TimeTo™ for Windows Vista users

TimeTo works perfectly under Windows Vista. However, Vista's high security standards often demand that the way that TimeTo is installed has to be more complex than for other versions of Windows.

Background: TimeTo's typical single-user Windows (or Linux) installation is refreshingly simple, allowing you to contain the entire program and all its data files and settings in one folder with no registry settings. This allows an entire TimeTo installation to be moved to a USB drive, a new computer, or a new location on the same computer, by simply moving the TimeTo folder. Unfortunately, that kind of nimbleness goes against the best practice structure preferred by Windows Vista (and many corporate IT managers in general).

Depending upon your security setup in Windows Vista, Vista may choose to relocate data files that programs try to store in any subfolder of the Program Files folder. In TimeTo's case what this means is that if you installed TimeTo to the c:\program files\TimeTo folder, then Vista, in the interests of security, behaves to TimeTo as if your schedule files are indeed in the c:\program files\TimeTo folder, but actually stores them in a "VirtualStore" folder... specifically, in the c:\Users\[yourWindowsusername]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\TimeTo folder. Thus, when you use a file browser such as Windows Explorer to look for your current schedule files in c:\program files\TimeTo you won't see them there, which can be disconcerting. While this behavior of Vista may be attractive from a security perspective and/or mandated by the IT department where you work, for many users this is inconvenient or dangerous. Here are three ways to avoid this:

1. Don't use Vista, or...
2. Don't install TimeTo in the Program Files folder. Instead, use Windows Explorer to move your TimeTo installation entirely to some other folder that is not in the Program Files folder (see the How To Move TimeTo To Another Computer Or Folder help topic for full details), or...
3. If you would like to keep your TimeTo program in the Program Files folder, and have your data stored elsewhere (which is the best practice that Vista is seeking to enforce with its VirtualStore functionality), then leave the TimeTo program folder in the Program Files folder, but move your TimeTo schedule information to any other folder you'd like. To move your TimeTo schedule information to the folder of your choice, use the Backup command from TimeTo's File menu to copy your schedule information to a folder of your choice, then use the Open Schedule command from TimeTo's Multiuser menu to open that schedule, then choose the Make This Schedule The One Open at Launch command from the TimeTo's File menu. Your TimeTo program will now be in one folder and your data in another, which although more complex, will work perfectly fine, while satisfying the Vista best practices.