Showing archive results for 2009

Feb 13, 2009
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The checkbox: The mating call of the loser

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

(Cultural note: The phrase the mating call of the loser is a term of derision. I used it here to create a more provocative headline even though it's stronger than I really intended, but good writing is bold.) When given a choice between two architectures, some people say that you should give users a checkbox to select which one should be used....

Other
Feb 12, 2009
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Superthunderstingcar is go!

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

If you are an old geezer, you'll remember supermarionated shows, the most famous of which is Thunderbirds. And if you're not an old geezer, then this amazing spoof by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore will mean nothing to you. (You will also have no idea who Peter Cook and Dudley Moore are.)

Non-Computer
Feb 12, 2009
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What does the COM Surrogate do and why does it always stop working?

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

The process goes by the name COM Surrogate and the only time you're likely even to notice its existence is when it crashes and you get the message COM Surrogate has stopped working. What is this COM Surrogate and why does it keep crashing? The COM Surrogate is a fancy name for Sacrificial process for a COM object that is run outside of the proce...

Tips/Support
Feb 11, 2009
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In order to serve you bett… wait, it really is better: Fuel surcharges

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

Normally, the phrase In order to serve you better means that you're about to get screwed. Imagine my surprise to discover that United has stopped imposing a fuel surcharge for flights between Canada and the United States due to the decrease in fuel prices. But wait, that's only for flights between Canada and the United States. Flights within ...

Non-Computer
Feb 11, 2009
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If you get confused by a register dump, then you’ll just have to accept that some of my postings won’t make any sense

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

This Web site is not for beginners. I try to write for advanced programmers, and if you're not an advanced programmer, then you'll just have to accept that there will be times you are baffled by what I write. Often I dial the geek back a notch, explaining some things which should be "obvious" to an advanced programmer, such as why storing a consta...

Other
Feb 10, 2009
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A different type of writing exercise, this time in preparation for buying a house

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

One of my colleagues was overwhelmed by how many times papers need to be signed when you buy a house. A seemingly endless stack of papers. Sign and date here, initial here, initial here, now sign this, and this, and this, and sign and date here, and sign here, and initial here... By the time it's over, your arm is about to fall off. Some years la...

Non-Computer
Feb 9, 2009
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Changes to the the 2009/2010 Seattle Symphony subscription season

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

A thank-you to commenter Greg for pointing it out that the Seattle Symphony made changes to their UBS Masterworks 13 series after the brochures were printed. I compared my printed brochure against the online one and updated the 2009/2010 Seattle Symphony subscription season at a glance accordingly. They deleted five concerts and added six, so th...

Non-Computer
Feb 9, 2009
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What is the purpose of the RunAsCommand value?

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

Commenter c_e_pizano asks what the purpose of the registry value is. Well, for starters, it isn't documented, so the official answer to that question is "Don't mess with it." Kind of makes me wonder why you're asking about the registry value anyway, seeing as it's undocumented in the first place. Are you trying to reverse-engineer Windows? To...

History
Feb 6, 2009
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A process shutdown puzzle: Answers

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

Last week, I posed a process shutdown puzzle in honor of National Puzzle Day. Let's see how we did. Part One asked us to explain why the thread no longer exists. That's easy. One of the things that happen inside is that all threads (other than the one calling ) are forcibly terminated in the nastiest way possible. This happens before the noti...

Code
Feb 5, 2009
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What the various registry data types mean is different from how they are handled

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

Although you can tag your registry data with any of a variety of types, such as or or . What do these mean, really? Well, that depends on what you mean by mean, specifically, who is doing the interpreting. At the bottom, the data stored in the registry are opaque chunks of data. The registry itself doesn't care if you lie and write two bytes...

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