Give the girl a gold star!

May 31, 2007 10:21 PM

PC filter: Why did a gold star labeled "Favorites" appear on the desktop of my new laptop?

I may have inadvertently dragged it there when I was trying to set up Outlook. If I try to delete it from the desktop, I get a message that it can't be deleted because it's a system file. Am I stuck with it on the desktop, or can I put it back where it belongs?

posted by Joleta to computers & internet (5 comments total)

it is probably your internet explorer favorites. I'm guessing you have vista? In which case, i can't help you with moving/removing it. lol.
posted by kraigory at 10:29 PM on May 31, 2007

Nope. I've got XP.
posted by Joleta at 10:38 PM on May 31, 2007

That's a "feature" of IE7. It's not a feature of Vista.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 11:20 PM on May 31, 2007

Joleta, this is a standard folder that is by default under your username in the Documents and Settings folder, e.g. C:\Documents and Settings\Joleta\Favorites. Try opening explorer in folder view (right click on start) and see if yours is missing (it might be another username's Favorites, but probably not). Drag it back over there.

This should not affect IE in any way -- it knows where they are wherever you move it.

(I just duplicated your situation and changed it back without any problems.)

Note: This doesn't happen if you have the Favorites activated in the start menu customization (the star appears in the upper right area of your start menu). You can create a short cut from there or drag it to your desktop, but it isn't the "real" Favorites folder.

In short, you probably just dragged it out to the desktop inadvertently.
posted by dhartung at 11:30 PM on May 31, 2007

Thanks, dhartung! I dragged the Favorites star back into my Docs & Settings\Joleta folder. It was late and I panicked, but AskMeFi is always there for me! :) But darn, I wish I'd looked for where Favorites lives on my desktop as a comparison and not burned a question. :(
posted by Joleta at 5:21 AM on June 1, 2007