Submission details
"My Received Files" in Windows Live Messenger should not be in Documents folder (except in XP)
The "My Received Files" folder is located in the Users\<user>\Documents\ folder, which is an annoying place to have it. It's also inappropriately named.
It should appear in the Users\<user>\Downloads\ folder and should be named something like "Received Messenger Files"
High
Medium
Not fixed
Discussion (5 comments)
Thats because it is for both XP and vista/7 users.
Indeed. But XP is old and no one should be using it any more.
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.
Correction for folder locations:
\Users\<username>\Documents
\Users\<username>\Music
\Users\<username>\Videos
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?
Mephiles wrote on September 16, 2009, 5:15pm
Changed title from ["My Received Files" in Windows Live Messenger should not be in Downloads folder] to ["My Received Files" in Windows Live Messenger should not be in Documents folder (except in XP)].