Windows Help is NO HELP

[crabby3]

Why won't a window remember where I moved it or how big I made it? 

For instance... I click on My Pictures in the Start Menu and the window will open near the top left corner of the screen and be the default size.  I move it over to the center of the screen and drag the bottom right corner to make it a little bigger.  If I close and open it again... it's back in the upper left corner and small again.   

I recently updated my drivers, using all that were available, but this didn't help.      And I have Windows set to Auto-Update... which it does... every day or so.

For some reason... Windows Mail is the only one that remembers where and how big it was.

Any other Vista users at DC with this issue?     

[Curt]

-yes!

1):

Windows Explorer Folder View settings - Vista Forums

2):

ResizeExplorer 1.1.0.2 - DonationCoder.com

[Renegade]

"Windows" are technically called "forms" (or "Forms"). The starting position of a form is one of:

[attachimg=#]

Forms also have a "Location" which is an X/Y coordinate on the screen.

When a form closes, the position information goes out of memory and is lost.

It *can* be saved by the program to restore on the next run, but this is entirely up to the programmer.

Now, if you change your resolution, and the program is restored off-screen, this is a real problem for most users. While it can be fixed in the C languages, Forms in Delphi don't generally have a "Move" context menu item for their icon in the taskbar, which makes them almost impossible to recover without screwing with your resolution again. If it's on a second monitor that you no longer have, you could be hosed.

So, those are some of the issues with location. They can all be solved by checking the screen size and all that, but it's just one of those fine polish things that few people like to do.

Hope that helps explain somewhat.

[crabby3]

-yes!

1):

Windows Explorer Folder View settings - Vista Forums

Thank You, Curt, your first link helped me understand the problem a little more and I was able to fix it.

 ...Though I used a less agressive method.  Being the 'novice' that I am... I try not to delete or change any Windows Files.


What I did:

1)  Opened My Pictures, clicked Tools, Folder Options, View and un-checked Remember each folder's view settings, then restarted my computer.**

2)  Opened My Pictures, clicked Tools, Folder Options, View and checked Remember each folder's view settings, then restarted again.

3)  Opened several different windows, moving and resizing the way I want them, and again... restarted.

4)  Opened all the windows I had moved/resized... and... and... they remembered where and how big they were.  

4.5)  Not done yet...  

5)  Opened a few programs that seem to refresh my desktop or change the resolution as they load. (XP stuff...games, PSP, etc.)  And... restarted.

6)  Opened all the windows I had moved/resized and they still remembered where and how big.  

=======================================
    ** Go to step  2  ...if the box is already un-checked.
=======================================

This might be considered restart-overkill... but how much is too much... when you're testing something?

I'm just glad to get past this Windows Amnesia thing!

Thanks again Curt!    

[crabby3]

@ Renegade

I've never messed with the resolution... but as I stated in my reply to Curt...

5)  Opened a few programs that seem to refresh my desktop or change the resolution as they load. (XP stuff...games, PSP, etc.)

...some of my older programs do! 


Many Thanks to you, Renegade, for bringing up the Resolution Factor.  It never occured to me that this could possibly cause the Window-Memory problem... and this is why I included loading those XP programs... during my testing! 

Not sure what you mean by 'checking the screen size'... but... FWIW...I use an Acer 7730 laptop that comes with a 17" screen.  Don't use any additional monitors or LCD's.

[Renegade]

Not sure what you mean by 'checking the screen size'... but... FWIW...I use an Acer 7730 laptop that comes with a 17" screen.  Don't use any additional monitors or LCD's.

Oh - When you're programming, you should check the number of monitors available and their resolutions. Once you have that, you then need to check to see if any of your program's windows are outside of the visibly controllable area for the user, i.e. Is the title bar for the Form inside of the view port for the monitors, or in other words, is the 0,0 coordinate for a Form (the upper left corner) inside of the view port of at least 1 monitor where the screen's 0,0 coordinate is the upper left corner of the primary monitor.

Like I said, few programs actually do this because it's just a PITA. It's really fine polish for a program.

[crabby3]

-yes!

1):

Windows Explorer Folder View settings - Vista Forums

Thank You, Curt, your first link helped me understand the problem a little more and I was able to fix it.

