not quite minimalistic enough  

Just say no.

How to get rid of the “Creative Cloud Files” folder as gently as possible:

Step 1: Disable sync through the Creative Cloud Desktop application’s preferences.

Step 2: reg add hkcu\software\classes\clsid\{0E270DAA-1BE6-48F2-AC49-F082F7AF1F00} /v System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree /t REG_DWORD /d 0

This removes the entry from the folder tree in Explorer’s left pane. [Update 2018-06-01: An alternative CLSID has shown up; the old one was {0E270DAA-1BE6-48F2-AC49-10ED53A29045}.]

Step 3: reg delete hkcu\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\explorer\desktop\namespace\{0E270DAA-1BE6-48F2-AC49-F082F7AF1F00}

[Update 2018-06-01: See above.]

This removes it from the dropdown on the address bar icon (the one with Desktop, Libraries, etc. in it).

You may have to log out and back in, or restart Explorer, to see the effect of steps 2 and 3.

Step 4: rd /s "%USERPROFILE%\Creative Cloud Files"

This removes the actual folder. To get it back, it should work to create the folder, set the value from step 2 back to 0x1, and create the key deleted in step 3 (it has no values). The folder will not have its special icon.

Written on October 7, 2016