How many of you dont install to Program Files because of the "admin rights" issue?

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Who doesn't install to Program Files?

  • Me! Mom and Dad said those are system files and touching would be a no no!

  • Pfft, I'm not a noob. I install to where I want! System32!? More like HERECOMESALLMYGAMES32!

  • I install games to a different place for other reasons and am therefore choosing option 3.


Results are only viewable after voting.

KaOTiK

Lifer
Feb 5, 2001
10,877
8
81
I have a seperate HD that I use to install all my games (most of which are Steam now).

I have it for Steam cause without doing some black magic Steam only installs games on the drive/partition it is installed on. I like to keep all my games together so I just install the rest of the games on the same drive.
 

Edge1

Senior member
Feb 17, 2007
439
0
0
This time around I'm sticking with the default C: options the game comes with, although frankly most of mine are Steam games now. I used a dedicated drive in the past as well which worked great. Never tried to benchmark any pros/cons of either method.
 

JTsyo

Lifer
Nov 18, 2007
11,723
880
126
Separating the games from the OS drive helps keep thing clean and makes defrag a lot faster.
 

JackSpadesSI

Senior member
Jan 13, 2009
636
0
0
If you're on a 64bit Windows OS, it creates a Program Files folder for the 64bit applications and then a Program Files (x86) folder for 32 bit applications. Most know which to install to.

That's what I figured. I let the program decide which Program Files folder it finds suitable.
 

Nik

Lifer
Jun 5, 2006
16,125
2
56
I never do. I have all my games on a slave drive. I dunno how to make Steam install there too, but I'm trying to figure that out :D
 

cronos

Diamond Member
Nov 7, 2001
9,380
26
101
My boot drive (C:/) is less than 100 GB. I do install most programs as recommended to Program Files, but big programs, games and steam are on another partition.
 

finglobes

Senior member
Dec 13, 2010
739
0
0
I keep all games on E drive. That way I don't lose saves when I reinstall OS from an iso image.
 

KaOTiK

Lifer
Feb 5, 2001
10,877
8
81
I keep all games on E drive. That way I don't lose saves when I reinstall OS from an iso image.

A lot of games don't save the save game file in their own directory. Most nowadays save it in the user directory.
 

Mr. Pedantic

Diamond Member
Feb 14, 2010
5,039
0
76
I used to install all my programs and games onto my D drive. Now, because I have an SSD, everything goes into Program Files because it makes no difference, and it's more convenient than changing the directory every time something wants installing or updating. My games still go on my D drive, though.
 

Anteaus

Platinum Member
Oct 28, 2010
2,448
4
81
I've had problems when installing older XP software in Program Files (x86). Usually it's no problem, but I've had problems with software that completely disappeared when I installed in an alternate location such as \games. I can't say why that is the case, but it's been my experience.

This is primarily a Windows 64-bit thing. With 32-bit its a non issue.
 
Oct 20, 2005
10,978
44
91
OK, this kind of annoys me. I keep seeing this in a lot of recent installs and "how to's" and the like; when asked to install something, how many bypass the Program Files (or Program Files (x86)) directory because it recommends it and then install it somewhere else?

I can understand the reasoning; Vista became such a PITA with this because of the whole admin rights fiasco and pretty much locked that directory down for any non-admin user, and although it sort of still exists in Windows 7, people are still leery of it. And there are some "PC gamers" that don't use their own PC and are using their parents or just have a PC and tend to play some games on it - those situations I can understand where this might need to be.

But we're PC GAMERS!!! We build epic fucking rigs that could power a city with the amount of electricity they use and have so much neon lighting that if we put it outside we would probably attract a rave party! We use methods of cooling for our rigs that could potentially burn down our houses just so we can crank out more HORSEPOWER. We spend hours searching for the best possible rig setups and .ini tweaks and spend countless wasted hours on forums discussing games.

SO WHO THE FUCK DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO GIVE THEMSELVES ACCESS TO INSTALL TO AND CALL FROM PROGRAM FILES!?

Which of you "PC Gamers" are sitting on ma and pa's Dell that came factory made with a user account called "Son" or "Daughter" or have a hand-fed pre-made PC from Best Buy or K-Mart or Aldi's or some shit like that and didn't bother to wipe the OS and reinstall it to give yourself an insta-better PC with an admin account?

I see it on the forums here too often "I recommend installing it to somewhere besides Program Files"

HOW ABOUT FUCK YOU AND THROW YOUR COMPUTER INTO A FIRE WITH THE COMPANION CUBE

/endrant

p.s. Doesn't apply to those who install games to a separate drive for consistency purposes :)

what the hell is the point of your post?
 

Martimus

Diamond Member
Apr 24, 2007
4,488
152
106
I have to admit that your rant doesn't make sense to me. I install my games to C:\Games. My boot drive is actually my D Drive, but it is an old Raptor 150GB drive and I liek to keep my OS and Data on seperate drives due to a study that showed much greater speed increases with seperate OS and application drives than RAID-0 of the same drives.
 

gothamhunter

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2010
4,466
6
81
what the hell is the point of your post?

It's about how all these game/application setups and some of the users of this forum and other gaming forums keep recommending to not install to the program files directory because of issues with admin rights. It just annoys me because seriously, if you call yourself a PC gamer, you should be able to figure out how to get around that.
 

AstroManLuca

Lifer
Jun 24, 2004
15,628
5
81
Oh yeah I love this one:

C:\Program Files (x86)\EA
C:\Program Files (x86)\EA Games
C:\Program Files (x86)\EA Sports
C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts

MAKE UP YOUR FUCKING MIND
 

SunnyD

Belgian Waffler
Jan 2, 2001
32,674
145
106
www.neftastic.com
I don't install games to program files simply because they take too much space. Primary drive is a SSD, and "relocating" the Program Files directory may cause problems should you need to use a recovery disc to get your system back in working order. I install to C:\Games, which is a hard link to D:\Games. Why do I do it this way? Because everything gets installed as "C:\Games", so if I replace the drive with something bigger/faster I don't need to reinstall anything, but rather just copy everything to the new drive.
 

gothamhunter

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2010
4,466
6
81

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