Mysterious Folder

Just poking around I found a folder I can't explain.

C:\Documents and Settings contains the following folders:

All Users
All Users.WINDOWS
Default User
Default User.WINDOWS
John Smith
John Smith.JOHNSCOMPUTER
JOHNW~1~JOH

The 'John Smith' folder contains the mystery folder, 'Desktop'. This folder
does not reflect what is actually on my desktop. The 'Desktop' folder within
'John Smith.JOHNSCOMPUTER' contains what is really on my Desktop. The
mystery 'Desktop' folder contains a variety of old stuff; project folders,
application folders with the original set-up software and a few shortcuts.
None of this stuff (except for a few of the shortcuts) actually appears on
my Desktop.

Perhaps these are all things that, at one time, would have been on my
Desktop, but no longer are. Can I get rid of this folder, or does it serve
some purpose?

If you are not sure what these folders are for, then I suggest
create a new profile identical to the one you have. For example,
if the current profile is Limited User then create another account
with limited privileges.

After creating this new profile, test it that it works as it
should by launching all the applications etc. If it works as
expected, then you can delete the old profile and its associated
files & folders (of course you want to copy your documents,
pictures, emails first).

You can now be assured that there is nothing sinister about any of
the folders and/or files.

hth



randwill wrote:

Just poking around I found a folder I can't explain.

C:\Documents and Settings contains the following folders:

All Users
All Users.WINDOWS
Default User
Default User.WINDOWS
John Smith
John Smith.JOHNSCOMPUTER
JOHNW~1~JOH

The 'John Smith' folder contains the mystery folder, 'Desktop'. This folder
does not reflect what is actually on my desktop. The 'Desktop' folder within
'John Smith.JOHNSCOMPUTER' contains what is really on my Desktop. The
mystery 'Desktop' folder contains a variety of old stuff; project folders,
application folders with the original set-up software and a few shortcuts.
None of this stuff (except for a few of the shortcuts) actually appears on
my Desktop.

Perhaps these are all things that, at one time, would have been on my
Desktop, but no longer are. Can I get rid of this folder, or does it serve
some purpose?

This is the process I use to determine the effect or ramifications of
deleting a folder. It is less complex than Cheng Heng's solution.

Simply rename the folder and reboot the computer. Continue to use the
computer for a week. If after a week you do not notice anything different,
then you can presume it is safe to delete the folder. If, for any reason,
you feel it is not a good idea to delete it, then simply rename it back to
its original name.

MB

"randwill" wrote in message
...
Just poking around I found a folder I can't explain.

C:\Documents and Settings contains the following folders:

All Users
All Users.WINDOWS
Default User
Default User.WINDOWS
John Smith
John Smith.JOHNSCOMPUTER
JOHNW~1~JOH

The 'John Smith' folder contains the mystery folder, 'Desktop'. This
folder does not reflect what is actually on my desktop. The 'Desktop'
folder within 'John Smith.JOHNSCOMPUTER' contains what is really on my
Desktop. The mystery 'Desktop' folder contains a variety of old stuff;
project folders, application folders with the original set-up software and
a few shortcuts. None of this stuff (except for a few of the shortcuts)
actually appears on my Desktop.

Perhaps these are all things that, at one time, would have been on my
Desktop, but no longer are. Can I get rid of this folder, or does it serve
some purpose?

"MerseyBeat" wrote in message
...
This is the process I use to determine the effect or ramifications of
deleting a folder. It is less complex than Cheng Heng's solution.

Simply rename the folder and reboot the computer. Continue to use the
computer for a week. If after a week you do not notice anything
different, then you can presume it is safe to delete the folder. If, for
any reason, you feel it is not a good idea to delete it, then simply
rename it back to its original name.

MB

works very well most of the time...unless renaming the folder prevents your
computer from booting....at which time you can restore to last working
configuration at boot

"randwill" wrote in
:

Just poking around I found a folder I can't explain.

