While this can be done in a blink of eyes for all geeks out there, but there is some portion of normal human being that doesn’t know how to do this. Here is the complete reference how to show hidden files on windows for ALL versions of Microsoft Windows ever created. This list is not all my work, I refer to some other website out there for Windows version that I don’t have or I never use.
Show hidden files on Windows Vista
- Click on the start button ( the rounded Windows logo)
- Click on Control Panel, then click on Appearance and Personalization, finally click on Folder Options
- In Folder Options window, click on view tab.
- Under Advanced Settings click on Show hidden files and folders radio button to select.
- Uncheck Hide protected operating system files.
- Click OK to accept and apply those changes
Show hidden files on Windows XP
- Launch My Computer or Windows Explorer.
- Under Tools menu bar, click on Folder Options.
- In Folder Options window, click on view tab.
- Check Display the content of system folder checkbox.
- Click on Show hidden files and folders radio button.
- Uncheck Hide protected operating system files.
- Click OK to accept and apply changes
Show hidden files on Windows Server 2003
- Launch My Computer or Windows Explorer.
- Under Tools menu bar, click on Folder Options.
- In Folder Options window, click on view tab.
- Check Display the content of system folder checkbox.
- Click on Show hidden files and folders radio button.
- Uncheck Hide protected operating system files.
- Click OK to accept and apply changes.
Show hidden files on Windows 2000
- Launch My Computer or Windows Explorer.
- Under Tools menu bar, click on Folder Options.
- In Folder Options window, click on view tab.
- Click on Show hidden files and folders radio button.
- Uncheck Hide protected operating system files.
- Click OK to accept and apply changes.
Show hidden files on Windows ME
- Launch My Computer or Windows Explorer.
- Under Tools menu bar, click on Folder Options.
- In Folder Options window, click on view tab.
- Click on Show hidden files and folders radio button.
- Uncheck Hide protected operating system files.
- Click OK to accept and apply changes.
Show hidden files on Windows NT
- Launch My Computer or Windows Explorer.
- Under View menu click on Options.
- In Options window, click on View tab.
- Scroll down a bit, look for Show all files radio button.
- Click OK to accept and apply changes.
Show hidden files on Windows 98
- Launch My Computer or Windows Explorer.
- Under View menu click on Folder Options.
- In Options window, click on View tab.
- Scroll down a bit, look for Show all files radio button.
- Click OK to accept and apply changes.
Show hidden files on Windows 95
- Launch My Computer or Windows Explorer.
- Under View menu click on Options.
- In Options window, click on View tab.
- Scroll down a bit, look for Show all files radio button.
- Click OK to accept and apply changes.
Reminder
Under Windows XP and above, showing protected operating system files can be very dangerous since it show you all the files critically needed by the operating system. Any single wrong move can bring you disaster and nightmare, and potentially you have to re-format your hard disk drive.
On the other hand, malicious software always using this technique to hide itself from you since this kind of files + hidden flag can’t be found by normal search and delete command. System file status can be achieved by applying flag s to the file.
I hope someone can find this list useful.
If you use Mozilla Firefox search bar a lot, you must be annoyed by the default behavior to open search result in the current page. That’s mean you will lost what ever you currently viewing, overwritten by the search result. Worry no more, here is a good news for you, you actually can change Firefox behavior to always open search result in a new page.
Good news by Firefox advanced configurations
As probably guess, ALL this secret functions nowhere to find in the normal options dialog, it is in hidden advanced configurations. Follow me.
- Click on the address bar (shortcut, CTRL + L), to change focus to address bar.
- Type about:config and press enter. A new page will open with bunch of things.
- Lets get rid of whatever we don’t need by typing search in the filter bar.
- Still a lot of things there but we are only interested with browser.search.openintab line.
- Double click that line and you will see the value changed to true (the default value is false, that’s mean search result will always open in current page)
- You will noticed the line will be bolded to give visual help that the default value has been changed.
Now we are done, the effect will be activate immediately. Try type something in the search bar and you will see Firefox open the search result in a new tab.
Another case closed 
By default, Firefox will assume you are not on high speed connection or broadband thus it will use the slowest settings how you reach a web page. However, if you are on broadband or higher internet connection, you can tweak Firefox a bit to fully utilize high speed your connection.
This can be done by enabling network http pipelining. Follow this step.
- Open up Firefox advanced config, type on address bar about:config
- In the filter box, type pipelining so it will only show options in our interest.
- Double click on network.http.pipelining to enable it, see the value on the value column change to true.
- Change network.http.pipelining.maxrequests value to something higher than the default (4). For this setting you really need to change to suit your connection, higher speed connection will benefit with higher value and vice versa, play with it a bit until you get your golden value.
If you want to enable pipelining on proxy, you can change that setting there also. This setting will take effect immediately, you don’t have to restart your browser (this is some of the thing I like about Firefox)
Enjoy your faster browsing
When you need to update your DirectX you need to know your current DirectX Version so you won’t waste your time downloading and installing the version files you already have installed on your hard drive.
Here is the step how to check your installed DirectX Version.
- Go to start menu and select run or shortcut Win Key + R.
- Type dxdiag and press enter or OK button.
- Your DirectX Version will be displayed on the last line under System Information.
- If you want to check version for each files click on DirectX Files tab and it will give you full detail about your DirectX files including files created/modified date.
- Click Exit when done :p
Reference image
Have you ever feel annoyed by some website that display only half of the article or divide the article into few part so you can only view one part at one time. They usually do this so they can display more ads or user will spend more time on their website. I found out this feature (if this can be call feature) really annoying.
If I want to read the article, I want to read the whole without have to click next page or previous page. Most of the website that have this feature usually have a lot of advertisements so page load will be significant delayed when you try to switch between pages.
I found a cool, nice & neat trick to avoid this on some site.
Continue reading ‘Neat Trick to Skip Page Ads and View Full Article’
If you always open a lot of tabs with Firefox you might noticed that all your tabs have same fixed, width, and when the total tabs width more than Firefox’s main window width, a small arrow will appear on the right side of your tabs pane.
I found out this is very ugly, un efficient and not user friendly. You have to press that small arrow to get your most left or most right tabs, or you have to use the tab list button.
If you had use other tabbed browser such as Maxthon Browser you will be familiar with the default feature you tabs will squeeze to fit all tab un-hidden when you open a lot of tabs. Here is how you enable it on Firefox
- Move your cursor to address bar.
- Type about:config and press enter.
- A new window config window will open.
- Type tab in the filter edit area.
- Now all the options will be filtered to the word contained tab only.
- Look for browser.tabs.tabMinWidth and change whatever its value to 0 That’s mean you tabs now don’t have any minimum width.
- Close the config window and it will automatically save.
You are done… Now try open some blank tab or whatever tab and you will noticed the tabs will squeeze itself to fit main window width.
Enjoy your new more efficient and more user friendly tab !
Joost by default launching itself if full screen mode on start which is sometimes quite annoying, especially when you are multitasking and not only want to concentrate watch something on Joost.
The option to turn off launching full screen on start is a bit far away and hard to find unless you really explore the program.
Here is step-by-step guide with screen shot how to disable launching Joost full screen on start.
Click on My Joost™ on the right side of Joost screen
Continue reading ‘Joost: Disable Launching Joost Full Screen on Start’
