Saved files turning blue.

[Guest]

Hi there, i was just wondering if there was someone out there who could tell
me why some saved files names turn blue when others remain black. Also is
there a way to turn them all black again, because it get rather confusing
when trying to look through the files. Thanks for your help.

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "xxxxLucy_Louxxxx" <[email protected]>

| Hi there, i was just wondering if there was someone out there who could tell
| me why some saved files names turn blue when others remain black. Also is
| there a way to turn them all black again, because it get rather confusing
| when trying to look through the files. Thanks for your help.

That means you are using NTFS and the files/folders are using compression.

This is a good thing as it saves disk space !

 

[Guest]

However you don't want to use compression on the disk that contains your
Windows installation (probably C, because it could cause performance
problems and even bigger problems if you ever need to boot into recovery mode.

Open My Computer, right-click on "Local Disk (C" and go to properties.
Un-check the box at the bottom that says "Compress Drive to Save Disk Space"
Click OK, and then go eat lunch, it'll take a while.

-----

Also, you can download the Microsoft TweakUI Utility ("PowerToy") from
Microsoft (On the Microsoft web site, search for Windows PowerToys to get to
the download page). With that utility, you can change the colors Windows
uses from compressed files and folders, along with hundreds of other cool
settings you can't normally change easily.

- skeene

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Shawn Keene" <[email protected]>

| However you don't want to use compression on the disk that contains your
| Windows installation (probably C, because it could cause performance
| problems and even bigger problems if you ever need to boot into recovery mode.
|
| Open My Computer, right-click on "Local Disk (C" and go to properties.
| Un-check the box at the bottom that says "Compress Drive to Save Disk Space"
| Click OK, and then go eat lunch, it'll take a while.
|
| -----
|
| Also, you can download the Microsoft TweakUI Utility ("PowerToy") from
| Microsoft (On the Microsoft web site, search for Windows PowerToys to get to
| the download page). With that utility, you can change the colors Windows
| uses from compressed files and folders, along with hundreds of other cool
| settings you can't normally change easily.
|
| - skeene


Microsoft DEFAULTS to using compression for all HotFixes stored in the %windir% folder.

That's "...the disk that contains your Windows installation..." which contradicts your
statement.

 

[Guest]

- How To Use File Compression in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307987
"You may notice a decrease in performance when you work with NTFS-compressed
files."

-----

Also in the Microsoft Windows XP Documentation, along with Windows 2003 Best
Practices, both found at microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp:

"It is not recommened to use compression within the folder structure or
logical file systems or disks that contain the active Windows installation or
boot volume if you can boot to multiple operating systems. By default,
compression is not enabled on installation partitions when you install
Windows XP. This can be enabled from the logical disk's properties sheet,
accessible from Logical Disk Manager or My Computer (not recommended)."

--

It's not good to use the compression on your boot volume. IF you do, it's
strongly recommended to disable the compression on the Windows directory, or
this can happen "NTLDR is compressed error while booting to the recovery
console on Windows XP."


I'm not saying you can't compress the Windows install drive, I'm just
saying it's strongly recommended that you don't, for both performance and
stability reasons.

- skeene




Compression is by default

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Shawn Keene" <[email protected]>

| - How To Use File Compression in Windows XP
| http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307987
| "You may notice a decrease in performance when you work with NTFS-compressed
| files."
|
| -----
|
| Also in the Microsoft Windows XP Documentation, along with Windows 2003 Best
| Practices, both found at microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp:
|
| "It is not recommened to use compression within the folder structure or
| logical file systems or disks that contain the active Windows installation or
| boot volume if you can boot to multiple operating systems. By default,
| compression is not enabled on installation partitions when you install
| Windows XP. This can be enabled from the logical disk's properties sheet,
| accessible from Logical Disk Manager or My Computer (not recommended)."
|

Sure... You don't get something for nothing. There is overhead in decompression. However,
with Today's fast hard disks and GHz CPUs this is greatly reduced.

Do you have another Knowledge Base article about "...even bigger problems if you ever need
to boot into recovery mode...". To me, that would be a greater issue.