How to get rid of 6 Windows 10 useless shortcuts (Desktop, Documents, Download, Music, Pictures, Video)?

On Wed, 07 Jun 2017 20:30:23 -0700, Justin Tyme wrote:

So I replicated what you did. This is how to fix it.

Winaero: Go back to Navigation pane- Default Items
Put check marks in all the items and you will be back to normal.

Follow these instructions:

click 'Customize This PC Folders' and uncheck all the items you do not
want to show. There are six items to uncheck.

Do not do anything else in the Navigation Pane setting.
--------------------------
Regarding 'Customize This PC Folder'

Sorry I was doing this from memory. There are no check boxes, there is
a 'Remove Selected' button to the right.

This is how you remove those six items from 'Customize This PC Folder'

Select Picturesclick the Remove Selected button
Select Musicclick the Remove Selected button

Keep doing this until all are removed. Done.

Hopefully you have fixed the Navigation Pane- Default Items, as I
explained and all should be good now. You may have some items in
'Navigation Pane- Default Items' that I do not have. OneDrive for
instance. Enable the items that you use.
--------------------------

Thanks for taking the time to replicate what I did.
The WinAero Tweaker tool is powerful - but specific.

1. I went back to the Navigation Pane - Default Items.
https://s2.postimg.org/59pk9ldm1/01_...ault_items.gif

2. I re-checked all that was originally checked before I started.
https://s13.postimg.org/ermfq4ybr/01...ms_checked.gif
[x] Quick access
[ ] Favorites
[x] OneDrive
[ ] Libraries
[x] Homegroup (whatever that is)
[x] This PC
[x] Network
[x] Removable Drives

3. I logged out and back in and they were back in the middle part of the
3-part Navigation Pane (where the bottom part was a custom section put
there by the WinAero software).
https://s16.postimg.org/n8h2kdr05/navpane.gif

4. Following your instructions, I went to "Customize This PC Folders"
https://s24.postimg.org/co7ia5byt/cu...pc_folders.gif

5. I selected "Documents" and hit the [Remove Selected] button.
https://s1.postimg.org/lbz1nw4un/rem..._documents.gif

6. I repeated that step for
Desktop [Remove Selected]
Documents [Remove Selected]
Downloads [Remove Selected]
Music [Remove Selected]
Pictures [Remove Selected]
Videos [Remove Selected]

I only left "Desktop" since I do use that every once in a while.
https://s11.postimg.org/7gu6njt0z/remove_selected.gif

7. That seemed to get rid of most of the shortcuts I'll never use!
https://s1.postimg.org/zfil7tjpb/final_result.gif

There is still more to remove, e.g., OneDrive (whatever that is), and all
those USB sticks that don't exist (where do they come from?).

But this WinAero thing is a godsend to get rid of all those crazy Windows
10 shortcuts that nobody ever uses or needs.

On Thu, 08 Jun 2017 00:42:16 -0400, Paul wrote:

The next (amazing) thing was that it says "By default, the Windows
operating system adds special metata to ALL files you download from the
Internet to an NTFS drive". WTF? Really? It does?

The feature in question is called "Alternate Streams". It's like
the Resource and Data fork on MacOS.

OMG. Boy do I remember the "resource" fork and the "data" fork on MacOS in
the days of Columbia AppleTalk Protocol (CAP) and Samba (SMB) when I first
made Windows and Macintosh and UNIX (before Linux!) all use the same
filesystem!

I don't ever want to see a resource fork ever again for the rest of my
life!

The idea is, you have the main file name.

But, you can add a section to the filename (in the %MFT), which
is like a separate file storage. That storage area doesn't get
mixed with the file itself, so the "file doesn't get bigger".

I don't like it already, but at least it's not part of the original file.

When you copy the file, the file is still the same size it
always was. The Alternate Stream attached is like an independent feature.

In the case of web downloads, the Alternate Stream on a downloaded
file, just has to indicate that the file "came in from Untrusted Source".
That means if you try to run something you downloaded, there will be an
appropriate warning text, to tell you it's not a trusted executable.

I've seen that warning (which I consider useless) and now I know where it's
coming from. Thanks!

Sysinternals has the "Streams" program, if you want to check
that an Alternate Stream has been tacked in parallel with
the main file.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/...ernals/streams

You should also be able to use the "nfi.exe" program, which
dumps file system info, and it can show you how an alternate
stream appears in the %MFT.

This sounds so much like the CAP crap I had to deal with two decades ago,
that I don't think I wanna go there ever again!