C:\Documents and Settings contains the following folders:

All Users
All Users.WINDOWS
Default User
Default User.WINDOWS
John Smith
John Smith.JOHNSCOMPUTER
JOHNW~1~JOH

The 'John Smith' folder contains the mystery folder, 'Desktop'.
This folder does not reflect what is actually on my desktop. The
'Desktop' folder within 'John Smith.JOHNSCOMPUTER' contains what
is really on my Desktop. The mystery 'Desktop' folder contains a
variety of old stuff; project folders, application folders with
the original set-up software and a few shortcuts. None of this
stuff (except for a few of the shortcuts) actually appears on my
Desktop.

Perhaps these are all things that, at one time, would have been on
my Desktop, but no longer are. Can I get rid of this folder, or
does it serve some purpose?



This really isn't a mystery. This is the standard behavior when
Windows detects a corrupted user profile. When a corrupted user
profile is detected, Windows will create an alternate similarly-
named user profile and it continues to log the user in to this new
profile... however the user may be missing a lot of files that were in
the old profile. Apparently this happened some time in the past for
you and you probably didn't miss the old files.

Windows describes this problem in KB 326688
"Windows XP Problems if Your Profile Is Damaged":
quote
This issue may occur if your user profile is damaged. When this occurs,
Windows may create a new profile for you to use, but the new profile
does not reflect the "My Documents" folder that was used by the damaged
profile. Windows creates a new profile in the C:\Documents and
Settings\new user name folder, where new user name is the name that
Windows is now using for your profile.
/quote

Recovery from a corrputed user profile is fairly simple. The procedure
is in the following Microsoft KB article:

"How to recover the damaged user profile in Windows XP"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555473

... although since this happened apparently a long time ago you may only
want to go through the procedure simply to see what you lost without
realizing it...

HTH,
John

Glad somebody said the obvious....

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)




"John Wunderlich" wrote in message
03...
"randwill" wrote in
:

Just poking around I found a folder I can't explain.

C:\Documents and Settings contains the following folders:

All Users
All Users.WINDOWS
Default User
Default User.WINDOWS
John Smith
John Smith.JOHNSCOMPUTER
JOHNW~1~JOH

The 'John Smith' folder contains the mystery folder, 'Desktop'.
This folder does not reflect what is actually on my desktop. The
'Desktop' folder within 'John Smith.JOHNSCOMPUTER' contains what
is really on my Desktop. The mystery 'Desktop' folder contains a
variety of old stuff; project folders, application folders with
the original set-up software and a few shortcuts. None of this
stuff (except for a few of the shortcuts) actually appears on my
Desktop.

Perhaps these are all things that, at one time, would have been on
my Desktop, but no longer are. Can I get rid of this folder, or
does it serve some purpose?



This really isn't a mystery. This is the standard behavior when
Windows detects a corrupted user profile. When a corrupted user
profile is detected, Windows will create an alternate similarly-
named user profile and it continues to log the user in to this new
profile... however the user may be missing a lot of files that were in
the old profile. Apparently this happened some time in the past for
you and you probably didn't miss the old files.

Windows describes this problem in KB 326688
"Windows XP Problems if Your Profile Is Damaged":
quote
This issue may occur if your user profile is damaged. When this occurs,
Windows may create a new profile for you to use, but the new profile
does not reflect the "My Documents" folder that was used by the damaged
profile. Windows creates a new profile in the C:\Documents and
Settings\new user name folder, where new user name is the name that
Windows is now using for your profile.
/quote

Recovery from a corrputed user profile is fairly simple. The procedure
is in the following Microsoft KB article:

"How to recover the damaged user profile in Windows XP"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555473

.. although since this happened apparently a long time ago you may only
want to go through the procedure simply to see what you lost without
realizing it...

HTH,
John

"John Wunderlich" wrote in message
03...
"randwill" wrote in
:

Just poking around I found a folder I can't explain.

