No, @Uhuru N’Uru is correct, NTFS does support hardlinks and symlinks, but the Windows UI does not expose the funcionality. In fact, NTFS supports a number of features that Unix-like systems use but Windows does not, including filenames which are invalid in Windows (and are a b***h to delete from Windows). That's because way back then, Microsoft wanted Windows Server to support *nix clients.
The Link Shell Extension free add-in exposes that funcionality in Explorer. I have been using that for more than one decade, and it works fine. The same author has a command-line tool named Dupemerge which will search for identical files in a folder tree and converts them into hardlinks.
However, Microsoft's newest file system, ReFS (Resilient File System) does not support hardlinks on desktop systems (only on server systems). But since NTFS is still the default disk format in Windows 11, this has little impact in practice. I expect that when MS finally decides to make it default, hardlinks will be included.
No, @Uhuru N’Uru is correct, NTFS does support hardlinks and symlinks, but the Windows UI does not expose the funcionality. In fact, NTFS supports a number of features that Unix-like systems use but Windows does not, including filenames which are invalid in Windows (and are a b***h to delete from Windows). That's because way back then, Microsoft wanted Windows Server to support *nix clients.
Fascinating. I just know for the longest time Microsoft stuff has had very little documentation for a user especially who might not be online, and it's all a pain in the ass to work with. But for games and reducing size with repeats of files across a large area, i tend to have it delete duplicates and have a 'restore' file that copies the missing files back to their right places. Works surprisingly well on renpy games and those with sequels that reuse assets/images.
though it's probably this issue that is why i haven't done much extracting of the tar archives since then i have to worry about the duplicates over such a large area... and optimizing the same file multiple times feels a waste of time/space. I'll get to it sooner or later when i get the urge.
Pretty sure that's for linux/unix filesystems, and doesn't work as well on windows machines.
A main reason i haven't extracted and worked with these yet.
I have a duplicate detection script that will generate multiple files, one to remove duplicate files, and a second to restore it. A slight modifying of the copy/restore would once again make them hard (or soft) links. I use this for my occasional dosbox templates that will install the CD's files the first time you run it.
Though if you are going to use 7zip LZMA and have a big enough dictionary/window then duplicates take basically no extra space, except a few k for really large ones.
To be clear, if I post anything from memory alone you get told (Fact Check this, AFAIK, I think) because I can't trust it to be accurate (it lies constantly).
It's not even the PTSD, it was claiming KOTOR was my first GOG game, five years later, checking my purchase history on another game, that it was my 90th purchase on GOG, the "1st" was because it was the moment GOG became my store preference, my subconscious weaved two true facts into a false memory.
That event was my Skeleton Key to breaching the mental disconnections & re-connections of memories to fit the false trail laid.
Memories you recall are subject to the physical structures, neurons fire, a new trail is blazed a new tenuous fragile temporary link.
If you don't recall it the trail of bent grass is soon hidden, but keep treading that path & the trail grows permanent, until it's a six lane highway of heavy traffic.
If I say something is a fact without such (don't trust this hints), I guarantee that in the specific use cases I'm describing the information has just been fact checked that it's still accurate (updates happen as well) before I post it.
Sure I can SNAFU, but I will accept that mistake if pointed out to me, or more often, I reread my post the next day, call myself a dumb bitch & correct it.
A lot of Windows is undocumented intentionally
Much better Linux support for linking, for damn sure, it was exposing this hidden feature (for enterprise) that started LSE to begin with.
Windows has very clunky command line linking features & many undocumented features always exist to be found & used by modders.
Here's all the authors descriptions (bugger links didn't copy (manually edit them)
What's New page
October 12th 2001
Uploaded a very useful Windows NT/2K Shell Extension, which is capable of comfortably creating hardlinks on NTFS volumes. Take a look at the October 28th 2001
The Hardlink Shell Extension has been improved to support junctions on NTFS5 from W2K. This means that now directories even can be hardlinked.
HardlinkShellExt page. May 29th 2005
The dupemerge command line utility has been loaded up. December 14th 2022
Made a little page for github-reborn Winfile, which I contributed quite some work to. page.
