What's in the Windows Folder?

[@nolanwhittaker8571]

I remember seeing the "This program has performed an illegal operation" message when I was little. (Around 2009, when I was in first grade) Scared the shit out of me. I honestly thought the police were gonna come to take me away.

[@subg9165]

Nolan Whittaker because of the word illegal?

[@nolanwhittaker8571]

Sub G yeah lol

[@June-413]

I thought I was the only one XD

[@skwealbaag8776]

I remember thinking this when I installed 98 in 2014 for the 1st time

[@beedslolkuntus2070]

@@skwealbaag8776 heh

[@mullahviking]

I remember as a kid "exploring" on my very first computer. Thinking if I delete the windows folder from the harddisk, I could put more things in my computer. That is how little I knew. And you know what? it worked. Deleting the windows folder did absolutely nothing. The programs it needed to run was already loaded in to ram or something, so it didn't fail until i eventually had to reboot the computer, or it crashed. that is how I learned that the folder was for something else then taking up space on the machine. This was on windows 3.1 And there was virtually no space on the harddisk, it had a whopping 16 MB. So the 10MB windows was taking up was almost everything. I had broken my toy. Now the bios was the only working thing on the computer. And no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get it working. I didn't have the windows installation diskettes, as the computer was a one from an office we had gotten for free for some reason. and with a family that was even more illiterate in computers then me, knowing where to get them, or what to do with them was just a mystery. They where not going to pay some "computer guy" to help me. At the time it meant the end of the computers life. I don't think people appreciate today, what a innovation windows was. And that even a easy thing as to install a copy was tech stuff people didn't know. You didn't have one clue of what was going on. You didn't question the tidiness in the windows folder. Those magicians that put their spells in the crystal bowl and made it work knew their shit. And that is all there is to it.

[@crylune]

I love these Windows 95-98 videos. They are making me feel so nostalgic and I love it

[@TheFlyerX]

AlexM Isnt nostalgic for me at all. Used Windows 98 machines in school regularly until last year. As far i know they are still running.

[@ThatBritishSnep]

TheFlyerX Same here except we used Win98 till about 2006/07 ish when they upgraded to XP which we used until 2012 when we switched over to Windows 7 :)

[@TheLucidLuxray]

Joelbell Back when I was in high school, we used Core Duo MacBooks. Now, the college I attend uses Dell Precision towers running Windows 7.

[@ThatBritishSnep]

Yet Another Person Ha same except we use Dell Optiplex towers :)

[@armanelgtron4533]

They're called Small Form Factor. Not old and outdated; cases are still being made for this style of design.

[@Mindplay591]

Next video idea: What's in the / folder

[@BMB]

that actually does look like my download folder

[@joemiller947]

There's a folder on my computer called C:\Users\Joe\Downloads\Downloads\Downloads\Downloads\

[@BigOlSmellyFlashlight]

bad muchacho b looks like the backups of my desktop folder and all 6 of my previous download folsers

[@conorlarkin8156]

I love these types of videos, just digging through computer files and history!

[@Natuu1106]

I've actually watched the whole video but Druaga didn't mention me :sadface:

[@subg9165]

Windows 95 poor windows 95

[@eatsleepdie8808]

IAN!!!! Here's an idea you haven't done yet. Install an SSD Into a fat ps2 with the ide adapter thing, and then install either some homebrew linux or Linux 1.0 (the one licensed by Sony that uses a real ps2 disc). And then install that into the SSD. They make both the original IDE hard drive adapters for PS2 or aftermarket ones that use Sata. LIKE THIS SO HE SEES IT!! IT'LL BE GREAT!

[@urs915]

Yes!!

[@Aaronage1]

It's pretty normal for a system folder to look like a dumping ground (though having wallpapers, screensavers etc. in the system root is kinda sloppy). If you open a Terminal on macOS and run "cd; ls" you'll see a whole heap of guff that's hidden in the Finder (similar on Linux and other UNIX-likes)

[@trisymphony]

what.. do you honestly think the OSX system files are in the /System folder? Go open Terminal and have a look at the magnificent Unix folder structure that is hidden from you eyes...

[@greenvm]

meh, not really. I mean yes they do, but there are hundreds of files in a single folder as well

[@lescitrons]

That was not OS X, that was classic Mac OS -_-

[@TheRetroMess]

Portaller Does he call Mac OS 8.6 "Mac OS X" or something? Pretty different operating systems. But the classic Mac OS does have hidden files too. There's some dedicated to desktop resources like icons and stuff. You often had to rebuild the Desktop Resources folder to fix icon display problems.

