Windows Vista - Explorer - Toggle Displaying Hidden Files and Folders

By default, when browsing your system with Explorer, Windows Vista hides certain files and folders from view. This is done to help ensure you do not accidentally move, rename, or delete files crucial to the operating system.

However, there may be circumstances where you need to view such files and folders, for example:

* You may need to ensure the correct versions of critical files exist on your hard drive in order to run a particular application.

* Your system may be infected by a virus / spyware, or other malware, and you need to examine individual files to see if they have been maliciously modified.

To toggle this behavior, you can access the folder options feature. Either:

* Open a folder in Explorer. Press the ALT key to temporarily show the menu, and then select "Tools" - "Folder Options".

* Click the Windows/Start button, type "folder options", and press ENTER.

* Click on the "Organize" button in an Explorer folder, and then choose "Folder and Search Options".

Then:

2. When the "Folder Options" multi-tabbed dialog box appears, click the "View" tab.

3. Underneath "Files and Folders" - "Hidden Files and folders", click one of the two radio buttons as desired:

- Do not show hidden files and folders
- Show hidden files and folders

4. Click "OK" to close the dialog box.