Interesting special folders in WinXP

Deep test of special folders containing "." in Windows XP

To create a folder in Windows that is inaccessible to others, encryption software is generally used to complete this task. In fact, in Windows XP, no additional software is required. By using the features of the system, you can create an "encrypted" folder. Generally, you cannot directly view the content in the folder, what's more interesting is that during the experiment, we will have many new discoveries, a deeper understanding of XP, and the unique pleasure of discovering the mysteries by ourselves, let's start now.

First, click "run" in the "Start" menu, Enter cmd in the "open" column of the "run" dialog box, and press enter to open the Command Prompt window. Enter "G:", Press enter, and then enter the following command:

G: \ md test .. \. Note that there are two "." in front of "\". After you press enter, a folder named "test." is created on disk G. Open the Resource Manager (click "start"> "All Programs"> "attachment"> "Resource Manager") and try to open "test" in the resource manager. "folder, how? Cannot open it! A dialog box is displayed, indicating that the folder cannot be opened (figure 1 ). Try again to go to "test." In the Command Prompt window. "folder, enter cd test. command. After you press enter, the following message is returned: the system cannot find the specified path, and then try cd test .. \ command, or not. Finally, let's try again and enter the cd test command. We still cannot enter this folder! It seems that the "test." folder cannot be accessed! Let's try copying or moving the folder again. A dialog box prompts us: Unable to copy the file: unable to read the source file or disk. Try again to delete the "test." folder. It cannot be deleted directly in Windows. A dialog box is displayed (figure 2 )! Note that we do not directly create "test. "folder, because the last character in the name of the folder created in Windows is ", Windows will automatically ignore this character, so you cannot directly create" test. "folder.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Now, enter the md test command in the Command Prompt window to create the test folder (or directly create the test folder in the Windows resource manager ). Click the test. folder and you will be able to enter the folder! In the "Address" column, we can see that we did enter the "test." folder (Figure 3 ). Enter "cd test .." in the command line .. \ "Command (this command indicates that we want to enter" test. "folder), press enter and find that we are actually in the test folder (figure 4 )! Is it interesting?

Figure 3

Next, copy several files or folders to the "test." folder. The interesting thing is that the same file or folder appears in the "test." folder! That is to say, if you copy or delete any files in the "test." folder, you will respond accordingly in the "test" folder, and vice versa! Interesting, right? Does folders in other Windows have this feature? Haha! Click "test." Or try to open files or folders in the "test." or "test" folder! Further, if we delete the test folder, the "test." folder will become an empty folder and we will not be able to directly access it.

In fact, if we do not create the test folder, but directly copy the file to the "test." folder, guess what will happen? In the G drive, a test folder is automatically displayed, which contains the files or folders we just copied to the "test." folder! Now you can enter the "test." folder at will. In this case, the test folder is the shadow of the "test." folder. It appears like a ghost! Once we delete the test folder, the "test." folder will close everything that is in contact with the outside world and "self-closed" it is interesting, right?

The interesting things are not complete. First Delete the test folder, and then use md test in the Command Prompt window... \ command to create another "test .. "folder, copy any file or folder to" test .. "folder, a new folder named test appears under the root directory of the G drive .. "folder or" test. "folder, We can click it to enter the folder. Interestingly, only the "test .." folder contains the file we just copied. The other two folders do not contain the copied content. Right-click "test .. "folder, select" properties ", and find that its" size "," occupied space ", and" include "attributes are not empty, while" test. "and the above properties of the test folder are empty! In addition, after deleting the test folder, right-click "test .. and test. "select" properties "for the folder and you will find that none of them have the" Security "tag (figure 5 ), in addition, attributes such as "size", "occupied space", "include", and "modification time" are all empty (in fact there are files in it), and if the test folder exists, "test .. and test. "The folder has" security "labels. Let's continue. Suppose we haven't deleted the test folder. Next, go to the Command Prompt window and find that we use cd test... \ and cd test .. the \ command actually enters the test folder. You can use the dir command to find that every folder is empty! It's really strange that a file exists in the "test .." folder in the Windows window, and it's gone at the command prompt! What's more strange is that if we use rd test in the Command Prompt window .. \ command to delete "test. "folder," the directory is not empty "(note: we have checked" test. "in Windows. "There are no files in the folder !), This folder cannot be deleted! It's really strange! I speculate: in fact, we .. and test. "directory operations are actually performed on the test folder in Windows. Therefore, after deleting the test folder, the above response is displayed.

Figure 5

Next we will delete the test folder, and now there is a new discovery: in the Windows window, "test .. "folder can still enter, and" test. "The folder still cannot be accessed," test .. "The folder contains the files and folders we just copied. In the Command Prompt window, these two folders cannot be accessed! It can be confirmed that the author's speculation is correct. Because the test Folder does not exist, you cannot enter the "test .." and "test." folders. The directory file cannot be clicked to open it. A dialog box will pop up prompting us that the directory name G: \ test .. \ testfolder \ test.txt is invalid (figure 6 ). Now, we have created an "encrypted" folder testfolder, which cannot be accessed in the Command Prompt window. in the Windows window, although the folder can be accessed, however, you cannot directly view the files. That is to say, as long as no test folder exists, these files are secure and inaccessible! Therefore, we can use this method to encrypt files and set them to "hidden" to make them more secure.

