Whenever attempting to create a new folder with the name ‘Con’ this name does not hold, and the folder name automatically defaults to ‘New Folder’. Why does this occur? The computer is running Windows XP.

I can see why you would like to create a folder with your own name! Unfortunately though, Windows will not allow you to create a folder with that particular name. As you may have discovered in the past, Windows has certain rules for file and folder names (e.g. names cannot contain characters such as: / * ? etc’¦). In addition, there is also a list of reserved names which cannot be used as the name for files or folders. These reserved names are: CON, AUX, COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4, LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, PRN, NUL.

You can see the name ‘CON’ is included in this reserved names list. Therefore, ‘CON’ cannot be used as the name of a file or folder. However, you could make the folder name something else, which still incorporates the ‘CON’ name. For example, name the folder ‘Cons Files’ or ‘Cons Documents’. Either of these names are perfectly valid.