This is a post to see if others are aware of a confusing situation that can be caused when running OE2003 on Windows 7. At least it’s confusing if you don’t have much experience with Windows 7. Like me.
To summarize, Windows 7 has a feature known as the Virtual Store, which seems to designed to protect the OS from inadvertent or malicious damage being caused by applications running on it. The problem I had is that data being entered into OE2003 is not being stored in the usual area of the file structure, which should be something like C:\Program Files\SportSoftware\OE2003\.
My knowledge here is pretty sketchy but I encountered this situation recently when installing OE2003 onto a new laptop, which came pre-installed with Windows 7. I was also setting up for an event and was finding that the tweaks I made to a print file were not being reflected in the printout.
I noticed that the Date Modified on the label file (and others) weren't changing in line with what I was doing. A search of the C drive for one of the obvious files found it in the Virtual Store, which is located at C:\Users\”username”\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\SportSoftware\OE2003\.
Phew, now that’s what I call buried deep. So after using my old friend Google to figure out what the Virtual Store is (and consequently coming across some very irate programmers/bloggers) I found that the Virtual Store only targets applications stored in the Program Files area. Instead of trying to make tweaks to the registry (as recommended by the programmers/bloggers) the simplest solution is to uninstall OE and reinstall it one level higher, which would be under the root file structure. i.e. C:\SportSoftware\OE2003.
It seems as though Stephan has already figured this out and OE2010 automatically installs outside of the Program Files folder. So if you are migrating to a Windows 7 machine, but are continuing to use OE2003, I hope you find this useful.
It was (is) the same under Vista, although most people obviously skipped Vista. While I don't always like what MS does, I support them on this one - one can't bad mouth them for unstable software prone to viruses then bad mouth them for doing something to about it. User data should not be in with the program files!
User data should not be in with the program files!
+1. Don't use any software that writes to/modifies files in its own install directory.
+1. Don't use any software that writes to/modifies files in its own install directory.
...unless you're a scientist that needs to get stuff done. I'm running a half dozen programs on my computer that can't be installed in the program files directory, presumably due to similar conflicts. Mostly open source scientific applications. Turns out that scientists can hack together workable code, sometimes rather elegant in their own ways, but most can't be bothered to keep up with the finer points of coding artistry. I gather that many niche software fields (including O-software) are prone to that pitfall.
Well understood—I'd still suggest using a separate computer for that, preferably a worthless old desktop. You can still unleash the plague upon the world, but won't lose your own priceless pics of say the 2005 U.S. Champs.
I agree with AlanH & Tundra/Desert regarding user (data) files.
I agree with blegg that that's a pretty bizarre location for these files! :)
You probably thought of this already, but worth a mention: another option for OE2003 (or maybe even the whole Virtual Store directory) would be to create a link/shortcut (say on your desktop or in My Documents) to that Virtual Store directory. Go to the SportSoftware dir, right click OE2003, choose create shortcut. Drag that to your desktop, or maybe into your "My Documents" folder. Voila!