padlocks

[Cbrown]

I opened my file manager (windows explorer) this morning and noticed a bunch of padlock icons beside the folder icons. I also cannot get into some of the folders. I was able to redo some of the permissions, but I don't recall seeing this before. (I am setup with admin access).
I have only been playing with the new windows for about 2 weeks. Have I just not noticed this yet, or have I somehow changed from the default?

 

[swarfega]

A few previous posts to help you out: Windows 7 Forums - Search Results

What are some of the folders you cant access?

 

[Cbrown]

Hi swarfega, Thanx for the reply,
Some of the folders are; Documents and settings, Recycle bin, and under users; Default user, All Users, and of course individual profiles. I have been able to open up some access through the permissions, but as an administrator I believe this should be automatic. I have also altered my security settings to as low as can be.
At this point, this is not a debilitating issue, but my reason for loading this OS is to learn it.

 

[logicearth]

Hi swarfega, Thanx for the reply,
Some of the folders are; Documents and settings, Recycle bin, and under users; Default user, All Users, and of course individual profiles. I have been able to open up some access through the permissions, but as an administrator I believe this should be automatic. I have also altered my security settings to as low as can be.
At this point, this is not a debilitating issue, but my reason for loading this OS is to learn it.

Those folder with padlocks, DO NOT CHANGE the permissions on them. Document and Settings, Default user, All Users are nothing but junctions to real locations, this is done for compatibility with older applications. The reason you cannot browse them is so software scanning the HDD will not pull out a bunch of duplicate files.

http://www.eggheadcafe.com/conversation.aspx?messageid=29739303&threadid=29739293

The padlock is just telling you, you cannot view the contents of this folder or file without first acquiring permissions. Under normal circumstances, when accessing none of the folders above the permission is automatically given for administrative users.

 

[SquonkSC]

The reason you suddenly noticed the padlocks is because you have set:

show hidden files and folders and/or show protected system files

Logicearth is right, don't mess with those folders, they are only for backward compatibility and not real folders.

Good luck

 

[Cbrown]

got it....DONT MESS with them. Thanx, I appreciate the info. and your right I did change the "show hidden files" switch. Although this brings up a new question. In the past I have accessed "all Users" on occasion when distributing program icons, etc. We use multiple profiles and I would sometimes alter who see's what. Is there now a better way? I see that the folder icons appear to be shortcuts but I have not been able to determine where the actual folder is.

 

[logicearth]

All Users is now Public, the desktop that is shown for everyone is C:\Users\Public\Desktop.

 

[SquonkSC]

All Users is now Public, the desktop that is shown for everyone is C:\Users\Public\Desktop.

Yes, one of a few bad naming decisions MS have made for W7.

Public will scare off the majority of people who think it literally means "Public".

Another bad choice is the Favorites in explorer.
I have seen a multitude of people thinking it is the same as IE Favorites.

What adds to the confusion is the fact that the Favorites on the right side of the startmenu brings you to IE Favorites instead of explorer Favorites.
They should have called it "Favorite Folders", or "Fast Folders" or whatever.

Another one is "Home network" in network settings and "Homegroup".
People think when they click on Home network after they connect,
they have setup a home network, while they still have a few things to do before that is a fact.

What about WEP security that is hidden under "shared"?
Why not just WEP in that list of options.
It lead to a lot of people (myself included) thinking W7 had dumped WEP support.

You stumble upon quite a few of these bad design decisions when you look for them.

I can see where for novice users this might be very confusing.

Greetings