The Old New Thing

September 2007 - The Old New Thing

2007 Museum Day, courtesy of Smithsonian Magazine

September 27, 2007 Sep 27, 2007 09/27/07
Raymond Chen
It's the end of September, which means that once again, it's time for Smithsonian Magazine's annual Museum Day, so search for a participating museum near you and get your free admission card. One of the participating museums is the Museum of History & Industry, known to locals by its initials, MOHAI. Whenever I go past the museum ...

Why did the shortcut template change in Windows Vista?

September 27, 2007 Sep 27, 2007 09/27/07
Raymond Chen
Since Windows 95, when you right-dragged an item and selected "Create Shortcut", you got "Shortcut to X". But in Windows Vista, the name is now "X - Shortcut". Why is that? Two reasons. The first reason is globalization. The template "Shortcut to X" made X the object of a preposition. In some languages, this may ...

The first day at Microsoft: A fender-bender

September 26, 2007 Sep 26, 2007 09/26/07
Raymond Chen
This is the first of what might be a series of stories on the subject, So what happened on your first day at Microsoft? Some facts may have been altered to preserve the anonymity of the subject, but the essense is true. Our first storyteller is "Employee X": At the end of my first day, I back out of my parking space and accidentally ...

Microspeak: Going forward

September 25, 2007 Sep 25, 2007 09/25/07
Raymond Chen
The jargon phrase going forward has largely replaced the more mundane equivalent from now on. It appears that I'm not the only person who is bothered by this phrase. Sample usages: Notice that the phrase going forward usually adds little to the sentence. You can delete it from all of the sentences above and nobody would notice a difference...

How do I put a different wallpaper on each monitor?

September 24, 2007 Sep 24, 2007 09/24/07
Raymond Chen
When you set a wallpaper on a multi-monitor system, that wallpaper goes onto each monitor. For example, if your wallpaper is a picture of a flower, each monitor shows that same flower. Commenter David Phillips wonders whether there is a way to set a different wallpaper on each monitor, or whether it is some sort of trick. It's some sort of ...

The Microsoft Cafeteria Tour (Redmond 2006 Edition)

September 21, 2007 Sep 21, 2007 09/21/07
Raymond Chen
In 2006, Christian Buckley set forth on a grand mission: To visit every cafeteria on Microsoft's Redmond campus. This marathon effort went by the name Microsoft Cafeteria Tour 2006, or for those in the know, MSCT2k6. Those looking for off-campus dining options can make use of this map mashup of restaurants which provide discounts to ...

What's the BS_PUSHLIKE button style for?

September 21, 2007 Sep 21, 2007 09/21/07
Raymond Chen
One of the lesser-known button styles is BS_PUSHLIKE. Makes a button (such as a check box, three-state check box, or radio button) look and act like a push button. The button looks raised when it isn't pushed or checked, and sunken when it is pushed or checked. In other words, you add this style to a check box or radio button to make it ...
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Find the Flowers vs Minesweeper

September 20, 2007 Sep 20, 2007 09/20/07
Raymond Chen
David Vronay writes about the difficult balance that has to be maintained between people who like the classic Windows game Minesweeper and people who are (understandably) upset that Windows includes a game about landmines, trivializing a very serious issue. (Yes, the image used in the game is a water mine, not a land mine, but that's scant ...

It rather involved being on the other side of this airtight hatchway: Elevation to administrator

September 20, 2007 Sep 20, 2007 09/20/07
Raymond Chen
Surprisingly, it is not a security vulnerability that administrators can add other users to the Administrators group. But that doesn't stop people from claiming that it is. For example, it's not uncommon for a vulnerability report to come in with the following steps: Wow, this looks bad. An unprivileged user can elevate to administrator ...
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