Utilities for Windows NT
You can find some tools on this page, which I wrote for different purpose. All of them are related to Windows NT/2K/XP/2K3.
Topics
Hardlink ShellExtension
Have you ever wanted to create hardlinks as it was possible with Unix, but not from the commandline but from the Explorer simply by right clicking an item? Take a look a the HardlinkShellExtension for WinNT/2K
ln command line hardlinks
Hardlinks can be created by ln.exe from resource kit, but this tool can do more. It does hardlinks recursivley and resolves UNC names. See ln - command line hardlinks
dupemerge command line utility
Most harddisks contain quite a lot of completely identical files, which consume a lot of disk space. This waste of space can be drastically reduced by using the NTFS filesystem hardlinks functionality, if identical files aka dupes are hardlinked together.. See dupemerge - command line
xdel command line utility
Deleting subdirectories recursivley can be done by a various of tools, but only xdel is aware of junctions, and instead of crawling recursivley down a junction, xdel simply unlinks the junction, and so does no harm to contents chained into a hierarchy via junctions. See xdel- command line
Winfile
Winfile is github-reborn and I spent quite some time to refurbish it.
Bunter Jahreskalender
This is a Excel Sheet, which creates a nice calender for the whole year. It calculates the holidays, allows to specify vacation, and with respect colors the days in the calender. See Bunter Jahreskalender
Until W11 the Taskbar & every aspect were controlled by changing individual binary switches, in a single undocumented registry setting
64 binary switches stored as hexadecimal, I still have this old Doc of a rare post I found on a site long gone (It may have needed Wayback)
Only really of historical interest unless you're on W7 or earlier, (attached just in case, WTF are those numbers, weird?))
When I built my rig I bought W7 Ultimate, because some of those features get exposed in that, when free W10 Upgrades were Offered I grabbed it (Dual booted Unused for 2 years till it could be modded_
That Ultimate License was the only way to get a free W10 Pro (Less capable), but has things like "Group Policy", & other tools not in the "Home" version.
That is the only Retail Windows License I ever owned & retail, or "OEM" is also a capability divider (OEM got 1 free upgade, Retail is still valid.
I still activate each version with that old W7U license, I said I got a free Blue Ray, that was because that Windows was still on a Disc, back then.
Bugger this is "Sandy Thomas", my Must have list is on the Collection Thread here:
OK not sure if anybody else has tried extracting this yet, but good you Updated 7-Zip , it's been 6 months since I checked.
One downside of using many "Good Old Tools" is they need manual updating.
I sort of work on the "See any problem", check for tool updates as one of the SOP steps
Any bug at all, turn PC off (Unplug from wall) for 30 seconds (Reason RAM doesn't " switch off", due to the read/write nature It's got "Batteries".)
These are actually a component called capacitors, that discharge that power if the constant supply drops.
A vital feature of DDR RAM, needed for technical reasons, but it can take about 10 seconds to drain & fully empty RAM.
A "Restart" will not fully drain that RAM, 30 second is my "Overkill" advice to ensure the entire RAM is cleared.
Literally 90% of all "Bugs" occur in RAM & a "Hard Shutdown" fixes all of those.
Repeatable bugs that restarts never fixed, must be the code, NO, NO, NO.
If it survives the 30 second test, you know it's NOT RAM, not what it is yet, that just setting the baseline, bugs are tricky buggers.
I've seen bugs that only occur when multiple programs are running., those can be tricky to figure out.
Apart from one thing, this has been a Textbook example, of getting good customer support, first you did RTFM & followed it.
You provided the best way to provide the file names to me in that pic, the information "Support" needed to see the problem.
My first guess proved correct, my only criticism, you should check for these tool updates periodically
Not counting betas 7-Zip v9.11 [2010-03-15] to v9.38 {2015-01-03]
You're asking for far too many problems, using old tools, that DO get updated & you really need to update them.
It's definitely the long paths thing & I'm not surprised to see "Bundles", I try to list the stories in the filename.
I've already put those files in a zip, they will work fine as eBooks, but to move them to their old folder, you do the opposite.
Move the entire folder to the root folder.
The trick is to make the shortest folder path, giving all the characters to the file name.
