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[Eagle of Fire]

None of your arguments make sense, and doesn't apply to either point...

There is several advantage to mount c:\ directly in DOSBox. For one, if you somehow install or run the install of an old game in windows then run the game in DOSbox (something that newbies are prone to do), some games which "catch" the full installation path in their config files will refuse to work. Regulars won't have much problem with this, as they'll understand they need to install the game directly in DOSBox first, but most people won't even begin to understand why it's not working.

Second, it's only natural to start at c:\ in Windows, just as it is even more natural in DOS. Never in my life I have seen a DOS tree with games starting directly in the c:\ root directory. Some specific games will ask for it, but otherwise people usually always class their games one way or another in subdirectories. If I mount my c:\ drive directly, I know what I'll get and where I'm going. No need for superfluous powder dust here.

Third, I've never seen a MS-Dos game screwing an autoexec.bat or a config.sys, nor is it possible. I've seen plenty of them add lines in those files but nothing even remotely serious and which can't be solved, if there is ever a problem which I doubt greatly, by removed said lines. You got exactly the same remote chance of running into a virus or whatnot by running a file in DOSBox than you'd have running any random file you get from the internet. No point arguing that...

I also really don't understand why it would even matter that those "noobs" work on c:\ instead of a subfolder. There is no difference whatsoever. The only way they could screw their computer up would be by deleting random stuff around, and let me tell you that if someone is dense enough to do that in DOSBox, they are way more likely to do it in Windows beforehand as it's way easier to achieve in Windows with the graphic interface than under a command type DOS emulator. In Windows all you need to do is press delete...

On a side note, if an old game wants to alter config.sys and autoexec.bat, you should let them if you're running an old computer. It won't matter the slighlest bit in DOSBox (except if you want to try running the game thru Windows later on, which is a moot point anyways for a noob) and those games are likely not to work under a native DOS environement if you don't let them alter those files and reboot...