How do I get rid of the document-type clutter in the Windows Right-Click New menu?

Char Jackson wrote in
news
On Fri, 16 Feb 2018 09:41:20 GMT, Tim wrote:

Two points. Make a good estimate as to how much the OS is going to
take, then double or triple it to allow for the always present size
creep. It is a lot easier to set aside the space now than to try and
enlarge a partition later, especially when it is the first partition
on the drive.

It's actually trivial these days (well, since about 1994, IIRC) to
grow or shrink partitions, or to move them around. The GUI-based
partition managers make it as simple as point and click until you're
satisfied, then click an Apply button to execute the changes.

My tool of choice is MiniTool Partition Wizard, but there are others.
https://www.partitionwizard.com/



You are probably correct. I haven't tried to do that in several years. But
my main reasoning is that why take the chance and have to move everything
else on the drive down with the associated risks when I can just reserve
the space at the beginning. Also, it could wind up that by the time I want
to enlarge the C:\ drive there isn't enough room left on the hard drive to
allow me to do so. My way you will always know when you are approaching the
limits of your data drive and can plan ahead to pare it down or add another
drive, or - God forbid - have to close the current hard drive to a larger
one if you are in a position where you can not add a second drive, ie a
laptop.

On Sat, 17 Feb 2018 03:47:28 GMT, Tim wrote:

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in
:


I am currently on Windows 10. Microsoft created a directory tree for
me under \users, which I don't use at all. I use a directory on my
data drive

You think you don't, but you probably are doing, even if you don't
want to - your desktop and start menu are probably there, for example.

You are right. I have a My Documents icon that I use to access all the
information on my data drive. When I download things it does try to default
to my user directory on the system drive. I just don't use it unless the
system forces me too.

I know that most people around here will recoil in horror if I mention
Libraries, but they are an excellent way to deal with your scenario.

The Libraries hierarchy already has a Documents folder, but it points to
the actual Documents folder in your user profile, so what you do is add
your alternate Documents folder on your data drive and make that folder
the default save location. Presto, the folders in your user profile are
untouched and going forward all new docs and saved docs automatically go
to your data drive. Do the same for Downloads or whatever else you want.

I think Libraries are excellent, but like I said, most folks around here
never bothered to learn how they work so they avoid them like the
plague. Their loss, of course.

wrote:

You are right. I have a My Documents icon that I use to access all the
information on my data drive. When I download things it does try to default
to my user directory on the system drive. I just don't use it unless the
system forces me too.

Speaking of "My Documents", "My Pictures", "My Music", "My Programs", etc.,
these are great 'ideas' for Microsoft to help the hoi polloi figure out
where to put their "types" of data.

The fatal flaw in all of them isn't the idea - it's the fact that a billion
programs pollute them and keeping them clean is like trying to keep a NYC
sidewalk clean on your own.

It's easier to just put your stuff in the back yard, where nobody pollutes
it, but all those "My Stuff" links are still the defaults - where you can
change those defaults - but it's easiest - I think - to just put shortcuts
to your "real" data in those default folders.

So, in reality, I /do/ put stuff in those Micrsosoft folders - but that
stuff is always just a link to my "real" stuff.

"ultred ragnusen" wrote

| Speaking of "My Documents", "My Pictures", "My Music", "My Programs",
etc.,
| these are great 'ideas' for Microsoft to help the hoi polloi figure out
| where to put their "types" of data.
|
| The fatal flaw in all of them isn't the idea - it's the fact that a
billion
| programs pollute them

That's actually the intention. The personal folders
are designed for people who have no idea where any
of their files are. People don't usually use those
folders. Software uses those folders. Ask someone
if they've backed up their MS Word docs and they'll
likely answer something like, "I don't know, but Word
knows where they are."

The other reason for those folders is because
Windows is designed to be a corporate workstation.
It's made for use by people who are using the computer
to do work and have no right to access anything but
the files they're working on. Normal user file restrictions
block access to just about everything else. The only
unrestricted access in in the personal app data folders.

So the idea is that a corporate lackey opens Word,
writes a doc, saves it, sends it, or re-edits it.....
as their job requires..... and never needs to access
anything but Word itself to do all that. People are
not intended to understand anything further. They're
certainly not intended to open Windows Explorer and
start poking around in folders. So software is doing
what it's supposed to do, following Microsoft's
"best practice" guidelines by storing files in your
personal folder unless you specify otherwise.

wrote:

I know that most people around here will recoil in horror if I mention
Libraries, but they are an excellent way to deal with your scenario.

