File folder names and structure

[Newbury]

I am trying to understand how this works and maybe make some sence about
some of this confusion. I am getting lost with folders named 'Document' and
'My Documents' along with others like Video and Photo and Shared folders.
Here is one example:
I navigate to C:/Documents and Settings/All Users/Documents and I open a
folder named 'Shared Video'. Once open I look up at the address bar and it
says I am in 'My Videos' folder.I go back and I don't see that folder
anywhere. So tell me how this makes sence and I will tell of more confusion.
Would I be better off not logging on as 'Administrator'? Should I setup
another account to make things simpler? I am the only user of several
computers and all seem just a bit different. Can someone please explain
things to me in simple terms and not direct me to some long knowledge base
read that will only confuse me more?

Thanks for and comments.

Newbury

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

A) You should create a regular user account and use it rather than
administrator. Leave it as a fallback.

B) The "My Documents" folders have special properties that allow them to be
seen in a myriad of places with names that do not match what you are seeing
in the hierarchy. Essentially, there is a "My Documents" folder with
subdirectories ("My Videos", etc) for each user and a "joint" one for all
users known as the "Shared Documents". The personal ones, which can be made
private to the user, are here:

C:\Documents and Settings\<user_name>\Documents

And the shared one accessible by all users is here:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents

All the other locations you see these folders are mirrors of these.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org