Where are my files?

[Tieum]

Hello,

I got bored of clicking OK each time I wanted to to anything on my PC so
I disabled UAC.

Now the stuff is I lost some saves for some programs. For other programs
I am back to the files I had in May.

What's happening? Where are my files?

Thanks,

Tieum

 

[Paul Smith]

I got bored of clicking OK each time I wanted to to anything on my PC so I
disabled UAC.

Now the stuff is I lost some saves for some programs. For other programs I
am back to the files I had in May.

What's happening? Where are my files?

Some of the programs you were running do not work properly on Windows Vista,
and so UAC gave them virtualised folders to write their data too.

Try having a look in C:\ProgramData for the files - or better yet turn UAC
back on.

If you're running programs that throw up UAC prompts you should look at
replacing them with better programs, ones that don't want full rights to the
whole box.

--
Paul Smith,
Yeovil, UK.
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User.
http://www.dasmirnov.net/blog/
http://www.windowsresource.net/

*Remove nospam. to reply by e-mail*

 

[Tieum]

Some of the programs you were running do not work properly on Windows
Vista, and so UAC gave them virtualised folders to write their data too.

Try having a look in C:\ProgramData for the files - or better yet turn
UAC back on.

If you're running programs that throw up UAC prompts you should look at
replacing them with better programs, ones that don't want full rights to
the whole box.

Did not find any of my stuff under C:\ProgramData.

I do not want to go back to UAC because it is very painful. Each time
you install/uninstall aprogram, each time you want to change your
configuration you just get a popup that block your wall screen.

MS guys should have think twice before implementing this feature IMHO.

 

[Adam Albright]

Did not find any of my stuff under C:\ProgramData.

I do not want to go back to UAC because it is very painful. Each time
you install/uninstall aprogram, each time you want to change your
configuration you just get a popup that block your wall screen.

MS guys should have think twice before implementing this feature IMHO.

They should have made it an OPTION that by default is off. Typical of
Microsoft to turn it on by default and make it difficult to tweak.

The truth is Microsoft by forcing UAC on the masses without warning
has waved the white flag of surrender and by so doing has admitted it
is incapable of writing a secure operating system and that all prior
versions of Windows were so damn buggy and prone to hacker attack and
exploit from so many outside sources they had no choice other than to
impose some superficial warning system which is really all UAC is
since on it's own it offers little actual protection. The only real
benefit is on the Internet side which is also possible to implement
with other things like firewalls and malware detectors. In short UAC
is mostly smoke and mirrors. Joe Average bought it too. Dumb.

 

[forty-nine]

They should have made it an OPTION that by default is off. Typical of
Microsoft to turn it on by default and make it difficult to tweak.

The truth is Microsoft by forcing UAC on the masses without warning
has waved the white flag of surrender and by so doing has admitted it
is incapable of writing a secure operating system and that all prior
versions of Windows were so damn buggy and prone to hacker attack and
exploit from so many outside sources they had no choice other than to
impose some superficial warning system which is really all UAC is
since on it's own it offers little actual protection. The only real
benefit is on the Internet side which is also possible to implement
with other things like firewalls and malware detectors. In short UAC
is mostly smoke and mirrors. Joe Average bought it too. Dumb.

I like UAC...it always ask for permission.
Has a pleasant sound,too.
Needs to be installed into children.

 

[rtk]

Some of the programs you were running do not work properly on Windows
Vista, and so UAC gave them virtualised folders to write their data too.

Try having a look in C:\ProgramData for the files - or better yet turn UAC
back on.

It's actually at %userprofile%\appdata\local\virtualstore. Inside that
folder you'll find a program files, programdata and a windows folder. If you
don't turn off UAC immediately, you should probably have a peek at these
folders and sync them back into their real locations.

Or as Paul Smith said, don't turn it off, or at the very least run UAC in
silent mode.

See
http://brandonlive.com/2007/02/06/more-secure-way-to-disable-uac-without-losing-protected-mode-ie/

 

[rtk]

They should have made it an OPTION that by default is off. Typical of
Microsoft to turn it on by default and make it difficult to tweak.

It is an option, why the capitals? Did you mean to emphasize OFF maybe?

IMHO, they should have done the same as any 'nix including OS X, no option
to turn it off. Prepare for this eventuality in future versions of windows.

The truth is Microsoft by forcing UAC on the masses without warning
has waved the white flag of surrender and by so doing has admitted it
is incapable of writing a secure operating system and that all prior
versions of Windows were so damn buggy and prone to hacker attack and
exploit from so many outside sources they had no choice other than to
impose some superficial warning system which is really all UAC is
since on it's own it offers little actual protection.

Wow, that's a great example of a run-on sentence.

UAC is about making the least privilege security mode that has existed since
NT 4.0 radically easier to use via over the shoulder elevation. Because it
was so difficult to use a restricted user account, OEMs and so called "power
users" insisted on running as the equivalent of root. There is absolutely no
debate that running as administrator all the time is patently unsafe.

check out
http://brandonlive.com/2007/01/31/vista-myths-users-will-just-click-ok/ to
dispel one of the myths you're eluding to.

That's not to say there isn't room for improvement. The double prompting for
creating a new folder is crazy, and there needs to be some system
implemented to ease the initial setup.

The only real benefit is on the Internet side which is also possible to
implement
with other things like firewalls and malware detectors.

This is incorrect, restricted mode IE under vista is impossible to achieve
with UAC off and can not be replicated on XP or via third party tools.
SandboxIE isn't the same at all.

 

[Paul Smith]

It's actually at %userprofile%\appdata\local\virtualstore. Inside that
folder you'll find a program files, programdata and a windows folder. If
you don't turn off UAC immediately, you should probably have a peek at
these folders and sync them back into their real locations.

Or as Paul Smith said, don't turn it off, or at the very least run UAC in
silent mode.

Thanks rtk. I knew it was somewhere. ;-)

--
Paul Smith,
Yeovil, UK.
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User.
http://www.dasmirnov.net/blog/
http://www.windowsresource.net/

*Remove nospam. to reply by e-mail*

 

[Tieum]

Hello,

I finally found them under C:\Users\myaccount\AppData\Local\VirtualStorage .

Regarding going back to UAC this is not an option as I will not buy new
version for every software I have (except of course if MS wants to
sponsor me for this).


Tieum

 

[Tieum]

Thanks rtk. I knew it was somewhere. ;-)

For some reason I got those messages with some delay and found by myself
in the meantime.

Thank you for your help anyway.

One question if I go back to UAC tough: since there is this
"VirtualStore" does this mean that I can see those files only from my
session and that another user will not see them?

Thanks,


Tieum

 

[Tieum]

And finally it looks that I will have to go back to UAC since Windows
Media Player does not start when UAC is off. :-(