[@matani2001]

This comment just made the whole video completely usless

[@daansken93]

I only got one thing to say.. cant even say it so here is a video of the magnificent nix structure.. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnjUp2hsrbCjhJo

[@Judge-V]

i always thought that hiding my porn in System32 folder is the best because nobody wouldnt search there to find it XD

[@ThatBritishSnep]

you genius

[@DMack6464]

*Judge_V* go to the folder properties and make the folder a hidden one

[@BigOlSmellyFlashlight]

no people might need to install a driver or something use the speech or setup folders

[@MrEdrftgyuji]

Fonts is the best folder. You can only access it through DOS

[@BetaMaster2]

genius

[@dawnwingslunaleon1837]

*When Druaga1 Uploads before sonic Mania Comes out* OH BOY! A TIME WASTER!

[@chrisfratz]

if you're like me and pre-ordered the PC version you still have to wait a little bit

[@DONK8008]

PC users got 2 weeks to wait :(

[@dawnwingslunaleon1837]

LOLDONGS I feel bad for you guys :(

[@DONK8008]

I'd rather a delay than a broken mess of a release.

[@dawnwingslunaleon1837]

LOLDONGS Yeah me too We don't want another Anniversary mess do we?

[@MaskedGEEK]

The worse thing I hate that Microsoft has done for 22 years since the inception of Windows 95, and something the bewilders me that they still do today, is that by default they HIDE filename extensions. HIDE them. That's ripe for viruses, malware and the ilk if you don't know what you're doing and how to be vigilant. Come on Microsoft, it's good the option has been put in, but SHOW the extensions by default, not hide them.

[@IntellitechStudios]

The MaskedGeek preach brother preach

[@mohyou9551]

The MaskedGeek that's because when idiots rename folders, they remove the extension as well and don't know why their filed got "corrupted"

[@MaskedGEEK]

moh you And its users like that deserve to delete their "System32" folder to speed up their system and remove bloatware, as many parts of the internet suggests.

[@crylune]

@@mohyou9551 This is exactly why they did it. Same story with CPUs nowadays having an IHS plate because idiots used to crack their CPU dies, so now we have worse thermals for no reason. Blame idiots, not MS.

[@dumb5308]

When I was young, I would spend a lot of time just clicking on random stuff in the windows folder lol

[@Tam33m]

lol, same, I was 9

[@XaneMyers]

For me, I would rename a DLL file to something like XaneRules.dll then the system broke...many times. I learned over time.

[@crylune]

​@@XaneMyersWhen I was like 5 toying with my 98 SE machine, I somehow managed to cobble together a vbs script by looking at various other vbs scripts in the system. I felt like a master hacker until of course I ran it and it wiped my entire OS. And that is the story of how I got my first and last malware

[@traviscombs6947]

My grandma used to use that "Mystery" screensaver. It used to play this really loud organ music and you could always hear it from anywhere in her house when it started.

[@dysfunctionalwombat]

Thats what my Downloads folder looks after a day. I am unfortunately not kidding

[@laharl2k]

take a look in any linux's /bin and /usr/bin folders......youll be lucky if you find your way out.

[@armanelgtron4533]

/usr/share too

[@CJBurkey]

To be fair, it's the very nature of the /usr/bin folder to be that way, if it weren't, you'd have to type something long and tedious in the console to print a line. The same goes for Windows, it bases its main stuff directly out of the folder, it's the reason the run dialog works the way it does.

[@WooferCooker]

You'll be lost (and found) ;)

[@laharl2k]

@CJ Not necesarily, Just like you can add a path to the variable PATH to make bash recognize a new command, you could be made to me recursive, so you could have those binaries in their own folder, what's more, you could have a tool to like say "alternative" which points you to a program, o we could have a descriptor and the system should know where the program that fits that description like "atrace, >v3.91" or something ike that There are thousands of better ways to do this stuff, android does it better, macOS does it better. linux is just whimsical in many regards

[@lescitrons]

There Are Four Lights that's an emulated folder. It stores processor info, it's not supposed to be tidy

[@TimurTripp2]

In 2009, when I was in the 5th grade, there was an old Windows 98 PC in the classroom. One day I pretty much did exactly this, just went through the Windows and System32 folders, opening wallpapers, playing system sounds, etc.

[@LeahCanadian]

windows 10 has TWO copies of notepad in c:\windows otepad.exe AND c:\windows\system32 otepad.exe WHY!!!!

[@greenvm]

I replaced both with vscode

[@DMack6464]

*David Z* idfk, I think the same goes for explorer.

