What is in 'Guest' folders?

I am trying to clean out clutter from my computer and came upon the 'Users' folder in the hard drive. Within the Users folder there are three folders: Guest then me (my name and icon of a house) then Shared. I clicked on Guest folder and there are several folders with seemingly generic names. (See screenshot). I tried opening them and it says I do not have permission to open them. What's up with that? I'm the only one who uses this computer. What is in them and why can't I access them and can I delete them? Thank you.

They are there to allow someone temporary access to your computer but limits that access to the Shared folder. It's there for a purpose, and it is not intended to be deleted, so please leave it alone.

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Iphotos Package Contents: What are all these folders for? Is it too large to back up in the cloud?

Dear experts, I am quite a newbie when it comes to understanding the Mac filing system, as I originally came from the PC world. There's lots of things I dont understand in the iMac file viewer and how to organise and backup my photos is an important issue for me.
I know that if I want to look at the original photo files on my iMac, I can right-click on users/myname/pictures and select "Show Package Contents".
Question 1 - What are all these folders for?
Please can someone explain what is the difference between all the folders I see? Some of them seem to be exact duplicates of the others e.g. Masters, Modified and Originals all seem to have the same content. So here is a list of folders that I see. What is in them?, or what is their purpose?
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Data.noindex
Modified
Originals
Apple TV Photo Cache
Attachments
Auto Import
Backup
Caches
Contents
Database
iLifeShared
iPod Photo Cache
Masters
Previews
ProjectCache
Thumbnails
Question 2 - Which photo folder should I back-up?
If I want to keep a physical backup of my photos, which of the above folders should I copy to an external hard drive? (I use Get Backup to automatically copy all important new or changed files to an external drive)
Question 3 - Using the cloud: What is the best way to backup my large photo library in the cloud safely?
I would like to have some kind of safe backup in the cloud for my photos. However the size of the iphoto library is huge at 165GB. Even the Masters folder is huge. It is 130GB. Is it possible to back up files of this size in the cloud? I have a couple of services called photo streaming and Dropbox, but they don't seem to be able to handle this kind of size. Photo streaming only works with 1000 photos (as far as I can tell), and my Dropbox probably has a limit too. I guess it's about 5GB. I am already using about 3GB of my Dropbox space for other files. I would consider both paid and free solutions.
Many thanks to all the experts for your help!

know that if I want to look at the original photo files on my iMac, I can right-click on users/myname/pictures and select "Show Package Contents".
Don't do that. That's like opening the hood of your car and trying to figure out what all the different bits and peices are and which you can yank out and dispose of. Simply, there are no user-serviceable parts in here.
So, your Question 2:
You back up the iPhoto Library as a single unit.
Most Simple Back Up:
Drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to another Disk. This will make a copy on that disk.
Slightly more complex: Use an app that will do incremental back ups. This is a very good way to work. The first time you run the back up the app will make a complete copy of the Library. Thereafter it will update the back up with the changes you have made. That makes subsequent back ups much faster. Many of these apps also have scheduling capabilities: So set it up and it will do the back up automatically.
Example of such apps: Chronosync - but there are many others. Search on MacUpdate or the App Store
Your question 3:
There is no good back up to the Cloud. There are a couple of reasons for this. One is that the datasets are so large and the cloud services shapre their download speeds. This means restoring can take days to complete. Then, and this is the big problem, the iPhoto Library needs to sit on a disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Bluntly, no servers online are formatted appropriately, and if the Library is written to - by an incremental back up, for instance - there is a very high likelihood that the library will be corrupted.
Your Question 1:
The Library you're describing there sounds like one that has been updated a few times. Not everything you list there is a folder. Some will be aliases.
The Data folders hold thumbnails.
The Masters and Originals folders hold the files as imported from the camera
The Previews hold the versions of the edited photos that are accessed via the Sharing mechanism.
I think if you look losely that you'll notice that one of the Data folders and one of either the Masters or the Originals folders is actually an alias.
Everything else is a database or cache file of some form. All are required for iPhoto to work.
As an FYI:
For help accessing your photos in iPhoto see this user tip:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4491

What is the guest four in ipod touch

how to get rid of it????

