Ask Leo!: Windows Oddities

What's the difference between AppData and Application Data folders? (And why have both?)

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 11:26:02 -08:00

I use Vista which I find far more difficult to navigate than the XP used formerly. For some reason all my files seem to have duplicated themselves and I cannot access them. For example I have two folders entitled application data and another app data. I can access one but when I try to access the other I am told that the folder is inaccessible and access is denied. Did I perhaps inadvertently initiate a share or something equally stupid?

]]> Nope, nothing you did at all, stupid or otherwise.

This is part of some kind of redesign that Microsoft initiated in Windows Vista that folks just now upgrading to Windows 7 are encountering as well.

And I agree, it's confusing. I can take some guesses as to why they both exist, but first let's look at exactly what they are, and perhaps more importantly, what they are not.

What is this numeric folder in my SYSTEM32 folder, and why does it have 45 gigabytes of data in it?

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 13:07:33 -08:00

Why do I have a 45Gb folder - C:\Windows\system32\1025 - where no files show up? It is killing my 75Gb disk (only about 5Gb user data).

]]> I don't know why there's 45Gb there, but we'll look at a couple of options that might be hiding whatever's taking up that space from sight.

I'll also look at what that folder, and some similar companion folders, are.

What are hiberfil.sys and pagefile.sys? (And how do I remove them?)

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:32:55 -08:00

I recently noticed two huge files named hiberfil.sys and pagefile.sys occupying something like 2.5GB. I can't delete 'em, or if I do they come back when I reboot. What are they and how do I get rid of them?

]]> As you might guess, hiberfil.sys and pagefile.sys are two system files, managed by Windows.

They are support files for two features in Windows. While you might be able to get rid of them, you might not actually want to.

But you can at least manage one of them a little bit.

How do I type in characters and symbols that aren't on my keyboard?

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 20:31:48 -08:00

Can you tell me how to access the many odd characters and fractions etc. that are available? I used to know how but forgot. I remember it had to use a combination of numbers or characters to access them.

]]> Sure. It's actually pretty simple, and very easy to do.

The problem is that many of the codes you might type in may not display the same character in all places. In most, cases the set of characters is fairly consistent, but you might run into a case or two where what you see is not what you expect.

Why is there more than one "My Documents"? Does that mean it's taking up extra space?

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:46:31 -08:00

I notice that a folder called "My Documents" shows up in two places in Windows, and there's another that seems to have the same things in it as well. Are all these copies taking up extra space on my hard drive? Which one should I use? Can I get rid of any of them?

]]> They're not copies.

In an effort to be helpful (which we've heard before), Windows actually treats your My Documents folder differently ... it's "special".

Which one is real? What are the implications? Let's look at that.