Dealing with programs that want the XP file system

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Guest

I've just "upgraded" (I'm putting into quotes until I see something I like;
so far I've been spending my time figuring out how to turn off endless
permission notices and digging up a replacement for Tweak UI) to Vista.

I have a backup program that backs up specific folders, such as, for
example, c:\documents and settings\Charles\My Documents. So now it's saying
the folder is no longer available. Which of course it isn't, because Vista
has inexplicably changed where they keep your documents.

So the question is, is there any way to avoid having to manually change
every single entry I have in every piece of software I have that points to
c:\documents and settings\Charles\My Documents? Because there are quite a
few of them and it would be shocking, if not surprising, for Microsoft to
just leave its users hanging.
 
Shocking? Not at all.

But right now I am experiencing the same problem with many of my programs
and have been spending a good deal of my first 2 days with Xbox doing exactly
what you mentioned. Some of them I had to reinstall and just change the
directory, but be careful and don't uninstall first - because you never know
what CD-ROMs will install and what won't. Just try to reinstall over the old
one if it lets you.
 
If you are not concerned with someone else using your account, under Control
Panel/User Accounts click on "Turn User Account Control on or off" and
uncheck the UAC box. That stops the "endless" permission notices.
 
The old nomenclature in XP(documents and settings etc) are only junctions in
Vista.

Thus if you have a backup program written for a prior o/s that looks for the
old nomenclature you will have to modify it to point to the new Vista
locations
C:\Users\{your username}\Documents etc.

See this site for What's Changed in Vista(scroll down to folders)
http://www.jimmah.com/vista/vistanew.aspx
 
Unfortunately turning off UAC breaks some programs.
My antivirus wouldn't update automatically until I turned it back on.
As a geek, I think MS reaslly missed the mark with this thing they call
Vista.
Vista looks like it was designed by AOL, they threw in some eye candy & made
it for beginners; to protect them from themselves.
That worked for AOL for a while, but now they have to give their service
away...
I'm using Vista because I will have to support it, but that doesn't make me
like it!
 
Turning UAC off, and unchecking windows defender in startup did not stop any
of my programs from working, including AVAST, the anti-virus.

Stop spreading lies to try and stop people altering security to suit
themselves, not microsoft.
 
Mick said:
Turning UAC off, and unchecking windows defender in startup did not stop
any
of my programs from working, including AVAST, the anti-virus.

Stop spreading lies to try and stop people altering security to suit
themselves, not microsoft.
Click to expand...

That happened to me as well when I turned off UAC. One program blew-up
without UAC being enabled right in the boot and logon process. So, I enabled
UAC and went on about my business.
 
Charles said:
I've just "upgraded" (I'm putting into quotes until I see something I
like;
so far I've been spending my time figuring out how to turn off endless
permission notices and digging up a replacement for Tweak UI) to Vista.

I have a backup program that backs up specific folders, such as, for
example, c:\documents and settings\Charles\My Documents. So now it's
saying
the folder is no longer available. Which of course it isn't, because
Vista
has inexplicably changed where they keep your documents.

So the question is, is there any way to avoid having to manually change
every single entry I have in every piece of software I have that points to
c:\documents and settings\Charles\My Documents? Because there are quite a
few of them and it would be shocking, if not surprising, for Microsoft to
just leave its users hanging.
Click to expand...

Weirdly, all the ones that use the my documents folder for games, such as
GTA3 and C&C Generals etc. They all seem to have found their own way unto
the /users/ folder by themselves......
 
Weirdly, all the ones that use the my documents folder for games, such as
GTA3 and C&C Generals etc. They all seem to have found their own way unto
the /users/ folder by themselves......
Click to expand...

The programs are properly coded to ask the system where the user profile is
before trying to access it. It's very simple to determine programmatically
where the user profile is. Unfortunately some legacy programs didn't do
this. Even in XP if you moved the user profile it broke some programs or
poorly written scripts.
 
Hi, Charles.

If you just want to gripe, go ahead. It's your right.

But, if you want an answer to your question, then just click Start | Help
and Support, and type "Documents and Settings" into the Search Box. You
should find that the answer is "No", you don't have to manually change all
those settings; Vista takes care of that for you, unless you have
"hardwired" your backup program to work only with the old system.

The "permissions" notices and questions from UAC are a nuisance for the
first week or so of using Vista, as we are installing apps and drivers and
customizing Vista to suit ourselves. The Indexing that is going on mostly -
but not always - in the background can be a distraction and occasional
interruption, too. And there is the learning curve that we encounter with
any new operating system, of course. But, after that first week, most users
are happy with Vista.

My advice: Give it a week, then see how you feel. During that week, don't
just pound the keyboard and gripe. Read the Help files and other
documentation and experiment with the new ways of doing things. Then let us
know what you think of Vista.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail desktop beta in Vista Ultimate x64)
 
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