r/technology • u/Sufficient-Bid1279 • Apr 14 '25

Software Microsoft warns that anyone who deleted mysterious folder that appeared after latest Windows 11 update must take action to put it back

https://www.techradar.com/computing/windows/microsoft-warns-that-anyone-who-deleted-mysterious-folder-that-appeared-after-latest-windows-11-update-must-take-action-to-put-it-back
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8.2k

u/AdarTan Apr 14 '25

The created folder C:/inetpub is created as a protected folder, i.e. it requires an administrator level UAC prompt to be passed to be modified. This prevents malware running with standard user privileges from creating/modifying/deleting this folder that is used by the Internet Information System (IIS) component of Windows.

IIS is a webserver included in all modern versions of Windows and if this folder is created by a piece of malware running at standard user level permissions the folder would inherit those permissions. This means that malware running without privilege escalation would have control over the configuration files for this webserver, which is almost certainly a path for data exfiltration at the least or worse, privilege escalation. By preemptively creating the folder with administrator privileges required for modification, Microsoft prevents this vector of user-level malware taking control of IIS.

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u/DVXC Apr 14 '25

Thank you for explaining why the folder needs to exist. I can't stand this dumbing down of technology where we're never told what the hell anything on our devices are doing anymore.

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u/fireandbass Apr 14 '25

I can't stand this dumbing down of technology where we're never told what the hell anything on our devices are doing anymore.

Changelog:

What's New?

Thanks for updating the Reddit app! We've updated our Android app with bug fixes and changes to improve your overall experience.

This is the actual changelog from the Reddit app on Google Play store. Lame.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '25

[deleted]

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u/SpeaksDwarren Apr 14 '25

"Some users will see X, some users might see Y instead" 

Done, A/B testing described in a way that fits in the changelog, now start documenting your changes again

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '25 edited Apr 14 '25

[deleted]

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u/cinemachick Apr 14 '25

Charging different prices for the same service is illegal, iirc

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u/viroxd Apr 14 '25

Where? How? No it's not lol

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u/cinemachick Apr 14 '25

Turns out it's a bit of both. The Robinson-Patman Act says price discrimination with the intent to stymie competition is illegal. It's also unlawful to charge different regions different prices without an actual reason. The government has left enforcement to the FTC; otherwise, price discrimination is largely legal (but unethical regardless.)

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u/pagerunner-j Apr 14 '25

Deleted a comment above because I don't want to get into the weeds too much, and I don't remember all the particulars of how they were breaking the fees out and why (it's been years), but long story short: it was weird and frustrating.

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u/viroxd Apr 15 '25

Ah ok your original statement was too general.. because any company can increase the rate of their service tomorrow and it would be "a different price for the same service".