Renaming the folder to a single letter, is the limit to that
With long file in the folder, rename the folder back & move the folder back to original location.
You have now shown "Windows" that what you wanted is not as impossible as MS tells you it is.
It breaks functionality I don't need & if I ever need to change the filename I know how to do that.
I already packed those files you listed & no longer need, but I'll post it for others getting this problem.
On using Arial Unicode MS, that's for the complete character sets, as many Characters I use may not exist in other fonts, then there's character encoding.
Notepad ++ tells me if you are using the standard encoding I use.
UTF-8
Not old school Windows ANSI, not to mention UTF-8 BOM, UTF-16 BE BOM, UTF-16 LE BOM
All those can mess with the characters shown worse than the wrong font, Cut & paste from one to the other with same font you'll see the problems it causes.
Looks just like what happened with your case, going down to the real technical cause, is often just encoding mismatches.
Here are some of my unusual file name character choices that might cause problems the full "Posts on 8Muses Editing Aid.Txt" file will be attached.
It's become my "eBook Creation" clip deck of cut & paste to speed up mass eBook conversions.
Ordered in most used order, but grouped in sections.
≡
•…•
‘•…•’
“•…•”
‘…’
“…”
–
To
Complete Series ≡
’s
’t
I’m
by
Art by
– Illustrated by
“…” Plus “8”
– Series – Book One ≡
– Series – Series One ≡
– Series – Episode One ≡
– Series – Long Novel One ≡
– Series – Long Story One ≡
– Series – Micro Story One ≡
– Series – Novel One ≡
– Series – Part One ≡
– Series – Short Novel One ≡
– Series – Short Story One ≡
– Series – Story One ≡
– Series – Volume One ≡
– Bundle – Book One ≡
– Bundle – Episode One ≡
– Bundle – Long Story One ≡
– Bundle – Micro Story One ≡
– Bundle – Novel One ≡
– Bundle – Part One ≡
– Bundle – Series – Part One ≡
– Bundle – Short Novel One ≡
– Bundle – Short Story One ≡
– Bundle – Story One ≡
– Bundle – Volume One ≡
Bundle – Two Stories ≡ X + X ≡
Bundle – Three Stories ≡ X + X + X ≡
Bundle – Four Stories ≡ X + X + X + X ≡
Bundle – Five Stories ≡ X + X + X + X + X ≡
Bundle – Six Stories ≡ X + X + X + X + X + X ≡
– Two Stories Bundle ≡ X + X ≡
– Three Stories Bundle ≡ X + X + X ≡
– Four Stories Bundle ≡ X + X + X + X ≡
– Five Stories Bundle ≡ X + X + X + X + X ≡
– Six Stories Bundle ≡ X + X + X + X + X + X ≡
Bundle ≡ X + X + X + X + X + X ≡
That gives a taste, plus these are the possible ones that I could use If I need them
Useful Characters
Mathematical Operators (Spaced)
+ < ≡ > ± × ÷ ∓ ∗ ∘ ∙ √ ∛ ∜ ∝ ∞ ∟ ∠ ∡ ∢ ∣ ∤ ∥ ∦ ∧ ∨ ∩ ∪ ∫ ∬ ∭ ∮ ∯ ∰ ∱ ∲ ∳ ∴ ∵ ∶ ∷ ∸ ∹ ∺ ∻ ∼ ∽ ∾ ∿ ≀ ≁ ≂ ≃ ≄ ≅ ≆ ≇ ≈ ≉ ≊ ≋ ≌ ≍ ≎ ≏ ≐ ≑ ≒ ≓ ≔ ≕ ≖ ≗ ≘ ≙ ≚ ≛ ≜ ≝ ≞ ≟ ≠ ≡ ≢ ≣ ≤ ≥ ≦ ≧ ≨ ≩ ≪ ≫ ≬
Folder/File Name (Permited)
+
×
# » ‒ – — ― ‖ † ‡ • ›
≈ ≡ →
■ ▪ ► ● ◦
Now these are not be all that work in file names, I know The Left/right quotes work & use it “•…•” for pics & the Ellipse is a another file name permitted one) ,.I I would have called the title that & added those just mentioned, so I'm pretty sure this was for 8muses & now here if you can all see what I see, these are the characters I could still see in this text box for, selected for web compatibility after others I tried got the No Charcter symbols (Rectangle with a X filling it).
