Creating personal data/special folders

On Fri, 22 May 2015 20:55:24 -0700, Justin Tyme
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 22:03:52 -0500, Rene Lamontagne
wrote:

On 5/22/2015 9:23 PM, Justin Tyme wrote:
On Fri, 22 May 2015 16:56:29 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP"
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 23:01:37 +0100, mechanic
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 09:03:41 -0700, Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

On my Win 8 system, they are also peers of each other, but none of the four
have the "My" prefix.

Are we different?

Apparently so.

Are you sure you have Windows 8/8.1 Ken?


Yes, absolutely sure--8.1. On *both* machines here.




The is no 'My' prefix in Windows 8.1. You must be thinking win7.
--
JT



Sure is, look in documents, Win8.1

Regards, Rene

There are no 'My' anything in win8.1 Documents. I have no idea why
your says 'My'. This was changed in Win8 as stated by MS in this link.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/w...cuments-folder

Typo: This was changed in Win8.1
--
JT

On Fri, 22 May 2015 21:15:49 -0700, Justin Tyme
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 20:55:24 -0700, Justin Tyme
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 22:03:52 -0500, Rene Lamontagne
wrote:

On 5/22/2015 9:23 PM, Justin Tyme wrote:
On Fri, 22 May 2015 16:56:29 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP"
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 23:01:37 +0100, mechanic
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 09:03:41 -0700, Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

On my Win 8 system, they are also peers of each other, but none of the four
have the "My" prefix.

Are we different?

Apparently so.

Are you sure you have Windows 8/8.1 Ken?


Yes, absolutely sure--8.1. On *both* machines here.




The is no 'My' prefix in Windows 8.1. You must be thinking win7.
--
JT



Sure is, look in documents, Win8.1

Regards, Rene

There are no 'My' anything in win8.1 Documents. I have no idea why
your says 'My'. This was changed in Win8 as stated by MS in this link.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/w...cuments-folder

Typo: This was changed in Win8.1

Rene do you use Start8? I know Ken Blake does so I am thinking those
'My' folders you are seeing is a function of Start8. Just a guess as I
use the regular Win8 start menu and I am not familiar with Start8.
--
JT

On Fri, 22 May 2015 16:56:29 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP"
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 23:01:37 +0100, mechanic
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 09:03:41 -0700, Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

On my Win 8 system, they are also peers of each other, but none of the four
have the "My" prefix.

Are we different?

Apparently so.

Are you sure you have Windows 8/8.1 Ken?


Yes, absolutely sure--8.1. On *both* machines here.

Did you do an in place upgrade from Win 7? Maybe the previous directory
structure was maintained across the upgrade.

On Fri, 22 May 2015 21:29:39 -0700, Justin Tyme
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 21:15:49 -0700, Justin Tyme
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 20:55:24 -0700, Justin Tyme
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 22:03:52 -0500, Rene Lamontagne
wrote:

On 5/22/2015 9:23 PM, Justin Tyme wrote:
On Fri, 22 May 2015 16:56:29 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP"
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 23:01:37 +0100, mechanic
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 09:03:41 -0700, Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

On my Win 8 system, they are also peers of each other, but none of the four
have the "My" prefix.

Are we different?

Apparently so.

Are you sure you have Windows 8/8.1 Ken?


Yes, absolutely sure--8.1. On *both* machines here.




The is no 'My' prefix in Windows 8.1. You must be thinking win7.
--
JT



Sure is, look in documents, Win8.1

Regards, Rene

There are no 'My' anything in win8.1 Documents. I have no idea why
your says 'My'. This was changed in Win8 as stated by MS in this link.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/w...cuments-folder

Typo: This was changed in Win8.1

Rene do you use Start8? I know Ken Blake does so I am thinking those
'My' folders you are seeing is a function of Start8. Just a guess as I
use the regular Win8 start menu and I am not familiar with Start8.

