Windows 10 filing structure

This PC show the Pictures item as a folder but it is not. It is a special type of shortcut to C:\Users\John\Pictures

To put it another way, there is no location This PC\Pictures. There is only a shortcut at This PC\Pictures

MS thinks this is helpful.

Personally, I do not like these special shortcuts and I hide them.
Add or Remove Folders from This PC - TenForumsTutorials

The contents you see when you use the shortcut are the same as the contents you see when you go to C:\Users\John\Pictures. What makes you think otherwise?

Denis

Everything that is shown by the shortcut in This PC\Pictures is actually in C:\Users\John\Pictures
This PC\Pictures is not a location so it holds no files itself. It holds no files, it merely allows you to access them. It is a shortcut.

I have never used DuplicateSweeper but it is logical that it only finds files in C:\Users\John\Pictures and your other C:\Users\John\... folders because they are real folders that hold real files.
- Judging by your comment, DuplicateSweeper does not recognise that This PC\Pictures is only a shortcut and therefore automatically redirect itself to C:\Users\John\Pictures.
- That is not a problem for you now because you clearly recognise the real situation, that files are stored in C:\Users\John\Pictures etc

I drag & drop my C:\Users\John\Pictures and my other C:\Users\John\... folders onto File explorer's Quick access entry so that I can get to them easily.

Denis

Try3 said:

MS thinks this is helpful.
Personally, I do not like these special shortcuts and I hide them.

There are few things in life that can give one euphoric pleasure ... and this is one of them.

... Apart from killing (at least disable/hide) anything and everything Bing and/or Cortana.