http://superuser.com/questions/321109/is-there-a-linux-tool-for-changing-dos-windows-file-attributes

- XP
setfattr -h -v 0x00000000 -n system.ntfs_attrib_be target-file
should clear all attributes (the last argument target-file should be changed, of course.) 
See here for a list of available attributes and how to set them. 

http://jp-andre.pagesperso-orange.fr/extend-attr.html#ntfsattributes

- DOS
setfattr probably works for NTFS file systems, but in case someone needs to do the same for 
FAT (vfat/fat16/fat32) file systems, see mtools package. That will do the job!