  ...Though I used a less agressive method.  Being the 'novice' that I am... I try not to delete or change any Windows Files.


What I did:

1)  Opened My Pictures, clicked Tools, Folder Options, View and un-checked Remember each folder's view settings, then restarted my computer.**

2)  Opened My Pictures, clicked Tools, Folder Options, View and checked Remember each folder's view settings, then restarted again.

3)  Opened several different windows, moving and resizing the way I want them, and again... restarted.

4)  Opened all the windows I had moved/resized... and... and... they remembered where and how big they were.   

4.5)  Not done yet... 

5)  Opened a few programs that seem to refresh my desktop or change the resolution as they load. (XP stuff...games, PSP, etc.)  And... restarted.

6)  Opened all the windows I had moved/resized and they still remembered where and how big.   

=======================================
     ** Go to step  2  ...if the box is already un-checked.
=======================================

This might be considered restart-overkill... but how much is too much... when you're testing something?

I'm just glad to get past this Windows Amnesia thing!

Thanks again Curt!   

This is a much-needed update... my Chosen Fix didn't work !

Apparently Restart and Shut Down/Start Up are two different things.  The next time I turned on my machine... I was back to square one.     My windows had forgotten everything (size and location).

The program called AutoSizer on the above listed Windows Explorer View settings - Vista Forums page seems to have finally fix this issue.

[crabby3]

Can I move stuff that's stored on C: drive to D: drive ?  Will this cause any problems or issues?  

I'm almost out of memory (disk space) on C: but D: is mostly unused.  I want to move everything to D: except the Users folder.

[Curt]

I was given this answer to a different question, but it may be of great help to you:

The root of the C: drive (and other select folders) are protected by Windows from being written to by misbehaving/malevolent programs. This is generally considered to be A Good Thing as it can protect you from a lot of grief if one's PC is ever compromised.

Turning off UAC and circumventing Windows other security protocols is not a good idea at all. If you should ever want to save something to one of these protected zones, just right-click on a program's shortcut & select Run As Administrator if it's just a one-time thing. If you need something more permanent, then you should go into the program shortcut's properties and select Run This Program As Administrator on its property tab.

The smartest method is to work with UAC rather than try to work against/around it. If you are trying to download something from your browser to the C: drive, make a folder, and save the item inside it. You won't be bothered by UAC at all then. The location C:\ is a protected space, but say....C:\Downloads or C:\Graphics is not.

Personally, I have my primary hard drive set up as two partitions.  There's a small 75 GB partition & that's where I installed Windows. It's my C drive. I leave that for Windows to do what it will & for those brain-dead programs that don't know how to do anything but install to C: (Yes! They STILL exist!!). The rest of my primary drive is my D: drive. It's 1.8 TB or so & that's where I save all my downloads, install all my programs, and keep their data.

With this system even with having UAC on the highest, most secure setting I only see UAC prompts two or three times a week and that's when I'm doing something I know needs admin access like registry edits or installing certain programs that work at the system level. A sweet side-benefit to laying my hard drive this way is if the need or desire to reinstall Windows ever comes up I can just format that 75 GB partition immediately & reinstall Windows. I don't have to worry about copying/saving anything because everything is on the other partition.

(Oh, C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files (x86) are protected spaces as well. Using my system above everything is installed to D:\Program Files and D:\Program Files (x86) which allows older programs and games that don't know anything about UAC to work properly.)

[tomos]

Can I move stuff that's stored on C: drive to D: drive ?  Will this cause any problems or issues?  

I'm almost out of memory (disk space) on C: but D: is mostly unused.  I want to move everything to D: except the Users folder.

"My" Documents/photos/etc are often moved to the second partition - that is possible, but I'm not a Vista user, so not sure how difficult it is in Vista.
Hopefully someone else will chip in with more info there.

When you say "I want to move everything to D: except the Users folder" were you thinking of moving all the software? That's not so possible. Or is there other stuff on C: ?

[crabby3]

I was given this answer to a different question, but it may be of great help to you:

The root of the C: drive (and other select folders) are protected by Windows from being written to by misbehaving/malevolent programs. This is generally considered to be A Good Thing as it can protect you from a lot of grief if one's PC is ever compromised.

