The Old New Thing
Practical development throughout the evolution of Windows.
Latest posts
Oct 29, 2026
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8
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3
The support case of a customer who said that all they could see was a black screen
Then again, that is what they asked for.
Oct 28, 2026
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1
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4
C++/WinRT overcorrection: Using make_self and immediately converting it to the projected interface
You are taking the scenic route.
Oct 27, 2026
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10
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5
Why don’t we run the taskbar and Task Manager at high priority, so they can remain responsive?
Hurry up and wait.
Oct 26, 2026
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10
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5
Puzzling out why a program doesn’t work when run from a batch file, but works when double-clicked from Explorer
Mimicking the operation more accurately.
Oct 23, 2026
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3
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3
Why didn’t we use the COM static store to clean up the unmarshalable delegate?
It cleans up at the wrong time.
Oct 22, 2026
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0
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3
Why didn’t we use CoRegisterInitializeSpy to clean up the unmarshalable delegate?
Looking more closely at the function's behavior and requirements.
Oct 21, 2026
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0
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3
Why didn’t we use RoRegisterForApartmentShutdown to clean up the unmarshalable delegate?
Too many requirements, some of which bring us full circle.
Oct 20, 2026
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1
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2
Microspeak: Drain the slide, back-up slides
PowerPoint presentation jargon.
Oct 19, 2026
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9
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3
Why do we need ud2 when int 6 is right there?
An interrupt is not a fault.