[Alex Scott]

You only need to run PokerStars as an administrator, not your entire OS. Indeed you should rarely run your entire OS as an administrator if you can help it.

Without elevation, Vista won't allow PokerStars to write to it's own directory in C:\Program Files (as that directory is protected by the OS). Since that's where your notes and settings files are stored, if PokerStars isn't run as an administrator those files won't be updated.

I know the software guys are working on this, which will probably mean that these files are moved to somewhere like 'Documents and Settings' as happens with many other programs.

At the moment, PokerStars should automatically ask for administrator permissions when you start it in Vista (ie. you'll have to click one of those annoying UAC prompts). If it doesn't, then make sure your shortcut points to PokerStarsUpdate.exe and not PokerStars.exe.