Howdy Hans,
Managing files and subdirectories has always been like herding cats.
Every system designer seems to have their own ideas about how things should be.
I’m having to accommodate a system which chokes on file names containing spaces and
the directory “…:D n S~UsrLocal Settings” caught my eye.
I always thought I understood what this folder was all about, but then I thought the matter
warranted looking it up in “Microsoft Windows Internals” by Mark Russinovich et.al.
I didn’t see it in the index and don’t recall references to the subject.
I’m sending him a note as well, but thought the subject merits discussion here as well.
How do you explain “Local Settings”?
Isn’t it a subject about as significant as the “registry”?
I understand that at one level it is just a subdirectory of D n S, or more precisely D n S~Usr.
As such, you can put it almost anywhere. Presumably it is just ‘trancient data’.
But IS it?
Its major components are:
[indent]History
Temporary Internet Files
Apps
Application Data
Temp
(and)
desktop.ini
[/indent]
The more I think of it, the rules for the use of this area are not very well defined.
A lot of that data is very temporary.
But other cases it is used as persistent data across sessions!
What bothers me most is that because of this ambiguous situation,
it is fertile ground for MALWARE to hang out in!
Of course, I’m not stupid either. This is where all the forensic guys go to figure out what you have been doing.
But can you have it both ways?
Hopefully you can just point me to a prior discussion.
Thanks.
