From: "John O'Flynn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Harold, I've no idea why this material is in a separate area rather than
in the appropriate folders under Program Files.  Windows works in strange
ways and things are not always where you would expect to find them. There
may be some place on the MS site where you could ask an expert for an
explanation.

> I'm not familiar with encryption programs, but I notice you said
(earlier), "I use Cryptext, it's free and efficient."  Well, Harold, it may
be free but it's hardly a model of efficiency if it stores an unencrypted
copy of a confidential text somewhere else on your HD. Surely you should be
raising some questions with the makers of that program Sorry I can't be more
informative than this. --- Cheers, John

*************

Like Nixon used to say, "Let me be perfectly clear," (btw, I'm surprised
John recalls what I said "earlier" - that was some time ago). The encryption
program, Cryptext, works fine. Right-click on the file or folder and click
"encrypt" or "decrypt" (easy enough). For a backup, I even have MPEncrypt in
my Start menu. No matter, I think this is a Windows 98 (and maybe higher
versions) idiosyncrasy.

It has to do with that C:\Windows\Application Data folder, and how MSOffice
uses it. I always keep MSOffice installed in the root C:\ directory (all
other programs self-install in Program Files (that's ok). Now I notice in
this Application Data folder other sub-folders holding small parts of other
main programs that are installed in Program Files.

Now I have folders there like --- Adobe, AVG, GuruNet, Identities (that was
always there), InterTrust (be damned if I know what that is; it has a
subfolder called "ReceiptRepository" and that is empty [I'll delete
InterTrust now]), Macromedia, Microsoft, Mozilla, Nvu, SBSoft, Spybot, Sun
(that has something to do with Java), and Talkback. As Hugh says, this
Applications Data folder might have different material for each user.

Now to the point of that unencrypted file that should be encrypted; what I
find is that the unencrypted version of my encrypted MSWord document is
found in C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Microsoft\Word --- ONLY after a
computer freeze where that Word document was prematurely shut down. Then
after rebooting, that Word document will show up as "Recovered" --- I might
then save the recovered document, and later encrypt it again. But there in
C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Microsoft\Word is the unencrypted document (name
slightly changed).

If that is par for the course, all right --- just that I now know that after
a freeze (which happens when resources get low etc), that if security is an
issue, I have to check Application Data AND delete that unencrypted Word
document that seems to have been saved there.

Application Data *doesn't* store an unencrypted version of an encrypted
file; no, it stores a back-up "recovered" version of an MSWord document that
was prematurely closed (like after a freeze).

Next time I do my annual System Restore, I'll immediately look into that
Application Data folder to see what's there and see how it grows. Although
the computer is working fine, I might put everything there into my desktop
"Hold" folder to see how the computer then works. I'm curious about that
Identities folder; I think that one has to stay --- Harold
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