Windows Explorer: how can I hide. . . that which is already hidden??

OK. I admit to being baffled about this. And nothing on the 'Net seems of any help.

I'm fairly new to Windows 7 though not to computers. I loathed the "Libraries" feature which to me seemed yet more unwanted Microsoft clutter so have deployed established registry hacks to get rid of 'Favorites', 'Libraries' and 'Homegroup'. Now I'm back to something simple and straightforward the way it used to be in Vista. Except:

The left pane of my Windows Explorer now shows a blue colored oblong folder entitled 'Desktop' with the familiar folder beneath it with the name of this computer. Let's call it, um, Arthur.

Opening Arthur reveals the following in this order of sequence:
AppData
Contacts
Desktop
Documents

Well I sure as heck don't want to see AppData there. Nor Contacts. And as for this second 'Desktop' . .. why? So-oo. . . I've repeatedly used the folder viewing optioins choice to ensure that system files are hidden and that hidden files, folders and drives stay hidden.

But AppData is still there. Still showing.

I've roamed around the 'Net looking for a solution but every post I've read is from users wanting to *find* their AppData folder. Me, I just want to hide it. Help appreciated!

PS: The registry hacks may have caused this. But I don't see how. There are likely many thousands of Windows 7 users who don't want Microsoft bloat making life more complex, more cluttered, than it needs to be and none of them have reported the appearance of AppData, Contacts and a second Desktop in the named computer folder.

Hi GrayGhost2: Many, many thanks for riding to the rescue!

Yup, your reporting of the App Data location is exactly where I'd expect to find it. But for some unfathomable reason, the location of the folder on this Windows 7 x64 computer is:

C:\Users\User

3.15Gb in size containing 9,077 files in 1,542 folders. Iyi yiyiyiyi . . .

For which reason, I want to hide it; I'd hate the thought of somehow losing the folder (and with it, the computer's functionality.) But as noted, it won't. . . Hide.

I'm wondering whether to move it to a safer location, such as the one you mentioned -- but then, I've no idea if the move will be terminally disruptive. . . nor have I the foggiest notion as to how it came to be where it is anyway. Unless Win7 x64 locates it there. But that makes no sense to me either (well, it makes about as much sense as everything else Microsoft has done with Windows 7. I do wish I'd stuck to Windows 3.1.)

I'm going to follow the links you kindly provided because it may very well be that I've messed up somehow on my registry changes (they're all reversible; I exported the keys before doing anything else.)
I'll let you know how I get on. Meantime: very sincere thanks again for helping like this -- much appreciated! :)

Ztruker said:

AppData appears when you show hidden folders, files and drives in Folder Options View tab of Control Panel.

Hi Zucker: Er, I've already made that point clear . . . Whichever way one gets into folder options, be it via the Control Panel or using the 'Organize' tab and drop-down menu in Windows Explorer itself, AppData appears when you don't show hidden folders, files and drives. I know. I'm staring at the set-up right now: "Don't show hidden files, folders or drives" and "Hide protected operating system files 'Recommended'." The check boxes for both are ticked. . .

. . . But AppData continues to be just as visible as if those boxes were unticked -- hence why I posted in the first place.

Britton30 said:

Maybe I missed something. Why do you want these files hidden? They will, and should, still be there whether or not you can see them.

Hi Britton30: I take the view (inapposite but unintended pun) that the reason for creating folder hiding options in the first place was to prevent system critical stuff from being visible and therefore vulnerable to accidental loss. I don't want my AppData folder to be erased through some currently unthinkable yet always possible cock-up -- a cock-up which somehow, in some way, may already have occurred, because what the heck this folder is doing in its current bonkers location (a location that perhaps, though only *perhaps*, explains why folder hiding simply isn't working) I don't know.

Hiding critical files and folders from a user is the first stage in idiot-proofing a computer. And me, shameful though it is to admit, I'm an idiot.