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My Stupid Windows Question for the Day!
mouser:
I would think long and hard before changing the names of these directories..
As you say, you can rename them and windows will adjust to the new folder names..
But you may have older programs that are not coded well that get confused, OR you may have programs that remember when the directory was called one thing, and now that it's changed they will still be looking in the old place.
nosh said exactly how i feel as well:
I just ignore the 'My' series and save all my personal data at another location. Lots of apps feel free to create their own subfolder within these anyway and I wouldn't want my personal data getting mixed with all that junk.
--- End quote ---
In other words, the default "My Documents" and other such folders are useful as places where some programs autocreate subfolders and files. I prefer to make an *additional* directory for my personal files and leave the "My Documents" folder completely alone -- i never go in there and never save files in there.
It also helps to have a dialog extender tool as well to help you quickly navigate between your favorite folders.
See also this thread: https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=9647.0
And this one: https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=10154.0
J-Mac:
I would think long and hard before changing the names of these directories..
As you say, you can rename them and windows will adjust to the new folder names..
But you may have older programs that are not coded well that get confused, OR you may have programs that remember when the directory was called one thing, and now that it's changed they will still be looking in the old place.-mouser (December 17, 2007, 12:34 PM)
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All true, mouser, and also all considered. I've gone ahead and changed them and I am expecting some applications to balk at the change. Some already have and I was able to change their settings to accommodate the new names. I have also edited preferences, settings, etc. of some of my other frequently-used programs and changed those also. I am trying to keep a log of exactly what I have changed and when. If it turns out that this simply will not work because too many programs I use can't accommodate the new file names I'll then revert back to the dumb old "My" format. (I understand that even Microsoft changed these names and removed "My" from them in early versions of Longhorn, and that is their goal - saw that on an MSDN blog).
But I have found a few sites/forums where folks have switched like this and are getting by OK. So I'll give it a good try and report back whenever I encounter any rough spots - or not. Hopefully I will let DC users here know wither that it is OK to go ahead and try this, or warn them away from these name changes if it doesn't work out.
nosh said exactly how i feel as well:
I just ignore the 'My' series and save all my personal data at another location. Lots of apps feel free to create their own subfolder within these anyway and I wouldn't want my personal data getting mixed with all that junk.
--- End quote ---
In other words, the default "My Documents" and other such folders are useful as places where some programs autocreate subfolders and files. I prefer to make an *additional* directory for my personal files and leave the "My Documents" folder completely alone -- i never go in there and never save files in there.
It also helps to have a dialog extender tool as well to help you quickly navigate between your favorite folders.
See also this thread: https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=9647.0
And this one: https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=10154.0
-mouser (December 17, 2007, 12:34 PM)
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Thanks for the heads up, mouser.
Jim
J-Mac:
...It also helps to have a dialog extender tool as well to help you quickly navigate between your favorite folders.
See also this thread: https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=9647.0
And this one: https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=10154.0
-mouser (December 17, 2007, 12:34 PM)
--- End quote ---
mouser,
I presently use Enhanced Dialog from Stardock. When I was actively subscribed to their Object Desktop this was one of the apps I kept using even when I had dropped a lot of their other "eye candy" stuff that looked great but started causing me problems in a lot of other areas. I still use it today.
I notice that you didn't cover that in your mega-review of Filebox Extenders. Any reason? Or just that you already had enough and never got to this one?
My biggest complaint is that there are always a number of dialogs where Enhanced Dialog never kicks in, but I believe that is because of the specific applications configuration and not Enhanced Dialog. Do the ones you reviewed also have this issue?
Thanks!
Jim
tomos:
My biggest complaint is that there are always a number of dialogs where Enhanced Dialog never kicks in, but I believe that is because of the specific applications configuration and not Enhanced Dialog. Do the ones you reviewed also have this issue?
-J-Mac (December 17, 2007, 04:28 PM)
--- End quote ---
with Filebox Extender, yes, that's a problem too
vegas:
I hate how so many programs just decide to store their setting and other junk under My Documents by default. Sometimes there is no option to change this as the directory. I feel like My Documents have been completely hijacked, so I can either quit using the program or find a new place to relocate all of "My Documents" to. So my question is, assuming I don't want to keep my documents on an external drive, does placing them under C:\Documents and Settings or C:\Program Files offer any extra protection from viruses, trojans or hackers than putting them in any random folder on my computer like just C:\My Docs ?
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