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Changing the default user folders
Personally, I think "My Pictures" and "My Music" is a stupid naming convention - and it's not easy to change these defaults. But it's the way Windows is going. Fortunately, these can be changed. My Documents can easily be changed simply by right-clicking on it and changing the location, but the other locations - all the way from My Pictures on to Temporary Internet Files and Network Neighborhood (or "My Network Places") - cannot.
There are a few ways to do this - TweakUI is always an option, but doing it in the registry directly is my preferred method, and it's immediate. Since 2000 and XP require different versions of TweakUI this is also a good technique to learn. In addition it has a few hidden benefits, along with access to some elements that tweaking programs don't reveal.
Why change them?
I change these because I install Windows a lot - and I try to keep my directories (folders) in consistent locations. If I ever have a crash, I can change these settings to reflect where I keep them and be close to where I started from in very little time, start menu items and all. To change the locations, perform these steps:- Start REGEDIT.EXE (Start - Run - Regedit - OK)
- Drill down to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders - Modify the values as shown below to your heart's desire.
- Close REGEDIT.
- Log off and restart the machine for the change to take effect.
You can also redirect these folders using a Group Policy Object (GPO)-- look under User Configuration, Windows Settings, Folder Redirection. Right-click a folder, and select its redirection.
The Shell Folders and what they mean
These values are stored in binary, so you can't edit them in Notepad. They are all of type REG_EXPAND_SZ. Some may not be present on NT, or even 2000 - shell folders get added and changed with each release of Windows.
AppData
The location for application settings used by individual programs.
Desktop
The location of the user's desktop shortcuts, etc.
Favorites
Internet Explorer bookmarks. I keep mine in My Documents and haven't had to re-create them in ages.
NetHood
Network Neighborhood/My Network Places
Personal
My Documents. I create a single hard drive partition dedicated to this and root most of the other items in My Documents.
PrintHood
Printers - networked.
Programs
Start Menu program shortcuts. Newly installed software will create its icons in this location, if it's user specific.
Recent
Recent documents, which are really just shortcuts (symbolic links, for you Unix folk) to the original.
SendTo
The "Send To" on the context menu.
Start Menu
The current user's start menu hierarchy and icons.
Startup
The location of programs that are executed at boot - per user.
Templates
Document templates that appear when right clicking and selecting New .
My Pictures
A newer shell folder, where images default to in more recent applications that are aware of it. XP makes extensive use of this.
Local Settings
For non-roaming user profiles, this will contain user specific settings.
Local AppData
For non-roaming user profiles, this will contain user specific application settings.
Cache
The Internet Explore cache. Iif you change this through the IE control panel, IE forces you to logoff to make it effective. You can change it here and not log off immediately, just close any open IE windows and re-open them.
Cookies
Internet Cookies. Duh!
History
The history of visited websites, which is used by AutoComplete in IE - if you like that feature, as I do, you can keep it from disappearing when re-installing or moving to a new machine.
CD Burning (XP Only)
When XP users send an item to a recordable CD drive, it creates a shortcut to the item in this location - which is normally buried.
My Music
Used by Windows Media Player, mostly.
