What is this "Desktop.ini" appearing in my docs?

[Peter]

All of a sudden desktop.ini is appearing in most of my document
folders...why? Do I need it?

 

[Vanguardx]

All of a sudden desktop.ini is appearing in most of my document
folders...why? Do I need it?

In a DOS shell (aka Command Prompt), run:

c:
cd \
dir /ah /s desktop.ini

There probably LOTS of copies of this file. I have 138 of them on my C:
drive and another 21 on my D: drive. At some point, you configured
Explorer to display hidden files or 'protect operating system files'.

You can find info by searching Microsoft's support knowledgebase at
http://support.microsoft.com, like:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=812003

 

[Peter]

Thanks. I think I vaguely remember showing hidden files... that's it!

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Desktop.ini files are normally Hidden files.
If you customize a folder you will have a desktop.ini for that folder.
The desktop.ini is the place where the customizations are stored.
Like a custom icon.

If a folder is a system folder the desktop.ini will have info for that.
Too much info to go into here.