Question Should I put all my games/software files in one folder titled games/software, or should I let them install to random disorganized places?

[Harper917]

So doom online installed to apps local

Doom2 the game installed to steam apps in the steam folder

One game was installed under the programs x86 folder

One game made its own folder called games and installed to that

Another game installed to the x64 programs

Another to "programs" no number

Another created its own folder


Thats just games, and the ones I have.


Then random software does the same thing.

Should I just let them all go where they want to go, or should I force them to 2 main folders? Or something else? Do x86 programs need to go in the x86 folder? etc etc you tell me how to do this

 

[gardenman]

I've seen similar questions in the past. There's reasons for different locations for these applications. For example, Program Files is for 64-bit apps. Program Files (x86) is for 32-bit apps. I've seen a few programs install into AppData. A quick search says that programs do that in order to get around the UAC prompt because that folder has the "Modify" permission for all files located there.

I generally don't let applications have their own root folder. I change that during setup of the application.

There is no point to try to keep it organized. If you are going to backup, you backup the whole system, or documents + original program setup files. Once a program is installed, they are generally not transferable to another system, because they often install registry entries or DLL files into system folders and you just can't track it all down.

So leave it be. Windows is messy. Let it be messy. Make full system backups. Keep your original setup files when possible. Backup documents and such, often. Don't try to organize Windows. You will fail, or break things.

 

[hotaru.hino]

Generally speaking it's fine to let them install wherever they want. However, for organization's sake you should group them up somewhere.

However the only thing I advise is if the game doesn't default to "C:\Program Files" or "C:\Program Files (x86)" to not install it in there. Modifying stuff in those folders normally requires admin privileges, so if a game that defaults to somewhere else gets installed there, it may try to do something like write a file in its install location, only to fail because it doesn't have admin privileges.

Also the security model in Windows is all apps run with normal privileges by default, regardless of the account privilege level.