More than one Alternate Stream can be applied to a filename,
so you can add different kinds of metadata. For example, a number
of releases ago, Kaspersky AV used to write the checksum
of the file in an Alternate Stream, to speed up scanning.
The idea did not last, and the feature was removed in the
next release.

On this webpage, somebody fools around with alternate streams.
And they mention "Zone.Identifier" is the Alternate Stream
attached to a downloaded EXE or ZIP or whatever.

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/...reams-in-ntfs/

Thanks. I just want to turn all that crap off as it has zero value to me to
have "forks" for meta data that is essentially useless from the start.

On Thu, 8 Jun 2017 01:12:53 +0000 (UTC), harry newton
wrote:

On Wed, 07 Jun 2017 13:55:29 -0700, Justin Tyme wrote:

Winaero Tweaker is a must have for Windows 10.

Thanks. I'm new to Windows 10 and am just trying to set it up like a normal
person would, where I would never organize my data like Microsoft does.

I picked up the suggested software over he
http://winaero.com/download.php?view.1796

When I ran the tweaker portable, it gave me a 4.5 WEI score
(which is some kind of graphics score of sorts I guess).

Not really relevant or important

I went down the list, one by one, of what it does, where the first thing
that hit me as useful was the ability to disable app lookup in the store.

The next thing was "disable automatic updates".

I don't see a setting for "disable automatic updates" and it would not
work in the Home Version anyway.

I think you disabled Automatic Maintenence. I wouldn't disable
Automatic Maintenence in your case.

I disabled Driver Updates though.

The next (amazing) thing was that it says "By default, the Windows
operating system adds special metata to ALL files you download from the
Internet to an NTFS drive". WTF? Really? It does?

So I checked the box to:
Disable downloaded files from being blocked in File Explorer.
So now I hope Windows doesn't add that meta data to every file!

I would leave this box unchecked. It is not doing exactly what you
think it is doing. It is just a security setting to let you know that
the file came from somewhere else and can be insecure. No big deal
though.

I disabled web search in task bar and Cortana (who on earth wants that?).

I turned on the context menu for more than 15 files to the maximum.

I turned on the Enable encrypt and decrypt in the context menu.

You don't need to do this. I would leave this unchecked

I added the File Hash command to the context menu.

I disabled the "shortcut" text for shortcuts.

I changed the Edge Download Folder from C:\Dowloads to where I wanted it to
be (I wish Edge would just ask each time).

I turned on "Stop unwanted apps that Windows installs automatically".

I turned on "Disable Telemetry and Data Collection".

I removed the "scan with windows defender", "cast to device" "bitlocker"
and "extract all" context menus.

Cast to device is for streaming. Don't remove this if you stream.


I disabled auto-update of Store apps.

Finally, in the "File Explorer" section, I found "Customize This PC
Folders"
Should have been the first thing you did as that was the problem you
posted about. I should have told you to use 'Remove Selected' instead
of saying uncheck since, as you found out, there is no boxes to
uncheck but a 'Remove Selected' button instead. Sometimes you have to
think about it a bit. :-)

and "Navigation Pane - Default Items".
And this is where everything went to hell in a handcart. :-)
--
JT

On Wed, 07 Jun 2017 22:18:23 -0700, in alt.comp.os.windows-10 you wrote:

I don't see a setting for "disable automatic updates" and it would not
work in the Home Version anyway.

I think you disabled Automatic Maintenence. I wouldn't disable
Automatic Maintenence in your case.

My mistake in my summary transcription.
You are correct.

Here's a screenshot.
https://s3.postimg.org/ia2cj758j/automatic_updates.gif

Disable Automatic Maintenance
When you are not using your PC, Windows performs automatic maintenance.
It is a daily scheduled task that runs out-of-the-box. When enabled, it
performs various tasks like app updates, Windows updates, security scans
and many other things. If this feature produces issues for you, e.g. your
PC hangs during idle time, you might want to disable it for troubleshooting
purposes.

On Wed, 07 Jun 2017 22:18:23 -0700, Justin Tyme wrote:

I removed the "scan with windows defender", "cast to device" "bitlocker"
and "extract all" context menus.

Cast to device is for streaming. Don't remove this if you stream.

What do you mean by "stream"?

All I do is watch YouTube movies.

Is that what you mean by streaming?

Streaming is just watching something as it downloads and buffers, isn't it?

I don't even have Netflix if that's what you mean.

On Wed, 07 Jun 2017 22:18:23 -0700, Justin Tyme wrote:

and "Navigation Pane - Default Items".
And this is where everything went to hell in a handcart. :-)

I think there is something that is not intuitive going on.

The leftside Navigation Pane has three sections, top, middle, and bottom.