[@8bits59]

Backwards compatibility. It used to just be in C:\WINDOWS, but NT 3 and 4 had it in system or system32. If a program expects it to be in C:\WINDOWS and it's in system32 or vice versa, it obviously won't work. XP and 2000 had them in both places to save the developers trouble trying to dig for it. More to this point, this shows that Microsoft is still trying to preserve win32 after all these years after all, instead of nuking it with UWP or whatever the heck.

[@kossmikman]

For legacy reasons. Most of the stupid-looking stuff you see in Windows is there for legacy support of some kind.

[@himbeerme]

David Z So you can still use notepad after you removed the dangerous virus called system32. :D

[@s1nRG]

"Druaga.pwl" Wait a minute...

[@Goku313]

i really liked this, i could listen to you talk about stuff like this for hours

[@June-413]

Did I just watch a 42 minute video on the windows folder? Wow I have no life

[@joemiller947]

Don't worry, none of us do

[@slipknot54095]

😅

[@TheSillyPotato]

I had this on in the background while doing some stuff around my apartment. I don't know why but I love listening to your voice, and it's kinda fun to hear all these facts. I enjoyed this video nonetheless.

[@simonro9168]

“Holy shit I’ve never seen this FAQing document in my entire life”. *cricket sounds* *cricket sounds* *cricket sounds* I’ll see myself out.

[@sorryforbatenglish]

this video: guy talks about some old windows folders for 42 minutes my brain: this is fun, keep watching

[@RecycleBin0]

dont be afraid of shit. as long as its a test VM. You can learn from it

[@TumbleGamerTK]

he didn't get the start button from the 3d maze as an option for a thumbnail. He got • ms hearts, • kid pix • the lego screensaver but then he added a custom image of the windows folder information

[@subg9165]

TumbleGamer how do u know

[@a_lilypup]

this video was a lot of fun to watch, especially because i had my fair share of fun going on school computers and looking around in the windows and system32 folders.

[@FubarMike]

gotta love back in the day when the windows folder was the appdata folder. That slowly turned everyone's windows folder into a total clusterfuck

[@udxs6782]

System32 is where windows keeps x86 executables and DLLs. This folder is likely not made by Microsoft but instead automatically generated on every build of Windows. SysWOW64 is where the 64-bit stuff is stored. WOW stands for WIndows on Windows which is essentially a VM that lets you run 32-bit Windows applications on 64-bit machines. System is for 16-bit stuff. Note: Unlike 32-bit WIndows, 64-bit Windows is not backwards compatible with 16-bit applications.

[@Motoroilspill]

When you said you didn't want to review windows itself in this video it reminded me about videos looking at leaked beta releases like windows "whistler" and windows "longhorn" I have seen. You should really do a video installing (hopefully on an SSD) and looking at some of those, giving your opinions and such on features that were planned but never released. Longhorn build 4093 and build 4042 are two that comes to mind.

[@vinching926]

This is timeless, because of backward compatibilities Win 11's Windows folder (and System32 / SysWow64) still looks like that with improvements, it's just like a common repo folder for all the Windows Devs push all their works there without any sub folders. Back in the days we just take it as is and treat it as a huge playground to see what we can see there.

[@CiderDivider]

This is quite interesting!! Completely took me back to my first computer days going into files and pretending to know what it all meant because sometimes I was sick of blindly clicking minesweeper.

[@thebsworth]

i feel like i learn something new in every one of your videos.

[@OnlyWednesdayMu]

Do I spy a Lego Loco icon? Good man, that game was awesome.

[@robotguy4]

Oh, good. I thought I was the only one with a messy downloads folder.

[@Князевинженер]

it will be cool to se a video explaining every single item on the windows folder to know better how windows works

[@Diegotheartist1]

It's still funny you still use "Hey Smokers" as a startup phrase. gives me smiles. :)

[@seanhornibrook]

I've been digging around in Windows folders since I was a little kid and we got our first computer - back on Windows 3.1. I always just wanted to know what all that shit was. As long as you don't change anything or delete anything you actually learn quite a bit about how the OS works internally... Cool vid.

[@kahrei7101]

memes, memes are in the folder.

[@s1nRG]

ImTheDaJacob What are "mems"?

[@kahrei7101]

Memes spelled wrong

[@TotemSP2]

The Windows folder, and system32 is a good place to grind for icons in Operation: Inner Space.

[@AwesumIndustrys]

And this is why I like the Classic Mac OS system folder than any version of Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. It's organized and easy to understand. Want to change what's in the Apple Menu? Just go to the Apple menu folder. Want to add functionality to your Mac? Just put it in the Extensions folder. Want to install themes? Put it in the Appearance folder. Simple as that.