Turning off UAC and circumventing Windows other security protocols is not a good idea at all. If you should ever want to save something to one of these protected zones, just right-click on a program's shortcut & select Run As Administrator if it's just a one-time thing. If you need something more permanent, then you should go into the program shortcut's properties and select Run This Program As Administrator on its property tab.

The smartest method is to work with UAC rather than try to work against/around it. If you are trying to download something from your browser to the C: drive, make a folder, and save the item inside it. You won't be bothered by UAC at all then. The location C:\ is a protected space, but say....C:\Downloads or C:\Graphics is not.

Personally, I have my primary hard drive set up as two partitions.  There's a small 75 GB partition & that's where I installed Windows. It's my C drive. I leave that for Windows to do what it will & for those brain-dead programs that don't know how to do anything but install to C: (Yes! They STILL exist!!). The rest of my primary drive is my D: drive. It's 1.8 TB or so & that's where I save all my downloads, install all my programs, and keep their data.

With this system even with having UAC on the highest, most secure setting I only see UAC prompts two or three times a week and that's when I'm doing something I know needs admin access like registry edits or installing certain programs that work at the system level. A sweet side-benefit to laying my hard drive this way is if the need or desire to reinstall Windows ever comes up I can just format that 75 GB partition immediately & reinstall Windows. I don't have to worry about copying/saving anything because everything is on the other partition.

(Oh, C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files (x86) are protected spaces as well. Using my system above everything is installed to D:\Program Files and D:\Program Files (x86) which allows older programs and games that don't know anything about UAC to work properly.)

Thank You Very Much, Curt, I will definitely be re-reading your included quote from Innuendo again and again.  It even answers other questions I was planning to add to this thread.  Mostly dealing with UAC.

Thanks again... 

[crabby3]

Can I move stuff that's stored on C: drive to D: drive ?  Will this cause any problems or issues? 

I'm almost out of memory (disk space) on C: but D: is mostly unused.  I want to move everything to D: except the Users folder.

When you say "I want to move everything to D: except the Users folder" were you thinking of moving all the software? That's not so possible. Or is there other stuff on C: ?

Hi, tomos, thanks for your reply!

The answer to your first question is yes.  I wanted to move everything.  C: contains all the programs that originally came with my computer plus the ones I've added... (i.e. Avast!, freeware, games, photo editor...)  The Users folder (on C:) contains all the programs I use most... pics, vids, tunes...

Maybe I could just move the 'MY' stuff to D: and leave everything else on C:?  Like My Pictures, Videos, Music... can that be done without causing any problems?  Will I still be able to right-click and Save Picture As or right-click and Save Target As ?  Would my computer be able to find My Pictures or My Videos on D: ?      (Please excuse the four questions in one paragraph.) 


Maybe I could also move the programs I have never used to a Flash Drive?  I don't want to just delete them... I may want or need one in the future.  (I don't even know this is possible....    ...I could gain a lot of disk space if it is.)

[Curt]

-yes, Windows will see "My (your) Pictures" as one system folder, even if you split it ;-)
you just need to tell it to. But that comes automatically.

[tomos]

-yes, Windows will see "My (your) Pictures" as one system folder, even if you split it ;-)
you just need to tell it to.

anyone know how exactly that's done in Vista? (moving My Docs etc)

[Curt]

-I simply started moving the 'My Pictures' folder to the D -drive, and Windows popped up and asked if I wanted to split or move my folder - or something similar. This is of course only appl' (what is the word?) to User's system folders.

(...) But that comes automatically.

[crabby3]

At this link...              http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-move-the-my-documents-folder-and-save-your-data-windows/

...there's a description (with screenshots) of how to move My Documents in XP...    and Documents in Vista.

I tried the Vista way but I don't think it worked. When I opened a file in Word Pad it 'couldn't be found'.  There's probably a way to tell Word Pad where the file is... but I don't have any idea how.      And I really need this file.

Plus... in the Start Menu... Documents changed to DATA (D:)  

[tomos]

Hi crabby3
how exactly did you try to open the file in WordPad?
Was it a file that was previously opened and you just clicked it in the recently opened list?

