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SunBowFlag for United States of America

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Installing: What is it With this here "Mscreate.dir"

For the widely proliferated file name: Mscreate.dir
1) What is its purpose?
2) What is it that produces it?
3) Should I/we leave them around? Why or why not?
4) How best to not allow infestation if not desireable?
5) How best to remove them, if that is desired?

Seems like I should know, did know, some of this at one time, but it escapes me once more.
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Lee W, MVP
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I delete them - but this tells you why they are there...

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q132/9/78.asp?LNG=ENG&SA=ALLKB&FR=0
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This article in effect sez, it seems, that the file is meant to allow users to keep empty directories around when Office Pro products are removed?
Strange.
This answers #1 & #2.
I thought I had seen cases where this file was not created, as if a reg key or switch or other option was used during an install. So I'd really like to hear more on #3-#5. It seems like unneccessary use of disk storage for option(s) rarely exercised.
Do I need to reject this to allow other input, or can you come back to this with more?
The Q# references only Win95 and Windows.  But it looks to be O/S independent, like it would apply to Win98 and NT.anyVersion?
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Rejecting as incomplete - still;
"Proposed Answer" may have reduced comments from others.
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Lee W, MVP
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Any search you do will require you search for hidden files.
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I almost feel silly on forgetting win explorer search, but there ought to be a better way, for sure.

In addition to office, I now see the Visual products doing it, may all of M$ one way or another.  For #4, I'll assume that the vaguely remembered installs that did not include the files were somehow canned in-house with a programmer tweak of a cleaning up of the files.  If I cared more I could follow trails around the office.  I had hoped for a simpler means or clarification of misunderstanding.

Not knowing any better, I'll follow your "I delete them"

unInterested lack of interest in topic other than we two.

oh, on hidden, I object to that M$ tendency so I always unhide all after any O/S install/change. But yeah, another reader may not notice this in Explorer, hadn't thought on that aspect.
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five q:'s at 5 ea, all answered, plus 5 more for pointing out many users won't understand if the silly files remain hidden.... go to leew, clicking acceptance of more elaborate, but it is a combination of all that make it work.