Comments by user "Drewfus"
Registered since: April 14, 2010
"My Received Files" in Windows Live Messenger should not be in Documents folder (except in XP)
Correction for folder locations:
\Users\<username>\Documents
\Users\<username>\Music
\Users\<username>\Videos
"My Received Files" in Windows Live Messenger should not be in Documents folder (except in XP)
Agreed.
My preferred location would be:
\Users\<username>\Downloads\Messenger
This should also be easily configured by a registry change to a string value, not a binary value as it is currently. This is too hard to script.
My general preference would be to place a subdirectory under Downloads for all internet facing apps, and use this folder as the default location for all downloads and saved attachments for these programs.
\Users\<username>\Downloads\<Program Name>
Examples:
\Users\<username>\Downloads\Internet Explorer
\Users\<username>\Downloads\Mail
\Users\<username>\Downloads\Messenger
\Users\<username>\Downloads\Outlook
Explorer should also have a (shortcut) menu option to copy any files in these locations to one of
%AppData%\Roaming\Documents
%AppData%\Roaming\Music
%AppData%\Roaming\Videos
based on the perceived type of the file. Executibles should remain were they are, or be moved to
\Users\<username>\Downloads\Programs
Also, the shell should provide an option to scan any new or changed file under the Downloads folder using the registered antivirus program, and display scan status in a new column. Suspect executibles could optionally be moved to
\Users\<username>\Downloads\Quarantine
Neither Users, Administrators, service or System accounts should have Execute permissions on this folder.
Windows Live Messenger "My Received Files" folder always stores in C:\Users... even if your user directory is on another drive
Also, it would be good if this setting could be set in the registry using a string value, so that it could be easily scripted.
> reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\MSNMessenger" /v FtReceiveFolder /d "%USERPROFILE%\Downloads\Messenger" /f
Windows Live Messenger "My Received Files" folder always stores in C:\Users... even if your user directory is on another drive
I would suggest the ideal location for Messenger downloads would be something like:
\Users\<user>\Downloads\Messenger
"My Received Files" in Windows Live Messenger should not be in Documents folder (except in XP)
Wrote on April 16, 2010, 4:44am
Off topic comment:
Quarantine folders should be the default storage location for all newly downloaded files, and their contents should be subjected to 'periods' - just like quarantines for human's. This would give anti-virus/anti-malware vendors a chance to "catch up" with the virus/worm/malware writers and their morphing variants.
At the end of the quarantine period, the file permissions change from read, to read and execute, and/or the file gets copied to a folder with different permissions. All these variables would be manageable through Group Policy.
So
\Users\<username>\Downloads\Quarantine
should perhaps be were downloads go to *initially*, not just after files have been scanned and found to be bad. Otherwise the margin for error is *less than zero* (since virus signatures must always lag new viruses). The longer the quarantine period, the higher the capture rate, at least in theory! How long would you be prepared to wait?