Application Data Folder Replication

[MrAl]

This is about certain folders on a regular home PC. I dont think there is a Computer section here on ETO so i am putting it here.
The problem is in Windows 7, but i think it started in the well known junk Vista, and may go on to Win 8 and possibly above.

Hi there,

Anyone else here run into this problem on their PC?
This is where the "Application Data" folder replicates so when you click on it in Windows Explorer it brings up another directory with the same name and exact same contents. For example, when you click on "Application Data" folder it brings up another one with the same name so it would be written as:
/Application Data/Application Data/

and every file and folder that was under the first instance is also under the second (including of course another "Application Data" folder), and clicking on the second you get:
/Application Data/Application Data/Application Data/

and then clicking on that one you get:
/Application Data/Application Data/Application Data/Application Data/

and there is no end to it until Windows Explorer gives an error that says the path is too long, but that takes 27 levels of /Application Data/ which is just nuts.

I have read around the web and other people have run into this too, and on Windows Seven Forums they say that you download an app, install it, click "scan", then click "fix all", but the problem is when you click "fix all" they want you to friggin pay for the dang program !!!
Is that crazy or what? MS makes a faulty software then wants you to pay to fix it.

But the main point is, anyone else see this and maybe fix it themselves?

 

[cowboybob]

Curious, MrAl.

Thanks for the insight.

Checking, I find the same here (Vista, SP2). Although ALL of them claim to have 0 bytes (when hovering over the file icon) and yet are jam packed.

Think I'll look at date/time stamps and if they all agree, I'll look into deleting ALL of them except the highest.

Might blow up my machine...!!

(Not sure what to make of the fact that they are ALL shortcuts ??!!)

 

[cowboybob]

Although, now that I think about it, since they are "Shortcuts", they don't, themselves, contain data.

Just did a non-indexed search for the actual folder "Application Data" (the green "slider" went up to the right edge of the X icon) and then it went into lala land...

Curiouser and curiouser...

Think I'll leave it be .

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

This is what they did with 8: https://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/what-appdata-folder

"They" made a big change a while back, but I forget exactly what it was.

 

[MrAl]

Hi again,

Somehow i forgot about this part of the forum on ETO, thanks to whomever moved it to the right place.

Thanks for the link KISS.

Cowboy Bob:
Yes, it's strange, and from the limited information i have so far it is a "junction point" not a true folder, and there is a problem with that because a new application might look for that folder. If Explorer looks for that folder it finds a folder that refers to itself because every application is supped to get referred to that folder (or something like that).
MS switched to using AppData and then set the permissions to these other folders to "deny" for "Everyone". If you or i change the permissions, we get into a folder that we are not supposed to look into. This is just plain dumb. Unfortunately it's the way they do things at MS these days. The first phrase in their employee handbook is "Ship it or get fired"
People were having problems because other third party system management programs (such as virus software) was looking into these directories and finding many, many instances of what it cant tell is not real, and wow there are plenty of non real repeats to scan if you dont know they are not real.
For my computer, i have a little program that reports the number of directories, and every time i rebooted there was like 1000 more directories. The recursion problem was causing a directory count that was something like 25000 more directories than where really there.
Supposedly they changed things for better 'security', but i dont think MS knows the definition of that word

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

I thought I posted a link on my phone earlier. It's a permissions error. https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...r/0617cfb6-dd06-4cb6-874d-0cec97d3a310?auth=1

Permissions were changed, I think, when they introduced the new behavior.

 

[MrAl]

Hi,

Yes, but the link does not provide an ultimate solution.

For those that have changed permissions, i think they can just change them back and be on their way. But some other people are reporting that they did not change permissions yet the problem still crops up. So i am not sure what to believe. Maybe a program they ran changed them?

One thing is for sure though, if the Windows Seven Forum points me to a pay for program that 'fixes' this problem they can shove it, and i dont care if it costs only 99 cents (however it is more like $4.99).