This site uses cookies for analytics, personalized content. By continuing to browse this site, you agree to this use. Learn More
December 31, 2008Dec 31, 200812/31/08Time for the semi-annual link clearance.
It appears that the Snipping Tool is also available for Windows XP.
How to beat the no-fly list: Change your name.
How to beat the low printer ink sensor: electrical tape.
Learn about Milliways, the unfinished sequel to the adventure game The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
December 31, 2008Dec 31, 200812/31/08Many years ago, I was in a small meeting: It consisted of the project manager, me, and one other person. Just a quick little status meeting to discuss how things were going. We were a few minutes into the meeting when the project manager’s cell phone rang.
December 30, 2008Dec 30, 200812/30/08You’ve seen it, I’m sure. People walking down the street talking to themselves. Crazy or cellphone?
What really gets me are the people who wear the headsets even when they aren’t talking on the telephone, but rather in anticipation of receiving a telephone call.
December 30, 2008Dec 30, 200812/30/08Whenever I post about a programming error that can lead to crashes, the security team gets all excited and starts looking for ways to exploit it. For example, when I wrote about the fundamentally flawed DONT_RESOLVE_DLL_REFERENCES flag, the security folks went scouring through the Windows source code looking for anybody who passed that flag,
December 29, 2008Dec 29, 200812/29/08Here’s a problem inspired by actual events.
When I build my project, it compiles fine, but it fails during the
link step with an unresolved external:
program.obj : error LNK2001: unresolved external symbol
“public: virtual wchar_t const * __thiscall
UILibrary::PushButton::GetName(class UILibrary::StringHolder * *)”
December 26, 2008Dec 26, 200812/26/08When you visited a computer on the network by typing \\computername into the address bar, Explorer showed you a Printers folder if the computer had printer sharing enabled. But starting in Windows Vista, the Printers folder is shown regardless of whether the remote computer is sharing any printers.
December 25, 2008Dec 25, 200812/25/08Several years ago, the security department sent out a company-wide memo:
Over the next few months, we will be upgrading the card readers on all of our major campuses. The old card readers show a solid red light when the door is locked,
December 24, 2008Dec 24, 200812/24/08A few years ago, some email was sent out to the product team asking for a volunteer hand model to demonstrate how to open the Windows Vista box. Alas, I withdrew myself from consideration due to my withered hand.
December 23, 2008Dec 23, 200812/23/08While visiting my young nieces, we sang some Christmas songs, and when it came to sing Toyland, the four-year-old sang it with misheard lyrics: “Toi-let! Toi-let!”
December 23, 2008Dec 23, 200812/23/08Here’s an interesting customer question:
Windows has PostMessage and SendMessage. It also has PostThreadMessage but no SendThreadMessage. Why isn’t there a SendThreadMessage function? Am I forced to simulate it with an event?
What would this imaginary SendThreadMessage function do? Recall that SendMessage delivers the message directly to the window procedure;
