We created an application that works well in XP but has serious porting problems in Vista and Windows 7, probably because of where the user data is written.
Usage example: Individual users must log in and use it to retrieve data. Supervisor users should be able to view the leverage of individual users and verify that they are doing their job properly. These controllers should also check the system logs to ensure that the system is working properly.
The way we accomplished these tasks in XP was to write directly to a folder on the C: \ drive. Perhaps this bad practice, maybe not, but basically all users of the system should have access to this data as shared data. In some installations of the program, the IT situation was simply unsafe, and there was one user for the computer, and then each individual user entered our program separately. In other program installations, the IT staff is competent and has different logins for different users, but each user can access C: and each user can still check other users as necessary.
In Vista / Windows 7, everything changes. If IT staff blocks everything to individual users, these users still need to share this shared data, and writing configuration settings and user lists to the application directory is simply not allowed. If the system is in a place with a domain, then the user does not have local administrator rights, and even installation can be a problem.
Is the solution to this problem the installer to make a directory that every user can write, and then put all the user-specific data in this directory? If so, is it possible that the installer behaves this way (even if he needs to be given administrator rights)? Or is there a way to get Vista / 7 to behave in a more liberal XP style?