I tried Start8 and I didn't get those 'My' folders so what Char said
sounds most likely.
--
JT

On Sat, 23 May 2015 00:53:28 -0500, Char Jackson
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 16:56:29 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP"
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 23:01:37 +0100, mechanic
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 09:03:41 -0700, Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

On my Win 8 system, they are also peers of each other, but none of the four
have the "My" prefix.

Are we different?

Apparently so.

Are you sure you have Windows 8/8.1 Ken?


Yes, absolutely sure--8.1. On *both* machines here.

Did you do an in place upgrade from Win 7? Maybe the previous directory
structure was maintained across the upgrade.


On my machine, yes, it was upgraded from 7. But on my wife's machine,
which is a one-week old inexpensive Dell, delivered with 8.1
installed, no. And she's running Classic Shell on it, not Start8.

On Sat, 23 May 2015 07:01:01 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP"
wrote:

On Sat, 23 May 2015 00:53:28 -0500, Char Jackson
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 16:56:29 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP"
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 23:01:37 +0100, mechanic
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 09:03:41 -0700, Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

On my Win 8 system, they are also peers of each other, but none of the four
have the "My" prefix.

Are we different?

Apparently so.

Are you sure you have Windows 8/8.1 Ken?


Yes, absolutely sure--8.1. On *both* machines here.

Did you do an in place upgrade from Win 7? Maybe the previous directory
structure was maintained across the upgrade.


On my machine, yes, it was upgraded from 7.

Thanks. I *think* that explains why you have the Win 7 directory structure,
(the "My" prefixes), that the rest of us don't have, but I think you also
said that My Music, My Pictures, and My Videos reside *within* My Documents,
which is a second, unexplained, difference. They should be alongside, not
within.

But on my wife's machine,
which is a one-week old inexpensive Dell, delivered with 8.1
installed, no. And she's running Classic Shell on it, not Start8.

I can't explain that one. I, too, have a Dell laptop, delivered with Win 8
and upgraded to 8.1 by me, and it has the proper Win 8 directory structure
where none of those 4 folders have the "My" prefix and none of them reside
below Documents.

On 5/22/2015 11:29 PM, Justin Tyme wrote:
On Fri, 22 May 2015 21:15:49 -0700, Justin Tyme
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 20:55:24 -0700, Justin Tyme
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 22:03:52 -0500, Rene Lamontagne
wrote:

On 5/22/2015 9:23 PM, Justin Tyme wrote:
On Fri, 22 May 2015 16:56:29 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP"
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 23:01:37 +0100, mechanic
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 09:03:41 -0700, Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

On my Win 8 system, they are also peers of each other, but none of the four
have the "My" prefix.

Are we different?

Apparently so.

Are you sure you have Windows 8/8.1 Ken?


Yes, absolutely sure--8.1. On *both* machines here.




The is no 'My' prefix in Windows 8.1. You must be thinking win7.
--
JT



Sure is, look in documents, Win8.1

Regards, Rene

There are no 'My' anything in win8.1 Documents. I have no idea why
your says 'My'. This was changed in Win8 as stated by MS in this link.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/w...cuments-folder

Typo: This was changed in Win8.1

Rene do you use Start8? I know Ken Blake does so I am thinking those
'My' folders you are seeing is a function of Start8. Just a guess as I
use the regular Win8 start menu and I am not familiar with Start8.
--
JT


Hi, Justin, no but I use Classic shell they may be an artifact of that.

Regards, Rene

On 5/23/15 7:12 AM, Wolf K wrote:
On 2015-05-20 4:46 PM, Paul wrote:
Ken Springer wrote:
Cross posted to 4 groups, as it probably applies to all these versions
of Windows. Probably applies to older ones and Windows 10, but I
don't follow those groups.

I've never used this "system" as created by MS. It simply doesn't
offer a categorization/organization method/means that makes sense to
me. I know a lot of people have no problems with this method, which
is perfectly OK.

I'm currently resurrecting a Vista system for donation, and as I was
relocating the personal data folders from the boot partition to
another partition, it suddenly occurred to me... Why can't I create
my own special folders?

I started experimenting on the Vista system, and all went well until I
relocated the folder I created. No can do. I can put the folder
somewhere else manually, but it won't show up in the personal folders
area.

