My Documents clutter
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Don't use 'My Documents' folder (for anything important), so you can safely type
format c:anytime you want and save yourself from :omg: moments. -
I change my explorer shortcut to include C:\ or D:\ so I don't have to look at them.
Todd Smith
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* SharpDevelop * 3DMark06 * TrackMania * XACT tool stuff * .NET Reflector * The Dutch Belastingdienst * Xilinx * Overlord * Windows Live Messenger / MSN * VMware Please make that program I 'really dislike' the clutter in My Documents
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Hi all, we've all seen programs that apparently think it is OK to create stuff in the users My Documents folder. The ones I can think of from the top of my head are:
- Visual Studio 2005 (creates a folder with the same name)
- Visual Studio 2008 (creates a folder with the same name)
- SQL Server Management Studio Express (same name folder)
- Windows Live Messenger ("My Received Files", and a shortcut to "My Shared Folders")
- Adobe Acrobat Reader (My eBooks)
- Skype
- Camtasia (Custom Production Presets 5.0 )
- Remote Desktop (creates a Default.rdp file in the root of My Documents)
and there are surely others which I may not have encountered or forgotten about (please feel free to reply with your own list). So, should I write a "cleanup" program that identifies these folders, checks if they contain something other than the default files, removes them if nothing important is found there, and changes the registry to instruct these programs to use another (hopefully less intrusive) location if at all possible? Would you use it or find it useful? Regards, Daníel
Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beierhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
Isnt it Microsoft advice to store user-related data files into this folder? This is better than storing them in C:\ etc, because the user-related data files are therefore only accessible by that user. Of course, for each application, the storage location should be configurable. Maybe I'm wrong: I've been drinking Guinness, Sparkling white wine, Red Wine and Tennents Ice Cold tonight. Yum!
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Isnt it Microsoft advice to store user-related data files into this folder? This is better than storing them in C:\ etc, because the user-related data files are therefore only accessible by that user. Of course, for each application, the storage location should be configurable. Maybe I'm wrong: I've been drinking Guinness, Sparkling white wine, Red Wine and Tennents Ice Cold tonight. Yum!
It certainly beats storing data in the root of C:\, but is still not good enough. Applications should store their data in "Application Data" subfolder - either the one stored under "All Users" if it applies to all users - or in C:\Documents and Settings\{username} if it is some data specific for some user. My Documents should never contain any stuff that the user didn't explicitly store there. Check out this blog post[^] and this one[^] from Raymond Chen, it is all explained there.
Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beierhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
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Hi all, we've all seen programs that apparently think it is OK to create stuff in the users My Documents folder. The ones I can think of from the top of my head are:
- Visual Studio 2005 (creates a folder with the same name)
- Visual Studio 2008 (creates a folder with the same name)
- SQL Server Management Studio Express (same name folder)
- Windows Live Messenger ("My Received Files", and a shortcut to "My Shared Folders")
- Adobe Acrobat Reader (My eBooks)
- Skype
- Camtasia (Custom Production Presets 5.0 )
- Remote Desktop (creates a Default.rdp file in the root of My Documents)
and there are surely others which I may not have encountered or forgotten about (please feel free to reply with your own list). So, should I write a "cleanup" program that identifies these folders, checks if they contain something other than the default files, removes them if nothing important is found there, and changes the registry to instruct these programs to use another (hopefully less intrusive) location if at all possible? Would you use it or find it useful? Regards, Daníel
Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beierhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
dabs wrote:
programs that apparently think it is OK to create stuff in the users My Documents folder.
