Orange County Register

The North Orange County Computer Club helps The Gadgetress tackle the multitude of readers cries for help. NOCCC group has experts in Windows, Word and all sorts of computer topics. The club, which meets monthly on various topics, has been in existence since 1976. Visit the club’s site at noccc.org. To get this answer delivered to your computer automatically, sign up for the e-mail update HERE.

Question: I enjoy reading your column in the Charleston Post & Courier (www.charleston.net). I wonder if you could help me eliminate a “System 32″ screen that pops up when I launch Windows XP Professional Version 2002 on my Dell Dimension 4600. I have attached a screen capture. The system appears to operate normally after I close (x) the screen. ~ Paul Bush

PC Club: The screen shot (on right - click image to enlarge) that you included is one of the several faces of Windows Explorer. In this case, it’s the face with the Tasks window on the left and the Contents window on the right.

Instead of actually displaying the contents of the C:\windows\system32 disk folder (AKA directory), the message “These files are hidden.” is displayed.

That message is displayed, instead of the contents, because that is the default for the option “Display the contents of system folders.”

With Windows Explorer open, you can change that option by going to the menu bar and select options in this order:  

Tools > Folder Options > view

Whether you [X] the window closed, or change the path, to My Documents for instance, your computer will be operating normally.

The probable cause of this happening is a minor error in the Windows XP Registry. All of the caveats about “Don’t mess with the Registry unless you know what you are doing” apply to this problem. The probable cause and solution are covered in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article #170086. Or you can take no action, continue to be annoyed, but stop worrying about having a serious problem.

~ Jim Sanders, President, NOCCC

More PC Club questions: 

• Old Windows PC won’t shut down
• WordPerfect botching image import? Check the file size
• Why CD-RWs crash and don’t burn
• Meet the Orange County PC Club this Sunday
• Stump the PC Club: Diagnose powerless USB port

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