One of the ways to hide the contents of a folder in Windows XP is by converting the folder into a Recycle Bin. All you have to do is add an extension to the end of your folder name. For example: If you have a folder named project

1. Select the folder
   
2. Press F2
   
3. Paste the following extension at the end of the folder name
   .{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
   Now your folder name would be
   project.{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
   
4. Hit Enter and see the magic....

Now when you need to get back the contents of the folder just type in the following command at the Command Prompt

ren project.{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} project

If you find it difficult to type in the entire command at the Command Prompt, you can copy and paste it into a Batch file and execute it. If you are not familiar with Batch files, here is the procedure:

1. Copy and paste the above command into Notepad
   
2. Save the file with a .bat file extension
   
3. Double click the file or select the file and hit Enter. You have the contents of your folder back!

Another extension that you can use is .{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}. It will convert the folder into Control Panel. But you might not want anyone to access your Windows Control Panel so easily.