I just learned a bit about Vista's Virtual Store...  As I understand it, after initial program installation in Program Files,Vista doesn't allow changes to data files there in Program Files.  This is a security feature.  If program makes frequent changes to its data files, it's stored in a Virtual Store folder.

I ran into this the hard way.  I transferred some data files from my main XP machine to my Vista laptop.  I just copied the data files into the appropriate Program Files\program folder.  Later though, that program wouldn't/couldn't call up the data.  I started experimenting and found that any updated data files were stored in Virtual Store\Program Files.

Having now researched it a bit, do any of you have comments about Virtual Store?  Pros?  Cons?  There is apparently a way to get around this Vista feature by changing the permissions of the desired folder in Program Files.

With regard to the last, let's say that the folder that I want to access is \Program Files\progname\data.  Can only that folder be given access in permissions, or does the whole tree need to have reduced security, ie, Program Files and Program Files\progname as well as Program Files\progname\data?

Again, any comments?  On the one hand, it's no biggie since I now know of the existence of Virtual Store and can look there for data files that I want to update manually if necessary.  Or is it worthwhile to do a workaround to put the data files where they would normally be in Program Files (for some apps).

I guess I should add that programs that allow the user to select a folder outside of Program Files for data storage obviously aren't affected.  Likewise, those programs that are apparently Vista compatible and store their data in Program Data also are not affected.  The only affected programs are those that store their data in their own folder in Program Files\progname...  connie

>> you'll learn that no program using the new rules is allowed to write to the Program Files tree. <<

Right..  That's what I read and the reason for the Virtual Store, but I also thought I read about some workarounds.  Perhaps I was mistaken.

That said, I have no real reason to employ any workarounds.  It's not like I need to get rid of Virtual Store, now that I know where it is and where changing data can be stored.  I only ran into the problem with one older app.  I just copied the data file from my XP machine to the Vista machine in Program Files\progname\data but the program just pulled up an empty data file (or rather, reported no data).  Now that I know to copy the data file into the Virtual Store, everything works just fine...  connie

>> because I tend to install utilities in VISTA using Run as Administrator? <<

Hugh..  I do too and yes, that looks to be an exception as long as you are logged on as that administrator.  I think it's also the basis of one of the workarounds that talks about altering the permissions of the specific folder in question...  connie

>>Did you install using Run as Administrator?

Nope.  I usually don't bother with that option as it's rarely needed.  The one app I have encountered that requires that is Office 2003, for whatever reason...

>>as long as you are logged on as that administrator.

I believe you are mixing things up here.  "Run as Administrator" is very different than logging in using the default Administrator account...

>> the resultant data file (.mdb)

Note that file was created using Office code.  MDB is an Access database.  That may explain why you encountered what you did...

>>From a security standpoint, I guess it makes some sense to disallow any changes to Program Files...  

Not really, IMHO.  Attempting to "work around" Windows own design issues hardly qualifies as "security" in my book...  <sigh>

>>I wasn't aware of that since I've never tried Access.

I use Access for one DB that stores logon information for a web site I administrate.  The web code uses ASP and ODBC to read the file.  I purposely do all the maintenance off-line to ensure the DB can't accidentaly get mangled by an on-line transaction...