eyeHide 2.0

Jaan Patterson
Rating: (four burnt toasts)

Jaan Patterson
Speicherstraße 44
Frankfurt Am Main D-60327 DE
+49 6997945949 jaanone@mac.com

Collateral damage:
At least €5 for your files held hostage in a bait and switch

Here comes another candidate in that incessant stream of 'hidden folder' apps that can't even fool your pet budgie - but this one raises the bar in several regards, so read and learn.

eyeHide does less than perhaps any other sham 'hide the folder' app out there but it also pulls a 'bait and switch': it admonishes you to start moving your precious supersensitive files in straight away - and then on your sixth launch cooly tells you that you won't be able to get your files back until you pay the piper.

Classic.

Not much on the package or the download here - this is a typical script kiddie app where the Cocoa wrapper doesn't do anything because the author doesn't know how to program. There's not a lot of flotsam and jetsam but on the other hand there are some cute twists and bends in the road.

Most of these 'hide folder' apps try to use the dusty Finder flag for keeping files 'invisible' - a lame trick if ever as it only succeeds with the paraplegic Finder (which isn't POSIX compliant - and no Leopard's Finder isn't a mite better) and because - and listen carefully now - nothing's ever hidden on Unix: it can't be if you want 'POSIX compliance' (which Apple keep saying they want - thank goodness for small favours). It's only moved out of the way - for your convenience.

But this gem of an app - which undoubtedly will be up for five stars at MacWorld and MacUpdate and TUAW - goes further: for all it does is prefix your 'hidden' folder's name with a 'dot'!

That's it! No archaic and arcane Finder flags - nothing! Just a bleeding dot!

But hold on - for presuming you don't know even this elementary bit of Unix you won't know either how the blasted thing functions! And then you'll submit your super secret password for your 'hidden' folder (stored in plain text in your preferences file) and further assuming you're totally clueless and can't even locate your preferences files it will hold your files hostage after the sixth launch until you pay!

And that part is totally original.

Storyboard I ⇒