C:\Documents and Settings contains the following folders:

All Users
All Users.WINDOWS
Default User
Default User.WINDOWS
John Smith
John Smith.JOHNSCOMPUTER
JOHNW~1~JOH

The 'John Smith' folder contains the mystery folder, 'Desktop'.
This folder does not reflect what is actually on my desktop. The
'Desktop' folder within 'John Smith.JOHNSCOMPUTER' contains what
is really on my Desktop. The mystery 'Desktop' folder contains a
variety of old stuff; project folders, application folders with
the original set-up software and a few shortcuts. None of this
stuff (except for a few of the shortcuts) actually appears on my
Desktop.

Perhaps these are all things that, at one time, would have been on
my Desktop, but no longer are. Can I get rid of this folder, or
does it serve some purpose?



This really isn't a mystery. This is the standard behavior when
Windows detects a corrupted user profile. When a corrupted user
profile is detected, Windows will create an alternate similarly-
named user profile and it continues to log the user in to this new
profile... however the user may be missing a lot of files that were in
the old profile. Apparently this happened some time in the past for
you and you probably didn't miss the old files.

Windows describes this problem in KB 326688
"Windows XP Problems if Your Profile Is Damaged":
quote
This issue may occur if your user profile is damaged. When this occurs,
Windows may create a new profile for you to use, but the new profile
does not reflect the "My Documents" folder that was used by the damaged
profile. Windows creates a new profile in the C:\Documents and
Settings\new user name folder, where new user name is the name that
Windows is now using for your profile.
/quote

Recovery from a corrputed user profile is fairly simple. The procedure
is in the following Microsoft KB article:

"How to recover the damaged user profile in Windows XP"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555473

.. although since this happened apparently a long time ago you may only
want to go through the procedure simply to see what you lost without
realizing it...

HTH,
John



I'd like to run a lean system without unnecessary things like a useless User
Profile. On the other hand I'm inclined to go with 'if it ain't broke don't
try to fix it".

I read "How to recover the damaged user profile in Windows XP", but I'm not
sure about doing it since everything is working fine. I'm just interested in
clearing out data that I don't need cluttering up my hard drive.

I'm the only user of this computer, so how do I go about deleting multiple
unused User Profiles?

"randwill" wrote in message
...

"John Wunderlich" wrote in message
03...
"randwill" wrote in
:

Just poking around I found a folder I can't explain.

C:\Documents and Settings contains the following folders:

All Users
All Users.WINDOWS
Default User
Default User.WINDOWS
John Smith
John Smith.JOHNSCOMPUTER
JOHNW~1~JOH

The 'John Smith' folder contains the mystery folder, 'Desktop'.
This folder does not reflect what is actually on my desktop. The
'Desktop' folder within 'John Smith.JOHNSCOMPUTER' contains what
is really on my Desktop. The mystery 'Desktop' folder contains a
variety of old stuff; project folders, application folders with
the original set-up software and a few shortcuts. None of this
stuff (except for a few of the shortcuts) actually appears on my
Desktop.

Perhaps these are all things that, at one time, would have been on
my Desktop, but no longer are. Can I get rid of this folder, or
does it serve some purpose?



This really isn't a mystery. This is the standard behavior when
Windows detects a corrupted user profile. When a corrupted user
profile is detected, Windows will create an alternate similarly-
named user profile and it continues to log the user in to this new
profile... however the user may be missing a lot of files that were in
the old profile. Apparently this happened some time in the past for
you and you probably didn't miss the old files.

Windows describes this problem in KB 326688
"Windows XP Problems if Your Profile Is Damaged":
quote
This issue may occur if your user profile is damaged. When this occurs,
Windows may create a new profile for you to use, but the new profile
does not reflect the "My Documents" folder that was used by the damaged
profile. Windows creates a new profile in the C:\Documents and
Settings\new user name folder, where new user name is the name that
Windows is now using for your profile.
/quote

Recovery from a corrputed user profile is fairly simple. The procedure
is in the following Microsoft KB article:

"How to recover the damaged user profile in Windows XP"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555473

.. although since this happened apparently a long time ago you may only
want to go through the procedure simply to see what you lost without
realizing it...

