An odd problem with the desktop-

evlogiaandchari

evlogiaandchari

New Member
I'm a minimalist. I like my computer as clean as possible. Duplicate shortcuts and folder serve no purpose to me.

So, in order to maintain my minimalistic view, I cut all of the "All Users" folders that I was unable to delete (no worries, I wasn't removing anything that would render my computer unstable) and moved them to "Administrator". (This is a single user computer. Tweaks, services, and the like are all set to only allow one user on.)

One of those folders that I cut and pasted was ".\All Users\Desktop" to ".\Administrator\Desktop". And since then, every shortcut that I put in the Administrator Desktop folder duplicates on my desktop- even though only one show in that folder.

Has anyone else had this problem before?
 
That's the folder for whatever you want to see on the desktop since you are the administrator. If you don't want something seen on the desktop simply remove it from that folder and it will vanish from view.

The folder has that one specifi purpose like seeing downloads saved to the desktop. Those are then found in that one folder.
 
Thank you PC Eye, but I understand that much.

For instance, anything under ".\All Users\Desktop" will show for every number of users on this machine. And anything within a certain user's ".\Desktop" folder will show for that user in specific when they are logged on.

On my machine, however, I have the obligatory ".\All Users\Desktop" folder and one for my account. Nothing more.

I moved the All Users Desktop folder to replace my account's (Administrator is my account name) Desktop folder. So only a Desktop folder is present under my account (there is no longer a ".\All Users\Desktop" folder). And now, every shortcut under that folder (that folder being ".\Administrator\Desktop") shows up twice on my desktop- all the while only one shortcut may exist in the actual folder.

I don't know where to start to fix the problem. I have no problem reformatting. It'd be quicker than trying to solve the problem. But I'd rather not exclude myself this chance of learning something more in how Windows XP operates.
 
get the shortcuts you don't want them seeing out of here.
:\documents and settings\your windows id\start menu

Put them in you folder instead:
C:\documents and settings\your windows id here\start menu

the opposite is also true, move the stuff you dnt want to see out of all users
and into their folders.

I would suggest making sure you have another profile backup with admin rights.
Ya might need it for other reasons later anyway. formatting is something i have not done for at least 4 years and running strong.
 
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I know that much.

...I really don't know how else to explain this problem.

It would have been nice to have the my profile folder backed up before I attempted this.

All's well. I'm going to reformat.
 
before i would go through all that:

accessories, system tools then system restore.

reloading will be another adventure.
doing a low level format is a must (wipe).
installing, updating, virus, proggies you use.

try this 1st. else its 12hrs for a good install. why waste your time.

doing a system restore sometime works. some proggys will be there and some not.
 
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evlogiaandchari said:
I know that much.

...I really don't know how else to explain this problem.

It would have been nice to have the my profile folder backed up before I attempted this.

All's well. I'm going to reformat.
Click to expand...

You don't have to reformat a drive to see Windows corrected. You have the choice of a repair install or full reinstallation of Windows or simply creating a new admin account. http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
 
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