Showing tag results for Tips/Support

Jun 25, 2012
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How does Explorer determine the delay between clicking on an item and initiating an edit?

Raymond Chen

Ian Boyd wants to know why the specific value of 500ms was chosen as the edit delay in Windows Explorer. Because it's your double-click time. Since the double-click action (execute) is not an extension of the single-click action (edit), Explorer (and more generally, list view) waits for the double-click timeout before entering edit mode so it c...

Tips/Support
Jun 13, 2012
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Why don't all of my folder customizations roam with my profile?

Raymond Chen

A customer reported some inconsistency in how folder customizations are handled by roaming profiles. Why doesn't the customization roam? Well, if you think about it, it makes sense that the setting for doesn't roam because doesn't roam either! The on Server1 is not the same directory as the on Server2. Let's change Step 2 slightly:...

Tips/Support
May 16, 2012
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Sure, we do that: Context menu edition

Raymond Chen

A customer reported a problem that occurred only when they installed a particular application. If they uninstalled it, then the problem went away. After installing the application, the "Run As" context menu option stopped working. The customer didn't provide any other details, but we were able to make an educated guess as to what was going on. A ...

Tips/Support
May 8, 2012
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Why can't I use the file sharing wizard if I exclude inheritable permissions from a folder's parent?

Raymond Chen

In Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, if you go to a the advanced security settings for a directory and uncheck "include inheritable permissions from this object's parent", then go back to the Sharing tab, you'll find that the "Share" button is disabled. Why is this? We don't see this behavior on Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2. ...

Tips/Support
May 3, 2012
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How does Explorer calculate the folder size information in the folder tooltip?

Raymond Chen

This information is accurate as of Windows 7; the algorithm may change for future versions of Windows. The information is being provided for the edification of computer network administrators, who are curious about random stuff like this since it can affect their network load. When you hover over a folder, Explorer shows an infotip (a special...

Tips/Support
May 1, 2012
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What happened to the Summary information created on Windows 2000 and Windows XP?

Raymond Chen

In Windows 2000 and Windows XP, you could add Summary information on the Details property page to files of all types. Text files, image files, some crazy file your grandmother sent you in a file format you don't know how to open. If Windows supports storing the Summary information in the file itself (for example, in EXIF tags or in Stru...

Tips/Support
Apr 25, 2012
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How do I prevent users from opening TIF files?

Raymond Chen

A customer had a question about their Windows XP installations. (This question was from several years ago, so the fine details aren't really relevant any more, but I'm actually telling this story for a commentary opportunity.) The customer wanted to disable all file associations for TIFF files. Their first attempt was by deleting and . Thi...

Tips/Support
Apr 18, 2012
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Why doesn't the Version tab show up for very large files?

Raymond Chen

If you have a really large file and try to view its properties in Explorer, you may find that the Version tab doesn't appear. What's going on? The Version tab uses the family of functions to obtain version information from files. It so happens that the function works by calling and then using functions like to locate the version resource so it...

Tips/Support
Mar 6, 2012
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Why does Explorer ignore seconds when sorting by Date Modified?

Raymond Chen

A customer reported that Explorer appears to be ignoring the seconds when sorting by Date Modified. The customer was kind enough to include detailed steps to reproduce the problem. Start with a folder with several files, sorted by Date Modified. Right-click on the newest file, select Copy. Right-click on the blank column on the right, select...

Tips/Support