Hi Don,

I deleted the thumbs.db file from the desktop.  I don't 'store' images 
on the desktop but I do sometimes save scanned images there because they 
are easy to find and then I move them to other folders.

I don't use the 'My Documents' or 'My Pictures' folders for storing 
anything.  All my data is stored on my 'data' drive and backed up daily 
to a USB hard drive.

This is a brand new computer with a brand new installation of WinXP Pro 
XP2 and should be very clean.  The more I use it, the better it seems to 
be working.  The problem of copying between applications seems to have 
been solved.  I turned off the Windows Clipboard in a couple of MS 
Office applications and I've not had the copying problem since I did 
that.  I don't know what turning off the clipboard had to do with the 
problem, but it does seem to have solved it.

I will get TweakUI for WinXP and see what I can do.  I had it for WinME, 
but haven't yet set it up for this installation.

My thanks to you and to all for all your invaluable help...

Loy


Don Penlington wrote:
> Loy wrote:
>> one thing that I do not like is that the
>> "thumbs.db" file now becomes visible on the Desktop. >>
>
>
> Thumbs would only appear on the desktop if you have stored pictures on 
> the Desktop.  No data (pictures or otherwise) should be stored on the 
> desktop.  It is not good practice.
>
> Why?
>
> Well, because Desktop is part of Windows.  If you ever have to 
> reformat your C-Drive and reinstall Windows in the event of Windows 
> suddenly failing for any reason, anything residing on the desktop will 
> be gone without trace.
>
> Unfortunately, there's always a possibility of this happening without 
> warning.  I therefore recommend that your desktop entries should be 
> shortcuts only.  That way, you won't be bothered by the pesky thumbs 
> file.
>
> For the same reason, the default folders "My documents", "My Pictures" 
> etc should not be used for storing data, unless you move them to a 
> drive other than C, and make sure you "save" to the new location.  
> Sure, you can backup everything in those folders every day if you are 
> so inclined.  But why create that extra work?
>
> As to your other difficulties with XP, I'm wondering if they are a 
> legacy of installing XP over the top of an older installation, or not 
> reformatting the hard drive first, thus it is picking up remnants off 
> an older system still lurking.
>
> I've never noticed any obvious differences between XP Home and Pro.  
> On the surface they are pretty identical.  There are, of course, 
> considerable differences in functionality, though most of the 
> additional functions of Pro aren't a lot of use to the average home user.
>
> Any gross differences would come from your installation methods, or 
> perhaps from your initial configuration of XP.  This usually takes 
> some time to get to your liking, and some of its settings are not easy 
> to find.
>
> TweakUI is very good for that, it saves an awful lot of hunting around 
> trying to find those odd settings.
>
> Don Penlington
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> From the Beach at Surfers Paradise in sunny Queensland.
> Computer tutorials, local scenery,  and other things at my website:
> http://users.tpg.com.au/deepend/index1.html
>
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