Save Text Files To Application Directory?

This is a new question based on the response from an older post. I needed to save a value when my app is run for the first time that would be applicable to all users who logon to the PC and use my application. The setting is only known at the time of the install so Application settings with application or user scope are unsuitable. I was advised to save the setting to an external file and save/read it as needed. The obvious choice was to save the file to the projects application path (keeping things tidy). Everything worked fine during testing but when the application is installed on a PC, the application path becomes C:program files application nameetc. When I try to execute the code that saves the file, I get a permissions denied error. I understand that it's part of the UAC control but when did it become acceptable to stop developers programmatically creating files in their own application folder?