What is "this guest four"
You need to clarify your question/problem.

What happens to shared folders/mail when I disable/remove a mailbox in Exch2010 and which is better to get space back?

We have a number of old mailboxes taking up room. The users are long gone and I looked into removing them. The clients of these users have been moved to others. The users had shared folders that held this info. I have a few questions
about the removal.
1. Is there a difference in time before space is given back if I disable versus remove the user in EMC?
2. If an ex-employee had folders that others are sharing, what happens when I do the remove/disable? Will the folders still be out there on the people who had it shared or will it vanish from them too?
Thanks for your help.

"Best practice" is going to be defined by each company. I worked for Microsoft for 13.5 years, assisting over 100 large companies deploy either Windows or Exchange, and none had the same definition for their "best practice".
If you need access to a mailbox for a time period, you figure out a way to keep it. If you want any terminated employee's mailbox gone tomorrow, it is gone tomorrow.
I am a fan of having some sort of process that runs periodically to clear out unnecessary mailboxes and accounts, but if there are business reasons for keeping them around, that needs to be defined into the process. In my current company, terminated
accounts are kept for 30 days, mailbox included. We give mailbox access to a different employee if required and tell them that if they need anything, they need to pull it into their own mailbox. Then, when the account disappears, the mailbox goes
into the dumpster. So, if someone forgot to pull a message, they tell their boss and live with the consequences.
But again, that's just another example of how it might be handled. You get to define what will work for you, including pulling your business units in to help with the definition.

What is a Guest LAN?

My company is currently in the process of creating a guest wireless ssid for vendors. I have already created the VLAN on our network and configured it with an ACL so that it can only get to the internet and no where else.
I am now going through creating an interface on my lwapp controllers and there is a check box that says "Guest LAN". Now the guide that I am using to configure my controllers is for an older version of WCS (I can't find one for 5.1). And they do not check the Guest LAN.
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Thanks

It has been a few months since I looked in to this and I never got around to implementing it, but I'll see if I can help any.
This "Guest LAN" allows you to use your Wireless Controllers as an anchor point for Wired Users.
When I was looking in to this, I was going to anchor a Layer 2 VLAN to an internal controller and have that controller anchor those clients to my DMZ Controller just like I do with my "wireless guest" access.
In theory it allows the Wireless Controller to pick up your Wired clients and treat them like your Wireless clients.
So, trunk an unrouted VLAN into that controller and let the controller do the dirty work....
I'm going to create a post on this in the general forum about an idea I once had with this....

What is the "search folders" tab for and how to set it up?

Since my scratch disk is on my external HD and my project files will be on my system drive I am wondering what location I should set the search tabs folders at.
If anyone knows what this a tab does exactly I would like to know. I am under the impression that when the software starts up it looks in the folder that is specified under this tab to load the project.

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What "ToDo" application (with "folders") do you recommend?

I am an experienced user of the Communicator 9500 Phone from Nokia.
It looks somewhat clumsy but it is highly efficient to use for business.
The Agenda application is especially well designed. It includes a "ToDo" section, which can be subdivided in Main Topics, kind of folders. Eg "home", "Work", "Car", "Holidays". In one view you can visualise many items related to your car, or to your Work Project 1, Your holidays, and so on. And it is fully integrated into the Calendar app.
I am now the proud and confused owner of an IPhone 4 but the apps provided with the phone are for the casual user, managing a couple of events per week, and not for someone managing a couple of hundred todo reminders spread over 12 main topics. I am so not convinced by the Agenda that I only use the IPhone to...phone and continue to use the Nokia for "serious" purposes.
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Patrick

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http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnifocus/
(I found it a bit much for me personally, but it has a lot of die-hard fans)

What are the mystery folders?

I want to know what's in the private folder with the tmp and tftpboot and tmp and ect folders under "var" that I'm apparently not allowed to open.

chavalotti wrote:
I want to know what's in the private folder with the tmp and tftpboot and tmp and ect folders under "var" that I'm apparently not allowed to open.
Adding to Kappy's comments, if you don't know what's in them, don't open them.
Once you know what's in them you probably won't bother opening them.
Learn Unix first. Understand the filesystem, permissions, commands, ACLs etc. first.
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What are the guests on Visual Admin- security provider- user logon sessions

I see many guests on there.
What are they corresponding to?
Thanks!

