My Documents - appears 3 times -which does System Restore not restore?

[Guest xylophone]

I understand System Restore will not restore/protect files in My Documents,

such as doc. files, meaning that on a restore such files will not be

affected and I need not worry. My actual worry is to know which of the 3 My

Documents folders I have in Explorer System Restore does not restore. These

three are clones of each other in that they contain exactly the same

folders. Going down from Desktop, The first is Desktop\My Computer\Local

Disk\Documents and Settings\my name\My Documents - the second is Desktop\My

Computer\my name (is called my name and not My Documents, but has the same

contents as the two so-called My Documents, so I refer to it here as the

second My Documents) - the third is Desktop\My Documents. So which of these

does System Restore ignore?

 

BTW, why does Explorer maintain three versions of these? Which is the one

ordinary users like me should look out for as the 'controlling' My

Documents, as it were? I have always wondered about these particular

questions.

[Guest Malke]

Re: My Documents - appears 3 times -which does System Restore not restore?

 

xylophone wrote:

> I understand System Restore will not restore/protect files in My

> Documents,

> such as doc. files, meaning that on a restore such files will not be

> affected and I need not worry. My actual worry is to know which of the 3

> My

> Documents folders I have in Explorer System Restore does not restore.

> These three are clones of each other in that they contain exactly the same

> folders. Going down from Desktop, The first is Desktop\My Computer\Local

> Disk\Documents and Settings\my name\My Documents - the second is

> Desktop\My Computer\my name (is called my name and not My Documents, but

> has the same contents as the two so-called My Documents, so I refer to it

> here as the

> second My Documents) - the third is Desktop\My Documents. So which of

> these does System Restore ignore?

>

> BTW, why does Explorer maintain three versions of these? Which is the one

> ordinary users like me should look out for as the 'controlling' My

> Documents, as it were? I have always wondered about these particular

> questions.

 

You don't have three different versions. You only have one My Documents,

which is at:

 

C:\Documents and Settings\[your user name]\My Documents

 

The others are just shortcuts to this directory. System Restore doesn't

restore your data.

 

Malke

--

MS-MVP

Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!

FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

[Guest xylophone]

Re: My Documents - appears 3 times -which does System Restore not restore?

 

Many thanks. I had not realised the others were shortcuts. That being so,

they could be deleted, or would that be a bad idea?

 

"Malke" <malke@invalid.invalid> wrote in message

news:ONm8k3f6IHA.1204@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

> xylophone wrote:

>

>> I understand System Restore will not restore/protect files in My

>> Documents,

>> such as doc. files, meaning that on a restore such files will not be

>> affected and I need not worry. My actual worry is to know which of the 3

>> My

>> Documents folders I have in Explorer System Restore does not restore.

>> These three are clones of each other in that they contain exactly the

>> same

>> folders. Going down from Desktop, The first is Desktop\My Computer\Local

>> Disk\Documents and Settings\my name\My Documents - the second is

>> Desktop\My Computer\my name (is called my name and not My Documents, but

>> has the same contents as the two so-called My Documents, so I refer to it

>> here as the

>> second My Documents) - the third is Desktop\My Documents. So which of

>> these does System Restore ignore?

>>

>> BTW, why does Explorer maintain three versions of these? Which is the

>> one

>> ordinary users like me should look out for as the 'controlling' My

>> Documents, as it were? I have always wondered about these particular

>> questions.

>

> You don't have three different versions. You only have one My Documents,

> which is at:

>

> C:\Documents and Settings\[your user name]\My Documents

>

> The others are just shortcuts to this directory. System Restore doesn't

> restore your data.

>

> Malke

> --

> MS-MVP

> Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!

> FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

>

[Guest Malke]

Re: My Documents - appears 3 times -which does System Restore not restore?

 

xylophone wrote:

> Many thanks. I had not realised the others were shortcuts. That being

> so, they could be deleted, or would that be a bad idea?

 

No, just leave them alone! They aren't taking up any space beyond what is

needed for the shortcut. Here is a general explanation of the file

hierarchy in XP:

 

*****

XP is a multi-user operating system, no matter if only one person is using

it. In all multi-user operating systems - NT, Win2k, XP, Unix, Linux, Mac

OSX - there is the one built-in account that is "god" on the system. In

Windows terminology, that is "Administrator". In the *nix world, it is

"root". This is a necessary account and is not normally used in everyday

work. You cannot delete the built-in Administrator account nor would you

ever want to.

