Disable Shared Documents Folder in Windows XP

What is the Shared Documents folder used for? Can I remove this option from Windows XP?

Shared folders are counterparts to your personal folders: My Documents, My Pictures, and My Music. Shared Documents, Shared Pictures, and Shared Music provide a place for you to store files, pictures, and music that everyone on your computer can access. For example, Billy can put his homework in Shared Documents so that dad can check his work. And mom can put digital pictures from the family vacation in Shared Pictures so that the whole family can see them.

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Moving or copying a file or folder to Shared Documents makes it available to everyone who uses your computer.

The contents of the shared folders are always available to anyone who uses your computer.

To share files and folders on your computer:

  1. Open My Documents.

  2. Click the file or folder you want to share.

  3. Drag the file or folder to Shared Documents in Other Places.

If you are connected to a network domain, the Shared Documents, Shared Pictures, and Shared Music folders are not available.

To disable this option you should do the following:

  1. Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).

  2. Locate the following key in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\DelegateFolders
  1. Locate the key {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}. Right click on it and select delete.

  2. Reboot to take effect.

  3. Close the registry editor.

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