Some file names and folder names are with red lettering.
The files that are in red are not visible in other programs, and the folders in red do not show up in the directory tree in the pane on the left side.
How do I change this behaviour?
They are system files/folders. (i.e. They have the S attribute set.)
What do you want to change? The colour or that they are visible?
The funny thing is that I see a lot of .jpg files (artwork) in my music folders that are in red and hidden from other programs. I cannot easily find or copy them from other programs.
I would like to make the files visible.
That's probably Windows Media Player setting them to be Hidden + System so they don't show up in most programs.
You can change the files' attrbutes using Opus. Select the files and, in the default menus, use File -> File Commands -> Set Attributes.
Windows Media Player may put the attributes back, though.
You can also make most other programs show the files by opening Explorer and, in Explorer, using Tools -> Folder Options (if you're using Vista then it's Organise -> Folder and Search Options), going to the View tab and turning on Show hidden files and folders and turning off Hide protected operating system files.
I tried to clear the attributes for the "red" files in the "Change Attributes & Times" dialog box, however this did not change anything.
Also, I do have Windows Explorer set to show hidden files and folders.
Either you did it wrong or WMP noticed the change and set the attributes back.
You need to clear both the Hidden and System attributes.
If you add the "Attr" column in Opus (right-click the column headers and make sure Attr is checked) then you can see which attributes the files have. You need to make sure they do not have the H or S attributes. The column should show something like -a--- for normal files.
What about the Hide protected operating system files setting that I also mentioned?
Yes, I did it wrong!
I thought it was enough to check the box over the dialog window.
After I checked the "Hidden" and "System" entries, the files came back to normal.
I have a lot of folders where this needs to be corrected. Is there a way to do this at the top directory level, instead of correcting the files within each folder?
The Set Attributes dialog you've been using has a checkbox near the bottom which tells it to apply the same changes recursively.
Alternatively, you could do a Find and then select all of the results and use Set Attributes on that. (That would be better if you want to avoid changing other items within the folders.)
The "Find" method did the trick.
Thank you so much for your assistance.
I really appreciate it!