A customer created some shortcuts in the CSIDL_COMMON_FAVORITES folder, expecting them to appear in the Favorites menu for all users. Instead, they appeared in the Favorites menu for no users. Why isn’t CSIDL_COMMON_FAVORITES working? The CSIDL_COMMON_FAVORITES value was added at the same time as the other CSIDL_COMMON_* values, and its name strongly suggests that its relationship to CSIDL_FAVORITES is the same as the relationship between CSIDL_COMMON_STARTMENU and CSIDL_STARTMENU, or between CSIDL_COMMON_PROGRAMS and CSIDL_PROGRAMS, or between CSIDL_COMMON_DESKTOP­DIRECTORY and CSIDL_DESKTOP­DIRECTORY. That suggestion is a false one. In fact, CSIDL_COMMON_FAVORITES is not hooked up to anything. It’s another of those vestigial values that got created with the intent of actually doing something but that thing never actually happened. I don’t think any version of Internet Explorer ever paid any attention to that folder. Maybe the designers decided that it was a bad idea and cut the feature. Maybe it was an oversight. Whatever the reason, it’s just sitting there wasting space. Sorry for the fake-out.

Exercise: Another customer wanted to know why creating a %ALL­USERS­PROFILE%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch directory and putting shortcuts into it did not result in those shortcuts appearing in every user’s Quick Launch bar. Explain.