Documentation/Info on this sign

[Peter Otten]

Peter Hansen wrote:

> Peter Otten wrote:
> 
>> Bart Nessux wrote:
>>>Both functions produce the same results (33,000 files)... the problem:
>>>the filesystem has twice as many files (66,000) than the actual sums of
>>>these two counts when doing a virus scan or an adaware scan. To make
>>>matters more confusing... the IBM Tivoli backup software that I use
>>>confirms the Python counts when it does a backup. I don't know of a way
>>>to see what the OS has to say what it thinks is correct. Any ideas on
>>>how to do this?
>> 
>> Maybe you have a symlink (how are they called in windows?) in the root
>> folder. The number of files would vary depending on whether the software
>> follows symlinks or not. That could explain the factor 2.
> 
> While the NTFS does support symbolic link, it doesn't even appear
> to include a utility to create them, and most people, I suspect
> don't even know they exist.  (I had to check with Google to even
> find this out.)  There is a utility called "junction" which can
> be had from http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/source/misc.shtml#junction
> perhaps among other places.  Very unlikely the OP has used this...

Oops, I meant plain old shortcuts (the german term used by windows,
"Verknüpfung", translates smoothly to link, shortcut would rather be
"Abkürzung"). The meaning got lost in translation. 
Upon reflection it seems unlikely that an antivirus tool would resolve
shortcuts, but the basic idea that twice as many files being seen is an
indication of files being seen twice _somehow_ still seems compelling.

Peter