The Old New Thing

Practical development throughout the evolution of Windows.

Latest posts

Jul 10, 2026
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The case of the mysterious changes to integers when there shouldn’t have been any code generation effect

Raymond Chen

Decoding where those integer came from.

Jul 9, 2026
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I’ve decoded a #pragma detect_mismatch error and fixed the mismatch, but I still get the error

Raymond Chen

You need to rebuild everything that was dependent on the change.

Jul 8, 2026
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The other kind of control flow guard check: The combined validate and call

Raymond Chen

A two-in-one package.

Jul 7, 2026
Post comments count 12
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How did Windows 95 decide that a setup program ran?

Raymond Chen

It used some heuristics.

Jul 6, 2026
Post comments count 19
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I opened a file with FILE_FLAG_DELETE_ON_CLOSE, but now I changed my mind

Raymond Chen

You can't change your mind, but you can do it a different way.

Jul 3, 2026
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How did we conclude that CcNamespace.dll was the ringleader of a group of DLLs that unloaded prematurely?

Raymond Chen

Contextual clues.

Jul 2, 2026
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The case of the thread executing from an unloaded third-party DLL

Raymond Chen

Oops, I didn't realize that I was still doing that.

Jul 1, 2026
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It rather involved being on the other side of this airtight hatchway: Changing administrative settings

Raymond Chen

Unlocking the door from the inside.

Jun 30, 2026
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2026 mid-year link clearance

Raymond Chen

Made it to another midpoint.