I'm not sure but check who is associated with guest security role.
Also check this link: http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/en/77/b7013f9ea7d861e10000000a114084/frameset.htm
Cheers,
Mustafa

What are all these folders

This has been bugging me for some time. On my main harddrive I keep seeing all these weird folders at the root level appearing.
a9bd328f37ba10f3344acc82923cfdcd
229be893aa16e739ef54566134bd6439
5cd82101b1aa18e731f76319b14b411a
b55e7d903f1cc8e1c9dbcf6e08827733
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What are these things and can I delete them?
There located on the same leve as the
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Library
Developer
System
Applications
Can I delete these weirdo ones?
Thanks

What's in 'em? Can you view any of them with textedit? Also what's their file size?

What happens to personal folders and address book from old email when I change to new email

I got a new email address. I am going to quit using the old one, which was was with Comcast When I cancel Comcast service, how can I make sure that I do not lose my personal folders and address book. Also, if I can keep the personal folders, which contain emails with the old Comcast email address, will I be able to read them?
Thank you.

The address book is unaffected.
Comcast is as I recall a pop mail provider. If your using IMAP this is useless to you, so speak up.
If you right click the Comcast account in the folder pane and select settings. Under server setting for the account change the settings to not check for mail. Click the advanced settings and change the check this server to off as well. Doing this stops Thunderbird driving you mad with unable to connect messages for the defunct account.
Go to the outgoing server (SMTP) and delete the Comcast SMTP server. This will prevent you from accidentally replying to old mail and getting an error as the Comcast account is no longer.

What is the "Guest" on Visual Admin's- security provider- login sessions ?

If I get into the Visual Administrator -> security provider->login sessions, I see many users called "Guest" there.
Could you help map those users to actual services.
Also there could be many users called "Administrator" , how to map them to actual services?
Thanks a lot!

This might be helpful to understand the role of Guest user.
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04s/helpdata/en/9f/d770424edcc553e10000000a1550b0/frameset.htm
-Pinkle

What does updating delete folders on iphone?

Why is it that every time I plug in for an update, the update deletes all my file folders? I stopped using them rather than recreating them with every update. Thanks!

It shouldn't be that way. Before the update, a backup is made. After the update the backup is installed and all your apps, folders, settings, etc should be as they were prior to the update.
Try reinstalling iTunes.

What happened to the folders in the new iphoto?

IN the old iphoto you could see the folders on your harddrive that contained your iphotos...now you just get an image of iphoto 08 and if you click on it the library opens..how do I see the folders again?

James
There are three ways (at least) to get files from the iPhoto Window.
1. *Drag and Drop*: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
2. *File -> Export*: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.
3. *Show File*: Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.
To upload to MySpace or any site that does not have an iPhoto Export Plug-in the recommended way is to Select the Pic in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export and export the pic to the desktop, then upload from there. After the upload you can trash the pic on the desktop. It's only a copy and your original is safe in iPhoto.
This is also true for emailing with Web-based services. If you're using Gmail you can use THIS
If you use Apple's Mail, Entourage, AOL or Eudora you can email from within iPhoto.
If you use a Cocoa-based Browser such as Safari, you can drag the pics from the iPhoto Window to the Attach window in the browser. Or, if you want to access the files with iPhoto not running, then create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use THIS
The change was made to the format of the iPhoto library because many users were inadvertently corrupting their library by browsing through it with other software or making changes in it themselves. If you're willing to risk database corruption, you can restore the older functionality simply by right clicking on the iPhoto Library and choosing 'Show Package Contents'. Then simply make an alias to the folders you require and put that alias on the desktop or where ever you want it. Be aware though, that this is a hack and not supported by Apple.
Regards
TD

What happened to my folders in mail

After installing Mavericks, I restarted and Mail was fine. The next time I quit Mail and reopened it, all my folders were gone. These were folders I used to store messages I wanted to keep. Are they gone forever? Hidden?

I haave an external USB drive that I plug in and then I go to the icon for time machine in the menu bar and backup to the USB drive.

What is in 'Guest' folders?

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