Two Applications Folder?

You shouldn't have a /Users/you/Applications

All applications should be store in /Applications

 

the one in your users folder if for apps that are installed only for that account, the one in the drive is for access for all users.

 

So it is. Just so happens that I have all of my programs installed for everybody.

My mistake.

 

Thanks for bringing this up. I ran across this same issue the other night, and it's good to know there's not something freaky happening with my system!

 

That's actually pretty common. It's usually access to data files that people are worried about securing, not running programs.

 

Don't worry - the "Applications" folder is provided only for convenience. There's nothing special about it. You can have all your applications installed in a single directory in /Users/<yourlogin> or /Users/Shared or anywhere else. Applications will work well regardless of where you have copied them into (if you scroll through /Applications, you'll see that some applications actually create a directory within /Applications - even the default installation of Mac OS X creates a "Utilities" directory within /Applications).

Mac OS X knows an application when it sees one (and will show the application icon) - doesn't matter where on the system it's located (could even be an external drive). As long as you provide the required access to the directories that contain applications (and to the applications too) to other users, they will be able to use them.