The Old New Thing
Practical development throughout the evolution of Windows.
Latest posts
Can you dllexport/dllimport an inline function?
Yes, but it won't actually do much.
The case of the missing context menu verbs
A customer reported that when they right-clicked a batch file, a bunch of commands were missing. For example, Open was gone! Okay, there really isn't much of a...
The case of the mysterious Alternate Data Stream query
A customer was running Windows Server 2003 ("Still in support until 2015!") and they have some custom application that monitors all disk accesses. They noticed ...
Excuses college students use for missing assignments
My father recently retired after over 40 years as a college professor. During that time, he has seen all sorts of lame excuses students offer for missing ...
How do I obtain the computer manufacturer's name via C++?
The way to get the computer manufacturer and other information is to ask WMI. WMI is much easier to use via scripting, but maybe you want to do it from C++. ...
What happened in real-mode Windows when somebody did a longjmp into a discardable segment?
During the discussion of how real-mode Windows handled return addresses into discarded segments, Gabe wondered, "What happens when somebody does a into a ...
If the cursor clip rectangle is a global resource, how come I can't change it with ClipCursor?
A customer reported that the function was not working. "The cursor clip rectangle is a shared global resource, so I should be able to change it any time I like...
We know your job is hard, you don't have to show us
Some years ago, I attended a internal presentation where one group was teaching another group how to use their new feature. This particular feature was a "Just ...
2013 year-end link clearance
Another round of the semi-annual link clearance. And, as always, the obligatory plug for my column in TechNet Magazine: The retirement of TechNet Magazine...