The Old New Thing

A complaint about Links the Cat, the Office assistant

October 3, 2023 Oct 3, 2023 10/3/23

Raymond Chen

Do all cats do that?

Why is kernel32.dll running in user mode and not kernel mode, like its name implies?

September 26, 2023 Sep 26, 2023 09/26/23

Raymond Chen

It's just a name, and it comes from the days before user-mode/kernel-mode separation.

Why did the 16-bit _lopen and _lcreat function return -1 on failure instead of 0?

September 19, 2023 Sep 19, 2023 09/19/23

Raymond Chen

Trying to look like somebody else.

Just for fun: What happens when you shift a register by more than the register size?

September 4, 2023 Sep 4, 2023 09/4/23

Raymond Chen

A comparative study of processor architectures.

The popularity of DOS/4GW made Windows 95 game compatibility a little easier, but with higher stakes

August 29, 2023 Aug 29, 2023 08/29/23

Raymond Chen

A popular path to protected mode.

Just for fun: Which processors prefer sign-extended loads, and which prefer zero-extended loads?

August 28, 2023 Aug 28, 2023 08/28/23

Raymond Chen

Another pointless chart.

Did Vienna ever exist or was it just misinformation?

March 14, 2023 Mar 14, 2023 03/14/23

Raymond Chen

It could be neither.

The unintentionally-expanding scope of the SEM_NOGPFAULTERRORBOX flag

February 27, 2023 Feb 27, 2023 02/27/23

Raymond Chen

Other suppressions caught in its net.

Why are the Windows chassis hardware button hotkeys so strange?

February 14, 2023 Feb 14, 2023 02/14/23

Raymond Chen

Operating within the constraints of the system.

The frustration of finding a suitable time to hold a meeting when the participants are evenly spaced around the globe

February 7, 2023 Feb 7, 2023 02/7/23

Raymond Chen

Somebody has to suffer, but we try to make sure it's not the same person each time.