July 31st, 2009

What is the difference between Directory and DirectoryBackground?

One item I left off the list of special progids is Directory\Background.

Recall that Directory is the progid for file system folders (a subset of Folder which represents all shell folders, both file system and virtual). Closely related is Directory\Background, which isn’t really a progid, but it is a place where shell extensions can register themselves. Specifically, it’s where context menu handlers can register if they want to appear when the user right-clicks on a blank space of a file system folder.

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Raymond has been involved in the evolution of Windows for more than 30 years. In 2003, he began a Web site known as The Old New Thing which has grown in popularity far beyond his wildest imagination, a development which still gives him the heebie-jeebies. The Web site spawned a book, coincidentally also titled The Old New Thing (Addison Wesley 2007). He occasionally appears on the Windows Dev Docs Twitter account to tell stories which convey no useful information.

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