Guest Tony Luxton Posted September 30, 2007 Posted September 30, 2007 Hello Group. I've noticed (since comparing with a second XP machine) that I've got strange user profile folders in "Documents & Settings" - Default User.WINDOWS All Users.WINDOWS "Windows" is in caps as I've written. The normal "Default User" and "All Users" folders also exist, but they don't seem to have been accessed since the machine was built. All the shared documents you'd expect (documents, user data, etc.) are contained in the ".WINDOWS" folders. Another clue: if I right-click the start button, and select "open all users", I am in "All Users.WINDOWS\Start Menu". User-specific stuff is in the relevant user folders, as normal. It's not an enormous problem (the machine works perfectly), but it's untidy, and it bugs me. How can I put it right? Computer built 2004 Windows XP Home OEM, SP2 512 MB RAM 120 GB HD Avast! AV up to date Spybot S&D up to date Ad-Aware up to date Windows firewall only (plus hardware firewall on router) Part of workgroup with one other machine TIA Tony.
Guest Patrick Keenan Posted September 30, 2007 Posted September 30, 2007 Re: Odd user folders "Tony Luxton" <s.a.luxtonDELETETHIS@talk21.com> wrote in message news:5ma2bdFc8073U1@mid.individual.net... > Hello Group. I've noticed (since comparing with a second XP machine) that > I've got strange user profile folders in "Documents & Settings" - > > Default User.WINDOWS > All Users.WINDOWS > > "Windows" is in caps as I've written. The normal "Default User" and "All > Users" folders also exist, but they don't seem to have been accessed since > the machine was built. > > All the shared documents you'd expect (documents, user data, etc.) are > contained in the ".WINDOWS" folders. Another clue: if I right-click the > start button, and select "open all users", I am in "All > Users.WINDOWS\Start Menu". User-specific stuff is in the relevant user > folders, as normal. > > It's not an enormous problem (the machine works perfectly), but it's > untidy, and it bugs me. How can I put it right? > > Computer built 2004 > Windows XP Home OEM, SP2 > 512 MB RAM > 120 GB HD > Avast! AV up to date > Spybot S&D up to date > Ad-Aware up to date > Windows firewall only (plus hardware firewall on router) > Part of workgroup with one other machine > > TIA Tony. You probably did a secondary install on this system. Otherwise, you would have only the original pair. These "duplicates" are recreated in the case of a second (or third) install, and *that* is probably the Windows version you're using. You can test by putting "marker" text files, that differ in name or content, in the two All Users desktop folders. The file you actually see will indicate the folder actually in use. HTH -pk
Guest Tony Luxton Posted September 30, 2007 Posted September 30, 2007 Re: Odd user folders "Patrick Keenan" <test@dev.null> wrote in message news:O7h9uQ4AIHA.288@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl... > "Tony Luxton" <s.a.luxtonDELETETHIS@talk21.com> wrote in message > news:5ma2bdFc8073U1@mid.individual.net... >> Hello Group. I've noticed (since comparing with a second XP machine) that >> I've got strange user profile folders in "Documents & Settings" - >> >> Default User.WINDOWS >> All Users.WINDOWS >> >> "Windows" is in caps as I've written. The normal "Default User" and "All >> Users" folders also exist, but they don't seem to have been accessed >> since the machine was built. >> >> All the shared documents you'd expect (documents, user data, etc.) are >> contained in the ".WINDOWS" folders. Another clue: if I right-click the >> start button, and select "open all users", I am in "All >> Users.WINDOWS\Start Menu". User-specific stuff is in the relevant user >> folders, as normal. >> >> It's not an enormous problem (the machine works perfectly), but it's >> untidy, and it bugs me. How can I put it right? >> >> Computer built 2004 >> Windows XP Home OEM, SP2 >> 512 MB RAM >> 120 GB HD >> Avast! AV up to date >> Spybot S&D up to date >> Ad-Aware up to date >> Windows firewall only (plus hardware firewall on router) >> Part of workgroup with one other machine >> >> TIA Tony. > > You probably did a secondary install on this system. Otherwise, you > would have only the original pair. These "duplicates" are recreated in > the case of a second (or third) install, and *that* is probably the > Windows version you're using. > > You can test by putting "marker" text files, that differ in name or > content, in the two All Users desktop folders. The file you actually see > will indicate the folder actually in use. > > HTH > -pk > Patrick, thanks for your reply. I'm sure you're right about the secondary install, but it wasn't done by me - it must have been the OEM. Is there a quick and dirty way to tidy things up? I repeat there's no real problem, it all works perfectly. Can I delete the folders that aren't used? Can I rename the folders that are? Or will that make my system go bang? BTW, the "All Users" folder doesn't have a Desktop folder, "All Users.WINDOWS" does. And yes, the text file showed up. Regards Tony.
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