Before I messed with this WinAero Tweaker, I could add items to the top of
the navigation pane simply by right clicking on a folder and hitting the
context menu item named "Pin to Quick Access".

But, I didn't realize that I already turned OFF the "Quick Access" thingey,
which is the topmost part of the leftside Navigation Pane!

So, in order to get stuff back into that topmost part of the leftside
Navigation Pane, I had to go back into WinAero "Customize This PC Folders"
and add the stuff that /used/ to be in the "Quick Access" toppart of the
leftside Navigation Pane!

https://s14.postimg.org/4mqatgh8x/cu...workaround.gif

Who knew that the Leftside Navigation Pane was made up of so many
components!

Most of my problems are that I am new to Windows 10 so I'm guessing wrong
as to what things are. But the good news is that I'm almost there.

Here's where I am now.
https://s30.postimg.org/sjw7elggh/usb_drivesa.gif

How do I get rid of all those "USB Drives" which don't even exist?

On Thu, 8 Jun 2017 01:33:51 +0000 (UTC), harry newton wrote:

Not good. Not good at all.
Everything is missing from the Navigation Pane now.
Even the stuff I want pinned to it.
I tried re-pinning them, but they don't show up.
The whole Navigation Pane is blank.
https://s29.postimg.org/h6bir2mhz/navigation_pane.gif

I only belatedly realized the "pinning" is only done to the "Quick Access"
which is the topmost part of the leftside Navigation Pane.

So, when I turned off "Quick Access" then when I right clicked in Windows
Explorer on a folder and hit the context menu item "Pin to Quick Access",
nothing happened.

With the Quick Access removed, I had to use "Customize This PC Folders" to
get stuff in the topmost position in the leftside Navigation Pane:
https://s30.postimg.org/psvl49tw1/wi...pc_folders.gif

To get folders in the bottom third of the leftside Navigation Pane, I had
to use the "Navigation Pane - Custom Items" WinAero Tweaker menu.
https://s4.postimg.org/xk22azcal/win...stom_items.gif

To get "This PC" at the top of the leftside Navigation Pane, I had to use
the WinAero "Navigation Pane - Default Items" as shown below:
https://s29.postimg.org/d7uf7iylz/wi...ault_items.gif

I'm still not sure where the hard disk drive "C:" comes from.
Nor am I sure where all those USB drives (that don't even exist) come from.

On Wed, 7 Jun 2017 05:32:26 +0000 (UTC), harry newton wrote:

How do I get rid of 6 Windows 10 useless shortcuts
(Desktop, Documents, Download, Music, Pictures, Video)?

https://s11.postimg.org/to5vl730z/win10_organize.gif

There doesn't seem to be a DELETE option when I rightclick on these useless
shortcuts to get rid of them.

Here's a summary after about an hour or two using the WinAero Tweaker tool
suggested by Justin Tyme, located at:
http://winaero.com/download.php?view.1796

This screenshot shows my current status of the leftside Navigation Pane:
https://s16.postimg.org/vlict2j1h/summary.gif

It's critical to realize that the leftside Navigation Pane is composed of
at least four different "things", where starting at the top (in order) is:

1. Navigation Pane - Default Items
https://s29.postimg.org/d7uf7iylz/wi...ault_items.gif
[ ] Quick access (if removed, you can't pin folders to quick access)
[ ] Favorites
[ ] OneDrive
[ ] Libraries
[ ] Homegroup (whatever this is)
[X] This PC
[ ] Network
[ ] Removable Drives

2. Customize This PC Folders (which includes the "Desktop")
https://s30.postimg.org/psvl49tw1/wi...pc_folders.gif

3. A hard-coded Hard Disk Drive entry [such as "hdd (C"]
(I don't see any way to turn this off but I don't need to so that's OK.)

4. Navigation Pane - Custom Items
https://s4.postimg.org/xk22azcal/win...stom_items.gif

What's left is only the question of how to get rid of all those
non-existent USB drives.

On Thu, 8 Jun 2017 04:59:38 +0000 (UTC), harry newton
wrote:

On Wed, 07 Jun 2017 20:30:23 -0700, Justin Tyme wrote:

So I replicated what you did. This is how to fix it.

Winaero: Go back to Navigation pane- Default Items
Put check marks in all the items and you will be back to normal.

Follow these instructions:

click 'Customize This PC Folders' and uncheck all the items you do not
want to show. There are six items to uncheck.

Do not do anything else in the Navigation Pane setting.
--------------------------
Regarding 'Customize This PC Folder'

Sorry I was doing this from memory. There are no check boxes, there is
a 'Remove Selected' button to the right.

