How-To Geek Forums / Windows 7
Hidden folders showing up in Windows 7's jumplists?
(8 posts)
Interesting. Which version of Windows 7 are you running? What is the build number?
EDIT: OK, I have been able to reproduce this. I'm running the RTM, build 7600, and after clearing my jump lists and navigating only to hidden folders, I do have a hidden folder in the jump list for Windows Explorer even though I have select "Do not show".
I can see why some would say it's a bug. I'm just not sure what the design philosophy is behind hidden folders and jump lists. If you choose "don't display" for hidden folders, how do you navigate to them? I notice that if I type the name of a hidden folder into the Explorer address bar, that it is saved in the drop-down list of recent folders and shows up as an auto-complete suggestion when typing a similar path. Should this be "hidden" too?
I guess for me, I don't see it as a problem if hidden folders show up in recently used lists. I think of them as hidden, not secret.
Yup, it is stored in the Explorer address bar, which is another, in a sense, flaw - all depending on the design philosophy of hidden folders.
And yeah, you're right: they're hidden, not secret. But if I don't have them in the public display (as in you can see them by just going to the parent's folder) then why should they be displayed everywhere else? If that's the case, why not just always have it "dimmed"?
Don't worry, I'm not expecting these answers out of you.
My guess is that the hidden folder started out as a way to keep novice users out of important folders. However, it's not enforced, just more of a "hope they don't find it" mentality. I expect there is probably a way with a Local or Group Policy to keep users out of certain folders, and maybe even a way to keep them from ever showing. If there is, I don't know it.
There is a registry key that prevents an application from showing up in the Start Menu's MFU list. I wrote about this here in the wiki. Again, this is a way to hide a program from showing up there, but is also by no means secret.
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