Vista - RE: Application Data

The user's Application Data directory is mainly there for 'userization' so
that the data is different for every useraccount. If the settings or data are
to be per-user then you should put it here.

For data which applies to all users, the approved route is to put the data
into the All Users\Application Data profile. The issue here is that most
people (and most backup programs!) will not even recognise that data is being
stored here, and this creates a backup/data loss issue.

You could (as is being done) put the data in Program Files, and change its
permissions. Key point is that this is not approved, and may raise problems
with future Windows releases, I guess. In some ways, though, I find this
preferable to hiding the data in an impossible-to-locate place. It also has
the advantage of making the app portable. Copy the folder and you have the
app, with correct settings. This may be why your coder favours this route.

For services the problem is more complex, as they may run under the system
credentials. In this case the data should strictly be under the Local Service
account.

"Tom" wrote: