The Old New Thing
Practical development throughout the evolution of Windows.
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Jan 20, 2026
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1
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1
Microspeak: On fire, putting out fires
Dealing with emergencies.
Jan 19, 2026
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5
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2
What was the secret sauce that allows for a faster restart of Windows 95 if you hold the shift key?
An old flag from 16-bit Windows.
Jan 16, 2026
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1
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How can I get the tab index number from a dialog box control?
The tab index number is an authoring concept, not a runtime concept.
Jan 15, 2026
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25
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4
When programs assume that the system will never change, episode 4: Stealing strings
The strings are an implementation detail.
Jan 14, 2026
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0
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Clipping the focus item when looking for its on-screen location, part 3
Finding <I>all</I> the clipping parents.
Jan 13, 2026
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1
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Clipping the focus item when looking for its on-screen location, part 2
Finding the correct clipping parent.
Jan 12, 2026
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0
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2
Clipping the focus item when looking for its on-screen location
Preventing the cursor from pointing to nothing.
Jan 9, 2026
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1
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1
Using Active Accessibility to find out where the focus item is
Looking at child objects.
Jan 8, 2026
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4
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2
Using Active Accessibility to find out where the Windows caret is
It's old and rather simple, but we like simple.