Downloaded Program Files Directory

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jen
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J

Jen

Can someone help me understand how this directory works?
It appears that it as a virtual directory pointing to
another location. Is this true if so where is it
pointing to?

Thanks for any help!
Jen
 
Jen said:
Can someone help me understand how this directory works?
It appears that it as a virtual directory pointing to
another location. Is this true if so where is it
pointing to?

Thanks for any help!
Jen
Click to expand...

Jen

The folder contains ActiveX Controls that have been downloaded. These
objects enable certain functions to operate properly on particular websites.
You can view these files from within Internet Explorer by going to
Tools/Internet Options/General tab. Click the Settings Button and on the
following dialog box, click the View Objects Button.

Right click one of the objects and select Properties to see information on
that control.

--
Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

Please reply to the newsgroup so all may benefit.
http://www.dts-l.org
http://www.mvps.org
 
| message | Can someone help me understand how this directory works? It appears
| that it as a virtual directory pointing to another location. Is
| this true if so where is it pointing to?

First, I am not an expert in COM (the foundation of ActiveX
technologies). And I am not an expert in Windows Explorer.
But, here is what I know about the Downloaded Program Files folder:

- It is used to store (cache) ActiveX controls.

- It is ShellFolder, with the System (folder) attribute. And because
of the way Windows Explorer displays folders like this you need to use
an alternate method to view all the files it contains. One method is
to use the Command Prompt (cmd.exe) with the appropriate commands. For
a "Command-line reference" search the Help and Support Center for the
words in double-quotes. You can also click Start, click Run, type the
following command and click OK:

cmd /k cd %SYSTEMROOT%\DOWNLO~1 & dir /a

- It contains a file named desktop.ini that has the Hidden (file)
attribute. To quickly view this file will using cmd.exe to view the
folder, use the MS-DOS Editor program named Edit. That is, at the
command prompt type: "edit desktop.ini" (without the quotes). For
more information about the "MS-DOS Editor Edit" search the Help and
Support Center for the words in double-quotes.You can also click
Start, click Run, type the following command and click OK:

cmd /k cd %SYSTEMROOT%\DOWNLO~1 & edit desktop.ini

- According to the following document "Desktop.ini represents a
junction point between Explorer and a namespace extension. This means
that Explorer handles the folders that hold such a file differently,
and relies on special inproc servers to draw the content."

MSDN Home | Microsoft Internet Developer | March 1998:
Cutting Edge Active Desktop; Microsoft Interactive Developer March
1998. By Dino Esposito
http://www.microsoft.com/mind/0398/cutting0398.asp

Specifically, the desktop.ini file in the Downloaded Program Files
folder contains the following command.

CLSID={88C6C381-2E85-11D0-94DE-444553540000}

And this points to a specific registry key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{88C6C381-2E85-11D0-94DE-444553540000}

And the InProcServer32 for that particular CLSID is
%SystemRoot%\System32\occache.dll

To view the subkeys and values of this registry key click Start, click
Run, type the following command and click OK: "regedit" (with or
without the quotes). Then navigate to the above given registry key.

- Occache.dll is used to enumerate, update, and uninstall the ActiveX
controls in the shell folder. For some information search the
following document for Occache:

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 Resource Kit | Part 7 - Appendices
Appendix B - Troubleshooting:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/ie/6/all/reskit/en-us/part1/p01ie6rk.mspx
 
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