The Old New Thing

Why did Explorer say "The target you specified is on the desktop"?

February 5, 2007 Feb 5, 2007 02/5/07
Raymond Chen
In Windows 95, if you had a shortcut to a file on the desktop, view the shortcut's properties, and then clicked "Find Target", you got the message "The target you specified is on the desktop". It also selected the item on the desktop to help you find it. But why didn't it just open an Explorer window that viewed the desktop? Because in ...

The publicity machine doesn't stop: TechNet podcast interview

February 2, 2007 Feb 2, 2007 02/2/07
Raymond Chen
The TechNet Magazine Podcast page has just posted their February 2007 entry, which includes an interview with little old me in the second half. I haven't listened to the whole interview yet, but what struck me immediately is that I was pretty darned punchy and goofy, whereas I think the host was trying to take a more serious tone. Oops...

Super Bowl Sunday: The day the entire country stops doing anything

February 2, 2007 Feb 2, 2007 02/2/07
Raymond Chen
This upcoming Sunday features an event that means absolutely nothing to people outside the United States: The Super Bowl. I call it an event because it is more than simply a football game. It's an American institution. Even people who think a nose guard is a piece of safety equipment will watch the game, or at least pretend to be interested ...

The ironic thing about fixing a bug

February 2, 2007 Feb 2, 2007 02/2/07
Raymond Chen
The ironic thing about fixing a bug, or at least once I mention on this web site that I fixed a particular bug, is that people immediately complain that I didn't fix some other bug. One school of complaint believes that cosmetic bugs should be fixed first: "You suck. I mean, look at these egregious cosmetic bugs. If you can't get even those...

The network interoperability compatibility problem, second follow-up

February 1, 2007 Feb 1, 2007 02/1/07
Raymond Chen
I post this entry with great reluctance, because I can feel the heat from the pilot lights of the flame throwers all the way from here. The struggle with the network interoperability problem continued for several months after I brought up the topic. In that time, a significant number of network attached storage devices were found that did ...

Crackpots in computer security: A complete solution to computer security

January 31, 2007 Jan 31, 2007 01/31/07
Raymond Chen
Now that computer security grabs headlines, the crackpots are drawn to it. This means that the security folks are innundated with dubious vulnerability reports and revolutionary computer designs. Today's story is one of the "revolutionary computer designs" category. I have developed a complete solution to computer security. Construct one ...

If vertical strips are better, why do toolbars use horizontal strips?

January 29, 2007 Jan 29, 2007 01/29/07
Raymond Chen
If vertical strips are better, why do toolbars use horizontal strips? An early version of the toolbar control first made its appearance in Windows 3.0, and in those days, screen resolutions were low and toolbar buttons were small. Horizontal or vertical didn't really matter. Ten bitmaps, each 16 × 16, at 4-bit color, comes out to...

The real underground (and subway)

January 26, 2007 Jan 26, 2007 01/26/07
Raymond Chen
London's Transport Museum commissioned a gorgeous interactive map called The Real Underground which lets you see two of the many versions of the world-famous London Underground Map, as well as a street map, and switch among them to see how the two schematics agree with actual geography. I wasted way too much time playing with the Real ...