Xnews folder no longer copies properly

[John Doe]

In Windows XP, I could simply copy the Program Files > Xnews
folder to my backup data drive. In Windows 8, something strange
happens. The copied files end up different. Anybody have a clue
why? To do the copy, I click on the source folder and do control+c.
To do the paste, I click on the destination folder and do control+v.

Could it have to do with some "compatibility" stuff?

Thanks.

[Paul]

John Doe wrote:
> In Windows XP, I could simply copy the Program Files > Xnews
> folder to my backup data drive. In Windows 8, something strange
> happens. The copied files end up different. Anybody have a clue
> why? To do the copy, I click on the source folder and do control+c.
> To do the paste, I click on the destination folder and do control+v.
>
> Could it have to do with some "compatibility" stuff?
>
> Thanks.

This is just a theory.

At least in Windows 7, only TrustedInstaller should be writing
to Program Files. Programs are not supposed to store data
files in there. (Some old games do that.)

The OS can use a compatibility feature, to move illegal file
operations to another area. Which is fine from the "Xnews"
program's point of view, because it is always presented with
a consistent view by the OS. But the user, on the other hand,
has to know there are two places to look, two places to copy.

If a program knows about the preferences of the OS, then
the program will read its apps from Program Files, and the
data files will be kept in an Appdata folder perhaps. And
then, a user would have to be savvy enough to capture both
of those. Maybe all you really need though, is just
the Appdata (as you can always re-install the program).

If you go back to your older OS (your WinXP machine), and
look at the files Xnews uses, if the data files ended in
say ".rc", you could search for that on the Windows 8 machine
and try and locate the data storage area being used. On
newsreaders, tradition is to use a file with an rc extension
to store subscription data (i.e. which groups a user is
subscribed to). And separate files are used to store individual
group data, headers, formatting info and so on.

So put on your Dick Tracy hat and start looking :-)

Paul

[John Doe]

Paul <nospam needed.com> wrote:

> John Doe wrote:

>> In Windows XP, I could simply copy the Program Files > Xnews
>> folder to my backup data drive. In Windows 8, something strange
>> happens. The copied files end up different. Anybody have a clue
>> why? To do the copy, I click on the source folder and do
>> control+c. To do the paste, I click on the destination folder
>> and do control+v.
>>
>> Could it have to do with some "compatibility" stuff?

> This is just a theory.
>
> At least in Windows 7, only TrustedInstaller should be writing
> to Program Files. Programs are not supposed to store data files
> in there. (Some old games do that.)

Then I will try running Xnews from the data drive, instead of
copying it to Program Files. Probably should have been doing that
all along anyway.

> The OS can use a compatibility feature, to move illegal file
> operations to another area. Which is fine from the "Xnews"
> program's point of view, because it is always presented with a
> consistent view by the OS. But the user, on the other hand, has
> to know there are two places to look, two places to copy.
>
> If a program knows about the preferences of the OS, then the
> program will read its apps from Program Files, and the data
> files will be kept in an Appdata folder perhaps. And then, a
> user would have to be savvy enough to capture both of those.
> Maybe all you really need though, is just the Appdata (as you
> can always re-install the program).
>
> If you go back to your older OS (your WinXP machine), and look
> at the files Xnews uses, if the data files ended in say ".rc",
> you could search for that on the Windows 8 machine and try and
> locate the data storage area being used. On newsreaders,
> tradition is to use a file with an rc extension to store
> subscription data (i.e. which groups a user is subscribed to).
> And separate files are used to store individual group data,
> headers, formatting info and so on.
>
> So put on your Dick Tracy hat and start looking :-)

Simply renaming the Program Files > Xnews folder back and forth
from "Xnews" to "Xnew" changes its contents. Each time that the
folder name is changed, running "Xnews.exe" from within that same
folder shows different unread message counts for the various
groups, consistent with whichever of the two names the folder
happens to be.

There is an explanation for why that's possible, because of stuff
I have been doing, but the fact that it happens is still weird.
Also, yes, I did look around for Windows program data folders.
Didn't see anything relating to Xnews.

I will try running Xnews with its program folder on the data
drive.

--











>
> Paul

[Barking[_4_]]

In article >, "John Doe"
> said...
>
>
> Simply renaming the Program Files > Xnews folder back and forth
> from "Xnews" to "Xnew" changes its contents. Each time that the
> folder name is changed, running "Xnews.exe" from within that same
> folder shows different unread message counts for the various
> groups, consistent with whichever of the two names the folder
> happens to be.
>
> There is an explanation for why that's possible, because of stuff
> I have been doing, but the fact that it happens is still weird.
> Also, yes, I did look around for Windows program data folders.
> Didn't see anything relating to Xnews.
>
> I will try running Xnews with its program folder on the data
> drive.

Just put your Xnews folder somwhere that isn't under Program Files or
Program Files (x86). Runs fine under W8.