Cannot View Hidden Files

Hi
I am using Windows XP Service Pack 3.
I can’t view hidden and system files. At first I was not being able to even change the setting from Tools → Folder Options, for whenever I changed it to show all files it would change back.

Then I found a thread here and changed the registry value to as follows:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\NOHIDDEN\CheckedValue = 0
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\NOHIDDEN\DefaultValue = 0
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL\CheckedValue = 2
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL\DefaultValue = 2

Now this does keep the “Show all files” option slected in the Folder Options, but I still can’t see the hidden files.

Any idea whats going on?

Well if your registry settings have been changed it is possibly malware that did it and that malware may still hiding them somehow.

Check out this link, http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm, item 155, it is a vbs script that you download and run.

If you haven’t already got this software (freeware), download, install, update and run it, preferably in safe mode and report the findings (it should product a log file).

  1. SUPERantispyware On-Demand only in free version.
  2. MalwareBytes Anti-Malware, On-Demand only in free version http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/malwarebytes/mbam-setup.exe, right click on the link and select Save As or Save File (As depending on your browser), save it to a location where you can find it easily later.