Folders with Arrows

[Jack B]

I'm new to Vista - just loaded it yesterday. In file explore windows, what
are all the folders with what appear to be shortcut arrows on them? They
seem to be sprinkled all over the place, coming and going, and when I try to
open one of them, I get and "access denied" message.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Deb or Dave]

Sounds like you upgraded.
The shortcuts are to the old XP directories, like "My Documents" &
"Documents and Settings"?
Vista doesn't use those directories, but creates shortcuts from them to the
new directories, for any shortcuts you may have had in XP.

 

[Jack B]

I did upgrade, because my computer locked up when I tried to do a completely
clean install. Anyway, then deleting these annoying folder icons shouldn't
be a problem, correct?

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Richard Urban]

You can't delete them. Don't even try. They are necessary for proper
operation of your O/S and are system protected.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

They are present with a clean install as well. Intended to improve the odds
that software that doesn't do everything properly will still run.

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

Richard,

"...necessary for proper operation of your O/S..." ???

I was under the impression they were for compatibility with poorly written
software that assumes certain paths rather than 'asks' the OS for the
location of special folders. If you're only using well-behaved software,
the junctions are unnecessary.

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

I'm new to Vista - just loaded it yesterday. In file explore windows, what
are all the folders with what appear to be shortcut arrows on them? They
seem to be sprinkled all over the place, coming and going, and when I try to
open one of them, I get and "access denied" message.

Those are "junctions", and are there for the benefit of programs that
are hard-coded to use old paths and locations. They're a bit like a
shortcut, except a bit deeper into the file system.

If you have the default "hide..." settings in Windows Explorer, you
prolly wouldn't see them. If you're like me and want to see
"everything", then it's up to you to understand what you see

--------------- ---- --- -- - - - -

Saws are too hard to use.
Be easier to use!

 

[Richard Urban]

I sort of consider that compatibility with most older programs is proper
operation of the system.

If he/she were able to delete the junction points, what chance would the
older programs have of installing and running? They (the junction points)
are protected just for this reason.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

Richard,

"...necessary for proper operation of your O/S..." ???

I was under the impression they were for compatibility with poorly written
software that assumes certain paths rather than 'asks' the OS for the
location of special folders. If you're only using well-behaved software,
the junctions are unnecessary.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

You can't delete them. Don't even try. They are necessary for proper
operation of your O/S and are system protected.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!