Why is that ridiculous? No one said those files were useless. They just don't need to be seen because they don't need to be used. Be thankful the files are copied. I'm still not sure why this needs to be debated, as it seems pretty straight-forward. If you have a basic understanding of file structure, system files, etc, and then factor in WHY they are hidden, it makes perfect sense.
Think about who the largest percentage of users are? They aren't power-users. As soon as you realize those facts, you'll see why the files are hidden, and why that makes Windows 7 extremely reliable for the average user to run.
Besides, again, there's no point in debating it. If you want to run your system with the files all visible, a few mouse clicks takes care of that. Problem solved.
It's a pointless mess. There are proper filesystem rights for fool proofing. This is just a remnant of a stupid idea, which is only good for confusion.
Thing is, it isn't causing confusion at all. I manage 30 laptops, all running Windows 7 Pro. I'd say 5 of those 30 people are tech comfortable, much less tech savvy. I'm very glad these files are hidden, and that translates into stable machines, letting me focus on more important things than repairing or re-imaging user systems.
There's no reason to complain about it, because on your own person system, you can make this change easily, in less time than it took to post a rant about it. Microsoft doesn't just make an OS for you...it has to make one for the masses. You're left with a choice of changing the setting for yourself, or running Linux. Point is, you have choices. Save your rants for times when there are no choices.
That's irrelevant because they shouldn't have rights to change those folders that can cause problems
"Microsoft doesn't just make an OS for you...it has to make one for the masses."
True but you ignored the the filesystem rights which I already mentioned.
Anyway I wrote and subscribed to this topic to read about desktop.ini, and how to hide it which is the topic title's about. But people keep producing noise by saying "why do you want hidden files to be shown?" questions.
Simple to me.
Windows 7 is try to protect itself from owners/operators fooling around and making mistakes.
Windows 7 has many ways to try and protect itself for good reason. Self survival.
If one wants to tinker without proper knowledge and supervision I suggest you get proficient
at Repair Install or Clean Install first.
@DeaconFrost, the problem with hidden files is not that they are hidden. If the average user doesn't need or shouldn't see them, that's all well and good, but the real problem is that they are there at all. If this is information the system needs, why is it scattered all over the place? Wouldn't it be better to store it in one place, like the registry, or as folder attributes... ? In other words, wouldn't it be a far better solution if this information wasn't squeezed into the file system at all? Just imagine having filing cabinets with information about what's stored in them, stored in one of the files inside every cabinet drawer, and that file just happens to be hidden among the rest of the files. It would be much better if you could stick a tag to the drawer and ditch the hidden file, don't you think?
I didn't create this thread to debate the need of hidden files, though. They constitute a ghastly solution to folder customization, but it's here to stay, it would seem. My question was simply where do I turn it off? I don't need it, and I don't feel comfortable knowing that there is stuff I don't see in places I wouldn't even think of. It may enable nice features for your average user, but I'm not your average user and this particular way of implementing these features is more a nuisance than anything else to me.
@Layback Bear,
Why do you assume that we who prefer to have hidden files shown to us don't have "proper knowledge"?If one wants to tinker without proper knowledge and supervision I suggest you get proficient
at Repair Install or Clean Install first.
It is what it is. That's how the system works. Honestly, you're just spending a lot of time and effort worrying about something that doesn't warrant it. The reason Layback Bear made that comment it, given the patterns we see on here, the people with the proper knowledge don't worry about those files. They aren't causing any issues, and we understand why they are the way they are.
Now, maybe in the future, Windows versions may lock away all system files, and give you "user space" like Linux, but that's going to require a lot of rewritten software by non-Microsoft companies to be compatible. People often bitch at Microsoft for not making huge changes, but they fail to grasp what that would mean for the industry as a whole. Vista, for example, wasn't really that bad of an OS. The biggest failure of Vista was that OEMs weren't ready for its release. People bought new computers that didn't have Nvidia drivers available for the system...so gaming wasn't an option until Nvidia released working drivers.
Agreed. Why worry about them?
Why make system files viewable anyway? What does seeing them accomplish? Do you do things differently while seeing them, vs. not seeing them?
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