If you want to hide a file more concealed, you can use the following method: Enter the C: \ recycled (that is, the recycle bin) directory and use the method just mentioned to create "test .. "And testfolder, and move the files and folders to be hidden to the testfolder folder. Right-click these files and directories and select" properties "from the pop-up menu ", set the property to "hide" so that these files are invisible in Windows and the recycle bin still exists! Next, modify the Registry to completely hide the file. Enter Regedit in "run" in the "Start" menu, open the Registry Editor, and expand to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \
Explorer \ Advanced \ Folder \ Hidden \ SHOWALL branch, modify the key value of the DWORD Value CheckedValue to 0 (the default value is 1, if there is no such DWORD value, you can create a new one), close the registry editor, press F5 to refresh the desktop. Now these files are hidden deeper. If you don't believe them, you can see them: Go to my computer and click View (v) "→" Folder Options "→" View "→" show all files "(Windows 9x ), you can also Click Tools → Folder Options → view → show all files and folders (under Windows 2000/XP) to view all hidden files, but after you enter the recycle bin of the hidden file, you cannot find anything!

Why is there such a huge "magic" in folders? In fact, we use an invalid file name to create a special folder. This folder has some special characteristics in Windows, so it can achieve a certain security effect. Why should I add a certain Attribute before "security? This is because the folder encrypted using this method is not really secure, although the content in this special folder in Windows and command prompt is not easy to be found, however, some software can be used to view the content. For example, the file management software Windows Commander and ACDSee can display the content! Take ACDSee as an example. Open ACDSee and you can see that its interface is similar to "my computer. Find the "test .." folder under the G drive where the folder is hidden. You can also see the files in it (figure 7 )! Click the corresponding file to open the file. You can also use ACDSee to copy the file to another folder. Therefore, this method is only secure! But it is enough for cainiao. More importantly, we have learned something that is not available in books. This is the biggest achievement!

Figure 7

In addition, is ACDSee a "encrypted" star? Not all. Although you can see the files in ACDSee, You cannot delete or move the "test." and "test." folders (when the "test" Folder does not exist ). When the "test" folder exists, we can directly Delete "test .. "folder (both in Windows Resource Manager and ACDSee), but after you press F5 to refresh, you will find" test .. "The folder is normal again. We deleted the test folder! In addition, the ACDSee file management function can be used to copy the "test .." and "test." folders to other disks, but you will find that you are actually copying the test folder.

Try the response of this type of special folder in other common software. First, use the compression software WinRAR for testing. If the test Folder does not exist, after running WinRAR, in the window of the main interface, we can see "test .. and test. "folder (Figure 8). The strange thing is that WinRAR recognizes them as" Files "(as shown in the" type "column ), in addition, the word "file" in the "type" column is booming. in WinRAR, we cannot click the folder name to enter "test .. and test.. If the test folder exists, WinRAR can view the content in the "test .." and "test." folders and recognize them as folders. In addition, if the testfile Folder does not exist, click the right button in the folder test.htm and select export to test.rar in the pop-up menu. The rarfile cannot be created, and a dialog box is displayed (figure 9 ). If the testfile exists, a file named test..rar can be compressed.

Figure 8

Next we will use the hexadecimal file editor UltraEdit and WinHex for testing. Run UltraEdit, click open under the "file" menu, and find G: \ test in the "search range" drop-down list box .. folder. Click the OPEN button to enter the folder and view the files and subdirectories. If you click the files in the folder, the window appears (Figure 10 ). For "test. the folder UltraEdit cannot be opened, and a dialog box similar to Figure 1 will appear. WinHex is better at identifying such folders than UltraEdit. WinHex can not only open test .. folder, and you can view or run the files in the folder at Will (click "execute" under the "File Manager" menu ). Unfortunately, WinHex cannot open the "test." folder. After you click the "test." folder in WinHex, WinHex responds the same way as UltraEdit.

Figure 10

Next, let's try again the response of this special folder in Windows Command. Windows Command is a tool that completely replaces the Resource Manager (Wincmd ). In Wincmd, you can view the files and folders in the "test .." folder. There is nothing to do with the "test." folder. Clicking this folder in Wincmd does not respond. In addition, you can copy the files and folders in the preceding folders in Wincmd, but you cannot delete or move the "test .." and "test." folders. This is a failure for Wincmd, which is strong in file management! It seems that the special folder we created is still very powerful.

Let's try again the responses of IE and Word2003 to these special folders. Run IE and click open under the "file" menu. The "open" dialog box appears. In the dialog box, Click Browse to find test .. "folder, select" all files "in" file type "to view all contents in this folder! Point to the file you want to view, click "open" to find and load it in, and then click "OK" to open the file you want to view! This indicates that the content in the "test .." folder can be viewed at will for IE. Use IE to open the "test." folder and try again. This time the folder failed and cannot be accessed. If the test Folder does not exist, you cannot open the "test .." and "test." folders in Word2003. A dialog box is displayed, prompting you That the folder cannot be opened. Note: Open "test .." in Word2003 .. "The" cannot open the G: \ test folder "(figure 11) displayed in the pop-up dialog box, and use Word2003 to open" test. "Cannot open G: \ test. folder (Figure 12), it seems that Word2003 sets "test .. "folder is regarded as the" test "folder, which is also an interesting episode. If the test folder exists. "And the test folder are empty, and" test .. "If there are files in the folder, use Word2003 to open" test .. "A dialog box (Figure 13) is displayed to open the file in the folder. If a file with the same name exists in the test folder, you can use Word2003 to open a file with the same name under "test .." and "test.

Figure 11

Figure 12

Figure 13

Finally, let's talk about how to delete such special folders. To delete this special folder, enter rd test in the Command Prompt window .. \/s command can delete "test. "folder, enter rd test... \/s command can delete "test .. "folder. You can add the "/S" parameter to delete the specified directory and all its subdirectories and files. This parameter is mainly used to delete the directory tree. If the "/Q" parameter is added, you can enter quiet mode. If "/S" is added to delete the directory tree, no confirmation is required.

Well, let's talk about the special folder with ".". This article is tested in Windows XP. I believe it should be the same in Windows 2000. If you have more and more amazing discoveries, please let us know!