Hide files n folders

To show hidden files and folder, open a terminal and type:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE

killall Finder

This will kill your Finder and reopen it (restart Finder) and now you will be able to see all hidden files and folder.

To hide (hidden folders and files), type the following in the terminal:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE

killall Finder

If you want to create a hidden file or folder since Mac OSX is a unix based OS, then just open a terminal and create a file/folder that has '.' at the beginning of its name. For example to create a hidden Secret folder in your Desktop, do the following:

Open Terminal

cd Desktop

mkdir .Secret

I understand your fear of terminal (everybody has it), however the first two commands should be quite easy (i.e., showing hindden files/folders and hiding them).

Terminal is just another application located in /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app. Just double click to open it. It will let you write some commands. Copy and paste the commands I have written above (if you want save them somewhere) and press enter. Voila, that should be it.

Unfortunatly Finder does not let you create folders/files starting with '.' (i.e., hidden), so I don't really have an easy way for that. I guess you (or somebody) could write an Automator script that would invoke these commands for you, but honestly that would be even more difficult.

Mountain Tweaks: http://tweaksapp.com/app/mountain-tweaks/

It looks like that somebody has already wrote an app for at least showing/hiding files/folders. Go for it! For creating hidden folders, I am still unsure though.

Thanks LeafsMac!

By the way, the app creator is a 17 year old Norwegian student. Give the guy $3 or something if you find it useful.