 

Here is the explanation of what you really have:

 

My Computer - represents your entire computer, showing drives and shared

folders. Shared Folders are folders where you can put files you wish to

share with other users on the system. You don't need to use these folders

if you don't want to, but leave them alone!

 

[some name] C:\ - your first hard drive, usually the system drive.

 

Document and Settings - The "container" for all user settings. Each user

will have [username] Documents, Music, Videos, My Pictures.

 

Administrator - Built-in account - Leave alone! Do not use! Do not worry

about it!

 

All Users - Section where items common to all users go. In a multi-user

operating system, users have separate accounts. This is the place where if

you want to share files with all the other users on the system you would

put those files. You don't ever have to use those folders but they need to

be there. This is where programs you install that are meant to be installed

for all users put settings. All the "Shared Documents" type of folders you

see at the root of C:\ are shortcuts to the shared folders in here. Leave

them alone!

 

Default Users - This is the template from which new user accounts are made.

You will never put anything in any of those folders but they are needed to

create new users. In Linux we use "skel" ("skeleton" - get it?). In

Windows, the less-colorful term "Default User" is used. Leave it alone!

 

[OEM] Administrator or Owner - This is the generic user created by the OEM

when installing the operating system. After all, the OEM doesn't know who

is going to buy the computer. If you aren't using this OEM user account,

you can delete it from the User Accounts applet in Control Panel. It is not

the same account as "Administrator".

 

Malke

--

MS-MVP

Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!

FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

[Guest xylophone]

Re: My Documents - appears 3 times -which does System Restore not restore?

 

Many thanks, indeed, for this tour! I had always wondered and now I know.

Appreciated.

 

"Malke" <malke@invalid.invalid> wrote in message

news:OKwckRm6IHA.4596@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

> xylophone wrote:

>

>> Many thanks. I had not realised the others were shortcuts. That being

>> so, they could be deleted, or would that be a bad idea?

>

> No, just leave them alone! They aren't taking up any space beyond what is

> needed for the shortcut. Here is a general explanation of the file

> hierarchy in XP:

>

> *****

> XP is a multi-user operating system, no matter if only one person is using

> it. In all multi-user operating systems - NT, Win2k, XP, Unix, Linux, Mac

> OSX - there is the one built-in account that is "god" on the system. In

> Windows terminology, that is "Administrator". In the *nix world, it is

> "root". This is a necessary account and is not normally used in everyday

> work. You cannot delete the built-in Administrator account nor would you

> ever want to.

>

> Here is the explanation of what you really have:

>

> My Computer - represents your entire computer, showing drives and shared

> folders. Shared Folders are folders where you can put files you wish to

> share with other users on the system. You don't need to use these folders

> if you don't want to, but leave them alone!

>

> [some name] C:\ - your first hard drive, usually the system drive.

>

> Document and Settings - The "container" for all user settings. Each user

> will have [username] Documents, Music, Videos, My Pictures.

>

> Administrator - Built-in account - Leave alone! Do not use! Do not worry

> about it!

>

> All Users - Section where items common to all users go. In a multi-user

> operating system, users have separate accounts. This is the place where if

> you want to share files with all the other users on the system you would

> put those files. You don't ever have to use those folders but they need to

> be there. This is where programs you install that are meant to be

> installed

> for all users put settings. All the "Shared Documents" type of folders you

> see at the root of C:\ are shortcuts to the shared folders in here. Leave

> them alone!

>

> Default Users - This is the template from which new user accounts are

> made.

> You will never put anything in any of those folders but they are needed to

> create new users. In Linux we use "skel" ("skeleton" - get it?). In

> Windows, the less-colorful term "Default User" is used. Leave it alone!

>

> [OEM] Administrator or Owner - This is the generic user created by the OEM

> when installing the operating system. After all, the OEM doesn't know who

> is going to buy the computer. If you aren't using this OEM user account,

> you can delete it from the User Accounts applet in Control Panel. It is

> not

> the same account as "Administrator".

>

> Malke

> --

> MS-MVP

> Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!

> FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

>