Which I have.You know what's even easier than that? Having your own computer that no one else uses and not having to hide it
Don't click on the "untitled" folder.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Guide: The best way to hide your porn (confidential documents) on your Mac
- Thread starter maclover001
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Don't click on the "untitled" folder.
not that bad. if ur mac is used by family then you shouldnt even have porn on ur comp. if its ur mac only then you should be able to have wotever you want on it. i think ur wife or hubby should realize that most people will have lookt at or have some sort of digital porn somewhere.if they dont then they need to get with it.
plus if you have such a collection of porn then you should have an external drive anyway lol
plus if you have such a collection of porn then you should have an external drive anyway lol
Firstly there are plenty of freeware applications out there that will enable hidden files to be displayed.
Are you sure about this one? I just did a test and the files showed up directly in Recent Items.
Secure disk images are what is needed for private files. Putting them in a hidden folder is just like hiding the documents under your bed.
Are you sure about this one? I just did a test and the files showed up directly in Recent Items.
Secure disk images are what is needed for private files. Putting them in a hidden folder is just like hiding the documents under your bed.
Probably the best solution is to develop an obscure fetish for something completely innocuous that way, no one will suspect your massive collection of, say, armchair photos is anything other than perfectly innocent.
Yes but most normal humans can remember google.com
Also with my test (followed the guide to the letter) the fiels showed up in the recent items thing in finder.
Also if people are using Terminal it doesn't take much to press up to see what has been typed in previously.
You know, for serious purposes, the .trick doesn't always work. I run rEFIt, which requires that an "efi" directory be created on the root of the startup drive. This can't be renamed or it will cease to work.
Instead, you can use another trick that actually took a fair bit of Googling to find. Create a file on the root called ".hidden", and add the directory name to that file. Relaunch Finder, and bingo! No more efi directory. It still shows up in Terminal, but it's nicely hidden when I look at the drive in Finder. Now I'm back to the standard collection of Applications, Developer, Library, System, and Users.
Instead, you can use another trick that actually took a fair bit of Googling to find. Create a file on the root called ".hidden", and add the directory name to that file. Relaunch Finder, and bingo! No more efi directory. It still shows up in Terminal, but it's nicely hidden when I look at the drive in Finder. Now I'm back to the standard collection of Applications, Developer, Library, System, and Users.
I don't think its worth anyone's time to google "how to see if someone has hidden files on their Mac" just to see if they might be hiding anything.
Especially if the only other people that use your computer are your grandparents and little sister.
+1
This is great for laptop users who just want a quick and simple way to hide things that dont matter much.
I was planning on finding a way to hide files as soon as I got my Macbook.
I write songs, and I'm the only that I want looking at them at this point.
I write songs, and I'm the only that I want looking at them at this point.
http://www.truecrypt.org/
Done.
Or you can always make a password protected sparsebundle with disk utility.
I use truecrypt to protect my personal documents such as credit reports, taxes, etc (I'm getting old...). It's also cross platform, so you if you put your 'documents' on a thumb drive, you can open them on any other computer...
...just wash your hands first...
Done.
Or you can always make a password protected sparsebundle with disk utility.
I use truecrypt to protect my personal documents such as credit reports, taxes, etc (I'm getting old...). It's also cross platform, so you if you put your 'documents' on a thumb drive, you can open them on any other computer...
...just wash your hands first...
Is there a way to do this on the Mac without TrueCrypt? I think this would be very handy for hiding things like address books and other sensitive data from nosey airport security dorks who now have carte-blanche to download all of your personal data and send it off to U.S. spy agencies.
I wouldn't characterize that as "better." Just totally unrealistic. Like abstinence.
As stated above... you can do this with Disk Utility in the Utility Folder
Woof, Woof - Dawg
The easiest way is to make a sparsebundle in disk utility. Functionally it's like making a big mountable dmg but only ties up the hard drive space as it's used.
In disk utility>file>new>blank disk image. Pick your size, change the image type to sparse bundle, and change the encryption to 128 bit. Once you hit create, it will ask you to pick a password. You'll just have to double click the image an mount it before using your address book etc...
Cheers
P
This only work for super novices who dont know that every unix system uses this .hidden feature.
Btw, your donkey-midged pr0n could pop up showing with one single mouse click, so beware
johto; I'm curious about your screenshot. Is that 10.5?
I don't see that menu setup on my Mac. Anybody; Speaking of looking at files/photos/anything [not porn of course
] what do you call that yellow info box that pops up when you rollover almost anything with the cursor? It's particularly annoying with long links that create a hugh yellow box to block out whatever I'm looking at.Is there any way to control it, or how long it remains on the screen. It stays for 10 seconds, which is a nuisance when skimming quickly through files.
Thx for any info y'all can provide.
Wilz
On Windows, it's known as a tooltip. I don't know if it has a different name on Macs, but that's what I've always called it there as well.
If it's possible to control their attributes, it would have to be through a plist hack somewhere. You'd have to do some Googling to find that out... but at least you know what to search for now.
This is a good idea. but anyone can see the files. Open up the termal and type "ls -a". In English "ls" means "list" and the "-a" means "all". The "all" part means to list out files and folders that start with "." (dot)
Type "man ls" to read the manual page for the ls command.
So beware this technique only hides files from those who are uninformed about the Unix command line.
If you want real security you need to encrypt the files.
Type "man ls" to read the manual page for the ls command.
So beware this technique only hides files from those who are uninformed about the Unix command line.
If you want real security you need to encrypt the files.
johto; I'm curious about your screenshot. Is that 10.5?
Anybody; Speaking of looking at files/photos/anything [not porn of course
Is there any way to control it, or how long it remains on the screen. It stays for 10 seconds, which is a nuisance when skimming quickly through files.
Thx for any info y'all can provide.
Wilz
Hello. I'm using 10.5.6. That menu is part of the utility called "mainmenu"
http://www.santasw.com/ <-- nice app
Be careful of security through obscurity! Prefixing with a dot only hides the file/folder from people who aren't Mac/Unix-savvy.
That said, here's another similar way of making a file hidden:
Use SetFile from the Developer Tools.
In Terminal, to hide a file:
$ SetFile -a V [filename]
To unhide:
$ SetFile -a v [filename]
Note: Uppercase V to hide, lowercase v to unhide.
That said, here's another similar way of making a file hidden:
Use SetFile from the Developer Tools.
In Terminal, to hide a file:
$ SetFile -a V [filename]
To unhide:
$ SetFile -a v [filename]
Note: Uppercase V to hide, lowercase v to unhide.
Why not just make a drop box, and whenever you want to look in it change the permissions? (Requiring the admin password)
HA! Funny!
Right, but tedious.
This is what I do for both my porn collection and my important documents. The only issue I have with it is whenever something changes, Time Machine backups the entire image, and if it's large.... say 100MB or more, it can take a while when using Time Capsule.