you mean, like, documents, or user-specific program data ? :omg:
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Hi all, we've all seen programs that apparently think it is OK to create stuff in the users My Documents folder. The ones I can think of from the top of my head are:
- Visual Studio 2005 (creates a folder with the same name)
- Visual Studio 2008 (creates a folder with the same name)
- SQL Server Management Studio Express (same name folder)
- Windows Live Messenger ("My Received Files", and a shortcut to "My Shared Folders")
- Adobe Acrobat Reader (My eBooks)
- Skype
- Camtasia (Custom Production Presets 5.0 )
- Remote Desktop (creates a Default.rdp file in the root of My Documents)
and there are surely others which I may not have encountered or forgotten about (please feel free to reply with your own list). So, should I write a "cleanup" program that identifies these folders, checks if they contain something other than the default files, removes them if nothing important is found there, and changes the registry to instruct these programs to use another (hopefully less intrusive) location if at all possible? Would you use it or find it useful? Regards, Daníel
Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beierhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
I definitely do not put any of my code there especially because we use roaming profiles and my projects total 10s of GB when compiled. If I did that it would take me 30 minutes to login on our gigabit network.
John
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dabs wrote:
programs that apparently think it is OK to create stuff in the users My Documents folder.
you mean, like, documents, or user-specific program data ? :omg:
I'm talking about stuff that programs put there without asking the user, without giving him the option of putting it anywhere else (such as by having a setting in Tools-Options), or stuff that programs recreate when I remove it (why do they need it on disk if they manage to recreate it anyway?). Just read Raymond Chen's blog post[^], and you'll know what I mean. Daníel
Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beierhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
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I definitely do not put any of my code there especially because we use roaming profiles and my projects total 10s of GB when compiled. If I did that it would take me 30 minutes to login on our gigabit network.
John
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So I assume you don't use My Documents at all?
Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beierhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
Everything I do development related goes into my C:\dev or D:\dev and goes into source control. So no need for my documents really. Everything else like multimedia, accounting, etc. also goes into specific directories which are backed up. So no need for my documents.
Todd Smith
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Hi all, we've all seen programs that apparently think it is OK to create stuff in the users My Documents folder. The ones I can think of from the top of my head are:
- Visual Studio 2005 (creates a folder with the same name)
- Visual Studio 2008 (creates a folder with the same name)
- SQL Server Management Studio Express (same name folder)
- Windows Live Messenger ("My Received Files", and a shortcut to "My Shared Folders")
- Adobe Acrobat Reader (My eBooks)
- Skype
- Camtasia (Custom Production Presets 5.0 )
- Remote Desktop (creates a Default.rdp file in the root of My Documents)
and there are surely others which I may not have encountered or forgotten about (please feel free to reply with your own list). So, should I write a "cleanup" program that identifies these folders, checks if they contain something other than the default files, removes them if nothing important is found there, and changes the registry to instruct these programs to use another (hopefully less intrusive) location if at all possible? Would you use it or find it useful? Regards, Daníel
Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beierhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
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So I assume you don't use My Documents at all?
Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beierhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
No. I have a separate folder called Vikram in my C:\ root, where I store my pics, docs, etc. Music goes into C:\Music. I started this when I was using XP, and have continued with Vista.
Cheers, Vıkram.
"if abusing me makes you a credible then i better give u the chance which didnt get in real" - Adnan Siddiqi.
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No. I have a separate folder called Vikram in my C:\ root, where I store my pics, docs, etc. Music goes into C:\Music. I started this when I was using XP, and have continued with Vista.
Cheers, Vıkram.
"if abusing me makes you a credible then i better give u the chance which didnt get in real" - Adnan Siddiqi.
Vikram A Punathambekar wrote:
I have a separate folder called Vikram in my C:\ root, where I store my pics, docs, etc. Music goes into C:\Music. I started this when I was using XP, and have continued with Vista.
I would never keep my own code/documents etc on the C: drive, you should always keep them on a seperate drive to your OS, makes things much easier if you need to nuke the C: drive and reinstall. regards,
Jonathan Wilkes Darka[Xanya.net] [My Code Project Articles]
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Vikram A Punathambekar wrote:
I have a separate folder called Vikram in my C:\ root, where I store my pics, docs, etc. Music goes into C:\Music. I started this when I was using XP, and have continued with Vista.