HTH,
John



I'd like to run a lean system without unnecessary things like a useless
User Profile. On the other hand I'm inclined to go with 'if it ain't broke
don't try to fix it".

I read "How to recover the damaged user profile in Windows XP", but I'm
not sure about doing it since everything is working fine. I'm just
interested in clearing out data that I don't need cluttering up my hard
drive.

I'm the only user of this computer, so how do I go about deleting multiple
unused User Profiles?


Okay, I found the procedure for deleting a profile he

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/d...le_delete.mspx

When I go to System Control Panel Advanced User Profiles Settings,
there is only one Profile listed there. It is named, JOHNSCOMPUTER\John
Smith.

What does this tell us with regard to the various folders I see, and listed
above in my OP, in C:\Documents and Settings?

The only active profiles on your system are the ones listed in the "User
Accounts" control panel ( "Control Panel" "User Accounts" ) the following
is a list of other folders that you should leave well alone in
"C:\Documents and Settings"

Administrator
All Users
Default User
Guest
LocalService
NetworkService
(Your Own Profile-Name)

....apart from those, if you see a folder named similar to an old or current
profile, but with a "dot" then your computer's name after it - then this
was the result of an old corrupted profile and the system's attempt to
recover from it by creating a new profile folder with your computer's-name
tagged on the end of it.

Like I said, look into the "User Accounts" control panel and any folders
with names not listed there (and also apart from those mentioned above) can
be removed.

Alternative access to "User Accounts" control panel -

Start Run type "nusrmgr.cpl" into the run box and press [ok]

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)




"randwill" wrote in message
...

"randwill" wrote in message
...

"John Wunderlich" wrote in message
03...
"randwill" wrote in
:

Just poking around I found a folder I can't explain.

C:\Documents and Settings contains the following folders:

All Users
All Users.WINDOWS
Default User
Default User.WINDOWS
John Smith
John Smith.JOHNSCOMPUTER
JOHNW~1~JOH

The 'John Smith' folder contains the mystery folder, 'Desktop'.
This folder does not reflect what is actually on my desktop. The
'Desktop' folder within 'John Smith.JOHNSCOMPUTER' contains what
is really on my Desktop. The mystery 'Desktop' folder contains a
variety of old stuff; project folders, application folders with
the original set-up software and a few shortcuts. None of this
stuff (except for a few of the shortcuts) actually appears on my
Desktop.

Perhaps these are all things that, at one time, would have been on
my Desktop, but no longer are. Can I get rid of this folder, or
does it serve some purpose?



This really isn't a mystery. This is the standard behavior when
Windows detects a corrupted user profile. When a corrupted user
profile is detected, Windows will create an alternate similarly-
named user profile and it continues to log the user in to this new
profile... however the user may be missing a lot of files that were in
the old profile. Apparently this happened some time in the past for
you and you probably didn't miss the old files.

Windows describes this problem in KB 326688
"Windows XP Problems if Your Profile Is Damaged":
quote
This issue may occur if your user profile is damaged. When this occurs,
Windows may create a new profile for you to use, but the new profile
does not reflect the "My Documents" folder that was used by the damaged
profile. Windows creates a new profile in the C:\Documents and
Settings\new user name folder, where new user name is the name that
Windows is now using for your profile.
/quote

Recovery from a corrputed user profile is fairly simple. The procedure
is in the following Microsoft KB article:

"How to recover the damaged user profile in Windows XP"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555473

.. although since this happened apparently a long time ago you may only
want to go through the procedure simply to see what you lost without
realizing it...

HTH,
John



I'd like to run a lean system without unnecessary things like a useless
User Profile. On the other hand I'm inclined to go with 'if it ain't
broke don't try to fix it".

I read "How to recover the damaged user profile in Windows XP", but I'm
not sure about doing it since everything is working fine. I'm just
interested in clearing out data that I don't need cluttering up my hard
drive.

I'm the only user of this computer, so how do I go about deleting
multiple unused User Profiles?


