I had a user ask me this week: “Steve, I always save my attachments in a download folder on my computer. Unfortunately Microsoft Outlook always defaults to ‘My Documents’, and I can’t see any way to change this. Do you have any idea how to change the default download folder?”

This is correct. There is no option I can find in Outlook that will allow you to change the default download folder for attachments. This means every time you try to save an attachment you need to start browsing around your drive to find the right spot. This can be a time consuming task if you have network shares that slow down explorer.

After doing a little digging I discovered that the default download location can be changed by opening regedit and drilling down to this registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Options

Create a new string value under this key (If it does not already exist) named DefaultPath, and set the value to the absolute path you would like to use as your default location.

In my case I wanted to change it to c:\downloads\ Here is what it looks like in the registry:

So now when I go to save an attachment, I don’t need to fish around for the downloads folder - it automatically defaults right to it:

• ATI Catalyst? Software Suite Version 7.9
  Adds Avivo Video Converter for Windows Vista 64-bit, and Catalyst Control Center Color Temperature Control.
  (tags: ATI Catalyst Software Compatible )
• CoCreate Software Announces Support for Windows Vista
  If you deal with high-tech electronics and machinery, CoCreate helps with product lifecycle management (3G PLM) and streamlines the process of planning, developing and manufacturing products, and is now Vista compatible.
  (tags: Software Compatible )
• Easy Media Creator 10 embraces Windows Vista
  Roxio's software, which handles Music, Photo & Video, DVD creation, DVD Playback, Burning & Copying, Mobile and Disc Label Creator is now Vista compatible.Ro
  (tags: Roxio Software Compatible )
• nVidia ForceWare v163.67 Beta For Win2000/XP/Vista
  A beta release that supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI? technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, and OpenGL for GeForce 6, 7, and 8 series GPUs
  (tags: Nvidia Video Drivers )

I’m posting this as a follow up on my previous post IE7 & Windows Vista Slow To Load Sites? since the findings somewhat surprises me. Thanks to Andreas who posted a comment that pointed me in the right direction.

Andreas’s posting sent me to this blog post by Mark Russinovich, where he goes in to detail why a 5-15 second delay happens when you try to open files. This delay also occurs when downloading files with IE7 and you select ‘Save as…’ if you try to save somewhere inside your profile and we all know the new default location in Vista is C:\Users\\Downloads (aka. inside your profile). I recommend you to read the complete post over at Mark’s place if you want details, but this is his conclusion;

“My investigation had come to a close. I had determined that Windows Vista’s File Open dialog tries to look up a user’s display name for the “bread crumb” bar when showing the documents folder and in the process tries to locate a domain controller by sending a Lan Manager datagram via the Bowser.sys device driver. I also knew that there’s no workaround for the delayed dialogs and that anyone that has a domain joined system that’s not connected to their domain will experience the same delays - at least until Windows Vista Service Pack 1.”

After this I went back to my IE7 problem, so I had all this problems because my machine is member of my company’s domain? Well seems like it, I disjoined my machine from the domain and everything was working like a charm, no need to type http:// in front of addresses anymore. Then I joined the domain again and guess what the problem is back. I’ll try and investigate some more to find out exactly why this is taking so long when a computer is member of a domain.

After these experiences I totally understand companies that hesitate to roll out Vista, if the scenario is 50+ mobile users calling support complaining about problems that is by design and trust me the complains will come. When you have 5-15 second delays every time you try to open and file or use the Save as… option, off course you and your users will be annoyed and the most annoying thing is that you can’t do anything about it.

Mark gives us hope that this will be fixed in Service Pack 1; I’ll install a version tomorrow to see if these problems has been addressed in one of these early builds. I’ll post an update with the outcome of this when I’ve tested it.

The following video shows exactly what Microsoft changed in the new Xbox 360 Elite complete with commentary…

News Source: www.maxconsole.net

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