In Windows 7, if you view a hidden folder, its name gets saved in the history like any other folder's would. That means that the path autocomplete feature will display it in the list of suggestions, like so:
Is there any way to prevent hidden folders, or perhaps a manually selected whitelist of folders, from being shown in these suggestion dropdowns? If so, what is it?
(And yes, I know merely making a folder hidden doesn't provide true security, but it's good enough for the occasional C:\PlansForSurpriseParty\-type folder.)
EDIT:
To clarify, the "Show hidden files, folders, and drives" option is not now and was never enabled. I originally entered the folder by typing its location directly into the path bar. This is still occurring for me, but I'm at a loss as to why others can't repro it.
Best Answer
The drop down isn't showing you hidden folders, it's showing you most recently visited places that you either typed into the address bar, or navigated to using the paths/arrows in the address bar itself; that's why the "Don't Show Hidden Folder" option doesn't affect it. :)
You can manually delete the list by right-clicking the address bar and clicking "Delete History".
You can also use RegEdit to access the
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TypedPathsregistry key and remove the entries from inside.Perhaps Export a blank copy of that registry key and import it via a log-out script (using reg.exe in a batch file, or alike) to ensure it's been cleaned at logout.