I would never keep my own code/documents etc on the C: drive, you should always keep them on a seperate drive to your OS, makes things much easier if you need to nuke the C: drive and reinstall. regards,
Jonathan Wilkes Darka[Xanya.net] [My Code Project Articles]
That is what I do, i.e. keep all my stuff in D:\ (which is a different partition in my case, not a separate disk). Then I've redirected the My Documents folder, so it points to D:\. I do this because so many programs will start there when you do a FileOpen/FileSave, and it is much handier that way. Regards, Daníel
Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beierhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
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Vikram A Punathambekar wrote:
I have a separate folder called Vikram in my C:\ root, where I store my pics, docs, etc. Music goes into C:\Music. I started this when I was using XP, and have continued with Vista.
I would never keep my own code/documents etc on the C: drive, you should always keep them on a seperate drive to your OS, makes things much easier if you need to nuke the C: drive and reinstall. regards,
Jonathan Wilkes Darka[Xanya.net] [My Code Project Articles]
Yeah, I agree, and that's what I used to do with my old desktop, but this is a Dell laptop and my D drive is only 10 GB. Perhaps I should repartition this. Know any good tools that will work with Vista?
Cheers, Vıkram.
"if abusing me makes you a credible then i better give u the chance which didnt get in real" - Adnan Siddiqi.
-
Hi all, we've all seen programs that apparently think it is OK to create stuff in the users My Documents folder. The ones I can think of from the top of my head are:
- Visual Studio 2005 (creates a folder with the same name)
- Visual Studio 2008 (creates a folder with the same name)
- SQL Server Management Studio Express (same name folder)
- Windows Live Messenger ("My Received Files", and a shortcut to "My Shared Folders")
- Adobe Acrobat Reader (My eBooks)
- Skype
- Camtasia (Custom Production Presets 5.0 )
- Remote Desktop (creates a Default.rdp file in the root of My Documents)
and there are surely others which I may not have encountered or forgotten about (please feel free to reply with your own list). So, should I write a "cleanup" program that identifies these folders, checks if they contain something other than the default files, removes them if nothing important is found there, and changes the registry to instruct these programs to use another (hopefully less intrusive) location if at all possible? Would you use it or find it useful? Regards, Daníel
Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beierhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
-
No. I have a separate folder called Vikram in my C:\ root, where I store my pics, docs, etc. Music goes into C:\Music. I started this when I was using XP, and have continued with Vista.
Cheers, Vıkram.
"if abusing me makes you a credible then i better give u the chance which didnt get in real" - Adnan Siddiqi.
Vikram A Punathambekar wrote:
C:\Music
Vista lets you use C?
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Vikram A Punathambekar wrote:
C:\Music
Vista lets you use C?
It can be a pain at times, but I got it to work with no issues.
Cheers, Vıkram.
"if abusing me makes you a credible then i better give u the chance which didnt get in real" - Adnan Siddiqi.
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Yeah, I agree, and that's what I used to do with my old desktop, but this is a Dell laptop and my D drive is only 10 GB. Perhaps I should repartition this. Know any good tools that will work with Vista?
Cheers, Vıkram.
"if abusing me makes you a credible then i better give u the chance which didnt get in real" - Adnan Siddiqi.
You could try Patition Magic, version 8 is Vista compatible or try here Resizing a partition in Vista[^] which uses the Disk Manager within Vista itself. regards,
Jonathan Wilkes Darka[Xanya.net] [My Code Project Articles]
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Vikram A Punathambekar wrote:
I have a separate folder called Vikram in my C:\ root, where I store my pics, docs, etc. Music goes into C:\Music. I started this when I was using XP, and have continued with Vista.
I would never keep my own code/documents etc on the C: drive, you should always keep them on a seperate drive to your OS, makes things much easier if you need to nuke the C: drive and reinstall. regards,
Jonathan Wilkes Darka[Xanya.net] [My Code Project Articles]
Jonathan [Darka] wrote:
I would never keep my own code/documents etc on the C: drive, you should always keep them on a seperate drive to your OS, makes things much easier if you need to nuke the C: drive and reinstall.
Alas, some of us cannot trash our drives in any fashion we'd like, as we don't own them, our company does.