Fonts directory and Application Data directory: reinistalling Win98SE, should I restore these?

I doubt it is what you think. When a Fonts folder has the System
attribute, many if not all files with the FON extension get hidden. Is
it possible that the number of FON files in your backup folder would
account for the discrepancy?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"Tuttle" wrote in message
...
Further information:

Yes indeed, you were absolutely right. There was a mirroring effect
occurring, but in the opposite direction from what we thought. We
thought
that the true FONTS folder on the PC was mirroring, and I even thought
it
was automatically installing, fonts from the backup copy of FONTS on
the
external drive, it wasn't. The reason the number of fonts was
identical in
each folder was that the active FONTS folder on the PC was somehow
causing
the backup copy to display the same total and same list of fonts.

After removing the System attribute from the backup copy, and deleting
its
Desktop.ini, and rebooting, now the external fonts backup is a normal
folder. Lo and behold, that backup now shows far more fonts than
before. It
did not list them in the total previously, and I could not see them,
because
the active FONTS folder on the PC was somehow hiding them and causing
the
backup to display identical information.

Weird stuff. Thanks very much for your help, and thanks to Alan
Edwards for
his help.

What was it in the backup fonts folder that caused this weird
mirroring? Was
it the System attribute or the Desktop.ini file?


"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
Sorry, I was under the impression that a mirroring effect was going
on,
that you had already found that when the USB drive was disabled, a
different set of fonts was shown in the C:\Windows\FONTS folder.
When
you reinstalled your system, especially if you reinstalled all the
same
applications, you will have also reinstalled all the same fonts as
you
had before. I was just suggesting that before you delete the backup
fonts folder, you make *sure* that you really have them all
installed.
If the backup folder no longer has the System attribute (there's
only
one "backup fonts" folder, right?), you can be fairly certain that
what
you see in the current FONTS folder is real.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"Tuttle" wrote in message
...
"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
That isn't the command you want.You want to remove the System
attribute
from the folder, not from the files within the folder.

E:\attrib -s FONTS

Thanks. That worked!

Don't delete the folder. While it *appears* that all of the
fonts
have
been automatically installed to your new system, they haven't.
Those
files you see in the C:\Windows\FONTS folder aren't really
there.
Those
are mirrors of what's in the other fonts folder.

Not that I would ever doubt you, but are you sure?
When I reboot the PC, and the external drive is powered off, my
real
Fonts
folder shows the full list of my fonts, the identical number of
fonts
as on
the copy.

In microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion, "Tuttle"
wrote:

Further information:

Yes indeed, you were absolutely right. There was a mirroring effect
occurring, but in the opposite direction from what we thought. We thought
that the true FONTS folder on the PC was mirroring, and I even thought it
was automatically installing, fonts from the backup copy of FONTS on the
external drive, it wasn't. The reason the number of fonts was identical in
each folder was that the active FONTS folder on the PC was somehow causing
the backup copy to display the same total and same list of fonts.


Yes, that is the way the mirroring system works from hazy memory.
I haven't done it myself for many years, since I had Win95.


After removing the System attribute from the backup copy, and deleting its
Desktop.ini, and rebooting, now the external fonts backup is a normal
folder. Lo and behold, that backup now shows far more fonts than before. It
did not list them in the total previously, and I could not see them, because
the active FONTS folder on the PC was somehow hiding them and causing the
backup to display identical information.

Weird stuff. Thanks very much for your help, and thanks to Alan Edwards for
his help.

What was it in the backup fonts folder that caused this weird mirroring? Was
it the System attribute or the Desktop.ini file?


I have always thought you need both, but it has been reported to me
that you may get a mirror effect with just the System attribute. It
may not be exactly the same as if there was a Desktop.ini present.
As I do not wish to go down that path again, if you really want that
answer, you may have to either experiment or research.

You may have a look at a previous thread where Rick had reported
findings.
http://groups-beta.google.com/groups...n+edwards%2 2
(The second thread in the above)

....Alan

--
Alan Edwards, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
http://dts-l.org/index.html

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
I doubt it is what you think. When a Fonts folder has the System
attribute, many if not all files with the FON extension get hidden. Is
it possible that the number of FON files in your backup folder would
account for the discrepancy?

Nope, I just checked. There are a ton of .ttf (TrueType) font files in the
backup that are not present on the PC. But when that backup Fonts folder had
the System attribute and the Desktop.ini file, all those extra fonts were
hidden from me.

Only showing what's listed in the Registry (what's installed)? It's been
a long while since I played with fonts in earnest in Win98.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"Tuttle" wrote in message
...

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
I doubt it is what you think. When a Fonts folder has the System
attribute, many if not all files with the FON extension get hidden.
Is
it possible that the number of FON files in your backup folder would
account for the discrepancy?

Nope, I just checked. There are a ton of .ttf (TrueType) font files in
the
backup that are not present on the PC. But when that backup Fonts
folder had
the System attribute and the Desktop.ini file, all those extra fonts
were
hidden from me.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
Only showing what's listed in the Registry (what's installed)? It's been
a long while since I played with fonts in earnest in Win98.

I suspect that's what's happening. I don't know whether it's the System
attribute or the Desktop.ini file that accomplishes that, but that seems to
be what was occurring.