I'm still looking, but I found an article relating to Win 7 about
doing this, and apparently I need to create a "symbolic link" somehow,
using an elevated command windows.

I know nothing about symbolic links, so will have to start researching
this.

But I was wondering if anyone knows of a GUI utility that will do all
of this for me rather than a command line operation. Ideally, it
would insert itself into the OS in some manner, rather like the Add
Print Directory fix you can get from MS.

And does anyone know of a really simple article on symbolic links that
I can start from?

It would also be nice if I could add selected folders I create, or one
of the default folders, to the Start Menu.

Thanks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolic_link

"Windows symbolic link
Main article: NTFS symbolic link

Windows Vista and later support symbolic links for
both files and directories with the command line utility

mklink

Unlike junction points, a symbolic link can also point
to a file or remote Server Message Block (SMB) network path.
Additionally, the NTFS symbolic link implementation provides
full support for cross-filesystem links. However, the
functionality enabling cross-host symbolic links requires
that the remote system also support them, which effectively
limits their support to Windows Vista and later Windows
operating systems."
[Etc]

Seeing that this thread as become inordinately long, I checked the OP.
Here's my take on his plaintive plea.

Just make shortcuts. A shortcut is a symbolic link. Make as many as you
want, wherever you want. Make a folder of shortcuts, and make a shortcut
for it. Etc. The symbolic link as described is for access to other
computers. There are simpler ways of doing that once the computer is
part of a network such as Workgroup or Homegroup. But that's up to
whoever receives the donated computer.

It seems I've misled folks unintentionally, and I apologize for that.

The idea of adding personal folders was never intended to be for any
computer I donate. It's for my purposes and use, as were all the
library discussions I've had here. I've got a brother-in-law and a
nephew I'd pass the info to, but that's about all. G

I _strongly_ second Paul's philosophy section. Any computer you donate
should basically be in As Delivered condition. You can add a few
freebies, such as Firefox or Classic Media Player, but that's as far I
would go.

Remember the days of Win 95 and 98, when a computer came with some basic
software installed? Such as MS Works, Media Center, etc.? As most of
these folks can't afford a computer, it's fairly logical they can't
afford commercial software. So I install free stuff, like WPS Office
(formerly Kingsoft), VideoLAN, free AV usually Avira, etc.

Since I'm supplying the monitor, I change the resolution for the best
display the monitor can provide. Adjust icon spacing, etc. as needed,
different wallpaper (just for the fun of it, and it helps me remember
which account I'm in. LOL) Enable Clear Type. I've not looked, but I
suspect the settings of new computers are pretty much what I end up
having when done. I mean, would you really want a computer with 800 X
600 screen resolution. :-)

I set up basic accounts because of the malware issues these days, but a
tutorial of why it's done and how to properly use them is supplied with
the computer.

Likewise for the printer I supply.

The most radical thing I do is partition the hard drive, and move the
data storage to the new partition. Relocating those personal data files
LOL And the new owners get instructions on never putting files on
C:\. LOL

I probably spend more time writing the documentation than everything
else, as no two systems are identical. And I use the software installed
on the computer to give the new owners an inkling of what they can
actually accomplish with what they've just received, other than surfing
and email.




--
Ken
Mac OS X 10.8.5
Firefox 36.0.4
Thunderbird 31.5
"My brain is like lightning, a quick flash
and it's gone!"

On 5/23/2015 12:53 AM, Char Jackson wrote:
On Fri, 22 May 2015 16:56:29 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP"
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 23:01:37 +0100, mechanic
wrote:

On Fri, 22 May 2015 09:03:41 -0700, Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

On my Win 8 system, they are also peers of each other, but none of the four
have the "My" prefix.

Are we different?

Apparently so.

Are you sure you have Windows 8/8.1 Ken?


Yes, absolutely sure--8.1. On *both* machines here.

Did you do an in place upgrade from Win 7? Maybe the previous directory
structure was maintained across the upgrade.



In my case I did a clean install on an SSD.

