Folders In 'My Computer' window

[Guest]

A friend of mine approached me with this problem:
He has a home computer with Windows XP Home Edition installed and when he's
not using the PC his children are. He has only one account on the PC and all
users use the same account. Recently one of his children managed to move 2
folders into the My Computer window, I mean in the actual window where the
drives and network connections show. He would like to know how to remove
these folders. One of these folders is the My Documents. Now he has pointed
out that if he deletes files from the My Documents that he opens from My
Computer the files in the actual My Documents folder would still remain.

In view of this problem I would also like to ask how can folders be put in
the My Computer window. I need to replicate the problem on my own PC in order
to check how the solution you provide works before I can pass the information
to him.

Thanks
Daniel

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

Normally, a machine with a single user account will display two folders in the My Computer window:
My Documents (displayed as UserName's Documents) and Shared Documents.

When the view is set to arrange by Type and Show in Groups is also checked, are the folders under
the category of "Files Stored on This Computer" or "Other"? If they are showing under "Files...",
check the 'General' tab of each folder's properties dialog for their location in the file system.

The location for My Documents should match the target info found when viewing the properties for the
My Documents shortcut on the Desktop. If it doesn't, the path for the My Computer shortcut can be
edited in the registry under the following key:

"HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\DocFolderPaths"

To prevent display of these folders, go here:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Line 197, right-hand column "Remove Shared Documents"