I have the box checked that archives my YIMs. I need to back them up; there are lots of work discussions on them and I’m changing computers soon. I can’t figure out where the files live on my hard drive.
Any want to clue-share? Thanks in advance.
With Windows XP, I use MSM messenger, those files are saved to ‘My Documents’ in a folder called ‘My Received Files’.
Hm. I don’t have such a folder.
Check in the folder that contains Yahoo in it.
The folder will interestingly, be named Yahoo!. From there, enter the folder named Messenger. And from there, probably the folder named Profiles.
I don’t actually know what the last one is supposed to contain though. I don’t save my Yahoo chats so I can’t say for sure where they’re located, but that is where I’d start.
C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\Profiles(your username)\Archive
Within the archive folder will be folders of each user you have saved chat history with
This sounds like something someone already said! 
You sounded more like you were referring to the C:\Program Files\Yahoo! Messanger folder, since that’s the one that usually contains program.
A properly designed app will no longer save anything in it’s Program Files directory, as a non-administrator will not have the ability to write files there. We’re trying to discourage people from using an administrator account for day-to-day use. Viruses have a much easier time infecting someone in an administrator account.