This gets longish so -

RIDDLER PART 1

I have run through the complete article on "Microsoft's Really Hidden Files," and frankly I am amazed - that anyone would waste their time publishing this kind of junk.

"The Riddler's" repeated insistence that you need to reboot your machine into "real DOS mode" several times is quaint nonsense. EVERY action that he describes can be carried out in a DOS window.

For those not accustomed to using DOS, unless your setup has been altered, you can click on START, Run up to PROGRAMS and select MS-DOS. If your program list has been altered (some administrators like to remove the DOS shortcut) you can click START, RUN, type COMMAND and hit enter.

An ugly, usually blackish, window will open showing the DOS command prompt:

C:\Windows_

With the "_" flashing to indicate where you will type.

Since you want to look at the whole drive, and not just windows, you need to "change directory" to the C:\ location. Type CD\ and hit enter to get there.

Type DIR *.*/S and hit enter, and you will see a whole bunch of files flash by. These are the files that DOS or Windows Explorer ordinarily will show you.

If you want to actually read them, you can type DIR *.*/S/P where the P stands for page, or for those inclined to elegance, type DIR *.*/S|more, where the "|" is the "pipe" switch, that "pipes" the output of the DIR command through a "filter" named "MORE" to do exactly same thing that /P does. Either of these will show you one screenfull at a time. Hit any key (the spacebar works nicely) and the next screen will appear. Hit the key about 599 more times and you'll get through a typical Windows directory.

Unfortunately, you can't do much else untill you have "paged" through all the screens, unless you know that CONTROL Z will abort the listing (you may need to hit the Ctl-Z a couple of times).

An alternate way to see them all is to type something like:
DIR *.*/S > dirlist.txt

The > is a "redirect" which will send the listing to the file "dirlist.txt" instead of to the screen. (Use your own name for "dirlist" although the .txt is recommended to make it easier to find.) You can open the .txt file in Notepad, Wordpad, or Word, or another text processing program. Be warned - my full directory listing opens as a 331 page document in Word.

On the last screen, or at the end of the .txt listing, you will find the total number of files listed, total of file sizes, number of directories listed, and free space on the disk.

If you now substitute a different DOS command in place of "DIR" you get a different result. Type

ATTRIB *.*/S > attylist.txt

and you will create a text file that lists EVERY file on the drive.

EVERY SECRET HIDDEN NEFARIOUS REALLY HIDDEN SUBVERSIVE NASTY FILE mentioned in "MR RIDDLER's" anonymous revelations is in this list.

"REALLY HIDDEN?" I don't think so. ATTRIB *.*/S is just way too easy.

Since the ATTRIB (ATTRIBUTE) command doesn't list directories (usually) this gives you a somewhat smaller .txt file - only 292 pages for my machine.

Note: When you're done with the DOS window, type EXIT and hit enter. This is somewhat more reliable than using the "X" in the corner of the window to close.

John