Why did Handy copy my data file to a new location?

Address book files should not be saved in the "Program Files" path.  When you open an address book file from within the Program Files path Handy will automatically copy this file to a new location, open it from there, and give you a notice that this has been done.  The new location is the "Documents \ Handy Address Book" folder for your user.  This is done for improved compatibility with Windows Vista and later.

You can save your address books anywhere on your computer, except in the Program Files area.

Advanced Technical Details:
Starting with Vista, normal programs are no longer allowed to write into the Program Files path.  If a program designed for Vista attempts to write anywhere into Program Files, a permission denied error will occur.  If an older version of Handy Address Book (not designed for Vista) attempts to write into Program Files, Vista will save it to an alternate location called "VirtualStore".  This is done automatically, and usually without the knowledge of the user.  The VirtualStore location for the Program Files path is here:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files

Starting with version 3.4, Handy Address Book is designed for Vista, and attempts to write into the Program Files area will fail with a permission denied error.  If an address book was saved into the Program Files area using an earlier version of Handy Address Book, it will actually be located in the VirtualStore area, instead of in the Program Files area.  This redirection can cause problems when attempting to do backups of your data, or transfer to a new computer.  (Your data file is really not stored where you think, in Program Files, instead it is in the VirtualStore).

To prevent permission denied and VirtualStore problems, Handy automatically copies an address book in the Program Files path to a safe location (Documents \ Handy Address Book) whenever you attempt to open an address book from the Program Files path.

The above comments assume that Vista's User Access Control (UAC) feature is on, which is the default setting.  If you have turned UAC off, you can write into the Program Files area without being redirected to VirtualStore.  Even if you have UAC off you still should not save your address book files into the Program Files area.

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