Hiding computer files

An easy way to prevent this from happening is to Hide Files and Folders in Windows 10 using methods as listed below. This easy method of Hiding Files and Folders in Windows 10 should be good enough for Family Computers where the intention is to prevent kids or anyone else in the family from accidentally deleting or modifying important files and folders. Depending on your selection, the selected Folder or the Folder along with all its Subfolders and Files will become hidden, once you click on OK.

Right-click on the Windows Start button and then click on File Explorer option in the menu that appears. When Files and Folders are hidden, they no longer appear in File Explorer.

However, you can easily Unhide Files and Folders that you had previously hidden on your computer by following the steps below. Click on the Windows Start button and then click on File Explorer option in the menu that appears. Now the files you chose are hidden away and people won't see them when they're looking through your folders.

When you need to find those files again, just turn Hidden Items on. On Mac, you'll use a quick Terminal command to hide folders. If you don't know the full path of the folder you want to hide, type the command then drag that file or folder into the Terminal window.

Alternately, you can just tuck that folder away inside your Library folder. If messing around with hidden folders is too much for you, you can use a third-party app to hide files. Again, these apps don't really protect your data, but they do make it so nobody casually comes across files you don't want them to.

My Lockbox tucks your personal files inside the app and requires a password to unlock them. Nothing inside My Lockbox will show up in search, so you don't need to worry about anyone coming across your files. There's no encryption here, so while it's not super secure, it is fast and easy to use. On Mac, you have two solid options to hide folders using apps. With Skedaddle, you get a hidden space on your desktop that you can put folders on.

The files here won't show up in Spotlight searches or in Finder. That said, anyone who figures out the keyboard shortcut that pulls up Skedaddle can access them easily. Another trick is to use an app like the previously mentioned Obscurity. Although, calling Obscurity an app isn't exactly right. It's actually just a dummy app that you can put files inside. Just right-click Obscurity and select "Show Package Contents.

These files won't show up in searches or in Finder. This isn't really secure since anyone can access it, but chances are nobody is going to just dig around in your computer's applications folder right-clicking every single app. Hiding apps or password protecting them doesn't really do that much in the way of security. If you really want to secure those files, you want to encrypt them so nobody can access them without a password.

This will slow down your access to those files a bit, but it's definitely the most secure method to hide them away from prying eyes.