Perhaps you should ask this question in an XP group as this one is for
Windows ME and doesn't get a lot of traffic so may get overlooked <g>

Fist, this newsgroup is primarily intended for those running the legacy
Windows Millennium operating system (hence the windowme in the newsgroup
name) rather than XP which has its own newsgroups.  In future you might be
better served by posting details of your problem to a newsgroup supporting
those running XP

However, turning to your problem, what you are seeing can have a number of
causes.
Firstly, in addition to enabling "Show hidden files and folders" in Folder
Options | View, have you also UNchecked "Hide protected operating system
files"?
A second reason for what you are seeing, especially if using the NTFS
filing system and you are referring to the "System Volume Information"
folder on each drive used by System Restore, then the restriction is due
to the permissions being set to system only.  If running XP Home, file
permissions can only be set in Safe Mode, however, if running XP Pro, then
UNchecking "Use simple file sharing" in Folder Options | View would give
you a Security tab on the properties sheet for all files and folders which
would then allow you to change the permissions HOWEVER I strongly
recommend that you don't alter the permissions for system folders such as
System Volume Information or that if you do so, you return them to their
previous setting one you have satisfied your curiosity.