I admit I'm confused about your use the word "libraries" - since you are
seemingly using the word as if it's something different than a mere
collection of on-the-spot "search" results (which is how I've heard the
term used up until now).

The Libraries hierarchy already has a Documents folder, but it points to
the actual Documents folder in your user profile, so what you do is add
your alternate Documents folder on your data drive and make that folder
the default save location.

There's a "Libraries hierarchy"?
I have to google that... click ... click... browse ... browse ...

Hmmmmmm....... I still don't know what a "Libraries hierarchy" is.
http://wetakepic.com/images/2018/02/17/Clipboard01.jpg

I apologize for missing the point - so - can you clarify what exactly is
this "Libraries hierarchy" if it's not
a. Just the result of an ad-hoc search (like an iTunes song "library")
b. Is it the garbage that pollutes the users' hierarchy?

For example, this is the garbage that pollutes my user hierarchy (none of
which is anything I've ever put there since I never put anything there).
http://wetakepic.com/images/2018/02/17/Clipboard02.jpg

(Yes, I know the vimrc was put there by VIM, but since I use the defaults,
I left it there. Had I changed the vimrc, I would have put the vimrc
elsewhere after figuring out how to redirect where VIM looks for it, which
I don't know how to do anyway.)

Presto, the folders in your user profile are
untouched and going forward all new docs and saved docs automatically go
to your data drive. Do the same for Downloads or whatever else you want.

I don't understand the result of the "presto", but I believe that you have
a good idea because I like what you say are the results - which - if I
understand you - are that you "can" use your user folder without fear of it
being polluted like a NYC sidewalk.

I think Libraries are excellent, but like I said, most folks around here
never bothered to learn how they work so they avoid them like the
plague. Their loss, of course.

Can you point us to a link that explains these "libraries"?

When I think of a "library", I think of it as the Apple bull**** that
limits what you can put on an iPod or of the concept of running an ad-hoc
search for, say, *.mp3, in order to find all the music files scattered
about on your computer.

You seem to be using a different meaning for this term "libraries" than I
am familiar with. Maybe others are confused also?

"Mayayana" on Sat, 17 Feb 2018 11:44:03
-0500 typed in alt.windows7.general the following:
"ultred ragnusen" wrote

| Speaking of "My Documents", "My Pictures", "My Music", "My Programs",
etc.,
| these are great 'ideas' for Microsoft to help the hoi polloi figure out
| where to put their "types" of data.
|
| The fatal flaw in all of them isn't the idea - it's the fact that a
billion
| programs pollute them

That's actually the intention. The personal folders
are designed for people who have no idea where any
of their files are. People don't usually use those
folders. Software uses those folders. Ask someone
if they've backed up their MS Word docs and they'll
likely answer something like, "I don't know, but Word
knows where they are."

The other reason for those folders is because
Windows is designed to be a corporate workstation.
It's made for use by people who are using the computer
to do work and have no right to access anything but
the files they're working on. Normal user file restrictions
block access to just about everything else. The only
unrestricted access in in the personal app data folders.

So the idea is that a corporate lackey opens Word,
writes a doc, saves it, sends it, or re-edits it.....
as their job requires..... and never needs to access
anything but Word itself to do all that. People are
not intended to understand anything further.

On a tangent, years ago I cam across a bit of historical detail.
From an English companion to the Latin Mass circa 14th Century

"Answer at 'sid malum' amen There is no reason for this thee to
kenn Those who con it not are lewd men." (If memory serves) The first
documented use of "You were not meant to understand this."
--
pyotr filipivich
Next month's Panel: Graft - Boon or blessing?

wrote:

That's actually the intention. The personal folders
are designed for people who have no idea where any
of their files are.

I agree with you Mr. Mayayana, in that way before the "My Stuff" stuff even
existed, I used to complain that Microsoft didn't have a default place to
put your data.

In those days (Win95? Win2K? I don't remember) most people just scattered
the root directory with stuff because there was no clear concept of a user
keeping data separate from applications and operating systems.

So clearly, the "My Stuff" folders help the proletariat "find" their stuff,
where I posit that 90% of the complexity of Windows is an attempt by
Redmond to help people find their stuff (which is sad, because if the
populace realized that all they have to do is put their stuff "where it
belongs", they'd know where to find it).

People don't usually use those folders.

Oh. Uh? Really? I thought they did? (I don't use them, but I thought they
were there for people to use????)

Software uses those folders.
Oh. OK. Well, that stinks.

Programs should litter on their own back yards, not mine.

