255th character

I just thought I would add a little tidbit about Winblows 95/98 that a friend showed me about a year ago :D I think this might also work on ME and maybe even XP...I haven't tried it on them.

Windows 95/98 recognizes only 254 characters, but DOS recognizes 255 characters. You can use this to your advantage. You could make a new folder or file in Windows or DOS-really doesn't make a difference-and then rename it in DOS with the following command: rename <folder or file name> <press and hold alt while typing 255><new file name> Now that you renamed this file or folder with the 255th charcter in front of it, Windows won't and can't recognize, including any Win32 programs that you run on it. In DOS, the character looks like a space, and in Windows Explorer, it looks like a _. If you do a search on your HD using the Windows find, then it won't see it. If you try to open it using Windows Explorer-you can see the file/folder-but it won't allow you to open it. If you try to open it, it will say something like this file/folder doesn't exist.

What does this mean? You can easily and very effectively hide any folders and/or files that you wish. Have 'phun' experimenting with this........

Doesn't work in xp pro anyway.... Guess it's something they forgot to fix down at Microsoft. I remember i used to hide files that way back in the DOS days.

In XP the 255 is recognized as space if you change a file in the DOS-window.

A funny thing: You still change the name of a file to nohing in the file manager using the 255 trick. Useless, but still fun.....:)

I forgot to mention this, the 255th character is recognized by all NT OSes :(

i have win98se and read about this in a dos command book once it doesnt work on anything past 98 not even that if you have any special programs that recognise the <alt+255> space
the same thing can be done by pressin _ instead also {this on done with alt 255 _}

Wanna know something else cool?

In Win9x, if you name a file with an extension greater than 1024 characters (IIRC that's the right number), then select it in Windows Explorer, you get a BSOD. IIRC It's been fixed in ME and up, but it's still pretty funny to watch a friend try and delete this file using explorer. :)

Maybe you'll find this interesting...

Access Denied Folder Exploit
By Cyrus





Access Denied Folder Exploit
An Exploit by Cyrus
http://www.CyrusLabs.com
Newbies Explanation





Definition of Exploit: An exploit is a hole found in a program. Any program and any hole. By hole i mean a bug in the program that lets you get away with something your not supposed to. hehe. :)





There is an exploit that I found while messing around in DOS back in the day when i was still a "baby" hacker and couldn't program or do anything "kewl". I don't remember if I actually discovered it or read it somewhere. I seriously can't remember that far back. Sorry.



How it works:

First go to your main hard drive. (This can be accomplished by going to My Computer, Double-clicking your main hard drive, which is usually C:\). Then create a new folder and name it one short word only. I suggest you name it "private" or something like that. Just keep it kinda short. Then just move all your "private" files into the new folder that you have just created. Then after you have moved all your old files into the new folder. Go back to the c:/ drive. (this can be accomplished by going to my computer again and double-clicking your main hard drive.) Then once it is open, goto "Start", "Run", the type in "command" without the quotes. A black ugly box should pop up and now you are going to have to perform the hardest part. (*gasp*)

You are going to have to type in:

rename foldername (hold down alt and enter 255)newname

Here is an example using a folder named private:
rename private (ALT+255)private

Make sure there is a space between rename and foldername and another space between foldername and ALT+255foldername. Those are the only spaces that are supposed be there.

Why do you have to hit ALT+255? Because this is a security hole that makes this whole exploit possible. You know how you can get special characters by typing in ALT + anumber to get different characters. Look, try hitting ALT+ 0169 anywhere you can type text and see what you get. See how you get this character: ©
Pretty kewl huh? See, back in the day of DOS Alt+255 was nothing but a space. But then later on when Windows came out, some programmer someday changed it to where it would give you this character: _ . So you see, Windows is not programmed to see the ALT+255 from the DOS days, so if you name a folder in DOS with ALT+255, windows doesn't know what the hell that is so then it just says that it cannot open that folder. While all your files are safely stored inside. There is no way through windows to access that folder. Now, while no one is looking, you want to regain access to your *private* folder right?
Well you need to go to DOS again ("Start", "Run", type in "command" without the quotes.) and then make sure that you are just in C:\ . If it says something else like C:\windows or something like that then you need to enter the command: CD\ which will take you back to your main hard drive. ) And now you enter:

rename (ALT+255)foldername foldername

Using my example of the folder private you would enter:

rename (ALT+255)private private

You are just renaming it back to normal under DOS. Then you can just exit the DOS window and go through windows to access your private folder with your private files. Then when you are done using at your private files just repeat the steps you used to make it unaccessible to windows. Cool exploit huh? I think so. I find it useful. Well i'm off to write another tutorial. So laterz.