There's a big space in the middle of the list, that is the WIP part, with dual panel setup, to transfer & compare text between two files is my setup.
I maximise Windows, 3 Screens= 3 windows, so (Browser, Game, Notepad++) might be the current layout.
For file managers (7-Zip) & text editor, I a dual horizontal panel works best for "Copy & Paste", I use a lot of different tools.
While the tools chosen are more important, it's the folder structure that holds the entire file system, in a way I can find it.
Some of these may only be needed once, or twice & then you must have it, because nothing else has that feature when you really need it.
Also these were my choices made using the RTFM problem solving method, to find what meets my need at that moment, I have not mentioned those ones.
These are just the ones that provided that need, constantly, or in those vital moments when a SNAFU occurs & you need to fix it immediately.
It's function first, preferences come when the functions provided by several options & that really means those functions you actually use.
You may prefer any option that fixes whatever the current task you need doing, these suit me best, they may not suit you best.
In that respect the functions I mention in the (Inline comments) are the real must haves that I chose these tools for.
All to make MS's bloated PC into
Uhuru N’U’ru’s Modded PC
Put another way when Windows says no, I say GTFO & do it anyway.
One last surprise in that text files, my name doesn't contain an apostrophe, it's a "Right Single Quotation Mark"
There's a clip For right & wrong versions to help you get my name right (really for me searching any text for the wrong ones to mass replace if needed).
I've extracted the spoilered "Must Have" Tools section here, to make it easier to find.
My must haves, just the generic not just for games stuff, given as folder paths to show the organisation of my "Not gaming "Downloads" folder.
K:\Downloads\Documenters\Calibre 64-Bit - eBook Management
K:\Downloads\Documenters\Kindle (Old Version, working? Arms race with Amazon)
K:\Downloads\Documenters\LibreOffice
K:\Downloads\Documenters\Notepad++
K:\Downloads\Documenters\PDF-XChange Pro (pirated, best I've found, but way too expensive)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Archivers\7-Zip (God Tier Archive
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Archivers\Universal Extractor (Old but made God tier once, extracted almost everything that could be, still good, but needs lots of updates from a small dedicated community, one of those tools that either fails, or extracts that archive that nothing else will handle)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Context Menu\Lammer Context Menu (really a "Renamer", but I use the God Tier copy path features (My Must have).
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Copiers\Fast Copy
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Copiers\Miroirs (Copies entire folder tree, without copying files, very useful when needed)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Data Recoverers\Recuva (A data recovery tool is needed, but not found a good one that gives full path recovery)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Desktop Managers\Fences (God tier paid Desktop Shortcut manager, Roll Down on hover, gives me a column of titles on each monitor, on over I get a drop down "Fence" of that groups Icons, I have about 1000 destkop shortcuts that without fences all overlap in default desktop)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\File Managers\FreeCommander XE (what I used before Explorer dual pane explorer & for "Virtual" Folders explorer can't see)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Hashers\QuickSFV (multi file hash checking god tier must have)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Hashers\OpenHashTab (Properties Tab "Shell Extensions", A shell is the desktop manager, which is part of Explorer.exe in Windows)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Linkers\Hermann Schinag’s Linking Utilities\Link Shell Extension (God tier Linker I've mentioned before somewhere ∧ (up) there).
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Renamers\Advanced Renamer (God Tier file & folder renamer I've mentioned before somewhere ∧ (up) there probably).
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Resourcers\Resource Hacker (Exe Explorer, more for information gathering/changing shows hidden substructures)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Searchers\Everything (God Tier file system searcher)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Sizers\SpaceSniffer
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Sizers\WinDirStat (both God tier Drive scanners based on file size, great for all the moving around my folders get.)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Thumbnails\Clear And Reset Thumbnail Cache (Batch files)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Thumbnails\DarkThumbs (eBook focused)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Thumbnails\Icaros (New candidate for God Tier status)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Thumbnails\SageThumbs (Old God tier just retired after decade+ use)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Uninstallers\Revo Uninstaller (Vital god tier must have, uninstalls all the things they"forget" to remove.
