anooying vista word pad save access is denied

[bubbadamage]

xp has always been my favorite operating system but now i have a vista laptop and im encountering alot of annoying probs with my xp files. i brang over

a usernpass program i made from multimedia fusion

having to run it as admin even though my account is admin!? (whats the differance?)

because when running the shorcut normally my dat files when it was supposed to change when i made a password entry didnt and couldnt tell if a change was made successfully because of vistas transparancy to file changes (very annoying)

untill yes i "run as admin"

then changes can be done to the dat files

i lost three sets of passwords to vistas non changeing dat files from my program (annoying that i have to track them down again.)

i dont put my full faith into vista because of this.

and also when i save a file with wordpad i cant too

"access is denied"

i have to look up on the web to see why because explanations is not too parent.

everything about vista is too troublesome with uac especially that any program to run properly has to be run as a admin.

and to that note is there a easier way to "run as admin context menu" for all files and a make "start menu run as admin command"?

bubbad

[allen2]

You could disable UAC.

[CoffeeFiend]

That's hardly what I would call Vista's fault. The same thing will happen with any OS newer than XP (also Win 7, Win 2008, Win 2008 R2, Win 2011 SBS, etc)

Most likely, your .dat files are in a location that's not recommended, and as such writing to them (while not elevated) will fail, and your program also fails to check for an error. The simple fix is to make the program use .dat files from a place where you don't need admin rights to write to.

having to run it as admin even though my account is admin!? (whats the differance?)

Admins by default don't run fully elevated all the time now. That's just an unnecessary security risk. Programs that need admin rights for a good reason popup the UAC dialog to elevate the process.

and also when i save a file with wordpad i cant too

"access is denied"

Same thing again. In most common places you won't get this, but if you try to write to places like where the OS is, then yeah, those are protected and the process needs to be elevated. Again, the simple fix is to move the files somewhere else, like your user profile (which has had dedicated locations for such data files for a decade or so). OS'es newer than XP sort of force you into storing files where you should be storing them in the first place, or you have to elevate programs all the time (that's more of a workaround, not a solution).

If there's absolutely nothing you can do to fix this program, that it can't be replaced* and that it's vital, then disabling UAC might be an option. It's a lot less secure though (it's pretty much a last resort thing)

* if it's just a program to store passwords, then look at Keepass. It's probably a lot better anyway and it works as intended (no UAC popups or anything). It's free too. Plus, we know that encryption is implemented properly (your passwords are safe)

[bubbadamage]

dat files are stored in C:\Program Files\Damage Soft\User'N'Pass 2.2 Alpha\

Edited April 4, 2011 by bubbadamage

[CoffeeFiend]

That's why you're getting those errors. The "Program Files" directory should be used for the program's files (as in, executables). You're only supposed to write there when you install or uninstall programs. That's why you get a UAC popup when you add or remove software.

Data files however belong in the user profile. That's the way it's been since at least Win2k, but they let you get away with it easier back then (it was less secure/locked down). Mind you, apps coded like this still caused a LOT of troubles, like for users that weren't administrators or that like to ran with lowered privileges (and use runas when necessary).

Make it use data files from the user profile as it should, and all the problems (UAC, not working for non-administrators even on XP, etc) will go away completely.

Writing data files to "Program Files" is very much against basic "best practices". Such poorly coded apps have caused a lot of headaches for administrators for over a decade: monitor each misbehaving app with filemon or now procmon, then set file permissions per user that needs it, on each machine they use, for each misbehaving app which is a lot of wasted time assuming it is even worth the security risk in the first place (that's when the app doesn't use hardcoded apps too which is mostly unfixable) -- or even better: find an app that isn't poorly coded. They're the reason Microsoft had to came up with file virtualization (redirecting to VirtualStore), the Windows XP mode and so on (yet, it's often "teh evil M$" who gets blamed for it!)

[bubbadamage]

thanks all.