How can I prevent Windows Explorer from suggesting hidden folders?

Question

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.

Answer 1

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\TypedPaths registry 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.

Answer 2

Apparently Windows does not provide an option to prevent it.

Instead, you can manullay run a batch script whenever you want to delete those history entries. This may help:

@echo OFF

SetLocal EnableExtensions EnableDelayedExpansion

set key=HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TypedPaths

for /f "delims=" %%A in ('reg query %key%') do (
    for /f "tokens=1,2,3 delims= " %%B in ("%%A") do (
        set name=%%B
        set type=%%C
        set data=%%D

        if exist !data! (
            set attribs=%%~aD
            echo !name! !type! !data! !attribs!
            set hidden=!attribs:~3,1!
            if !hidden!==- (
                echo !name! is not hidden.
            ) else (
                reg delete %key% /v !name! /f > nul
                echo !name! was removed.
            )
            echo.
        )
    )
)

pause

I think the option is not provided because it is not that simple to decide what to do in many cases like:

• Hidden attribute may be set/reset after url is visited.
• Resource pointed by url may be non-local.
• Visited file may be deleted.

Answer 3

Right click the address bar, and select "Delete History" :)

Answer 4

You could try this approach.

Essentially, they're saying you turn your folder into a hidden system folder which are, by default, unsearchable.

Also, I couldn't replicate what you were talking about. Make sure that when you're done using the 'hidden' folder, you select 'Don't show hidden files, folders, or drives'.