Save problem

I should say first that I am not a newbie to computing - my first machine was a Vic 20, my second a little "GEM/Dos" Amstrad.

The reason for stating this, is that I am really struggling with 7.There are all sorts of things I don't like/understand.

EG: 7 will not let me save a program to where I want it to be :most notably. I cannot move or copy and paste, to my C drive. 7 blanks out the appropriate options. And it puts everything into libraries, whether I want it to or not...
Who's in charge here? Is there an option somewhere that I have missed, or what?
I am SERIOUSLY considering reverting to XP, which would be a great shame to my smart, new system.
So please can someone help this clearly almost senile old lady?

kimig1 said:

EG: 7 will not let me save a program to where I want it to be :most notably.

I am not sure what you mean by "save a program" - do you mean install or do you mean save the installer file?

In my experience Windows 7 installs programs by default to the same old Program Files folder, same as in XP (except that in the 64-bit flavor there is also Program Files (x86) to distinguish between 32 and 64-bit programs).

Now, when you download - or buy on CD - a new program usually it comes in the form of the installer file either an exe (or msi or zip) - this you typically save in a temporary folder somewhere and run to install your program. Typically you can save it anywhere you want except that there are some locations that are by default protected by the system - such as Program Files or Windows folders.

There are few exceptions of the programs that need no installation - you just copy them to whatever folder you like and click on the executable. If you want to place these somewhere in C:\ or Program Files you will need to run the Windows Explorer with elevated privileges (i.e. right-click and choose Run as Administrator).

Finally, when you are using some software and want to save your files, you go to the File->Save menu as usual and an explorer window will pop-up prompting you to choose the location where you want to files to be saved. Indeed very often the default is some standard library, but you don't have to use them if you don't like, just use that pop-up window as explorer and choose any place you want. Most programs allow you to set their own default save location - you can choose whatever you want. Just note, that due to the security reasons, sometimes you need to run programs as administrator (see above) in order to save in some special locations or to change something about the programs behavior.

Hope this helps.