Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Security Handbook

Streams

I realize that, without a careful definition, I've mentioned the term stream a few times thus far. So, for the record, a stream (or data stream) is just what it sounds like: an ordered sequence of bits. When you think of the contents of a file, you're thinking of the ordered sequence of bits that make up your Word file.

Named and Unnamed Streams

You are most used to interacting with a file's unnamed stream. However, one of the best-kept secrets in NTFS is the ability to have named streams in addition to the (single) unnamed stream. Take a look at the following:

 C:\>echo "This is the unnamed stream" > TestFile C:\>echo "This is a stream called Stream1 in the same file" > TestFile:Stream1 C:\>echo "This is a stream called Stream2 in the ...