This is how you remove those six items from 'Customize This PC Folder'

Select Picturesclick the Remove Selected button
Select Musicclick the Remove Selected button

Keep doing this until all are removed. Done.

Hopefully you have fixed the Navigation Pane- Default Items, as I
explained and all should be good now. You may have some items in
'Navigation Pane- Default Items' that I do not have. OneDrive for
instance. Enable the items that you use.
--------------------------

Thanks for taking the time to replicate what I did.
The WinAero Tweaker tool is powerful - but specific.

1. I went back to the Navigation Pane - Default Items.
https://s2.postimg.org/59pk9ldm1/01_...ault_items.gif

2. I re-checked all that was originally checked before I started.
https://s13.postimg.org/ermfq4ybr/01...ms_checked.gif
[x] Quick access
[ ] Favorites
[x] OneDrive
[ ] Libraries
[x] Homegroup (whatever that is)
[x] This PC
[x] Network
[x] Removable Drives

3. I logged out and back in and they were back in the middle part of the
3-part Navigation Pane (where the bottom part was a custom section put
there by the WinAero software).
https://s16.postimg.org/n8h2kdr05/navpane.gif

4. Following your instructions, I went to "Customize This PC Folders"
https://s24.postimg.org/co7ia5byt/cu...pc_folders.gif

5. I selected "Documents" and hit the [Remove Selected] button.
https://s1.postimg.org/lbz1nw4un/rem..._documents.gif

6. I repeated that step for
Desktop [Remove Selected]
Documents [Remove Selected]
Downloads [Remove Selected]
Music [Remove Selected]
Pictures [Remove Selected]
Videos [Remove Selected]

I only left "Desktop" since I do use that every once in a while.
https://s11.postimg.org/7gu6njt0z/remove_selected.gif

7. That seemed to get rid of most of the shortcuts I'll never use!
https://s1.postimg.org/zfil7tjpb/final_result.gif

There is still more to remove, e.g., OneDrive (whatever that is), and all
those USB sticks that don't exist (where do they come from?).

Onedrive is for MS Cloud storage. The USB thing is a double entry as
it already shows under My PC when you plug the USB stick in.

If you go back to 'Navigation Pane- Default Items' you can get rid of
these two by unchecking OneDrive and Removable Drives.

But this WinAero thing is a godsend to get rid of all those crazy Windows
10 shortcuts that nobody ever uses or needs.

Yeah, it is great. Glad it worked out for you!

There are a lot of other useful tweaks in Winaero. I liked the
Appearance tweaks, I made the Windows Title bars smaller and gave them
a nice color, gave the windows a small border, turned on Aero, made
the Taskbar more transparent, changed system fonts and many other
changes that makes everything look the way I like it. Windows 10 works
well for me but the first thing I hear from most people is "I hate
Windows 10" so I usually fix it for my friends and relatives and they
all like it after it is customized a bit. There is a fix for just
about everything that people dislike about Windows 10.

BTW: if you are new to Win10 forget about the Mail app as it causes a
lot of grief for people. Thunderbird for mail is a much better choice.
Don't use MS browsers like Edge or even Internet Explorer, both are
crappy IMO. Firefox will serve you better. Don't use Windows backup
tools as Macrium Reflect (free) works much better. You can also turn
on the old Photo Viewer with Winaero. The stock photo app isn't great.
I really have no use for any of the Windows apps or the crappy Store.
I usually remove all the apps with a powershell command. You can right
click and unpin all the crap on the Start screen, then use your mouse
to hook the edge of it, drag it left so it is more narrow like it
should be. Windows10 can be made much more user friendly if you fix it
up a bit.
--
JT

On Thu, 8 Jun 2017 05:35:12 +0000 (UTC), harry newton
wrote:

On Wed, 07 Jun 2017 22:18:23 -0700, Justin Tyme wrote:

I removed the "scan with windows defender", "cast to device" "bitlocker"
and "extract all" context menus.

Cast to device is for streaming. Don't remove this if you stream.

What do you mean by "stream"?

You can stream movies and stuff from your PC to your TV. That is what
I meant by streaming. I don't use it but I thought you might.

All I do is watch YouTube movies.

Is that what you mean by streaming?

Streaming is just watching something as it downloads and buffers, isn't it?

I don't even have Netflix if that's what you mean.
--
JT

On Thu, 8 Jun 2017 05:49:56 +0000 (UTC), harry newton
wrote:

On Wed, 07 Jun 2017 22:18:23 -0700, Justin Tyme wrote:

and "Navigation Pane - Default Items".
And this is where everything went to hell in a handcart. :-)

I think there is something that is not intuitive going on.

The leftside Navigation Pane has three sections, top, middle, and bottom.