If I create a "C:\data\audio\songs" hierarchy, I don't want any program
littering that directory unless it's to put a song there that I told it to
put there.

Ask someone
if they've backed up their MS Word docs and they'll
likely answer something like, "I don't know, but Word
knows where they are."

That's sad. I agree that /every/ stinking program has a different default
for where it "puts stuff", where what I care about is the stuff that I care
about.

That means if I "create" a document, then it goes in the place I want it to
go in, but, if it's a program setup or default or browser profile, I don't
change that location unless I change the profile.

The horror of that method is that you find yourself learning too much about
programs in order to tweak each one in a different way to change the
default place it stores setup files. I've done that for browsers, for
example, which eventually drove me nuts, e.g., with custom user.js and
bookmarks files.

So now, my browser setup rule is store nothing whatsoever in the browser
profile directory that you care about. Keep bookmarks separate if you use
them, but each of my browsers only goes to a single web site, so, for me,
that only means to set the START URL to the one web site that the browser
is allowed to visit.

Of course, that means I have almost a score of browsers, but, it turns out,
I only go to about a dozen web sites, so, a dozen browsers are all that I
need.

The other reason for those folders is because
Windows is designed to be a corporate workstation.

Yes. I used to decry, way back when, oh, maybe Win95 or 2K days, that we
didn't have "users" like we did on UNIX.

It's a good idea for Windows to have users; just like it's a good idea to
live on a busy NYC street; but it's a bad idea that programs pollute them
like passersby aimlessly litter your front stoop in NYC.

It's made for use by people who are using the computer
to do work and have no right to access anything but
the files they're working on.

This makes sense but it still doesn't stop all the programs from littering
your front steps, which is the real problem.

Normal user file restrictions
block access to just about everything else. The only
unrestricted access in in the personal app data folders.

Yes, but still, that's not the problem. The problem is that all the
programs aimlessly litter any directory they know about, which are all the
Microsoft-created directories.

So you can either clean up their litter, day in and day out, or just store
your stuff in your back yard where the passesrsby don't litter.

So the idea is that a corporate lackey opens Word,
writes a doc, saves it, sends it, or re-edits it.....
as their job requires..... and never needs to access
anything but Word itself to do all that.

Yes. Defaults work great. Until they don't.
How many times have you seen someone save a file one moment, and then spend
ten minutes trying to find it later?

That never happens when you use the same location for your files that
you've used for the past 20 years. You know exactly where the file will be
even before you put it there.

People are
not intended to understand anything further.

True. So true. Sad. But true.
Those are the hoi polloi. The unwashed masses. People on iOS newsgroups.

They're
certainly not intended to open Windows Explorer and
start poking around in folders.

Understood. The proles don't know how to put things where they belong,
which requires THINKING ahead of time where they belong.

So software is doing
what it's supposed to do, following Microsoft's
"best practice" guidelines by storing files in your
personal folder unless you specify otherwise.

Yup. It's worse than just the files you care about though, as any one
program can pollute your folders any way it likes, such as what VIM
apparently did to my user folder just now.
http://wetakepic.com/images/2018/02/...ard0245817.jpg

On 17/02/2018 18:35, ultred ragnusen small boys abuser aka Roy Tremblay
and Lionel Muller wrote:
wrote: CRAP



CAN YOU TAKE YOUR CRAP somewhere else (Linux for example) as your posts
and your boys have nothing to do with Windows 10; It's getting rather
boring reading your crap here.

AND STOP CROSS POSTING TO WINDOWS 10 AS WE HAVE ENOUGH OF YOUR CRAP HERE.



--
With over 600 million devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.

Good Guy wrote on 2/17/2018 12:51 PM:
On 17/02/2018 18:35, ultred ragnusen small boys abuser aka Roy Tremblay
and Lionel MullerÂ* wrote:
wrote: CRAP



CAN YOU TAKE YOUR CRAP somewhere else (Linux for example) as your posts
and your boys have nothing to do with Windows 10;

I know this will have little import to such as you but ... THIS IS A
WINDOWS 7 NEWSGROUP. So can you take this crap somewhere else? Come on,
get a life.
--
Jeff Barnett

On 17/02/2018 20:15, Jeff Barnett wrote:

THIS IS A WINDOWS 7 NEWSGROUP.

Who said it is not?

So can you take this crap somewhere else?

Well I suggest you tell your boy friend to stop cross posting to Windows
10 so I don't have to read his or your crap. How often do you suck his
cock?

Come on, get a life.

