I am an oldfashioned computer user, who usually decides and usually
knows where EVERYTHING is on my computer. MS Explorer in Windows is my
main helper in keeping things as I wish.

However, of late, more and more information is placed by applications
(and some other precesses) into various directories deeply burried in
a very looooong hierarchy starting with the directory "USER." To make
things worse, there may be more than one of these USERS. I would like
to undo this practice and get back to putting things where I want them
to reside. There is no one else whom I would have to satisfy; I fly my
machine solo.

Is there someone out there who shares my frustration and has found a
way to defeat those brilliant software engineers who are bent and
bound to make our lives miserable?

I want to get back to where all computer events were decided by a
human USER's considered judgment — by me.



PS: I do not object to suggestions made by applications at the time of
installation, but I want to be the final judge every time.

On Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:26:36 -0800, ragmaniac wrote:

> I am an oldfashioned computer user, who usually decides and usually
> knows where EVERYTHING is on my computer. MS Explorer in Windows is my
> main helper in keeping things as I wish.
>
> However, of late, more and more information is placed by applications
> (and some other precesses) into various directories deeply burried in a
> very looooong hierarchy starting with the directory "USER." To make
> things worse, there may be more than one of these USERS. I would like to
> undo this practice and get back to putting things where I want them to
> reside. There is no one else whom I would have to satisfy; I fly my
> machine solo.
>
> Is there someone out there who shares my frustration and has found a way
> to defeat those brilliant software engineers who are bent and bound to
> make our lives miserable?

I've found one excellent way - convert to Linux. You can put everything
exactly where you want it.

>
> I want to get back to where all computer events were decided by a human
> USER's considered judgment — by me.
>
> PS: I do not object to suggestions made by applications at the time of
> installation, but I want to be the final judge every time.

ragmaniac wrote:

> I am an oldfashioned computer user, who usually decides and usually
> knows where EVERYTHING is on my computer. MS Explorer in Windows is my
> main helper in keeping things as I wish.

You are fighting a losing battle. The best solution is to get used to
the "new way" and live with it peacefully.

Windows is designed to handle a wide range of scenarios, from single
users at home, to large corporate deployments in a multi-domain
enterprise. The "new" system, with application data stored under the
\User\<username>\Appdata directory, is required for scenarios where you
have multiple users sharing a machine, or "roaming users" where the same
user may log on to many different PCs in different locations, and
expects to see their applications and data no matter where they log in.
These are quite important requirements for corporate, enterprise and OEM
sales.

The number of single users who want to keep total control over their
directory structure is quite small and, I have to say, economically
insignificant by comparison.

Microsoft's application guidelines for Windows Vista and Windows 7
require software companies to use the AppData directory, in order to
qualify for Windows certification. There are a number of quite
significant engineering decisions which support this requirement; it
wasn't just an opportunity to annoy customers just for the hell of it.

See for example Microsoft's "Windows 7 Client Software Logo Technical
Requirements & Program Eligibility":

http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...are%20Logo.pdf

or "Namespace Usage Guidelines for the Windows Vista File System":

http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...Namespaces.pdf

In this regard, Windows is simply following similar conventions to other
operating systems. Under most forms of Unix for example, executables
must go in /bin, apps in /usr/bin or /opt, app data under /var, and so on.

Hope it helps,

Andrew

--
amclar at optusnet dot com dot au

On 06.01.2010 1:26, ragmaniac wrote:

> However, of late, more and more information is placed by applications
> (and some other precesses) into various directories deeply burried in
> a very looooong hierarchy starting with the directory "USER." To make
> things worse, there may be more than one of these USERS. I would like
> to undo this practice and get back to putting things where I want them
> to reside.
>

Visit
"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders" registry key and remap corresponding folders accordingly.