CHELLO wrote:

MS's programmers have once again managed to do their best - this time
in the process of converting the basic English version of Vista to
other language versions. I'm using the German clone on my machine,
and here a large number of Vista's system-imminent folders and
associations are displayed with their German name whilst internally
the system still works with the original English designations. And on
top of that, some important folders, as for example "Common Files" (=
"Gemeinsame Dateien" on my machine) turn out to be totally
inaccessible from Windows Explorer, even with full administrator's
rights.

The folder denoted in the environment variable %CommonProgramFiles% may be a
system or hidden folder in Vista. Enabling the viewing of that folder in
Folder Options should allow you to see it. Moreover, even if hidden or
system, entering the path to it in Windows Explorer should always allow you
to see the contents.