diff --git a/app/Base.java b/app/Base.java
index 6d193c591..606c32005 100644
--- a/app/Base.java
+++ b/app/Base.java
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ public class Base {
           "Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion" +
           "\\Explorer\\Shell Folders";
         RegistryKey localKey = topKey.openSubKey(localKeyPath);
-        String appDataPath = localKey.getStringValue("AppData");
+        String appDataPath = cleanKey(localKey.getStringValue("AppData"));
         //System.out.println("app data path is " + appDataPath);
         //System.exit(0);
         //topKey.closeKey();  // necessary?
@@ -278,6 +278,7 @@ public class Base {
 
     if (!result) {
       // try the fallback location
+      System.out.println("Using fallback path for settings.");
       String fallback = Preferences.get("settings.path.fallback");
       dataFolder = new File(fallback);
       if (!dataFolder.exists()) {
@@ -378,10 +379,9 @@ public class Base {
           "Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion" +
           "\\Explorer\\Shell Folders";
         RegistryKey localKey = topKey.openSubKey(localKeyPath);
-        String personalPath = localKey.getStringValue("Personal");
+        String personalPath = cleanKey(localKey.getStringValue("Personal"));
         //topKey.closeKey();  // necessary?
         //localKey.closeKey();
-
         sketchbookFolder = new File(personalPath, "Processing");
 
       } catch (Exception e) {
@@ -416,6 +416,7 @@ public class Base {
 
     if (!result) {
       // try the fallback location
+      System.out.println("Using fallback path for sketchbook.");
       String fallback = Preferences.get("sketchbook.path.fallback");
       sketchbookFolder = new File(fallback);
       if (!sketchbookFolder.exists()) {
@@ -433,6 +434,34 @@ public class Base {
   }
 
 
+  static public String cleanKey(String what) {
+    // jnireg seems to be reading the chars as bytes
+    // so maybe be as simple as & 0xff and then running through decoder
+
+    char c[] = what.toCharArray();
+
+    // if chars are in the tooHigh range, it's prolly because
+    // a byte from the jni registry was turned into a char
+    // and there was a sign extension.
+    // e.g. 0xFC (252, umlaut u) became 0xFFFC (65532).
+    // but on a japanese system, maybe this is two-byte and ok?
+    int tooHigh = 65536 - 128;
+    for (int i = 0; i < c.length; i++) {
+      if (c[i] >= tooHigh) c[i] &= 0xff;
+
+      /*
+      if ((c[i] >= 32) && (c[i] < 128)) {
+        System.out.print(c[i]);
+      } else {
+        System.out.print("[" + PApplet.hex(c[i]) + "]");
+      }
+      */
+    }
+    //System.out.println();
+    return new String(c);
+  }
+
+
   // .................................................................
 
 
diff --git a/app/Compiler.java b/app/Compiler.java
index f3c347359..51b5523fb 100644
--- a/app/Compiler.java
+++ b/app/Compiler.java
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ public class Compiler implements MessageConsumer {
       command[baseCommand.length + i] =
         buildPath + File.separator + preprocNames[i];
     }
-    //PApplet.printarr(command);
+    //PApplet.println(command);
 
     /*
     String command[] = new String[baseCommand.length + sketch.codeCount];
diff --git a/app/Editor.java b/app/Editor.java
index 0813d191e..0a4aca2cf 100644
--- a/app/Editor.java
+++ b/app/Editor.java
@@ -304,7 +304,7 @@ public class Editor extends JFrame
                 windowW, windowH);
       // this will be invalid as well, so grab the new value
       Preferences.setInteger("last.divider.location",
-                                splitPane.getDividerLocation());
+                             splitPane.getDividerLocation());
     } else {
       setBounds(Preferences.getInteger("last.window.x"),
                 Preferences.getInteger("last.window.y"),
diff --git a/app/Sketchbook.java b/app/Sketchbook.java
index 4d24a435d..d8a7102c7 100644
--- a/app/Sketchbook.java
+++ b/app/Sketchbook.java
@@ -89,9 +89,23 @@ public class Sketchbook {
     librariesFolder = new File(System.getProperty("user.dir"), "libraries");
     librariesPath = librariesFolder.getAbsolutePath();
 
-    //String sketchbookPath = Preferences.get("sketchbook.path");
-    //if (sketchbookPath == null) {
-    if (Preferences.get("sketchbook.path") == null) {
+    String sketchbookPath = Preferences.get("sketchbook.path");
+
+    // if a value is at least set, first check to see if the
+    // folder exists. if it doesn't, warn the user that the
+    // sketchbook folder is being reset.
+    if (sketchbookPath != null) {
+      File skechbookFolder = new File(sketchbookPath);
+      if (!skechbookFolder.exists()) {
+        Base.showWarning("Sketchbook folder disappeared",
+                         "The sketchbook folder no longer exists,\n" +
+                         "so a new sketchbook will be created in the\n" +
+                         "default location.", null);
+        sketchbookPath = null;
+      }
+    }
+
+    if (sketchbookPath == null) {
       // by default, set default sketchbook path to the user's
       // home folder with 'sketchbook' as a subdirectory of that
 
@@ -113,9 +127,10 @@ public class Sketchbook {
       //String folderName = Preferences.get("sketchbook.name.default");
       //File sketchbookFolder = new File(home, folderName);
 
+      //System.out.println("resetting sketchbook path");
       File sketchbookFolder = Base.getDefaultSketchbookFolder();
       Preferences.set("sketchbook.path",
-                         sketchbookFolder.getAbsolutePath());
+                      sketchbookFolder.getAbsolutePath());
 
       if (!sketchbookFolder.exists()) sketchbookFolder.mkdirs();
     }
diff --git a/build/windows/launcher/processing.exe b/build/windows/launcher/processing.exe
index affc1ffbd..25305385c 100755
Binary files a/build/windows/launcher/processing.exe and b/build/windows/launcher/processing.exe differ
diff --git a/todo.txt b/todo.txt
index 364683ee8..c35954812 100644
--- a/todo.txt
+++ b/todo.txt
@@ -22,7 +22,9 @@ _   from use in sketches, because users will rarely have the same font
 _ if sketchbook folder doesn't exist, default to the old folder
 _   people remove their old p5 folder which contained their sketchbook
 _   http://processing.org/discourse/yabb_beta/YaBB.cgi?board=Syntax;action=display;num=1116080833;start=0
-_ why would garbage in an app's "data" folder cause it to be read as a library?
+_ don't allow subfolders inside the sketchbook folder
+_   once a sketch is found, don't recurse deeper
+_   same for libraries, cuz this makes a mess
 
 fixed previously
 o runtime exceptions have stopped coming through (on pc only?)
@@ -122,6 +124,7 @@ PDE - Processing Development Environment
 PDE / Base
 
 _ settings.path.fallback not being used
+_   need to check the mkdirs() to make sure it's not going too deep
 _   really important for intl versions that are having trouble
 _   or ask for the sketch folder name.. why isn't it?
 _   http://processing.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=1