XP Woes

Guys 'n' Gals,

I've just taken a flying leap from m'old W98SE system to a new box with
XP Pro. It's not exactly /blind/ since my wife and daughter have XP Pro
systems already but I've had very little to do with them. I'm likely to
have a lot of questions over time about stuff that I'm struggling with
as it seems to be much more assertive about what it expects people to
do.

The first thing is that I've been unable to delete 3 .dll files. As far
as I can see, these are perfectly ordinary files, not hidden nor with
any silly attributes but I keep getting some message about checking for
space and write permission - neither of which is a problem. Can anyone
suggest why I had this problem? I did get rid of them with COMMAND - am
I showing my age?

The other thing that's irritating me at the moment is that Windows
Explorer is always opening with an icon view at "My Documents". Can I
get it to /always/ open in "Detail" view with the tree structure on the
left at a particular point of my own choice - possible My computer or D:
with the drive expanded one level on the left?

Finally (for now) I think everyone's "My Documents" are stored on C:
(although XP tries to kid you they're not part of the computer ...
derrhh??) Is there any way of forcing them onto D

Thanks,
--
Peter

Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des Fri, 6 Oct
2006 15:14:16 +0100, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do demon.tech.pc,
yawatina tan reek esk The Drone <> fornis do marikano es
bono tan el:

>The first thing is that I've been unable to delete 3 .dll files. As far
>as I can see, these are perfectly ordinary files, not hidden nor with
>any silly attributes but I keep getting some message about checking for
>space and write permission - neither of which is a problem. Can anyone
>suggest why I had this problem? I did get rid of them with COMMAND - am
>I showing my age?

If they're system files, you can't delete them.

>The other thing that's irritating me at the moment is that Windows
>Explorer is always opening with an icon view at "My Documents". Can I
>get it to /always/ open in "Detail" view with the tree structure on the
>left at a particular point of my own choice - possible My computer or D:
>with the drive expanded one level on the left?

Open one folder and set i how you like, then click Tools on the menu, FOlder
Options, and go to the View tab. Click "Apply to all folders".

>Finally (for now) I think everyone's "My Documents" are stored on C:
>(although XP tries to kid you they're not part of the computer ...
>derrhh??) Is there any way of forcing them onto D

Right-click My Documents and choose Properties. Change the Target to match
your new location. My Documents are generally saved in c:\documents and
settings\%username%\My Documents.

"deKay" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des Fri, 6
> Oct
> 2006 15:14:16 +0100, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do demon.tech.pc,
> yawatina tan reek esk The Drone <> fornis do marikano es
> bono tan el:
>
>>The first thing is that I've been unable to delete 3 .dll files. As far
>>as I can see, these are perfectly ordinary files, not hidden nor with
>>any silly attributes but I keep getting some message about checking for
>>space and write permission - neither of which is a problem. Can anyone
>>suggest why I had this problem? I did get rid of them with COMMAND - am
>>I showing my age?
>
> If they're system files, you can't delete them.

If an application crashes you can sometimes get files that are locked.
Usually you can delete them by booting in safe mode (key F8 as soon as the
BIOS dialog has finished - have to be quick). Then navigate with Explorer -
or use the command line

--
Graham

In article <eg5tfh$q31$1$>, Graham
<> writes
>
>"deKay" <> wrote in message
>news:.. .
>> Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des Fri, 6
>> Oct
>> 2006 15:14:16 +0100, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do demon.tech.pc,
>> yawatina tan reek esk The Drone <> fornis do marikano es
>> bono tan el:
>>
>>>The first thing is that I've been unable to delete 3 .dll files. As far
>>>as I can see, these are perfectly ordinary files, not hidden nor with
>>>any silly attributes but I keep getting some message about checking for
>>>space and write permission - neither of which is a problem. Can anyone
>>>suggest why I had this problem? I did get rid of them with COMMAND - am
>>>I showing my age?
>>
>> If they're system files, you can't delete them.
>
>If an application crashes you can sometimes get files that are locked.
>Usually you can delete them by booting in safe mode (key F8 as soon as the
>BIOS dialog has finished - have to be quick). Then navigate with Explorer -
>or use the command line

These were related to an application (so I wouldn't have thought they
were system files) but it didn't /crash/ as such, I kind of terminated
the installation "tidily" as far as the installer was concerned but
perhaps that left things a bit untidy?

--
Peter

In article <>, deKay
<> writes
>Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des Fri, 6 Oct
>2006 15:14:16 +0100, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do demon.tech.pc,
>yawatina tan reek esk The Drone <> fornis do marikano es
>bono tan el:

snip - see other post

>>The other thing that's irritating me at the moment is that Windows
>>Explorer is always opening with an icon view at "My Documents". Can I
>>get it to /always/ open in "Detail" view with the tree structure on the
>>left at a particular point of my own choice - possible My computer or D:
>>with the drive expanded one level on the left?