If you feel it didnt work properly I see this in the comments for that page you link to:

[attachimg=#]

link above is actually for XP so not sure if helpful
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310147

[crabby3]

Hi tomos...

how exactly did you try to open the file in WordPad?
Was it a file that was previously opened and you just clicked it in the recently opened list?

In WordPad I clicked File... then the name.
That's when this error window popped up.

C:\Users\***\Documents\***.rtf          (*** = my name, file name)
Cannot find this file.
Please verify that the correct path and file name are given.

NOTE: Before I moved anything to D:, WordPad used to show just the file name.  Not C:\Users\etc.

If you feel it didnt work properly I see this in the comments for that page you link to:
(see attachment in previous post)
link above is actually for XP so not sure if helpful
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310147

I tried using this method... but another error said Folder Redirection Failed  (Failed to build the list of regular subfolders under "D:\System Volume Information" Access is denied.)

I'll try the support.microsoft link next.

BTW  I was able to retrieve the file info (I couldn't open in WordPad) by using Search and opening it in Microsoft Office Word.  I then immediately copy/pasted to a new PNotes.

[tomos]

Crabby, if you're not sure what you're doing, and you'd like to revert to how things were, you could consider using System Restore.

I'm not really qualified to help you, (1) not having Vista, and (2) not being expert enough.
That link seems to be for XP so not really helpful...

[crabby3]

I think Windows fixed this issue for me.  

I just opened WordPad, clicked New and used Save As.  When I opened it again... D: was listed before the file name and... and... IT OPENED!!!!!    

[tomos]

I think Windows fixed this issue for me. 

I just opened WordPad, clicked New and used Save As.  When I opened it again... D: was listed before the file name and... and... IT OPENED!!!!!   

So, if you go to my documents now (or "Documents") can you check if the location is actually on D:

[crabby3]

I think Windows fixed this issue for me.   

I just opened WordPad, clicked New and used Save As.  When I opened it again... D: was listed before the file name and... and... IT OPENED!!!!!   

So, if you go to my documents now (or "Documents") can you check if the location is actually on D:

Not sure what you mean.   

[crabby3]

@tomos

I not sure what I'm doing... no matter what I'm doing... if it's the first time I'm doing it.     And the hard-way seems to be my favorite way to learn stuff... so any help I'm given by you, tomos, or anyone else at DC... is very much appreciated.  

I understand that you don't have Vista... but help is help... right? 

[tomos]

Not sure what you mean.  

One way of checking would be to try to open a file using WordPad
in the menu File>Open or use the shortcut Control+O

I get this dialogue

[attachimg=#]

- it will look different on your machine, but Documents or My Documents should be shown on the left - click on that.
If you're not sure whats being shown just try and describe anyway :-)

If I click on the Addressbar towards the top - it's highlighted in this screenshot - if I click in there, it will change from something like
Users > XYZ > My Documents
in my case it changes to:
Z:/My Documents
(cause that's where *my* docs are!)

[attachimg=#]

This might not be so clear on your machine, but it's worth a shot!

[crabby3]

Not sure what you mean.  

One way of checking would be to try to open a file using WordPad
in the menu File>Open or use the shortcut Control+O

I get this dialogue
(see attachment in previous post)
- it will look different on your machine, but Documents or My Documents should be shown on the left - click on that.
If you're not sure whats being shown just try and describe anyway :-)

If I click on the Addressbar towards the top - it's highlighted in this screenshot - if I click in there, it will change from something like
Users > XYZ > My Documents
in my case it changes to:
Z:/My Documents
(cause that's where *my* docs are!)
(see attachment in previous post)
This might not be so clear on your machine, but it's worth a shot!

In WordPad I clicked File>Open and got a similar dialog (your first screenshot).


(quote)
- it will look different on your machine, but Documents or My Documents should be shown on the left - click on that.
     (The DATA (D:), that used to say Documents, was already highlighted... I clicked it anyway but nothing changed.)

When I clicked the Addressbar... it changed from Computer>DATA (D:)>     to D:\

Note:  As I mentioned above, I think Reply#15, my Start Menu now lists Documents as DATA (D:).    In the right pane.