So before I start I should mention that this may be a bit stupid, and is definitely more of a convenience tweak then a practical or useful project.
I would like to have a setup that in some ways is kind of like a single user version of windows. By that I mean that applications are stored under %USERPROFILE%Applications. Obviously, I can't just change the registry values to point at that directory and call it a day, I would need to deal with 64bit vs 32bit programs. I don't intend on letting that be a problem for any applications I install, however all the system applications have a 32 bit version and a 64 bit one. That begs the question, what happens if I just delete the 32 bit ones? Would everything crash and burn or would I be fine? Assuming everything would break, is there anyway that I can 'trick' installers into installing new programs into %USERPROFILE%Applications while the system still knows how to use applications installed into %USERPROFILE%ApplicationsSystem64x and %USERPROFILE%ApplicationsSystem86x. I think you understand roughly what I'm going for even if you think its really stupid.
My next question is does anyone know if there are any good replacement control panel(organized nicely, not including godmode), or is that not possible?
Welcome to the forum.
What would be the point of such changes? Things are designed the way they are for a reason. When dealing with trickery or forcing things to work in ways other than intended there is the chance that something will break, with unpredictable results. You need to have a really good reason to go down that road
For me it's a matter of two things, seeing what I can do with Windows, as well as making it fit my personal liking a little better. I have tried and succeeded in simply moving program files into the users folder, so I still have hopes for the project.Welcome to the forum.
What would be the point of such changes? Things are designed the way they are for a reason. When dealing with trickery or forcing things to work in ways other than intended there is the chance that something will break, with unpredictable results. You need to have a really good reason to go down that road
You can install programs anywhere you want. The installers are written to install to a specific location, but you need to change that with each install. I have done that before. It is time consuming, but not as issue.
However some installers don't seem to have that option :/ is there any way to move the programs and still be sure that it works? Also on a 64bit computer do the 32 bit windows programs every run? Can I just remove them?
32 bit programs run just fine on a 64 bit computer. Why would you want to remove them? Some programs only come in 32 bit versions. It is recommended that, if you use Microsoft Office, to install the 32 bit version unless you use extremely large spreadsheets. If the installer does not have an option to install to another location, and I have NOT seen one that did not, always click on advanced, or custom install, then you would need to move all of the files to another location, and change the registry entries of that program to point to the new location, A real PITA, unless there is software developed which does this for you.However some installers don't seem to have that option :/ is there any way to move the programs and still be sure that it works? Also on a 64bit computer do the 32 bit windows programs every run? Can I just remove them?
Unless you REALLY understand what you are doing it is best to regard the entire contents of Program Files and Program Files (x64) folders as read only. Do not attempt to modify the contents in any way. This is far more complex than you imagine and most guesses you might make are likely to be wrong.
The same applies (and even more so) to the Windows folder and all of it's sub folders.
Ok, hah thanks