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Unlockers\Unlocker (Vital must have, forwhen windows locks a function "File In Use", "can't copy/move" etc.
K:\Downloads\Imagers\Colour Pickers\Color Cop
These I'll list, no must have, lots of formats, so it's more pick & mix, whatever provides your current needs & at least once these did.
Color Seizer, ColorMania, ColorPic, Corante Color Picker
K:\Downloads\Imagers\Editors\EXIFTool (All that hidden dats in every pic revealed)
K:\Downloads\Imagers\Editors\GIMP - GNU Image Manipulation Program (Must have, for creating my custom Desktop Shortcuts)
K:\Downloads\Imagers\Editors\Inkscape (SVG editor)
K:\Downloads\Imagers\Screenshoters\Greenshot (Must have for any "user Support", giving, or received)
K:\Downloads\Imagers\Viewers\FastStone Image Viewer (great for collections)
K:\Downloads\Imagers\Viewers\Irfan View (Old God tier viewer, but I mostly just us GIMP for viewing & Calibre eBook Reader now does eComics for me).
K:\Downloads\Media\K-Lite Codec Pack – Media Player Classic – Home Cinema (God tier Codecs & decent media player)
K:\Downloads\Media\Kodi (I don't really use this, but it's Must have for my Flatmate who does have a TV & watches movies)
K:\Downloads\Network\Browsers\LibreWolf (emergency backup, Privacy fork of modern POS Firefox)
K:\Downloads\Network\Browsers\Pale Moon (Small dev team, but God Tier Extensions, old school Firefox)
K:\Downloads\Network\eMail Client\Thunderbird (Nothing fancy, I need an eMail Client, just the basics needed for reality interrupting the important stuff.
K:\Downloads\Security\Comodo\Comodo Internet Security (Must have to ask my permission on first run of anything, not auto block/delete/quarantine)
K:\Downloads\System\Registry\Registrar Registry Manager (Must have Paid for Registry Editor)
K:\Downloads\Utilities\Bo Yans\Visual BCD (Must have For UEFI Windows Boot loading easier editing with GUI not command prompt)
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Control\WindowsSpyBlocker
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Control\Delprof2
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Control\ExecTI – Run As TrustedInstaller (The real & hidden SysAdmin)
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Control\Hosts
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Control\O&O ShutUp10++
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Control\PowerRun – Run With Highest Privileges
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Control\SetACL Studio
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Control\ViVeTool-GUI
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Control\W10Privacy
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Install – OS\NTLite (God Tier Windows debloter, how I remove the crap, & control updates using MS source + my changes)
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Install – OS\WhyNotWin11
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Install – OS\Windows XP Clipbook Viewer
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Install – OS\Windows7 Calculator
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\UI\7+ Taskbar Tweaker (God Tier "Box Set", all three together, are must haves for my Modded Desktop)
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\UI\Explorer Patcher
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\UI\Open-Shell-Menu – Classic Shell Reborn
One addition I skipped my Devices folder, because it's hardware specific, but some generic ones are there as well.
K:\Downloads\Devices\1 PC\CPU\DRAM Calculator for Ryzen
K:\Downloads\Devices\1 PC\Fan Control\Fan Control by Rem0o (God tier full fan control)
K:\Downloads\Devices\1 PC\GPU\DDU – Display Driver Uninstaller (Does what it says Nvidia/AMD/Intel Removes what they "forget" in safe mode)
K:\Downloads\Devices\1 PC\GPU\Nvidia\Nvidia Profile Inspector by Orbmu2k (God Tier Nvidia GPU level & per game/program settings)
K:\Downloads\Devices\1 PC\Storage\Macrium Reflect (God Tier free Backup)
K:\Downloads\Devices\1 PC\Storage\Rufus (Used to create ISO s on USB Drives, mostly my Custom OS builds, using MS source)
While it's possible to do serious damage, taking control requires the power to break everything.
For the use cases I use, everything is safe, I provide source links if I can find that source.
Some of these do things MS tries to stop & hide, so I learn to use by doing, trying, failing, until the goal I wanted is achieved.