Regards, Rene

On Sat, 23 May 2015 08:58:29 -0600, Ken Springer
wrote:


Remember the days of Win 95 and 98, when a computer came with some basic
software installed? Such as MS Works, Media Center, etc.? As most of
these folks can't afford a computer, it's fairly logical they can't
afford commercial software. So I install free stuff, like WPS Office
(formerly Kingsoft), VideoLAN, free AV usually Avira, etc.

Since I'm supplying the monitor, I change the resolution for the best
display the monitor can provide. Adjust icon spacing, etc. as needed,
different wallpaper (just for the fun of it, and it helps me remember
which account I'm in. LOL) Enable Clear Type. I've not looked, but I
suspect the settings of new computers are pretty much what I end up
having when done. I mean, would you really want a computer with 800 X
600 screen resolution. :-)


Not to accuse you of anything, but here's my standard message about
used computers:

If I acquired a used computer, no matter who previously owned it, the
first thing I would do with it would be to reinstall the operating
system cleanly. You have no idea how the computer has been maintained,
what has been installed incorrectly, what is missing, what viruses and
spyware there may be, etc. I wouldn't want to live with somebody
else's mistakes and problems, possibility of kiddy p0rn, etc., and I
wouldn't recommend that anyone else do so either.

In article ,
lid says...

On Sat, 23 May 2015 08:58:29 -0600, Ken Springer
wrote:


Remember the days of Win 95 and 98, when a computer came with some basic
software installed? Such as MS Works, Media Center, etc.? As most of
these folks can't afford a computer, it's fairly logical they can't
afford commercial software. So I install free stuff, like WPS Office
(formerly Kingsoft), VideoLAN, free AV usually Avira, etc.

Since I'm supplying the monitor, I change the resolution for the best
display the monitor can provide. Adjust icon spacing, etc. as needed,
different wallpaper (just for the fun of it, and it helps me remember
which account I'm in. LOL) Enable Clear Type. I've not looked, but I
suspect the settings of new computers are pretty much what I end up
having when done. I mean, would you really want a computer with 800 X
600 screen resolution. :-)


Not to accuse you of anything, but here's my standard message about
used computers:

If I acquired a used computer, no matter who previously owned it, the
first thing I would do with it would be to reinstall the operating
system cleanly. You have no idea how the computer has been maintained,
what has been installed incorrectly, what is missing, what viruses and
spyware there may be, etc. I wouldn't want to live with somebody
else's mistakes and problems, possibility of kiddy p0rn, etc., and I
wouldn't recommend that anyone else do so either.

I usually least check if the thing boots as is first. If so I often look
around a bit; not for personal info but rather for "is there any
software, games, music or movies/videos on here I might be interested in
taking a look at". If so I sometimes make a copy of that if I think it
can be used on another machine.

Then it's format the disk and do a clean install

It does surprise me some people do nothing before throwing a pc away. I
have a laptop here that I dragged out of a recycling bin that booted
once home. What amazed me was it was easy to see who had owned it and
although I didn't delve deeply before reformatting and clean install it
did appear buddy had left banking info, passwords and the lot all there.
There appeared to be nothing actually wrong with the laptop, it was just
getting very old (98SE, very small hd, little ram, no usb or ethernet
connectors etc.

On Sat, 23 May 2015 14:32:44 -0300, pjp
wrote:

In article ,
lid says...

On Sat, 23 May 2015 08:58:29 -0600, Ken Springer
wrote:


Remember the days of Win 95 and 98, when a computer came with some basic
software installed? Such as MS Works, Media Center, etc.? As most of
these folks can't afford a computer, it's fairly logical they can't
afford commercial software. So I install free stuff, like WPS Office
(formerly Kingsoft), VideoLAN, free AV usually Avira, etc.