Okay, I found the procedure for deleting a profile he

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/d...le_delete.mspx

When I go to System Control Panel Advanced User Profiles
Settings, there is only one Profile listed there. It is named,
JOHNSCOMPUTER\John Smith.

What does this tell us with regard to the various folders I see, and
listed above in my OP, in C:\Documents and Settings?

randwill wrote:

When I go to System Control Panel Advanced User Profiles Settings,
there is only one Profile listed there. It is named, JOHNSCOMPUTER\John
Smith.



Going to control panel only tells you what M$ wants you to know.
It won't reveal any hidden profiles created my M$ remotely. To
prove this type this at the CMD prompt:

net user

Press [enter] key after typing it and you will see all the
profiles on your system including M$ created remotely.

When you have done this, come back again and I will give you
further commands to delete all the profiles that don't belong to
you from cmd prompt.

hth

He's not looking for a conspiracy theory!

He's just looking for active profiles that have been set up the normal
way - and the best way to see and/or delete them.

However, if he want to see "hidden" and system user profiles (i.e.; "the
whole lot" ) then he should type the following into the "Run" box on the
Start Menu....

"lusrmgr.msc"

....to bring up the "Local Users and Groups" mmc console, from which ALL
will be visible!
..
==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)




"Cheng Heng" wrote in message
...


randwill wrote:

When I go to System Control Panel Advanced User Profiles
Settings,
there is only one Profile listed there. It is named, JOHNSCOMPUTER\John
Smith.



Going to control panel only tells you what M$ wants you to know.
It won't reveal any hidden profiles created my M$ remotely. To
prove this type this at the CMD prompt:

net user

Press [enter] key after typing it and you will see all the
profiles on your system including M$ created remotely.

When you have done this, come back again and I will give you
further commands to delete all the profiles that don't belong to
you from cmd prompt.

hth

"Tim Meddick" wrote in message
...
He's not looking for a conspiracy theory!

He's just looking for active profiles that have been set up the normal
way - and the best way to see and/or delete them.

However, if he want to see "hidden" and system user profiles (i.e.; "the
whole lot" ) then he should type the following into the "Run" box on the
Start Menu....

"lusrmgr.msc"

...to bring up the "Local Users and Groups" mmc console, from which ALL
will be visible!
.
==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)


Doing this, in the Users folder I see:

Administrator
Guest (this one has a red circle with an X)
HelpAssistant (this one has a red circle with an X)
John Smith
SUPPORT_388945a0 (this one has a red circle with an X)

What do the red circles with the X's mean?

It means that they [profiles] are currently disabled.

You can re-enable any profile by clicking on it and "unchecking" the tick
from the box marked "Account is disabled"

However, ALL the profiles you listed are quite normal on the system and
should be present.

The profiles; "HelpAssistant" and "SUPPORT_388945a0" are "disabled" because
you do not require "remote desktop assistance" and, unless you do require
it, should remain in a "disabled" state for added security.

The profile "Guest" is "disabled" because it is not "Active" - if you wish
to have the "Guest" profile active, you should do this via the "User
Accounts" control panel.
Type "nusrmgr.cpl" this time, and select the Guest account, to turn it on,
click on the button marked "Turn on the Guest Account"....

I assure you, there is nothing amiss with your current profile-list.

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)




"randwill" wrote in message
...

"Tim Meddick" wrote in message
...
He's not looking for a conspiracy theory!

He's just looking for active profiles that have been set up the normal
way - and the best way to see and/or delete them.

However, if he want to see "hidden" and system user profiles (i.e.; "the
whole lot" ) then he should type the following into the "Run" box on the
Start Menu....

"lusrmgr.msc"

...to bring up the "Local Users and Groups" mmc console, from which ALL
will be visible!
.
==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)


Doing this, in the Users folder I see:

Administrator
Guest (this one has a red circle with an X)
HelpAssistant (this one has a red circle with an X)
John Smith
SUPPORT_388945a0 (this one has a red circle with an X)

What do the red circles with the X's mean?