[@ansonx10]

I love the nostalgia of Windows 98 screensavers. There was something magical, if not particularly screen-saving, about computers of that age. I didn't even get to use Windows myself until much later, as I was on Mac OS 8 and 9 in that time. Objectively a better OS tho. ;)

[@Shytzedaka]

Yay another 42 minute video from druaga1 xd

[@booleanenator]

Druaga1 there is so many things in those DLLs too, they are basically shared functions that multiple programs can use. It's a good idea with a bad implementation in Windows. Older computers actually came with something that newer computers don't, hardware and programming manuals so you could learn what things were. Microsoft and Apple both don't want you to do that.

[@thatnerd527]

Druaga1 at Microsoft: Guys, i think we need to tidy up the windows folder Another Engineer: Really, why? Druaga1: Because its a mess in there Engineer: I don't think its a priority but if you want to we will just dump everything in the System32 folder Druaga1: Ok then.

[@Fuzy2K]

1:15 -- Lego Loco! I used to have that game! I got it for Christmas in 1998! I wish I still had it...

[@amanguver]

I remember when I was 7 years old I saw my Windows folder and said "I'm sure I don't need all of these files" and I deleted everything xD

[@ThatBritishSnep]

Aaand your Windows died

[@subg9165]

amanguver if I ever find a windows folder on my computer I'll delete it. Why? Because I have Linux.

[@June-413]

Rip your pc

[@Dantastic]

"The Axe Effect" is still sitting on the XP machine, just waiting to be showcased.

[@mungodude]

I can remember that Twain stands for "Thing without an interesting name" but I can't remember what it does. I think it might be to do with scanners.

[@simontay4851]

Yes, twain is a driver/api for scanners.

[@TMBtD]

I was 9 when I had my first PC w/ Windows 98. Never gave a damn about the Windows folder warning, screwed the install a few times. But to me there's no better way to learn than tinkering with it all.

[@joepena5771]

The last version of Mac OS X to support the Classic Environment, which was basically Mac OS 9, was on Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and that was only on PowerPC computers. Apple never bothered to recode the Classic Environment for Intel machines.

[@neotech9583]

If you rename system32 to system64 it will double the performance.

[@Tam33m]

*insert thinking emoji here*

[@lychy645]

Tameem alshebel 🤔

[@bonkmaykr]

Yeah. And they moved all that shit to System32 :) Oh, by the way--- screensavers are technically just EXEs.

[@jjaurrgui]

Why would you organize stuff casual people don't look through? 🤔

[@Mhmd_F]

so the techies have it easy

[@Red-Mush]

if you can't CTRL+F then I wouldn't call that person a "techie"

[@foobar2285]

Israel Jauregui there is no excuse for being disorganized

[@lescitrons]

The same reason you write neat code

[@moth.monster]

it's not a mess, the operating system knows it's all there and what it's called to find what it needs

[@flux_6223]

Yes Druaga, this kind of video is OK. Great even!

[@tsskfmn]

When using Win 98, I thought I was the only user who complaint about the mess in C:\Windows folder. Now, I feel myself at home.

[@seshpenguin]

I actually kind of liked this video! I just let this run in the background whilst doing other things!

[@darcksage1]

Props for Waffle's revenge.

[@thabestsniper]

Could it be that they are not cleaning that mess because of compatibility? If older programs tried to reach a file in the windows folder and the path was incorrect, the programs would crash.

[@Templarfreak]

Perhaps everything simply runs faster when it has to go through less folders?

[@Judge-V]

Thank you neighbours... because of you we have a new Druaga video!

[@simonro9168]

I actually had windows 10 from the day it launched (I believe it was July 30th, 2015?) It wasn’t too bad. I switched to win7 five months later for a bit until I got auto-down... eh, I meant upgraded.

[@supersmash2354]

There was actually 12 executables on Windows XP, just a little nitpick but Windows 9X operating systems still have much more in comparison.

[@PashPaw]

Program Manager was killed as of XP SP2. It's still there as a link, but it's become the modern shell, I believe.

[@aleculunguleac]

it became an stub file with icons. if you execute it, it doesn't do anything.

[@crismenth]

uhhhhhh, idk. maybe images of those things on walls made of glass?

[@beedslolkuntus2070]

even i would look in the windows files when i was little around 2010

[@Sys-Edit0r-1995]

I started looking into the system files in windows since 98 (SE?) on a Gateway 2000 pc, it was something like a G7 233, maybe.

[@yerunski]

Almost every Windows version has more wallpapers in the Windows\Web\Wallpaper folder. MS missed an opportunity to put them all together in a single spot...

