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Are we allowed to avoid the "My Docs" mess in Win7?

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tomos:
Messing around with a fresh windows 7 install.

It took a little figuring but I have removed the "My ____" folders from the libraries and have created new folders (without "My"!!) on other drives that are now the default save locations (one for each heading).

I was hoping to avoid the mess made by installing programmes putting their own "My [junk]" folders in My Docs etc. But I suspect, that as the new folders are the default save locations, that windows will direct installing programmes to these new locations.*
If Windows does subject me to this, is there any other way to avoid it?

Hope I'm explaining clearly(?)


* [edit] I havent installed much yet, and nothing has used any of the folders, (default or "My___" folders) so far. So I dont know how this works with apps that do that kind of thing [/edit]

tomos:
this, from a Vista user:

 In other words I have a lot of folders under My Documents, which I never  
 intend to use. So I delete these folders, but the next time I start an
 application, it's folder is recreated. Currently I have modified the
 permissions on My Documents, to deny:Create Folder. This works, but from
 time to time some application will fail to reinstall and I have to temporary
 unprotect the folder.~
http://www.vistax64.com/vista-general/182845-prevent-application-creating-folder-my-documents.html
(first post second paragraph)

Deozaan:
Windows 7 actually doesn't use the "My " in the folder names anymore. But that isn't obvious because it still displays it.

But yeah, you can easily move the folders anywhere else. Here's mine:



So basically I moved them all to D:\

D:\Documents = My Documents
D:\Music = My Music
D:\Videos = My Videos

But here's the tricky part: As I said, Windows 7 still (sometimes) displays them as "My Documents," "My Music," etc. so it can be difficult knowing where to find them in an alphabetical list of folders. Is it D for Documents or is it M for My?

EDIT: Oops I think I misunderstood what you were asking. Anything that automatically creates a directory in your "My Documents" directory will save it to the newly configured location, unless the path was hardcoded in the app which is just plain bad programming practices.

I'm not sure how or if you can prevent a (e.g.) "My Games" folder from being created in your Documents folder, but one thing you could do is make a symlink/junction for Documents/My Games to point to another directory of your choosing.

worstje:
This topic is exactly why I don't use any of the default Windows folders. It's sad, but true. My documents are my documents, don't dump files or directories there without my asking!

There is only one exception to the no-windows-folders rule, and that is the Downloads folder Windows 7 gives me. It is exactly where I expect it to be, and that place is a natural-mess-with-dates-for-reinstall-purposes anyway.

tomos:
I'm not on Win7 as I write,
but I guess I could just remove and/or ignore the libraries and add my equivalent folders to favourites....


[edit] then I'm back looking for a dialogue extender for save/open. Ah well, just what I'm used to... [/edit]

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