Before I messed with this WinAero Tweaker, I could add items to the top of
the navigation pane simply by right clicking on a folder and hitting the
context menu item named "Pin to Quick Access".

But, I didn't realize that I already turned OFF the "Quick Access" thingey,
which is the topmost part of the leftside Navigation Pane!

The Quick access is one of the default things you turned off in the
Navigation Pane -Default items. Turn it back on. You don't turn it on
with the "Customize This PC Folders". All you do here is remove the
six shortcuts we discussed, Nothing more.

So, in order to get stuff back into that topmost part of the leftside
Navigation Pane, I had to go back into WinAero "Customize This PC Folders"
and add the stuff that /used/ to be in the "Quick Access" toppart of the
leftside Navigation Pane!

No. I think you are doing it wrong as explained above.


https://s14.postimg.org/4mqatgh8x/cu...workaround.gif

Who knew that the Leftside Navigation Pane was made up of so many
components!

Most of my problems are that I am new to Windows 10 so I'm guessing wrong
as to what things are. But the good news is that I'm almost there.

Here's where I am now.
https://s30.postimg.org/sjw7elggh/usb_drivesa.gif

How do I get rid of all those "USB Drives" which don't even exist?
--
JT

On Thu, 8 Jun 2017 06:39:39 +0000 (UTC), harry newton
wrote:

On Wed, 7 Jun 2017 05:32:26 +0000 (UTC), harry newton wrote:

Snip


What's left is only the question of how to get rid of all those
non-existent USB drives.

Not sure what you mean here. Non-existant usb drives? I don't have
anything like what you describe. When I plug in a USB stick I get a
double entry but that can be turned off as I mentioned earlier.

Wow, you did a lot of stuff that I don't think was necessary. The only
thing you should have done was to get rid of the six shortcuts with
'Customize This PC Folders' you first posted about. Everything else
should have been left alone.

This should have been a simple task as you only wanted to remove the
shortcuts in 'Customize This PC Folders'. All the rest is too much
info for me. You really went overboard with unnecessary things. If you
had just followed my original instructions and left everything else
alone you would be fine. I know you were confused because I said
uncheck when there was no check boxes but the 'Remove Item' button is
pretty visible and not hard to figure out. I am sure anyone who read
all that you posted is totally bewildered now. I am pretty much done
here. You turned a very small thing into a mega post. We really did
not need a step by step of your trial and error.
--
JT

On Thu, 08 Jun 2017 02:20:27 -0700, Justin Tyme wrote:

What's left is only the question of how to get rid of all those
non-existent USB drives.

Not sure what you mean here. Non-existant usb drives? I don't have
anything like what you describe. When I plug in a USB stick I get a
double entry but that can be turned off as I mentioned earlier.

In this screenshot below you see USB drives E, F, G, & H.
https://s14.postimg.org/qiijyos5d/usb.gif

But, I have ZERO USB drives plugged into the computer.

What are those ghost USB drives?
They don't exist.

Wow, you did a lot of stuff that I don't think was necessary. The only
thing you should have done was to get rid of the six shortcuts with
'Customize This PC Folders' you first posted about. Everything else
should have been left alone.

I put EVERYTHING I need frequently into 3 folders.
Under those three folders are other folders, of which 3 I use a lot.
As you can see in my screenshot above, now those 6 folders are handy.

I don't need any other folders on a frequent basis.
So I got rid of them in the GUI thanks to your help!

On Thu, 08 Jun 2017 01:36:06 -0700, Justin Tyme wrote:

The Quick access is one of the default things you turned off in the
Navigation Pane -Default items. Turn it back on. You don't turn it on
with the "Customize This PC Folders". All you do here is remove the
six shortcuts we discussed, Nothing more.

I don't get this "Quick Access" thing.

What on earth do I need something called "Quick Access" for?

I only need access to about 3 folders on my PC, which is where I store
EVERYTHING.

Below those three folders are plenty of other folders, of which there are
another 3 that I use a lot.

So that's 6 folders, in total, that I need access to, all 6 of which are
now on my navigation pane (three on top and three on bottom).

Given that, what on earth do I need something called "Quick Access" for?

On Thu, 08 Jun 2017 01:27:17 -0700, Justin Tyme wrote:

You can stream movies and stuff from your PC to your TV. That is what
I meant by streaming. I don't use it but I thought you might.

I don't even _own_ a TV.
Haven't had one in years.
Even before they went from analog to digital.

Windows XP was fine for me until the machine broke and I needed a new
computer, which, unfortunately, is Windows 10.

Everything changed from WinXP to Win10 with no increase in functionality it
seems. Just a lot more nuisances.