On modern versions of Windows, y'all'll come across a "ProgramData" folder on your system drive—usually the C:\ bulldoze. This folder is hidden, so y'all'll only see it if you lot show hidden files in File Explorer.

Application Data, the Registry, and Other Places Programs Store Information

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Programs store data in a number of different places in Windows. Information technology depends on how the developers coded the plan. They tin include:

  • Awarding Data Folders: Almost applications store their settings in the Application Data folders at C:\Users\username\AppData\, by default. Each Windows user account has its own Awarding Data folders, then each Windows user business relationship can have its own application data and settings if programs use this folder.

  • Documents Folders: Some applications—especially PC games—choose to store their settings under the Documents folder at C:\Users\username\Documents. This makes it fifty-fifty easier for people to find, support, and edit these files.

  • The Registry: Many applications store various settings in the Windows registry. Registry settings can be either arrangement-wide or per-user. Notwithstanding, the registry is just a identify for individual settings—applications tin't shop files or other larger pieces of data hither.

  • The Application'south Ain Programme Binder: Dorsum in the days of Windows 95, 98, and XP, programs often stored their settings and other data in their ain folders. So, if you installed a plan named "Example" to C:\Program Files\Example, that application might but store its ain settings and other data files at C:\Program Files\Example, too. This isn't great for security. Modern versions of Windows limit the permissions programs accept, and applications shouldn't be able to write to system folders during normal performance. Still, some applications—Steam, for example—still store their settings and other data files in their Plan Files directory.

What Do Programs Shop in ProgramData?

In that location's also the ProgramData binder. This folder has most in common with the Awarding Data folders, merely—instead of having an individual folder for each user—the ProgramData folder is shared among all the user accounts on your PC.

On Windows XP, at that place was no C:\ProgramData folder. Instead, at that place was a "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Awarding Data" folder. Starting with Windows Vista, the All Users application information binder was moved to C:\ProgramData.

Y'all can still see this today. If you plug C:\Users\All Users\ into File Explorer or Windows Explorer on Windows 10, Windows will automatically redirect you to the C:\Program Data folder. It'll redirect any program that tries to write to C:\Users\All Users\ to the C:\ProgramData binder, also.

As Microsoft puts it, "this folder is used for application data that is non user specific". For example, a program you use might download a spelling dictionary file when you run information technology. Rather than shop that spelling dictionary file under a user-specific Application Information folder, it should store it in the ProgramData folder. It can then share that spelling dictionary with all users on the computer, instead of storing multiple copies in a bunch of different Application Data folders.

Tools that run with system permissions may besides store their settings here. For case, an antivirus application may store its settings, virus logs, and quarantined files at C:\ProgramData. These settings are then shared system-wide for all users of the PC.

While this folder is conceptually just an Awarding Information binder shared for all users of the computer, it's likewise a modern, more secure culling to the former idea of storing an awarding's settings in its own plan binder.

Is There Anything Important to Back Up in the ProgramData Folder?

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In full general, y'all likely won't find a lot of of import settings you need to back up in the ProgramData binder. Most programs use this as a caching location for information that should exist bachelor to all users, or to configure some basic settings.

Your most important application data, if y'all desire to back it upwards, will likely be stored nether C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming. However, if you're concerned there might be some important settings or data under the ProgramData binder, y'all might want to go inspect and and see which programs are storing data there. Information technology's upward to each plan'south developer to choose where that program stores its data, and so there'south no one-size-fits-all answer.