Terrible Architectural Design for File Management in Windows 11

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Terrible Architectural Design for File Management in Windows 11

Anonymous

Why does microsoft automate many Windows settings, including OneDrive, to work only for users with Microsoft User account?

It has an administrative privilege, so there's a high risk of malware attack. People who understand software security will never use such an account. They will log in with Standard Account with no administrative privilege. It is very troublesome to do many settings with the Local Account, especially related to file management, including OneDrive. I had to uninstall it first, because I don't want OneDrive to connect directly to my Documents, Pictures, and Videos. I only want OneDrive to backup only a subset of all data that I have in a separate folder inside another harddrive. I believe this is common usage of OneDrive for many people. Only important data is backed up. Other than that, they are just garbage that OneDrive should never touch.

And also why does Windows 11 eliminate the concept of "Library folder" in Explorer?

I have many folder for Pictures, Documents, and Videos that are distributed across multiple harddrives and folders. They are all integrated to their respective "Library folder" in Explorer, when I used Windows 7. But in Windows 11, it seems like Microsoft assume they are all stored in the C:\ drive inside one folder for Pictures, one folder for Documents, and one folder for Videos. This is a terrible idea. The "Library folder" concept should be implemented back in Explorer to allow every user customize their file management.

Microsoft should never follow Apple's idea to streamline file management. It is a very bad concept for advance users like me, who like to manage files in our own way.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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5 answers

Answer 1

Anonymous

I'm glad to hear it's resolved.

Let me know if I can help further. I'll stay subscribed to this thread in case you need anything else, until the system locks it in a few months.

Also if any particular post provided the solution, please mark it as Answer or Helpful to help others who find this thread.

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Answer 2

Anonymous

Yes it is solved. Thanks for spending time to read my concerns.

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Answer 3

Anonymous

So is it resolved now? You have libraries?

If not I'd ask Shawn in the Eleven Forums tutorial Comments as he will know if anyone will.

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Answer 4

Hello Greg, thanks for your reply.

As a human being, there will be times when we accidentally or intentionally click on an executable files which contain trojan or virus (which we do not know). If we login with administrative privilege, then that trojan or virus will automatically run on an administrative privilege as well. Hence it can infect our computer in an unexpected way and often not revealed immediately. On the other hand, if we login with standard account and we accidentally or intentionally click on an executable files which contain trojan or virus (which we do not know), then that trojan or virus will only run on a process with standard access rights as well. Hence we can limit the negative impact of that trojan or virus.

Have you considered this situation?

This is one critical scenario, which I think many people do not realize, including Microsoft guys. So it's better to bind Microsoft User Account to a non-admin account in our PC and activate the local administrator separately in that PC. The administrator access is only useful for software installation and Windows reconfiguration anyway. Not needed on a daily usage, especially for MS Office and to play games from Steam.

Anyway, your link did not solved my problem. It tells you to force the creation of new library folder first, before the entire library set can be displayed. But everytime you restart the PC again, the library folders will be gone from Explorer. So the solution is just to basically find a configuration to show it.

After enabling the "Show libraries" option, then it is solved.

Answer 5

Hello Vanium. I'm Greg, here to help you with this.

Here is how to use Libraries in Windows 11:

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/create-new-librar...

(The great thing about MVP Shawn Brink's tutorials is that he is normally the best expert on the subjects he writes about, and is usually easily accessible in the Comments section of his tutorials where you can contact him if you need further help.)

It sounds like you might be confusing a Local Account with a Standard Account which are two different things. A Local Account is the alternative to a MS Account. A Standard is the lesser account to an Administrator without full privileges.

It is a myth that you're safer running under Standard account on your own PC. Windows will pop up a UAC box in either type account if changes are attempted to be made from within or outside. The only difference is that the Admin has a yes (approve) button while a Standard account must put in the Admin password to proceed, unnecessary make-work with no security advantage. This is why Windows installs an Admin account or a new PC sets up an Admin account because it assumes you're the owner, and the owner should always have an Admin account.

If this is not exactly what you need, please explain a bit more so I can help you better. Otherwise feel free to ask back questions and keep me posted on your progress as I will be here to help until this is resolved.

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Terrible Architectural Design for File Management in Windows 11

5 answers