[@Niko0902]

Wow, I was pretty much the Windows XP digger when I was like 8/9 years old. I didn't have older windows versions for long tho. Maybe a year or so.

[@archville82_99]

Druaga, I think there's a reason for Windows OS files and folders looked that messy back in the day (and a little bit nowadays for compatibility reasons I believe?): Until Windows XP (which came from NT) all installations were based on MSDOS - which has no GUI. People didn't care much about that mess without a GUI. You see, all games and programs also installed by default at C: root. A C: root folder from a true long-use DOS machine were also a mess (even messier than Windows folder IMO). That's what I think anyway

[@mikedockter]

Great video Druaga! Less structured videos like this one are awesome.

[@Irongrip62]

Dude, MSCONFIG was the bomb.

[@cunningwolf4516]

I love how pissed he gets over files XP and having a Windows 98 computer myself i now have poking around to do..

[@bikutoso]

I'm so happy I don't have to deal with this shit any longer. I just have 19 nice folders that splits the system into something that is easy to understand what is.

[@crylune]

Lol you make it sound like perusing the Windows folder was your main activity on ur PC

[@Snowwie88]

It's becoming even harder to find hardware which is suitable for Windows 98. I hardly can find old pentium 2 machines around here, in The Netherlands.

[@powerslave0606]

"What's in the Windows folder?"? I supose that the MacOS files are there.

[@awsomDixie]

Damn druaga you're uploading like crazy

[@chrisfratz]

it's nice to have him back to uploading stuff.

[@k1lkenny]

When I was around 9 I thought the system folder looked so messy I thought Id organise it a bit into a nice folder - well my dad had to boot into the command prompt and move them all out cause windows wouldn't boot anymore :

[@cyrixvxdffkdd6104]

Druaga bro, I wish I had a friend like you :)

[@2000sNostalgiaTech]

Have you ever considered reviewing Red Star OS? It's North Korea's premier OS!

[@ARCOPWNS]

One of my favorite vids of yours! This was fun.

[@ianbeavers6012]

Got your Windows 95 product key : 02397-OEM-0018847-49528

[@bluephreakr]

CONTROL.INI's top section with the weird names and crap are for the drawn patterns usable as backgrounds; the shit you could draw yourself.

[@IkarusKommt]

MacOS System folder is a virtual folder, like My Computer or Control Panel.

[@Burgercat]

CRAPPY COMPUTER BE LIKE: NO KEYBOARD DETECTED, PLEASE PRESS ANY KEY!

[@CathrineMacNiel]

translation: no keyboard detected, please insert a key on a newly plugged in keyboard to resume bios.

[@discusobscurum2194]

Progman.exe in Windows 98 is like a shoutout to Windows 3.1.

[@bluephreakr]

Editing Ian should had stepped in to also mention 98SE has the "Plus!" stuff installed. Either that, or it was already there on your machine.

[@bluefoxtv1566]

I think it is mostly to simplify things when using the command line and legacy support kepped it looking like that. . There is also no need to make it user friendly as you are not supposed to be in there.

[@IRNatman]

WOW, I thought I was the only one that did this in my childhood. I only had a few games and mspaint so I would dig through this damn folder and try to unlock its secrets. xD

[@DMack6464]

*IRNatman* You can do some cool shit, like OS editing if you're keen enough, you can make a program to replace the Windows shell! (explorer)

[@DrewberTravels]

When I was a young kid I decided I was going to clean up the windows folder... I had to figure out how to reinstall windows since my parents were completely computer illiterate.

[@Mario583a]

Daruga1 looking in the Mac folder: This is nice. Daruga1 looking in the Windows folder: r/literallyunplayable

[@crylune]

Who's Daruga1

[@LKComputes]

Plus! 98 is included in Windows 98 Second Edition.

[@dysfunctionalwombat]

Part of reason I think Mac OS 8/9's System folder is the fact that it is so easy to customize . *YOU HEAR ME APPLE WHAT HAPPENED*

[@AwesumIndustrys]

Arewand463 it became unix.

[@dysfunctionalwombat]

True, but I am talking about hardware and software combined

[@700gsteak]

21:10 thats me cleaning the house. xD

[@maquinarama1689]

Let me tell you How it will be. There's one for you, Nineteen for me, 'Cause I'm the taskman. Yeah, I'm the taskman.

[@fancymaster1]

30:58 honestly i would watch that

[@TazmamzaT]

I like this style of video

[@markbedoya1450]

Wow you have 74k subs. Congrats!!

[@deez9888]

I have not gone into this folder since XP, SO MESSY. I bet its more messy in Windows 10 and 11.