>Open one folder and set i how you like, then click Tools on the menu, FOlder
>Options, and go to the View tab. Click "Apply to all folders".

OK, that fixed the pretty (useless) icons so thanks for that but it
still opens on "My Documents". Looking at the properties of the
shortcut, I see that the Target location is %SystemRoot% (I can't change
this), the Target: is %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe (so I guess that doesn't
need changing!), the "Start in" field is %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%. Can I
change that so that it opens somewhere more useful - and if so, to what?

>>Finally (for now) I think everyone's "My Documents" are stored on C:
>>(although XP tries to kid you they're not part of the computer ...
>>derrhh??) Is there any way of forcing them onto D
>
>Right-click My Documents and choose Properties. Change the Target to match
>your new location. My Documents are generally saved in c:\documents and
>settings\%username%\My Documents.
Brilliant thanks, just the job.

Cheers,
--
Peter

In message <wrAbLRG$>, The Drone
<> writes
>
>OK, that fixed the pretty (useless) icons so thanks for that but it
>still opens on "My Documents". Looking at the properties of the
>shortcut, I see that the Target location is %SystemRoot% (I can't
>change this), the Target: is %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe (so I guess that
>doesn't need changing!), the "Start in" field is %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%.
>Can I change that so that it opens somewhere more useful - and if so,
>to what?
>
I use the following target on a desktop shortcut to open in the root of
D:.
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /n,/e,/select, D:\
--
Martin Liddle, Tynemouth Computer Services, 3 Kentmere Way,
Staveley, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, S43 3TW.
Web site: <http://www.tynecomp.co.uk>.

"The Drone" <> wrote in message
news:wrAbLRG$...

....
> OK, that fixed the pretty (useless) icons so thanks for that but it still
> opens on "My Documents". Looking at the properties of the shortcut, I see
> that the Target location is %SystemRoot% (I can't change this), the
> Target: is %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe (so I guess that doesn't need
> changing!), the "Start in" field is %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%. Can I change
> that so that it opens somewhere more useful - and if so, to what?
>

Have a look at this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/152457/EN-US/

It's an oddity of Explorer that you have to use these command-line options
to do what you want! However, you can also create a shortcut to any folder,
and then drag that to the start menu. When you click the shortcut, it will
open in Explorer. (To create a shortcut to a folder, simply right-click it
to bring up the context menu and look for the "create shortcut" option. You
may want to rename it - try hitting F2 - to remove the "Shortcut to..."
prefix).



--
PH, London
===========

In article <>, Martin Liddle
<> writes
>In message <wrAbLRG$>, The Drone
><> writes
>>
>>OK, that fixed the pretty (useless) icons so thanks for that but it
>>still opens on "My Documents". Looking at the properties of the
>>shortcut, I see that the Target location is %SystemRoot% (I can't
>>change this), the Target: is %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe (so I guess
>>that doesn't need changing!), the "Start in" field is
>>%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%. Can I change that so that it opens somewhere
>>more useful - and if so, to what?
>>
>I use the following target on a desktop shortcut to open in the root of
>D:.
> %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /n,/e,/select, D:\
Thanks Martin, that's expanded "My Computer" in the left pane and
highlighted D: in the right. Can you (or anyone) suggest how I might get
it to highlight D: on the left and expand it on the left?

Thanks again, it's starting to feel better already.
--
Peter

In message <HPz+>, The Drone
<> writes
>In article <>, Martin Liddle
><> writes
>>I use the following target on a desktop shortcut to open in the root
>>of D:.
>> %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /n,/e,/select, D:\
>Thanks Martin, that's expanded "My Computer" in the left pane and
>highlighted D: in the right. Can you (or anyone) suggest how I might
>get it to highlight D: on the left and expand it on the left?
>
>Thanks again, it's starting to feel better already.

Try %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /n,/e,/root, D:\
--
Martin Liddle, Tynemouth Computer Services, 3 Kentmere Way,
Staveley, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, S43 3TW.
Web site: <http://www.tynecomp.co.uk>.

In article <C6TqVcMC+>, Martin Liddle
<> writes

>In message <HPz+>, The Drone
><> writes

>>In article <>, Martin Liddle
>><> writes

>>>I use the following target on a desktop shortcut to open in the root
>>>of D:.
>>> %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /n,/e,/select, D:\

>>Thanks Martin, that's expanded "My Computer" in the left pane and
>>highlighted D: in the right. Can you (or anyone) suggest how I might
>>get it to highlight D: on the left and expand it on the left?
>>
>>Thanks again, it's starting to feel better already.
>
>Try %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /n,/e,/root, D:\

That highlighted D: on the left and expanded it on the right (as I
asked) ... but it treats D: as the top of the tree and won't let me see
anything other than the contents of D:!
--
Peter