Re: Documents and Settings

Wow, *great* explanation! That's a keeper.

--
HTH,
Curt

Windows Support Center
www.aumha.org
Practically Nerded,...
http://dundats.mvps.org/Index.htm

"Malke" <notreally@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eSRLp6szHHA.3564@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
| Janetb wrote:
| > I am the only one who ever uses my computer. When I switched from 2KPro
to XP
| > Pro, installed by a computer technician, he left me with the following
| > folders under Documents and Settings: All Users, Default User, Janet,
| > LocalService, LogMeInRemoteUser, and NetworkService.
| >
| > Under 2KPro, I didn't have a separate user folder named Janet. I was
either
| > just Administrator or some such default name. Is this separate Janet
folder
| > really necessary? Can't I just be Default User or All Users? I ask
because it
| > seems most efficient to have all my settings in one place, and I see
that
| > there are entries in the All Users folder and the Default User folder in
| > addition to the many entries in the Janet folder. I am now setting up my
| > first backup system (daily) and would like to have things as simple as
| > possible......
|
| You are misunderstanding the file hierarchy. You had a similar one in
| Win2k, just apparently not your own user account. The way the tech set
| you up is good. You don't ever want to user the built-in Administrator
| account for daily use and you don't ever want to have only one user
| account with administrative privileges. Here is an explanation of the
| file hierarchy you are seeing:
|
| XP is a multi-user operating system, no matter if only one person is
| using it. In all multi-user operating systems - NT, Win2k, XP, Unix,
| Linux, Mac OS X - there is the one built-in account that is "god" on the
| system. In Windows terminology, that is "Administrator". In the *nix
| world, it is "root". This is a necessary account and is not normally
| used in everyday work. You cannot delete the built-in Administrator
| account nor would you ever want to.
|
| Here is the explanation of what you really have:
|
| My Computer - represents your entire computer, showing drives and shared
| folders. Shared Folders are folders where you can put files you wish to
| share with other users on the system. You don't need to use these
| folders if you don't want to, but leave them alone!
|
| [some name] C:\ - your first hard drive, usually the system drive.
|
| Document and Settings - The "container" for all user settings. Each user
| will have [username] Documents, Music, Videos, My Pictures.
|
| Administrator - Built-in account - Leave alone! Do not use! Do not worry
| about it!
|
| All Users - Section where items common to all users go. In a multi-user
| operating system, users have separate accounts. This is the place where
| if you want to share files with all the other users on the system you
| would put those files. You don't ever have to use those folders but they
| need to be there. This is where programs you install that are meant to
| be installed for all users put settings. All the "Shared Documents" type
| of folders you see at the root of C:\ are shortcuts to the shared
| folders in here. Leave them alone!
|
| Default Users - This is the template from which new user accounts are
| made. You will never put anything in any of those folders but they are
| needed to create new users. In Linux we use "skel" ("skeleton" - get
| it?). In Windows, the less-colorful term "Default User" is used. Leave
| it alone!
|
| [OEM] Administrator or Owner - This is the generic user created by the
| OEM when installing the operating system. After all, the OEM doesn't
| know who is going to buy the computer. If you aren't using this OEM user
| account, you can delete it from the User Accounts applet in Control
| Panel. It is not the same account as "Administrator". If you don't have
| an OEM-preinstalled Windows, you won't have this account.
|
|
| Malke
| --
| Elephant Boy Computers
| www.elephantboycomputers.com
| "Don't Panic!"
| MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User


.

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