A few days back, a client came to me and told me that he was having trouble with his Windows XP. The show hidden files and folders was not working at all. If he selected the radio button “Show hidden files and folders”, and then press Ok .. the changes would just disappear upon opening the dialog again. It was probably some virus attack after which the Windows registry was not being updated properly. So here is what I did to restore it back.
Go to registry editor by running regedit in the run box.
Go to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
In the right hand area, double click hidden and change the value to 1.
Now you’re all set to go. Check it in your tools menu if the changes have taken effect. Mine have already been fixed 
. Please spare a few moments from your precious time and tell us about your experiences.
hey frnd i was banging my head 4 two days to view my hidden files but no use… finallly i tried ur trick it really worked … thanks a lot……………!
right-click the drive and click Explore.
It does not resolve the problem but it will give you access to the files there
Wow … nice one
Thanx man,it`s working.
Thanks a lot for this sugestion.
i had tried with stipu;lated path and results have shown dramatically .
thanks for help
thanx 4 ur help. it’s working
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.
i don’t know what specific data im goin to input T_T
choose program to open this file,
Which program?
choose c:\windows\explorer.exe and your problem will be solved. Click – always use this progem to opebn the file.
This worked and thanks.I can see my hidden files but if I modify a hidden file it just reverts back to the way it was, and I have to follow the steps again.
Can you suggest how i can get rid of the virus or bug permanently
Cheers
Hi me again and the second one worked
Thanks so much
GREAT SITE
It worked
thanks
Still i m unable to view the hidden files yaar
It worked. I had to close the already opened windows explorer windows. When opening a new window, the hidden files were there.
The value in the registry was set to 2.
still not able to open hidden files
It worked thanks a lot.
What interested me was disrupting that