Hide Hidden Files and Folders

I received this email a few days ago from a reader:

I have all kinds of new folders that showed up in the last few days. I'm always working around in my drives so I have a pretty good idea how many folders and files there are in certain places. A few days ago, several folders and I think some files too have appeared out of nowhere. How do I know if I need them or not? - Steven

After getting the names of a few of these files and folders from Steven, it was apparent that Windows XP was configured to show hidden files. This isn't the default setting in Windows so Steven must have made this change on accident or another program made the change without Steven's knowledge.

Either way, it's an easy fix! Just configure Windows XP to hide hidden files and folders. Steven's computer was back to normal right away. You need to avoid deleting most hidden files but you certainly don't need to see them all the time.