How to stop Windows 7 from writing desktop.ini files everywhere?

just locate c:\ and search "desktop.ini"

then delete this file from personal folders (example: backups, personal data folders, etc.)

and, save your personal data in a folder called year-month, for example: "2012-april" and subfolders. that's the way you can easy make a backup to a CD/DVD.

and you don´t worry about the file desktop.ini in the folders "windows, users, program files, program data, etc", because it will always be about 100 bytes.

Sourcerer said:

For some reason I'm quite certain that Microsoft could've come up with a more elegant solution to folder customization than having a hidden system file in every folder.

It could be an NTFS folder attribute I guess. Also there is the registry where you can store pretty much everything.

shortmantuff said:

I'm with Deacon. Why do you want to the view the hidden files at all times? They're hidden for a reason as they can pose security threats. If you need to view them, is it that hard to click 'Show hidden files'?

Hidden files are hidden so that the incompetent don't screw things up. After an installation its one of the first things enable (also in TC). Furthermore a lot of files are hidden pointlessly

Anyway my solution was to change the view to detailed in the C:\ root. and then in the folder settings I chose apply to all files of the type. Which is good for me because I always prefer the detailed view. After this by guessing what windows mean by type in this occasion did the same in the images, videos and music folder. So far so good.

I know this is a really old thread, but nobody answered the question of "Why show hidden files at all?"

Minecraft. (just one example)

For you snobs asking "They are hidden on purpose, why do you want access to ALL the files on the computer you payed hundreds of dollars for anyway?"

If you want to install resource packs and such for Minecraft you need access to the "appdata/roaming" folder for your user name. Please open windows explorer and go there now. If you are unsure where this is, go to your c:/ then "users" then <your login name> then "appdata" then "roaming". I'll wait.

What? You couldn't find it? Well, then you cannot join the minecraft community on such-and-such server because you cannot install the graphics pack for that community. Nor can you install any of the HD resource packs that massively improve the look of mincraft.

And that is just one example. Almost every program on your computer has a folder in appdata/roaming...

And some of you seem to suffer from the misunderstanding that just because it is hidden from view it cannot be accessed. The Google Redirect Virus hides itself in that folder... why? because you don't even know that folder exists. None of the anti virus softwares work against it because the first thing it does is corrupt your antivirus software and make changes to your firewall that you cannot simply "undo". You have to go in manually and find the parts and scrub them... in the appdata/roaming folder that is hidden not so viruses can't break it, but so uninformed users cannot break it.

I hope that these 2 examples out of hundreds illustrate why people who do more with their computers than just use a couple of programs to socialize might want access to "hidden files"... especially ones that are hidden for no really good reason.

OP, sorry that I could answer THAT question without being able to answer your question. I forget who said it, but as far as the desktop.ini that show on your desktop... yea, try setting your desktop folder to only show icons (which is all it does anyway). Make sure to do it in all the different locations. This usually, but not always helps. You might want to set the file view globally to "just icons" and then manually set each folder that you really need thumbnails in... this might, just might, stop desktop.ini from queuing up when you write data somewhere.

By Sunhammer " I know this is a really old thread, but nobody answered the question of "Why show hidden files at all? "

Probably because the question was " why show SYSTEM files at all? " There is really quite a difference.

Art.

Someone always likes gravedigging...

But to answer this new deeply philosophical question rationalizing the existence of poor solutions utilizing hidden files which asks "Why show hidden files at all?"

Well, have you ever copied a folder somewhere? Did you know that when you copy a folder, you also copy with it all hidden files? No? Well, that may be because you can't see them, but nevermind that. If you didn't notice that before, then you probably wouldn't know about their contents, their size, and other such trifles. At this point, let me just say that I'm not a proponent of the notion that "what you don't know won't hurt you." Which is ultimately why I demand that I see everything that's on my hard drive, including hidden files (and folders!), system files and file extensions, thank you very much.

Hopefully this answers that. Now you may go on believing that ignorance is bliss. That is, until you get bitten by whatever you are ignorant of, after which you may return to your beliefs and hope that they don't fail you this time.

blackblack20143 said:

I'm with Deacon. Why do you want to the view the hidden files at all times? They're hidden for a reason as they can pose security threats. If you need to view them, is it that hard to click 'Show hidden files'?

Yet none of you can come up with "a reason". It's hidden because someone decided to flip a stupid attribute, to make file management unpredictable and counterintuitive.

Holy necroposts, Batman! The reason is, there's no "reason" to use or edit those files during normal usage, so they don't need to be visible. Why is the hood of your car located outside of the "passenger cabin" and under a hood? You don't need to access that area for normal usage.

In extremely rare events, when you do need to edit or manipulate those files, you can with a few mouse clicks. It's mind-blowing this needs to be debated. Windows 7 doesn't need constant tinkering or tweaking, so hiding those files protects the system from the average user with the purpose of making the system more stable.

Yeah right...
That's why half the archives, torrents, etc are filled thumbs.db, desktop.ini and crap like that. Files shouldn't be hidden.
The fact you can copy, move, delete files you can't even see is ridiculous.