No more my documents!

Hi there,

I've always been a windows 98 man, but I've now upgraded to XP on my new laptop.
The whole "My Documents" idea is good if your going to be having multiple users on the same computer, but thats not for me.

So, my first question:
Is there a way that I can just completely remove the My Documents folder without screwing up the computer?

And second:
If I can't remove My Documents, is there a way to keep it so that when ever I go to open/save a file on my computer, it starts on the C:\ folder, rather than the My Documents folder?
Also, in the My Documents folder, there are automatic folders such as "My Music", "My Ebooks", "My Pictures", "My uselessfolder" etc. Whenever I delete these (empty) folders, they always seem to come back. Is there a way to stop this?

Thanks,
Jason

Is there a way that I can just completely remove the My Documents folder without screwing up the computer?

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, no...the My Documents directory is a system folder, and as such can't be removed. You can remove the My Documents folder from the desktop either by using TweakUI for XP, which can be d/l'ed from MS here...

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp...(the "Remove My Documents Icon" is located under the "Desktop" branch in TweakUI), or you could manually edit the Registry...

HKEY_CURRENT_USER | Software | Microsoft | Windows | CurrentVersion | Explorer | CLSID | {450D8FBA-AD25-11D0-98A8-0800361B1103} | ShellFolder

Value Name: Attributes
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: (0xf0500174 = Hidden, 0xf0400174 = Default)

Modify the value called "Attributes" and set it to either "0xf0500174" to hide or "0xf0400174" to display My Documents. Right click on a blank area of the desktop and press F5 to refresh for the change to take effect. This tweak can also by used on a system wide basis by entering the same values under the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE] hive.

Is there a way to keep it so that when ever I go to open/save a file on my computer, it starts on the C:\ folder, rather than the My Documents folder?

Click to expand...

I believe you'll need to edit two Registry Keys, one being...

HKEY_CURRENT_USER | Software | Microsoft | Windows | CurrentVersion | Explorer | Shell Folders, and the second being...

HKEY_CURRENT_USER | Software | Microsoft | Windows | CurrentVersion | Explorer | User Shell Folders

In the RH pane of each of the above two Keys, locate the corresponding String Value name of the My Documents folder path you'd like to modify | Right click each and select "Modify" | In the "Value data" field, enter the path to the directory you'd like to be the default.

In the case of IE, if you'd like to just set a particular directory as the default, you'll need to edit the Registry. Expand the following branch...

HKEY_CURRENT_USER | Software | Microsoft | Internet Explorer

Right click the Download Directory String Value name in the RH pane and select "Modify" | In the "Value data" field, enter the path to the directory you'd like to be the default. If you'd like to move the My Documents folder, right-click on My Documents, select "Properties", go to the "Target" tab and click the "Move" button.