Phil801 - Geek Blog

I prefer to maintain several customized settings on my computer. In older versions of windows I wrote some registry scripts that would automatically change things for me, in Windows XP there’s tweak UI that allows me to do it more easily.

The major customization I like to do is to repoint several of the system folders. I always maintain two partitions, a C and D drive. The C drive is smaller and is just for program installations. The D drive is much larger and is for all my files. I like to keep everything organized and have adopted the ‘My’ system. I keep all my files under D:\My Stuff. Under that is My Documents, My Downloads, My Favorites, My Photos, My Video etc. (about 50 of them). To get windows to recognize these as my system folders, the registry has to be redirected. One big reason I do the C/D and organization is that it makes it very easy to just format my C drive when needed - yeah, windows works better if you install it fresh every 6 months or so. Another thing I do is to use PowerQuest Drive Image to create a ‘clean’ image of my C drive. Once I have everything setup and configured the way I like it, I image it. Then I can just reinstall the image and it’s quick to revert to a clean installation.

Every once in a while, I decide to reconfigure everything. Recently I did just that. I’ve installed a fresh version of Windows XP on my laptop and I’m configuring it from scratch. Every time I do this I need to reset the registry for my customization. I do it so rarely it takes me a bit to remember where all the settings changes are in Tweak UI. So, since I’m doing it again, I thought I would document the process here so I can reference it next time - and if anyone is trying to figure out how to redirect your system folders - here you go.

1. Download TweakUIPowerTools
2. Install it and open Tweak UI - it’ll be listed in your Start folder as ‘PowerToys for Windows XP’
3. Expand the ‘My Computer’ branch on the tree list on the left.
4. Click on ‘Special Folders’ in the expanded branch.
5. The dropdown on the right will have each of the system folders listed. Select one and click the ‘Change Location’ button.
6. Select the new folder you want the system folder to point to (you will get a warning most of the time to be careful, just be careful)
7. Change all the folders you want redirected and click ok.

That’s it - easy and painless. There are TONS of things you can do with TweakUI PowerTools. If you’ve never checked it out before, you’re in for a treat!