Programs that clutter up the My Documents folder, and a workaround
So, there's this annoying trend of programs that like to put shit in the My Documents folder. My ebooks, My Microsoft Games, My Skype Pictures, etc. It's enough to make me want to abandon the folder altogether.
First I should justify why I actually use the folder. I like having my most accessed stuff in a folder in the root of my C drive. I also like having easy access to it on the desktop. If I just had a folder that was actually located on the desktop, I would have to navigate to C:\documents and settings\USERNAME\Desktop\FOLDERNAME, which is annoying. So I use TweakUI to change the My Documents folder for my profile to C:\Documents.
So, why not just have a shortcut on the Desktop that points to C:\Documents? Because designating the folder as the My Documents folder gives it special powers that make it much easier to access from a variety of programs. Of course, giving it the My Documents special folder designation also invites all these annoying programs to spam the folder with all of their "My Bullshit" folders.
Solution? Some programs will let you specify somewhere else this crap should go, and I usually direct it to the program's program files folder. Many, however, don't give you this option in any settings configuration. So, when you identify a program that likes to fill your My Documents folder with junk, set it to run as another user. For example, right clicking on the Skype shortcut in my Start Menu and selecting properties shows me the following in the "target" field on the shortcut tab:
"C:\Program Files\Skype\Phone\Skype.exe"
Ok, now Skype is arguably the worst offender in terms of assaulting my My Documents folder. It spams three entire folders. So, making it run as another user will redirect its bullshit to that user's My Documents folder in their profile. If you have an active Guest account, that will work fine. I don't, but I did have another active user account that I used instead. Guest account is probably ideal as it has limited privileges, but you can just create a new account just for this is you want, just make sure it has write privileges. Replace the line above with the following:
runas /profile /user:COMPUTERNAME\USER /savecred "C:\Program Files\Skype\Phone\Skype.exe"
Where COMUPTERNAME is your computer's name, and USER is the user account name that you want to deflect the folder spam to (Not the user name you use). Replace the Skype program path with the program path of the program you're trying to protect your My Documents folder from. Note that there must be quotes around the program path, but not around the entire thing, as the Microsoft Knowledge Base article on the subject would tell you. This mistake on their part caused me about 15 minutes of confusion, as I was wrapping everything in quotes.
If you need any modifier commands for the program in question, those must also go within the quotes. For example, I like Skype to run with no splash screen and minimized, so my entry actually looks like:
runas /profile /user:COMPUTERNAME\USER /savecred "C:\Program Files\Skype\Phone\Skype.exe /nosplash /minimized"
The first time you run it a command prompt will show up demanding the password for the other user account. Type it in and hit enter, or just hit enter if there is no password (and shame on you for having an active user account with no password). As long as you used the /savecred command you will never have to enter the password again. Note that the shortcut is now pointing to the runas.exe program and not the program being run by the runas program, so the icon will be blank. You can change the icon on the shortcut tab, just navigate to the program file and select the icon you want for it.
Now, delete the junk folders from your My Documents folder, and they will never be recreated by that program again. This only works with XP Professional, as XP "Home" (Gimped) doesn't have runas.exe.
For those folders that Windows itself throws in there, such as My Music, My Pictures, and so forth, you can use TweakUI to locate them somewhere else. Personally I leave a dummy My Documents (folder name only, not the real one) folder in my user profile folder, and stick all that crap in there, where it won't bother me.
First I should justify why I actually use the folder. I like having my most accessed stuff in a folder in the root of my C drive. I also like having easy access to it on the desktop. If I just had a folder that was actually located on the desktop, I would have to navigate to C:\documents and settings\USERNAME\Desktop\FOLDERNAME, which is annoying. So I use TweakUI to change the My Documents folder for my profile to C:\Documents.
So, why not just have a shortcut on the Desktop that points to C:\Documents? Because designating the folder as the My Documents folder gives it special powers that make it much easier to access from a variety of programs. Of course, giving it the My Documents special folder designation also invites all these annoying programs to spam the folder with all of their "My Bullshit" folders.
Solution? Some programs will let you specify somewhere else this crap should go, and I usually direct it to the program's program files folder. Many, however, don't give you this option in any settings configuration. So, when you identify a program that likes to fill your My Documents folder with junk, set it to run as another user. For example, right clicking on the Skype shortcut in my Start Menu and selecting properties shows me the following in the "target" field on the shortcut tab:
"C:\Program Files\Skype\Phone\Skype.exe"
Ok, now Skype is arguably the worst offender in terms of assaulting my My Documents folder. It spams three entire folders. So, making it run as another user will redirect its bullshit to that user's My Documents folder in their profile. If you have an active Guest account, that will work fine. I don't, but I did have another active user account that I used instead. Guest account is probably ideal as it has limited privileges, but you can just create a new account just for this is you want, just make sure it has write privileges. Replace the line above with the following:
runas /profile /user:COMPUTERNAME\USER /savecred "C:\Program Files\Skype\Phone\Skype.exe"
Where COMUPTERNAME is your computer's name, and USER is the user account name that you want to deflect the folder spam to (Not the user name you use). Replace the Skype program path with the program path of the program you're trying to protect your My Documents folder from. Note that there must be quotes around the program path, but not around the entire thing, as the Microsoft Knowledge Base article on the subject would tell you. This mistake on their part caused me about 15 minutes of confusion, as I was wrapping everything in quotes.
If you need any modifier commands for the program in question, those must also go within the quotes. For example, I like Skype to run with no splash screen and minimized, so my entry actually looks like:
runas /profile /user:COMPUTERNAME\USER /savecred "C:\Program Files\Skype\Phone\Skype.exe /nosplash /minimized"
The first time you run it a command prompt will show up demanding the password for the other user account. Type it in and hit enter, or just hit enter if there is no password (and shame on you for having an active user account with no password). As long as you used the /savecred command you will never have to enter the password again. Note that the shortcut is now pointing to the runas.exe program and not the program being run by the runas program, so the icon will be blank. You can change the icon on the shortcut tab, just navigate to the program file and select the icon you want for it.
Now, delete the junk folders from your My Documents folder, and they will never be recreated by that program again. This only works with XP Professional, as XP "Home" (Gimped) doesn't have runas.exe.
For those folders that Windows itself throws in there, such as My Music, My Pictures, and so forth, you can use TweakUI to locate them somewhere else. Personally I leave a dummy My Documents (folder name only, not the real one) folder in my user profile folder, and stick all that crap in there, where it won't bother me.