non-existent files in Windows Documents folder

Question

I just stumbled across a few files in my Documents folder viewing it in a bash shell (but also shows in windows cmd). What are these? They do not show (even as hidden) in the file explorer.

Answer 1

Those are files with the system file attribute. To show them in explorer you need to untick folder option Hide protected operating system files (and since they usually have the hidden file attribute as well, so you need to switch to the folder option Show hidden files, folders, and drives additionally):

See also: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490868.aspx