Very good idea. Is that what you do by sucking his cock?



--
With over 600 million devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.

In message , ultred
ragnusen writes:
[]
You seem to be using a different meaning for this term "libraries" than I
am familiar with. Maybe others are confused also?

The term does have a specific and technical meaning within Windows 7 and
beyond. I don't profess to understand it; it comes in the same sort of
area as "links", especially "hard links". If you look back in the
archives of the 7 newsgroup [yes I know they don't exist (-:], you'll
find many informative posts, from Paul and others, on the subject.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Our thorny national debate about Brexit could turn out to be irrelevant.
Sooner or later the EU as we know it may no longer be there for us to leave.
- Katya Adler, BBC Europe editor (RT, 2017/2/4-10)

In message , ultred ragnusen
writes:
[]
That's sad. I agree that /every/ stinking program has a different default
for where it "puts stuff", where what I care about is the stuff that I care
about.
[]
No, a lot of them use the _same_ defaults - the "My" areas.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Our thorny national debate about Brexit could turn out to be irrelevant.
Sooner or later the EU as we know it may no longer be there for us to leave.
- Katya Adler, BBC Europe editor (RT, 2017/2/4-10)

On 16/02/2018 05:55, ultred ragnusen wrote:
wrote:

Provided your OS doesn't use some _very_ odd control of the file system,
you should be able to access a d: partition by connecting the drive to
some other system.

Alas, your wisdom comes too late for me ... this time.
But from now on, since Microsoft is killing me with these failed mandatory
updates, I am forced to go back in time, oh, what? Twenty years? And keep
the operating system on partition C and the data on partition D. Sigh.


I'll look up how big a C: partition is for just Windows, were my current
"Windows" directory is 14.7GB.

I assume "partition magic" is still the winner for partitioning after the
fact?

Or, assuming you can reinstall the (or any other) OS
on C: without upsetting the arrangement of partitions, you should be
able to access it on this computer.

Right now, with the failed windows update on the old (now removed) hard
drive, had the data been on a different partition than that damn operating
system, that would have been the way to save my data.

Lesson learned. I thought these days were gone where we had to protect
ourselves from the Windows OS eating itself up periodically, but, at least
for me, those days have returned. Sigh.

That's what I do - not just the OS, but installed software, on C:, data
on D:. I regularly (though not often enough of course) image C:, using
Macrium; I just copy (though SyncToy makes that faster) D:.

I realize most people make "images" but my philosophy is far simpler in
that I don't care about the installed programs - nor do I care about the
operating system - they can always be re-installed.

All I care about is my data which I keep, separately, by design, in
C:\data, but which, in the future, will, of necessity, regrettably, be on a
different partition.

There is no other way to save myself from Microsoft chewing up the
operating system again, and again, and again. And again. It's frustrating,
so pardon my frustration.


It's only the data I care about, all of which is in the C:\data hierarchy.

I generally try to keep my data away from the OS - even when I was on XP.

From Win95 to Win2K to WinXP and beyond, I have long learned not to trust
the Microsoft operating system. Windows 7 had gained my trust, but, as I
found out recently, it was a false trust, so, I'm back to not trusting the
OS to not eat itself periodically. Sigh. I can't enumerate my pent-up
frustration with Microsoft - I can't say worse things about them than I am
thinking right now.

Well, made it more possible to get at it if you had to reinstall, even
if that meant scrapping C:, as long as it didn't screw the partition
table.

Yes. I have "re" learned the lesson that you have to protect your data from
Microsoft. It's an old lesson, which I had thought was from a bygone era -
but it has reared its ugly head yet again ... Damn you Microsoft.

Fooled me once (long ago), and then gained my trust with Windows 7.
And now fooled me twice with Windows 10.

I guess C:\data (though it would appear as something like F:\data) would
still have been accessible if you'd taken the disc out and connected it
to another computer. But IMO, and that of many, keeping data off C: is a
good policy. Not _everyone_ agrees, though.

Even though I don't like the inconvenience, my data, henceforth, will be
going on a separate partition from the operating system.

I assume partition magic is the way to go to create that partition after
the fact - if not - then I'll just back up my new data (there isn't much
anyway since all the good data is on the hdd that Microsoft Update ****ed
up) and re-install the OS.

Looking for how big to make that C: os partition, I note my current Windows
directory takes up 14.7GB with 107K files, so, probably double that would
make a good partition size for C:, don't you think?

so ultred, wot are you up to??? we went through your need for info on
brakes and wheelstuds and you set up a record for posts.

What is your game eh