Hidden (desktop) folder

Hi everyone

No, this isn't about the infamous MS hidden or very hidden folders!

I've seen threads here about concealing folders or files and have been considering this myself.

I have XP Pro SP2. I can create a desktop folder and put a desktop.ini file into it which causes the folder icon to change to the IE icon. When the "IE" icon is clicked, it opens Internet Explorer, rather than the folder. So far, so good.

I've looked at this with Windows Explorer and see that in the right pane there are "Size", "Type" and "Date Modified" When I tried this hidden folder trick and used Windows Explorer, it showed two IE icons. I've been thinking about trying to change the icon to, for instance, a working shortcut but Windows Explorer will show it as a folder, rather than a shortcut, even though it works like a shortcut when it's clicked.

Is there some way of modifying the "shortcut" so Windows Explorer sees it as a shortcut, rather than a folder? I wonder if a tool such as UltraEdit could be used to modify the .lnk file? If this is possible, can other files be modified in this way to make Windows Explorer show their contents incorrectly - such as the size, type and date modified?

have you tried right clicking and clicking on the option of "create a shortcut on desktop" and once its made the shortcut, just change the icon afterwards.

Thank you.

What I meant was that I'd create a folder and change that to a working shortcut (I've seen tutorials), just as I can change it to a working IE icon. When I've changed it to the IE icon, it opens IE when clicked but it is still a folder so I can access it from DOS.

If I check the desktop with Windows Explorer, it shows the newly created folder as a folder, whether it has the original icon or the IE icon. If I change the icon to a working Shortcut icon, I'd need Windows Explorer to show it as a shortcut, rather than a folder.