Even moving the Taskbar off the Main Display was blocked in W11, because someone wanted an "Apple Clone" Desktop.
Typical Focus group slop, ask Mac users what it would take to move to Windows & force that on those that rejected everything made by Apple.
"Failed To meet Expectations" next Annual Investor report, because they expected us to be as ignorant as they are.
If I had to describe my approach, I'm a "Linux Neck beard" at heart, forced to use the proprietary software on Windows, because I'm a gamer.
Currently 92% of Steam users are on Nvidia GPUs & all my life Linux Gaming has sucked, because of that company I hate.
Despite the vast improvements of Proton, due to Valve's requirements for the POS that is the "Steam Deck".
Note om portable gaming: My perspective is I won't even watch videos on my phone, my objections are purely the lack of performance.
If I wanted portable gaming, the platform of choice, is gaming Laptop, or these days, a Micro PC can fit in a shoe box.
When II pick up my mobile, I become a novice I use the "Smart" part that little, I ring people, sent more texts this year than in rest of my life.
I may get over 10 in one year at this rate.
It's not that I can't understand it when I need to, but I'm sitting in front of my PC all day, rarely leave the house, just a weekly shopping trip.
Even when I was self employed, that took 4 hours to maintain my lifestyle, so the other 20 hours was all mine to spend on my PC.
It's certainly not a "normal" lifestyle, but it's made me a PC expert, I'm "the tech guy", the really poor people turn to.
Even bought a PS Pro once to play a few exclusive, then after 20 years of that walled garden crap, Sony started releasing on PC.
That gathered dust, while I fixed a families PS4 for a couple of years, when that died, they got that PS4 Pro.
I'd sold my PS2 in 2005, when I bought my single core OEM Mistake (good PC, not upgradable), 3 months later Games went Dual Core only.
For 8 years I played & modded old games I pirated GOG didn't exist then & I discovered it in 2013 when I installed Steam & started buying games,. because now I could play them. I became an expert modder reading dead forums (found mods as well) on the Wayback Machine.
When I was much younger, I was a "loser", because I was a "Gamer", that meant & played Basic D&D, later my "2nd Edition was "Advanced D&D" (1st officially).
Applying that to computer games was in the eighties, I was 18 when I got a Commodore 64 & have never owned another console (except two above).
Though not a PC, it was brand walled gardens, so lots of game porting, no modular components, as Ive seen it all develop.
For about 15 years 1985 to 1999 my life was too chaotic, homeless but much more couch surfing, than the times I was living on the streets.
My gaming history goes back to Pong releasing, but I hated the coin ops, because they were "in-Game Cash Shops", with "play to continue" FOMO.
None of the exploitation is new, the current "stop Killing Games" campaign is a distraction from the real problem.
Digital content can't be killed FFS, you have to walk into that walled garden Store Client & Publisher Server prison by buying the DRM locked product.
Steam fangirls are the worst, FFS
Gaben told you that Piracy was a SERVICE problem, then locked you all into that prison & in your ignorance, you kissed his arse while he turned mods into the Loot Box & Gambling addictions using games that started as mods, only thing that "Valve Devs" created was Half-life 1 & 2, everything else, modders turned into 3rd party devs, bought by Steam & v2 suddenly appears, that's the real reason for "Valve can't count up to 3" myth, they never needed to.
Check the franchise histories & origins
Modders (or small dev studio) make a great Source Mod, Valve hires them to make the first official title, with the Dev Team expanded.
IP now owned Valve rapidly releases the sequel, no need for part 3, if it was once, or twice, it maybe a coincidence.
This happened even with the Half-Life Spin-offs, gearbox made most of those, yet another awful publisher.
It was GOG that solved the "Service Problem", by providing me with DRM Free offline installers & when the consoles forced the first "Store Client/Publisher Server" walled garden prisons, in 2012 Steam dropped curation (Green Light Era) & GOG had to make Galaxy to get new games at all.
Of course, because most GOG users rejected the prisons, it was optional on GOG.
If before you bought an online game, you all demanded LAN/WAN, or any form of P2P backup for the inevitable "End Game" moment, the servers switch off.
