Detailed explanation of system folder Win9X/Me article
It is said that Windows 9X still has many users, and Windows Me and Windows 9X are very similar. Here I will take you into the main system folders of Windows 9X/Me and see them clearly.
First of all, we need to clarify a concept. "System folder" refers to the folder that stores the main files of the operating system. It is generally automatically created and placed in the corresponding folder during the installation of the operating system. The files here directly affect the normal operation of the system, and most of them are not allowed to be changed at will.
Command
There are many external command programs under DOS in this folder. These widgets are useful for system crashes. For example, files can be used to create a startup disk on the DOS command line.
Cookies
The "Cookie" folder stores some personal information created by the website on your hard drive when users browse certain websites, such as usernames, URLs they have visited, etc.
Desktop
Desktop folder, files stored in this folder will be displayed directly on the desktop.
Downloaded Program Files
The folder where IE downloads files are stored. It contains the files required to display the opened web page (most of which are used to run animations on the web page). Note: This is not a folder that must be placed on the software you download.
Favorites
"Favorites" folder. In IE, we "add a web page to favorites", which is actually to store the shortcuts of the web page in this folder. Of course, we can also create more folders under this file to store favorites in a classified manner.
Fonts
Font folder. All the fonts to be used in the system are stored here, so in addition to opening the "Installation New Font" item in the "Font" window of the control panel, you can also copy the font file directly here; you can also delete some infrequently used font files (but be careful not to delete screen fonts with the extension .fon, so as not to cause the system to not display normally).
Help
Help file storage folder. It includes many very detailed help files. When encountering difficulties, you can read more of these help files, as they will be of great help to users.
History
History folder. When browsing a web page in IE browser, IE will create a history information stored here by default. If you don't want others to know about your browsing whereabouts, you can delete the contents in this folder.
Offline Web Pages
Browse offline files where to store. When a site is set to allow offline use, the corresponding file will be generated in that folder.
Recent
A folder that records the recently opened documents. The contents correspond to the contents in the "Document" item in the Start menu, so if you want to clear the recently opened document records, you can directly delete the shortcuts in the folder.
Start Menu
Start menu folder. The items in it correspond to the program items in the start menu. In this folder, the start menu items can be adjusted (such as adding, deleting, reclassifying, etc.).
Sysbckup
This folder is used to store system backup information for registry and system files.
System
This is a system folder that stores important files in the system (such as DLL files, etc.). Some software will also copy files to this folder when installing. Therefore, as the installed software increases, the content in this folder will also increase. The files in this folder should not be deleted easily, otherwise it will cause system errors.
System32
32-bit system folders, which contain many virtual device files (VXD extension), and deleting them at will will cause system errors or even crashes.
Temp
Temporary folder, store temporary files generated during system operation. The files in them usually need to be cleaned manually.
Temporary Internet Files
Temporary folder for IE. This folder stores some content generated when IE browsing web pages. When the same web page is opened again, the system will read it from here to speed up browsing. Therefore, appropriately increasing the space of this temporary folder will make browsing faster (set in the "Internet Options" in the control panel).
Detailed explanation of system folder Win2000/XP
Since we have finished talking about the system folder of win98/Me, let’s talk about the popular system folder of Win2000/XP. After the system installation is completed, three folders will be generated by default: "WinNT" (Windows for XP), "Documents and Settings" and "Program Files". Compared with Windows 9X/Me, many folders in the system installation directory (Winnt or Windows) have the same effect. Since many necessary files for the system are stored under "Documents and Settings", we will also introduce them as a system folder. Like "Win9X/Me", we still only introduce important common folders.
1. Different folders in the installation directory than Win9X/Me
I have mentioned the function of the same folder as Win9X/Me in the previous article, so I will not repeat it here. Only different folders from Win9X/Me are introduced here.
Connection Wizard: Stores files used by the "Internet Connection Wizard".
Driver Cache: This folder generally has an i386 folder, which stores the driver compressed files that will be used (the file is generally as many as tens of megabytes).
Ime: The input method information is stored in this folder.
Prefetch: Pre-read folder. In order to speed up file access, pre-read technology is used in WinXP, which will generate new information (files with PF extension) in this folder.
Repair: When Win2000/XP is installed for the first time, the system will automatically save it here and other related system files.
Resources: A folder that stores related desktop themes.
System and System32: Although these two folders are also available in Win9X/Me, almost all system files in Win2000/XP are placed under System32, and only some 16-bit drivers and some shared runtime libraries for software are stored under the system.
Temp: This folder basically does not work in Win2000/XP, because each user has their own special temporary folder (placed under "Documents and Settings", see the introduction later).
2. "Documents and Settings" folder
By default, this folder will have Administrator, All users, Default User, LocalService, NetworkService, and folders created with different user names (if there are multiple users in the system), except LocalService and NetworkServiceviwl (they are created by the "Service Management" program in WinXP and are provided to programs that serve as services. For example, when installing Foxmail Server to build a mail server, these two folders are required by the system, so do not modify them at will (the default is an implicit property). The others are configured for users, and the folder structure is roughly the same.
1) Use "All users" as an example to illustrate the main content contained in the user configuration file (some folders mentioned below may be implicit attributes, and you need to set them first to let the system display all files before you can see them):
① Application Data: General application data folder. Here is a storage of special data for some installed applications, and the contents here are automatically generated when the software is installed. For example, under the Application Data folder of All users, there may be a Microsoft WordStartup folder (if Office has been installed, the document that will be automatically opened when Word starts).
② "Start" menu folder: stores some program groups and shortcuts in the Start menu.
③Desktop folder: Store some desktop projects for the logged-in user.
Douzi’s tip: A user’s “Start” menu, the items on the desktop include the contents of the above two folders under the corresponding username folder and the contents of the two folders under All Users.
④Templates: The template folder, which may contain template files such as Word, Excel, etc., is a reference template used when right-clicking to select "New".
⑤ Shared documents: Of course, it is the storage of the things you allow to share. There are two folders below: "Share Images" and "Share Music".
2) For different users, there will be:
Local Settings: is a "local settings" folder that stores application data, history and temporary folders, such as History, Temp and Temporary Internet Files (the function is the same as in Win9X/Me).
Application Data: The contents in the Application Data folder under different user folders are also different. For example, Application DataMicrosoft Internet ExplorerQuick Launch stores shortcuts in the "Quick Start" toolbar on the right of the "Start" menu, and Application DataMicrosoft Address Book is the OE's address book, etc.
In addition, there are also folders such as NetHood, PrintHood, Sendto, Favorites, Desktop, etc. under the user folder.
3) If you are in a LAN, when you log in to the system with an account belonging to the domain or workgroup, there will be "All" (for WinXP) or "All" (for Win2000) folders in "Documents and Settings"; if you reinstall the system by overlay and set the same user name as before during the installation process, when the installer finds that the folder with the same name already exists when creating user information, the name of the "user name.computer name" will be automatically created by naming the new user configuration information folder.
In addition, under "Program Files" (application folder), there will also be some files that are required for the system to run. The contents of this folder will vary greatly depending on the software installed after each person installs the system, including "Common Files" (the public library file used to store software), "Internet Explorer" (the IE browser is not in the installation directory), "Windows Media Player" (media playback program), etc., which will not be described in detail here.
Okay, that's all I have to say. I hope the article will be helpful to everyone to understand Windows.