My Documents folder changed!

[=?iso-8859-1?Q?Bernd_Kr=E4mer?=]

This is a problem with MS AntiSpyware Beta1 version
1.0.615.
Each time we switch user accounts in Windows XP we get a
notice about allowing a change to the default user folder
(shell folder). My children (urged not to accept
dangerous things) blocked this. The result is that
their "My Documents" now points to the documents of the
previous user. In our case that is a folder on the D:
drive for each user account. Allowing it once
with "Remember this action" does not help. It keeps
asking the same question.

I think this is also a security issue, because it gives
users access to folders for which they do not have
permissions.

 

[Alan]

This version only supports one account, the administrator
account that installed the application. Therefore, the
warning is simply a result of trying to run the
application under a limited-user account. The warning
can, AND SHOULD, be ignored (i.e., the warning IS NOT
dangerous).

The reason the current version only suuports one
administrator account is due to the fact that the
original application, Giant AntiSpyware, was only a
single-user application, and when MS bought out Giant
Company, they did not have enough time to make the
necessary changes to the source code since the program
went beta only 21 days after being acquired. The amount
of programming involved in making the application a multi-
user application is stagering. They have to code and
test this updated version extensively before even
considering releasing it to the public for beta testing.

FYI: A simple check of this newsgroups posts and replies
would have informed you that the program is only a single-
user application. A little investigation of these
newsgroups before you started using the application would
have kept this problem from occurring. The same thing
should be done before installing and running any beta
software. That way you know what you are getting into in
advance, so you don't do things that you should not do.

Alan

 

[Bernd]

Thanks Alan for your elaborate reply.
I have still a few remarks:

-----Original Message-----
This version only supports one account, the administrator
account that installed the application. Therefore, the
warning is simply a result of trying to run the
application under a limited-user account. The warning
can, AND SHOULD, be ignored (i.e., the warning IS NOT
dangerous).

I would not agree with that: If I ignore the warning
(i.e. not allow it, but close it), then "My Documents"
shows the documents of the previous user, and that turned
out to be a permanent modification of the target folder
location of "My Documents" for this user.
I know how to repair this, but I do find it a bit
dangerous, especially for people that do not know how to
repair such things without losing access to their
documents; for instance my children by default do not
confirm questions that they do not understand, because
they cannot decide what is dangerous and what is not.

...

FYI: A simple check of this newsgroups posts and replies
would have informed you that the program is only a single-
user application.

I am sorry I did not find this information before I
posted my question. I first tried to send a message from
the report facility inside AntiSpyware, but that didn't
work. And because the program itself seemed to work in
multiple user accounts I didn't search for this kind of
remark in these newsgroups.

A little investigation of these
newsgroups before you started using the application would
have kept this problem from occurring. The same thing
should be done before installing and running any beta
software. That way you know what you are getting into in
advance, so you don't do things that you should not do.

My apologies, however: I did search through these groups,
but I apparently searched for the wrong topics. And it is
90 pages...
And apart from that: if a company like Microsoft makes
beta software available it is also for their benefit that
we as early users find some of the bugs for them and have
an easy way to report these errors. Then they should also
warn users about known limitations and known errors at
the download page, and not in a user group that nobody
reads before installing.

Alan

Thanks again,

Bernd.