Since I'm supplying the monitor, I change the resolution for the best
display the monitor can provide. Adjust icon spacing, etc. as needed,
different wallpaper (just for the fun of it, and it helps me remember
which account I'm in. LOL) Enable Clear Type. I've not looked, but I
suspect the settings of new computers are pretty much what I end up
having when done. I mean, would you really want a computer with 800 X
600 screen resolution. :-)


Not to accuse you of anything, but here's my standard message about
used computers:

If I acquired a used computer, no matter who previously owned it, the
first thing I would do with it would be to reinstall the operating
system cleanly. You have no idea how the computer has been maintained,
what has been installed incorrectly, what is missing, what viruses and
spyware there may be, etc. I wouldn't want to live with somebody
else's mistakes and problems, possibility of kiddy p0rn, etc., and I
wouldn't recommend that anyone else do so either.

I usually least check if the thing boots as is first. If so I often look
around a bit; not for personal info but rather for "is there any
software, games, music or movies/videos on here I might be interested in
taking a look at". If so I sometimes make a copy of that if I think it
can be used on another machine.


OK, looking around isn't a problem if you're careful about what you
copy.


Then it's format the disk and do a clean install

It does surprise me some people do nothing before throwing a pc away. I
have a laptop here that I dragged out of a recycling bin that booted
once home. What amazed me was it was easy to see who had owned it and
although I didn't delve deeply before reformatting and clean install it
did appear buddy had left banking info, passwords and the lot all there.
There appeared to be nothing actually wrong with the laptop, it was just
getting very old (98SE, very small hd, little ram, no usb or ethernet
connectors etc.


If it were me, I would never have that kind of info on a laptop. It's
too easy to lose a laptop or get it stolen.

On 5/23/15 11:10 AM, Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
On Sat, 23 May 2015 08:58:29 -0600, Ken Springer
wrote:


Remember the days of Win 95 and 98, when a computer came with some basic
software installed? Such as MS Works, Media Center, etc.? As most of
these folks can't afford a computer, it's fairly logical they can't
afford commercial software. So I install free stuff, like WPS Office
(formerly Kingsoft), VideoLAN, free AV usually Avira, etc.

Since I'm supplying the monitor, I change the resolution for the best
display the monitor can provide. Adjust icon spacing, etc. as needed,
different wallpaper (just for the fun of it, and it helps me remember
which account I'm in. LOL) Enable Clear Type. I've not looked, but I
suspect the settings of new computers are pretty much what I end up
having when done. I mean, would you really want a computer with 800 X
600 screen resolution. :-)


Not to accuse you of anything, but here's my standard message about
used computers:

If I acquired a used computer, no matter who previously owned it, the
first thing I would do with it would be to reinstall the operating
system cleanly. You have no idea how the computer has been maintained,
what has been installed incorrectly, what is missing, what viruses and
spyware there may be, etc. I wouldn't want to live with somebody
else's mistakes and problems, possibility of kiddy p0rn, etc., and I
wouldn't recommend that anyone else do so either.

Yea, I do a clean install, each and every time. Sometimes I don't even
know who owned it previously.

What I don't do is look around on the think like pjp does. I could care
less what's on there.

I'd take you all to Vegas and bet that 99& of the new owners wouldn't
have a clue how to reinstall the OS


--
Ken
Mac OS X 10.8.5
Firefox 36.0.4
Thunderbird 31.5
"My brain is like lightning, a quick flash
and it's gone!"

On Sat, 23 May 2015 22:54:57 -0600, Ken Springer wrote:

Yea, I do a clean install, each and every time.

Easy to say, but from what? And with what license?

What I do is to image what I've bought first, always leave yourself
a way back if you hit a brick wall later.

On 5/24/15 4:24 AM, mechanic wrote:
On Sat, 23 May 2015 22:54:57 -0600, Ken Springer wrote:

Yea, I do a clean install, each and every time.

Easy to say, but from what? And with what license?

Retail copy or the restore partition if it exists, using the product ID
on the computer.

What I do is to image what I've bought first, always leave yourself
a way back if you hit a brick wall later.

I don't buy them. They're given to me. I'd recycle it before I'd use
the existing installation.


--
Ken
Mac OS X 10.8.5
Firefox 36.0.4
Thunderbird 31.5
"My brain is like lightning, a quick flash
and it's gone!"