You don't need "Legislation", you simply need to "Unite & Co-operate", you're the one being exploited, so get exploited wisely.
Buy games that can't be killed, because you possess & control the DRM Free offline installer & P2P networking in game.
Baldur's Gate 3 does that right now, just co-op, but still networking without the store client & publisher control.
Whoops, another Novel, well I suppose you all know what to expect when I post.
Let's make it longer (the nice way).
TLDR
K:\Downloads\Documenters\Calibre 64-Bit - eBook Management
K:\Downloads\Documenters\Kindle (Old Version, working? Arms race with Amazon)
K:\Downloads\Documenters\LibreOffice
K:\Downloads\Documenters\Notepad++
K:\Downloads\Documenters\PDF-XChange Pro (pirated, best I've found, but way too expensive)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Archivers\7-Zip (God Tier Archive
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Archivers\Universal Extractor (Old but made God tier once, extracted almost everything that could be, still good, but needs lots of updates from a small dedicated community, one of those tools that either fails, or extracts that archive that nothing else will handle)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Context Menu\Lammer Context Menu (really a "Renamer", but I use the God Tier copy path features (My Must have).
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Copiers\Fast Copy
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Copiers\Miroirs (Copies entire folder tree, without copying files, very useful when needed)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Data Recoverers\Recuva (A data recovery tool is needed, but not found a good one that gives full path recovery)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Desktop Managers\Fences (God tier paid Desktop Shortcut manager, Roll Down on hover, gives me a column of titles on each monitor, on over I get a drop down "Fence" of that groups Icons, I have about 1000 destkop shortcuts that without fences all overlap in default desktop)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\File Managers\FreeCommander XE (what I used before Explorer dual pane explorer & for "Virtual" Folders explorer can't see)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Hashers\QuickSFV (multi file hash checking god tier must have)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Hashers\OpenHashTab (Properties Tab "Shell Extensions", A shell is the desktop manager, which is part of Explorer.exe in Windows)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Linkers\Hermann Schinag’s Linking Utilities\Link Shell Extension (God tier Linker I've mentioned before somewhere ∧ (up) there).
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Renamers\Advanced Renamer (God Tier file & folder renamer I've mentioned before somewhere ∧ (up) there probably).
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Resourcers\Resource Hacker (Exe Explorer, more for information gathering/changing shows hidden substructures)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Searchers\Everything (God Tier file system searcher)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Sizers\SpaceSniffer
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Sizers\WinDirStat (both God tier Drive scanners based on file size, great for all the moving around my folders get.)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Thumbnails\Clear And Reset Thumbnail Cache (Batch files)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Thumbnails\DarkThumbs (eBook focused)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Thumbnails\Icaros (New candidate for God Tier status)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Thumbnails\SageThumbs (Old God tier just retired after decade+ use)
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Uninstallers\Revo Uninstaller (Vital god tier must have, uninstalls all the things they"forget" to remove.
K:\Downloads\Files And Folders\Unlockers\Unlocker (Vital must have, forwhen windows locks a function "File In Use", "can't copy/move" etc.
K:\Downloads\Imagers\Colour Pickers\Color Cop
These I'll list, no must have, lots of formats, so it's more pick & mix, whatever provides your current needs & at least once these did.
Color Seizer, ColorMania, ColorPic, Corante Color Picker
K:\Downloads\Imagers\Editors\EXIFTool (All that hidden dats in every pic revealed)
K:\Downloads\Imagers\Editors\GIMP - GNU Image Manipulation Program (Must have, for creating my custom Desktop Shortcuts)
K:\Downloads\Imagers\Editors\Inkscape (SVG editor)
K:\Downloads\Imagers\Screenshoters\Greenshot (Must have for any "user Support", giving, or received)
K:\Downloads\Imagers\Viewers\FastStone Image Viewer (great for collections)
K:\Downloads\Imagers\Viewers\Irfan View (Old God tier viewer, but I mostly just us GIMP for viewing & Calibre eBook Reader now does eComics for me).
