Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (
More info?)
"William" <William@nospam/no/.net> wrote in message news:3IKdnQFiOoCpHorfRVn-2w@adelphia.com...
> I deleted the contents of c\windows Downloaded Program Files folder. It is
> empty. But when i right click properties, it tells me there are 3 files.
>
> I have shown all files, & unchecked the OS files. So i should see everything.
> Where are these other 3 files. I checked another xp machine & found the
> same. There must be some way to view inside?
There is a C:\Windows\Downloaded Program Files (DPF) directory on your
hard drive. In that directory there is a "hidden" desktop.ini file which Windows
Explorer (WE) looks at when you try to browse that folder. The desktop.ini
file instructs WE to use specialized routines for displaying/manipulating the
items associated with that folder. WE doesn't display a list of files that are
in that directory, it displays a list of installed program-like objects (ActiveX
controls, possibly Java Applets, possibly other things not sure).
Lets use ActiveX controls as an example. When an ActiveX control is
installed, files are stored in one or more locations on your hard drive (in your
downloaded program files directory *and/or* elsewhere) and the control is
"registered" (which involves creating/updating various registry keys). In order
to remove it, it must be deregistered and the various files (wherever they are)
deleted. The specialized view of the DPF folder is designed to shield users
from all those ugly details and assure that things are removed properly. You
see a simple list of installed objects, and when you "delete" or "remove" an
item in the list, the files and registry keys associated with that item are
removed.
In WE, if you select the DPF folder to view what it "contains", look at the
status bar. It will say "5 objects" or whatever... "objects". If you right
click on the DPF folder and select properties, that Properties Dialog will
display "8 Files, 0 Folders" or whatever.... "files" and "folders". Even if
you properly uninstall all objects (ActiveX controls, etc) using the WE
interface, there should still be at least one file in the DPF directory (that
desktop.ini file) and there may be other files/folders. To see what the
DPF directory contains, I go command line...
- Start->Run, type "cmd", hit OK. Black window opens. In it...
- Type "cd c:\windows\downloaded program files", hit enter.
- Type "dir /a" to get a list of all files/folders
Don't delete or change anything in the DPF directory unless you fully
understand what you are doing or are following directions from a
trustworthy source. Delete the wrong thing and you could break
functionality you need and/or break the mechanism by which objects
are easily uninstalled.
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