If you would take a look at the many files that you have stored in your computer, you surely would be amazed at the hundreds upon hundreds of files you have saved over time. And there just might come a time when you would not remember where you stored a certain file. There would be more difficulty if you do not remember the exact location of your file, and the file in question is a hidden one. Thus, you would surely want to find an efficient way to show hidden files.

This is actually pretty simple, especially if your operating system is Windows. Just a few clicks of your mouse, and you can easily have in display all your hidden files in your system. First off, open your My Documents folder. Find the Tools tab at the top of this folder and click on it. A prompt would then pop out, giving you some options. You should then click on the Folder Options tab. Once this is expanded, click on the View tab, and click on the option ?Show hidden files and folders?. Click on the Apply tab at the bottom of the prompt, then hit OK. This will then reveal all hidden files in all of your drives. You can also perform the same operation using Windows Explorer. You will have to undergo the same steps to achieve the same results.

You also have to understand that the Windows operating system actually has reason for hiding some files intentionally. This is because the deletion of such files would most likely cause problems in running certain applications. Now, this scenario is actually a welcomed one, compared to the risks of causing an overall system crash. Yes, the deletion of certain files can indeed cause this. Of course, the person who deleted these files could be very well innocent because the deletion might be purely accidental. But just so that this could be avoided, Windows purposely hides these files from plain view.

There could also be times when you yourself intentionally hide these files because they have information that is sensitive in nature. These are the files that you do not want in public view, thus, you purposely keep them hidden. But what happens when you have forgotten the exact location of these files? Furthermore, what should you do if these files are password protected, and you just do not remember the password that you once set is?

There are actually a lot of software tools that you can download via the net, which can greatly help you in cracking passwords. These are freeware utility programs that you can get absolutely free of charge. They also come with a lot of useful features as well. As for your options to show hidden files here, it gets a little complicated. The simple method discussed above won't work because you do not really know where the file is specifically located. Thus, you would have to conduct a security scan of your system, to determine the locations of hidden files, and if these hidden files were indeed authorized by you or some other user. This is a utility that you will have to install on your system. Fortunately, there are also free versions that you can get on the web for this.