G
Gene E. Bloch
Now you're just being silly.
E
Ed Cryer
Think, Gordon, think! Get away from misconceptions, and think in digital
terms!
You have a hard drive; and it contains files. One of them is in a User
tree; called Desktop.
Forget about the presentation of this data to human eyes; to human forms
of cognition. Think of the bits and bytes.
Ed
Z
Zaphod Beeblebrox
Indeed.Alias said:
--
Zaphod
Arthur Dent, speaking to Trillian about Zaphod:
"So, two heads is what does it for a girl?"
"...Anything else he's got two of?"
G
Gene E. Bloch
What, no ash tray? [This is meant as a joke!]
Also, maybe the OP's desktop folder was a folder of *shortcuts*. There's
a radical idea for Gordon to think about.
Z
Zaphod Beeblebrox
So then, by following your so-called logic the Documents folder is notGordon said:
designed to hold music files, and the Music folder is not designed to
hold pictures, etc. so being "SPECIAL SYSTEM folders" and all, if we
do store the other types of data in them, we are somehow at risk of
losing the data... ? I mean really, "many people have had instances
of corrupt Documents/Music/Pictures folders and any data there is
GONE. Google it."
Sigh.
Z
Zaphod Beeblebrox
On my personal desk at home, 10 years ago there would have been...Gene E. Bloch said:
Though I can't think of an electronic equivalent right off
I mentioned that in another sub-thread, but I suspect it will fall on
deaf ears - erm, eyes.
P
Paul
I keep a copy of my Windows 7 laptop C: NTFS partition, asGordon said:
a VHD mounted in a Ubuntu virtual machine on this computer.
That allows me to view the file system, without prejudice by
anything running in that Windows system.
When I click that C: partition in Ubuntu, then navigate
to the user folder, I see this. /media/Acer is the mount
point within Ubuntu. Everything from "users" on down, is
under C:.
/media/Acer/users/username/Desktop
amcap - Shortcut.lnk <--- for using a webcam
desktop.ini
Inside desktop.ini it says:
[.ShellClassInfo]
LocalizedResourceName=@%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,-21769
IconResource=%SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll,-183
and that is there presumably, to describe how to present the info.
The various presentation types, their desktop.ini, are listed here.
http://www.winhelponline.com/articl...he-standard-folder-icon-in-Windows-Vista.html
So it's just a folder, with a desktop.ini containing info on what
to do in addition, with the contained files.
Paul
N
Nil
Please point out a credible example of data being lost due to being
stored on the Desktop. I searched and I can find no such thing.
I don't care what it says, either, although I give it more credence
than I do you. I've used and supported Windows for decades, and I
have never seen an example of data files being lost specifically
because they were stored on Windows Desktop.
Organization and neatness. You can store anything anywhere. You can
store music files in the Documents folder and vice versa. You can
store any kind of file you want on the Desktop. They are all just
file system directories and they are all equally accessible and
equally safe from corruption.
Sorry, you are laboring under one or several misconceptions.
J
J. P. Gilliver (John)
[]OREALLY said:
So the folder is still there really, but the icon for it on the desktop
is disappearing - is that right?
Just a thought: have you left on (as it is by default) the thing that
from time to time "tidies" the desktop by moving things it _thinks_ you
are not using into a special place (called something like "unused items"
- I forget precisely as I usually turn it off). [There's a similar one
for the quickstart bar and the tray, I think.] Such a thing probably
doesn't move the real file, but may make its icon disappear from the
visual presentation of the desktop.
J
J. P. Gilliver (John)
I think I may be able to shed some light on this: it may be to do withAlias said:
roaming profiles. When I log in to a computer at work - _any_ computer
on the company's network - it fetches my "profile" from a "profile
server"; this includes (as well as lots of other things), my desktop.
Obviously, this takes significantly longer if there are a lot of actual
files, rather than just shortcuts, on the desktop. (Plus, we're limited
to a ridiculous 20M - yes, M! - for the total profile, but that's a
different matter.) [XP system, but I suspect that is irrelevant.)
For a single home user, or possibly even a multi-user computer that
isn't part of a network that has roaming profiles, it may not actually
matter - though I share "Alias"'s feeling that it's not a good idea,
except temporarily (which I think is what Microsoft mean when they
suggest it).
J
Jeff Layman
The way what is on the disk is displayed depends a lot on what file
manager is used to view it. Not liking the W7 Windows Explorer, I tried
several file managers, and they all listed the folders in different
ways. The nearest I get to the Ubuntu way is to use FreeCommander,
This shows Local Disk C: at the top, with all the other folders off it
in alphabetical order. One particular advantage (to me) is that it does
not show the Libraries or Homegroup folders at all. I have to dig way
down in the C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows folder
to see Libraries. One disadvantage is that it takes a time to dig down
to Desktop, so I keep that folder as the default folder display in the
second column.
K
Ken Blake
Many people assume that everything on the desktop is a shortcut, and
that if you delete it, you can easily get it back by recreating the
shortcut. I've seen several examples of files being lost this way.
C
Char Jackson
Heh!
C
Char Jackson
While you're Googling, go ahead and substitute 'desktop' for any other
common file location. The results will be similar. There's no end to
the number of computer illiterates who believe their files have
"disappeared" for one reason or another. In 99.99% of the cases, of
course, it's simple user error and has absolutely nothing to do with
where the files were stored.
Obviously, that's not true, but if you'd rather store your data in
other places you're certainly free to do so. I can't even begin to
guess where your misunderstanding stems from.
Some people need to be nudged to get them to organize their data.
Don't read too much into it. Go ahead and store your documents, your
music, your pictures, and whatever else you have anywhere you'd like
to store it, including the Desktop if that suits your work flow.
G
Gene E. Bloch
I quit in 1968On my personal desk at home, 10 years ago there would have been...
Though I can't think of an electronic equivalent right off
For the electronic version, will the Recycle Bin do?
Never mind, I shouldn't have thought of that idea...
N
Nil
Well, yeah, of course. But that's different. This guy is claiming that
files on Windows Desktop are in danger of disappearing or becoming
corrupt just because they are on the Desktop. In your example, they
disappeared because the user did something dumb. They didn't just
disappear on their own.
K
Ken Blake
Right. I wasn't trying to say anything any different.
But I do think that putting files on the desktop is a poor idea
because it exposes you to the risk of doing something dumb.
K
Ken Blake
I quit in 1968On my personal desk at home, 10 years ago there would have been...
Though I can't think of an electronic equivalent right off
What a coincidence! So did I.
G
Gene E. Bloch
Well, now. Using a computer exposes people to that risk *whatever* they
do
K
Ken Blake
Well, now. Using a computer exposes people to that risk *whatever* they
do
Exposes people to *some* such risk? Certainly. But depending on what
you do, you can increase the risk or minimize it. I recommend
minimizing it.
It isn't very different from walking across the street. There too, you
can increase the risk or minimize it.