How to find a file on a windows computer. How to quickly find files, folders and search programs in Windows! How to find hidden folders and files in windows
Sometimes a big problem for the user is discovering hidden folders. Finding system files on your computer is especially difficult. The Windows operating system device does not display all system files by default. In fact, the process of searching for them on a computer is very simple; anyone can master it without difficulty. And the question: “How to find a hidden folder?” will no longer be a problem.
Workspace
Windows is the most used OS in the world, so we will work with it. It should be immediately noted that in different versions of the operating system the location of the submenu may change, but the algorithm of actions remains unchanged.
Working on the computer occurs from the Start menu. This is a bright rectangular or round button with an inscription or Windows icon. It is located in the lower left corner of the screen on the taskbar.
First stage - “Control Panel”
With the left mouse button you need to click on the “Start” button, after which a directory consisting of 2 parts will open. One with a white background, the second with a blue background fill (there may be other colors). 
The next step is to find the “Control Panel” section on the colored part of the directory and click on it. After which the “Settings” window will open.
Opposite the window is a drop-down menu called “View”. In it, select the item “Small icons”. 
As a result, the files contained in the directory will become small in size and there will be more of them. Now find the “Folder Options” section and click on it. 
After this, a new window with the same name will open. This contains various settings.
Stage two – working with tabs
At the top of the window on your computer there are tabs: “General”, “View”, “Search”. You need to select the “View” tab. 
It contains 2 blocks:
- Folder view;
- Extra options.
They are located one below the other. You must select a block "Extra options". In it, among a series of square fields, where some are ticked and others are empty, you need to find round icons. There are only 4 of them, of which you need to mark an empty form called “Show hidden files, folders, drives”. By default, a directory with the same name is marked, but with the particle “Not” in front.
To make it easier to navigate, you need to go to the very bottom of the block and find the name "Hidden files and folders".
Final stage
After the desired function is activated, you need to confirm the action. This is done using the “Apply” button. It is located at the very bottom of the block and is the last in the row with the “OK” and “Cancel” buttons. Directly above it is a form called “Restore Defaults”.
After clicking the "Apply" button, it dims. You can all go to the Windows partition on drive C, all hidden partitions on the computer are now displayed, they are translucent.
Using this guide, you can discover all hidden files on your computer.
Now, in our modern age, you cannot do without good computer knowledge. But how to navigate the huge number of programs and files that are on your hard drive? First, we will try to explain to you how you can find a program on your computer.
We are looking for a program
If you don’t know, after the program is installed, it automatically creates a shortcut on the desktop. If you want to see where the program was installed, then just look at the PROPERTIES of the shortcut, to do this, right-click on it, then properties and location. The directory where the program you need was installed will be indicated there.
Now let's look at what needs to be done to, for example, find a photo from your picnic.
Remember that a saved photo is the same file, and we will now tell you how to find the file on your computer. The easiest way is to open the folder where your photos are saved. But how to find the folder on the computer is another question.
Looking for a folder
And there are no difficulties here, especially if you remember where you saved the folder. But if you have forgotten where you placed it, then do not be upset, “internal search” will come to your aid.
And so, press the START button and select the SEARCH menu, a search window will open in front of you, there you indicate the name assigned to the folder, in our case it will be the name “picnic”. Click the ENTER button to start the search. During the search, the computer scans all files and gives you all available folders with similar names; in the results that the computer gives you, look for the folder you need.
The task becomes more difficult if we do not remember the folder name. We again use the internal search and set additional search criteria - name (part of the name), date of creation (change), size, file extension, intended location (logical drive), after all that has been done, we click on ENTER. After the search is over, we look at the results that the computer gave us.
My computer
The program is launched by launching them through special shortcuts, which are placed on the desktop for convenience. Basically, everyone has shortcuts on their desktop for programs they often use. Usually the MY COMPUTER icon is located on the desktop, since we often need to be interested in service information about the system. The more programs installed on our computer, the less free space there is on the screen, and we have to delete unnecessary shortcuts to the trash. How can we find MY COMPUTER if we accidentally deleted the icon along with unnecessary programs into the trash. In this case, there is nothing simpler. To do this, click the START button, right-click MY COMPUTER, and left-click the DISPLAY ON DESKTOP menu. And now, on your desktop, the MY COMPUTER shortcut appears again.
