 

Herb Barad	[USC - Signal and Image Processing Institute]

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