Lost Folders

[Paigan]

A few days ago i had a clean up of my folders, i moved and deleted a few
files that i didnt need..basically organised everything. today i went to open
my folders and theyre all gone! so i searched and they all seemed to be there
but wouldnt open, i just got a pop up saying the files couldnt be found. i
didnt delete them but i checked the recycle bin anyway and restored
everything but still no luck. can anyone help me? i can see the files in the
search bit but when i try to open the location it just says its either been
moved or deleted. please someone help me i have so much work on these folders!

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Paigan.

Did you take some time to familiarize yourself with Vista's new file
organization system? It changed from WinXP.

For example, there is no My Documents anymore. Most of the "My "
designations have migrated to C:\User|<username> folders, such as
C:\User\Paigan\Documents. The old folder names have been converted to
Junctions, which don't actually hold any files but simply point to the new
locations. This is to ease the transition from old applications that have
not yet been updated and are still hardcoded to point to the old
folder\filenames.

This reorganization/renaming, combined with Vista's new security features,
which restrict us from seeing folders that belong to the System or to other
users, mean that it's very easy to move an accessible file into a location
where we can no longer see it. That's what you apparently did. :^{ All
your files are probably safe on your drive; you just need to give yourself
permission to find and see and use them.

For just one example: Since Win95, the Program Files folder was supposed to
be used only by the System and only for application files, with all data
storage outside the Program Files folder tree. (Word.exe would be here, but
all the .doc files should be elsewhere - in My Documents or
Users\Paigan\Documents, for example.) Many programs violated that plan.
Vista puts teeth into the rule and denies us permission to store more data
into that folder unless we insist - and supply Administrator credentials.
Once we get past the transition period and learn the new organization
structure, most of us are quite comfy with it.

I'm no expert on this because my background is as a single user on a
standalone computer, with no network at all. Vista has forced me to learn
some things about User Access Control and permissions and file ownership,
etc., that I never needed to know before. But I'm still far from expert, so
I'll let someone else fill in any details that you might need.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64)