There is another option. To do this, open the trash, find the MY COMPUTER shortcut there, and right-click RESTORE.
After understanding the extension of the lost file, for example, “.zip”, all that remains is to enter it in the “Search” field and press Enter. A search on your computer will immediately display a list of files with this extension. From them we already select the one we need.
Rules for searching files on a computer by size
Many users may object - video files can have many extensions, what should you do to search in this case? One of our clients once lost a missing film and asked for advice on this issue.
We noticed that on the user’s computer all films were in the “.avi” format. It would seem that you just need to enter the extension into the search, and everything will work out right away. But not everything turned out to be not so simple; finding the file on the computer was not so easy. Therefore, it was decided to search for the required file by size.
The client's total video files were approximately 1.45 GB in size. Therefore, it was quite reasonable to assume that the lost file had a similar size. Consequently, it was enough to perform a simple procedure System.Size:>1000MB to search the computer memory for files larger than 1 GB.
Based on the search results, a list of 20 video files appeared, including a file without an extension at all. But just by the title itself one could guess that this was exactly the missing film. All that remained was to add the “.avi” extension to the file – and again you could enjoy watching the video. Later we managed to understand that our client’s acquaintances were just making a joke and removed the extension.
How to find hidden files in Windows OS
Sometimes Windows assigns the “Hidden” attribute to some files as a result of virus attacks or a system failure. Because of this, files cannot be seen or found even through “Search”, unless the “Show hidden files and folders” checkbox is checked. Although nothing will happen to the files themselves.
To make hidden files visible, open the “Control Panel”, then go to “Folder Options” - “View”. Next to the “Show hidden files and folders” item, check the box and click OK. After this, sometimes the lost file is immediately found on the desktop. Or you can find it by searching by extension or name, as we discussed earlier.
Search files by their content
For example, if you lose text documents from Microsoft Office Word, Notepad, OpenOffice or other programs. When working with text, some of the content is still stored in the user’s memory. Therefore, in the search, enter part of the text, press Enter and find the desired document.
Although you should keep in mind that on an old and slow computer, the search process may take a long time. Upgrading your PC is something you can think about while you wait for the results.
Total Commander for easy search of necessary files
A popular and convenient file manager that allows you to quickly search for files on your computer using several parameters simultaneously - extension, name, content. To do this, you need to set the search location in the program (for example, C:), then go to “Commands” and “Search files” (or press the hotkey combination Alt+F7).
If you have forgotten where you saved a folder or file, do not despair, the data will not be lost. Your computer is so smart that it will help you find the documents you need and indicate where they should be placed.
If you want to find a program installed on your computer, first look on the “desktop” for a shortcut that may have been created during installation. If it is available, look in the shortcut properties for the address of the program location. To do this, hover your mouse over the shortcut and press the right button. Select Properties, go to the Shortcut tab. The “Working folder” column indicates the location of this program (usually on drive “C”). If you are looking for a regular folder (or file), use the assistant that is available on your computer. Click the Start button at the bottom left of the toolbar, select Search.
Searching for folders on your computer is not at all difficult. You can check it right now!
You know that not all directories are accessible to the user. This was not done by OS developers by accident. Let's look at why this is needed and how to find a hidden folder in Windows 10.
What is it for
The developers have created hidden directories where data with important system information is stored. This is necessary so that the user does not accidentally delete files used for operating the OS. Sometimes there is a need to make them visible. This is necessary to:
- Clean your PC from junk files;
- For security, so that a person does not accidentally delete information necessary for the operation of the OS;
- When hit by a virus.
Take seriously the data stored in hidden files, the stability of the system depends on it.
How to Find a Hidden Folder on a Windows Computer
Enable directories in Explorer.
Removing the “Hidden” attribute
Right-click on the file or directory, then “Properties”. 
Remove the checkbox next to the corresponding item. 
How to find hidden folders on Windows 7
Perform the following sequence of actions:
How to find in Total Commander
Many people use this popular one for work, so let’s look at how to enable the display of hidden information in it. To do this, go to “Configuration” - “Settings”. 
Click on the “Contents of panels” link, check the box as in the screenshot. 
Conclusion
We looked at how to open a hidden folder. Use the methods described above to clean your system of malware and junk files. Be careful not to delete system information that is necessary for the OS to function.