K:\Downloads\Media\K-Lite Codec Pack – Media Player Classic – Home Cinema (God tier Codecs & decent media player)
K:\Downloads\Media\Kodi (I don't really use this, but it's Must have for my Flatmate who does have a TV & watches movies)
K:\Downloads\Network\Browsers\LibreWolf (emergency backup, Privacy fork of modern POS Firefox)
K:\Downloads\Network\Browsers\Pale Moon (Small dev team, but God Tier Extensions, old school Firefox)
K:\Downloads\Network\eMail Client\Thunderbird (Nothing fancy, I need an eMail Client, just the basics needed for reality interrupting the important stuff.
K:\Downloads\Security\Comodo\Comodo Internet Security (Must have to ask my permission on first run of anything, not auto block/delete/quarantine)
K:\Downloads\System\Registry\Registrar Registry Manager (Must have Paid for Registry Editor)
K:\Downloads\Utilities\Bo Yans\Visual BCD (Must have For UEFI Windows Boot loading easier editing with GUI not command prompt)
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Control\WindowsSpyBlocker
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Control\Delprof2
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Control\ExecTI – Run As TrustedInstaller (The real & hidden SysAdmin)
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Control\Hosts
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Control\O&O ShutUp10++
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Control\PowerRun – Run With Highest Privileges
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Control\SetACL Studio
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Control\ViVeTool-GUI
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Control\W10Privacy
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Install – OS\NTLite (God Tier Windows debloter, how I remove the crap, & control updates using MS source + my changes)
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Install – OS\WhyNotWin11
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Install – OS\Windows XP Clipbook Viewer
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\Install – OS\Windows7 Calculator
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\UI\7+ Taskbar Tweaker (God Tier "Box Set", all three together, are must haves for my Modded Desktop)
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\UI\Explorer Patcher
K:\Downloads\Windows 11 Fixers\UI\Open-Shell-Menu – Classic Shell Reborn
One addition I skipped my Devices folder, because it's hardware specific, but some generic ones are there as well.
K:\Downloads\Devices\1 PC\CPU\DRAM Calculator for Ryzen
K:\Downloads\Devices\1 PC\Fan Control\Fan Control by Rem0o (God tier full fan control)
K:\Downloads\Devices\1 PC\GPU\DDU – Display Driver Uninstaller (Does what it says Nvidia/AMD/Intel Removes what they "forget" in safe mode)
K:\Downloads\Devices\1 PC\GPU\Nvidia\Nvidia Profile Inspector by Orbmu2k (God Tier Nvidia GPU level & per game/program settings)
K:\Downloads\Devices\1 PC\Storage\Macrium Reflect (God Tier free Backup)
K:\Downloads\Devices\1 PC\Storage\Rufus (Used to create ISO s on USB Drives, mostly my Custom OS builds, using MS source)
Edit, the ODT file has gone, bugger it.
This is just "User Support", terribly inefficient in a forum thread, which was why MO (Mod Organizer) official support was moved by me, from Nexus Mods to a site called STEP that had a Wiki for Documentation & an entire Sub forum I controlled (Created) in my capacity as the one chosen to execute my suggestion, more because I was a member of STEP & knew they actually wanted it, that was where MO2 was created & is now on Discord (I don't like that for the exact same reasons), the best MO2 documentation is still the one "DoubleYou" created for MO with the help my scattered forum posts having gathered that information from the entire 13000 posts & our expertise (approx number) page was locked 2016.
Note: My "docs" were very repetitive due to being single posts responding to users, DoubleYou deserves all the credfit for the official version, my minor corrections were a tiny contribution to the very first release & it's on a Wiki to be easilly updated by any volunteer, with a correction, or improvement.
Still got "Moderator" Privileges on STEP today (never get taken away), but I stopped being active, due to the In-Game Cash Shops in 2016.
Got back into modding BGS games only after they released on GOG (despite owning & then pirating the Steam versions), it was a princple.
If they announce the cash shop before selling the game, I don't buy that game, do it After, I don't buy that Publisher's games & destroy the ones not on GOG.
My generic Registry edits, attached. 1 Essential Registry Edits.7z
the promised ODT is in the folder named Deciphering STUCKRECTS2
While you are right about this, the problem is, all of the stories posted above have already been shared previously in the thread dedicated for Mags/Inc Reluctant Press:
