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October 2007 - Posts

Wednesday, October 31, 2007 7:00 AM

The Acorn Wand, key to a magical puzzle hunt

It's an actual wand that knows what you're doing.
Posted by oldnewthing | 8 Comments
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Wednesday, October 31, 2007 7:00 AM

It rather involved being on the other side of this airtight hatchway: Local execution

If you're going to require them to copy it locally, then you don't need ActiveX in the first place.
Posted by oldnewthing | 68 Comments
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Tuesday, October 30, 2007 7:00 AM

Email tips from Adam Phillabaum

On jargon, exclamation points, and reply-all.
Posted by oldnewthing | 3 Comments
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Tuesday, October 30, 2007 7:00 AM

You can't change it, but you can hide it and add something that looks like it

It'll have the same visual effect.
Posted by oldnewthing | 43 Comments
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Monday, October 29, 2007 7:00 AM

Why doesn't Explorer show recursive directory size as an optional column?

Because it would destroy corporate networks.
Posted by oldnewthing | 43 Comments
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Friday, October 26, 2007 7:00 AM

The King County Council race gets even stranger

I told you it was going to get weird.
Posted by oldnewthing | 10 Comments
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Friday, October 26, 2007 7:00 AM

If you pass enough random numbers, eventually one of them will look valid

Playing roulette.
Posted by oldnewthing | 12 Comments
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Thursday, October 25, 2007 7:00 AM

What's the deal with the EM_SETHILITE message?

It was an idea that got abandoned.
Posted by oldnewthing | 28 Comments
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Wednesday, October 24, 2007 7:00 AM

What's the difference between LVM_HITTEST and LVM_INSERTMARKHITTEST?

One is for dropping on, the other is for dropping between.
Posted by oldnewthing | 3 Comments
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Tuesday, October 23, 2007 7:00 AM

Superstition: Why is GetFileAttributes the way old-timers test file existence?

The pesky data path.
Posted by oldnewthing | 45 Comments
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Monday, October 22, 2007 7:00 AM

The best way to process Unicode input is to make somebody else do it

It's way too complicated, and you don't want to get involved.
Posted by oldnewthing | 23 Comments
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Friday, October 19, 2007 7:00 AM

Other problems traced to violating COM single-threaded apartment rules in the shell

No smuggling.
Posted by oldnewthing | 45 Comments
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Thursday, October 18, 2007 7:00 AM

Win32 user interface work is inherently single-threaded

At the end of the day, it comes to a window.
Posted by oldnewthing | 53 Comments
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Wednesday, October 17, 2007 7:00 AM

The wrong way to check whether the mouse buttons have been swapped

Instead of just asking.
Posted by oldnewthing | 39 Comments
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Tuesday, October 16, 2007 7:00 AM

How do I delay the automatic logon process?

Power failure recovery.
Posted by oldnewthing | 62 Comments
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Monday, October 15, 2007 7:00 AM

Nicolas Bourbaki, perhaps the biggest inside joke in mathematics

The nonexistent mathematician.
Posted by oldnewthing | 7 Comments
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Monday, October 15, 2007 7:00 AM

Why aren't shortcuts as easy as unix links?

Because that's not what they're for.
Posted by oldnewthing | 66 Comments
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Friday, October 12, 2007 7:00 AM

Not the best way to start out a form letter

But it is somewhat telling.
Posted by oldnewthing | 17 Comments
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Friday, October 12, 2007 7:00 AM

No good deed goes unpunished: Free code samples

There's no such thing as a free lunch.
Posted by oldnewthing | 36 Comments
Thursday, October 11, 2007 7:00 AM

Unlikely excuses: A faulty microchip

I don't think they fail that way.
Posted by oldnewthing | 22 Comments
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Thursday, October 11, 2007 7:00 AM

Whose idea was it to make Ctrl+Backspace delete the previous word?

A bunch of geeks, of course.
Posted by oldnewthing | 32 Comments
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Wednesday, October 10, 2007 7:00 AM

Microspeak: Actionable

Requiring action.
Posted by oldnewthing | 31 Comments
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Tuesday, October 09, 2007 7:00 AM

The three tiers of a mixing room of a movie studio

Each serves its purpose.
Posted by oldnewthing | 3 Comments
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Tuesday, October 09, 2007 7:00 AM

Why does ICE16 complain about product names longer than 63 characters?

An old limitation from Windows 95.
Posted by oldnewthing | 19 Comments
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Monday, October 08, 2007 7:00 AM

Which windows appear in the Alt+Tab list?

The basic idea is very simple.
Posted by oldnewthing | 16 Comments
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Friday, October 05, 2007 7:00 AM

The dangers of taking a service droid off script

Just stick to the script.
Posted by oldnewthing | 25 Comments
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Friday, October 05, 2007 7:00 AM

The early days of the Microsoft cafeterias

A lot smaller.
Posted by oldnewthing | 4 Comments
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Thursday, October 04, 2007 7:00 AM

The perils of translating words blindly without verifying them in context

It's more than just translating words and phrases.
Posted by oldnewthing | 51 Comments
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Wednesday, October 03, 2007 7:00 AM

Another celebrity knitter: Tracey Ullman

Join the circle (being careful not to twist).
Posted by oldnewthing | 9 Comments
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Wednesday, October 03, 2007 7:00 AM

The most important choice in writing is not what you say, it's what you don't say

Like what you don't do.
Posted by oldnewthing | 34 Comments
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Tuesday, October 02, 2007 7:00 AM

Where did WiX get its name?

This story comes from Rob Mensching.
Posted by oldnewthing | 1 Comments
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Tuesday, October 02, 2007 7:00 AM

Don't assume the first person to run your program is an administrator

Do your installation at install time.
Posted by oldnewthing | 52 Comments
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Monday, October 01, 2007 7:00 AM

Suggestion Box 3, short answers (part 1 of who knows how many)

Short answers.
Posted by oldnewthing | 40 Comments
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