Stan, I have whipped most defaults into submission, except Windows
Explorer. I want it to open as F:\ and it refuses. I checked my
properties per your instructions, and have this entered:
Target [c:\windows\explorer{blank}/root,{blank}f:\]
Start In [F:\]
Can you see an error in this? The only other problems are trying to
get rid of My Pictures and My Music folders, which are not needed and
unwanted. Again, many thanks for your contribution to my education.
(Sorry for being so long-winded...but once you start to rant....)
PD,
From the Start Menu, click 'Run', type in: regsvr32 /u mydocs.dll
Then press Enter. Now you can delete all those lame-a** 'My' folders,
that you nor I wanted there in the first place. You will however find
some applications place their own 'My' folders there, like Adobe Acrobat
makes a 'My E-Books' folder.
Apparently, M$ doesn't think the average Windows user doesn't know how to
create a directory to put related items into.
And, to get rid of the just-as-lame implementation of M$'s ZipFolders, in
that same run box, enter: regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll
The pres enter.
Since it doesn't seem like you built this computer, I'd have to say that
you purchased it, pre-configured, from Dell, or Gateway (are they still
around ?), or it's a Compaq, or other, purchased at a Circuit City or
like. ALL of these makers install soooo much of their own s/w, like the
'Dell Support' thing, and a LOT of third-party s/w that publishers pay
them to install on the PC's. Most of this stuff is the first thing to go.
I was on the phone with a friend, trying to clean up his brand new Dell,
and he was reading through the Add/Remove Programs list one-by-one and I
was directing him on what to keep and what to give the boot. He gets to
whatever program that began will an 'L', and I said, geez, we're only on
the L's, we've been doing this for 45 minutes now. He replies, 'There's
not much more after this, and there were like 15 or 20 Dell titles to
remove'.
I have to agree that M$ forces all of this stuff down users throats, much
of it is unnecessarily, wait, MOST of it unnecessarily.
A typical install of Win XP is over 1 gig in size, probably closer to 1.5
Gigs w/SP2, and apparently, at least 50% of it is unnecessary bloat.
I have seen versions of WindowsXP built with the BartPE that install down
to as little as 250 megs of HD space (not incuding the swap file), and
most have:
-Ripped out IE (FireFox is rapidly becoming the browser of choice).
-Ripped Outlook Express (there are tons of free e-mail clients that
actually work, all the time, and don't corrupt one giant database file).
I use Eudora, which has e-mails stored in it from 1998, can easily be
upgraded over, and one program in which you can actually copy over the
program folder to anywhere and still use it w/o have to be installed.
-Removed Media Player
-Reduced the default installed services to a minimum.
-Don't install all the BS, like 'Online Services' folder, MSN Messenger,
MovieMaker (there are REAL programs for that), NetMeeting, etc.
My next clean install is going to be one of these.
