Allocating page file space without allocating RAM
The Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit comes with a tool called consume.exe, and one of the things you can ask it to do is to suck up space in your swap file. If you run the program in that mode, you...
View ArticleUnhandled Exception: Cannot print exception string because...
I ran an internal tool, and it communicated with a back-end service, and then displayed the error Unhandled Exception: Cannot print exception string because Exception.ToString() failed. I can’t figure...
View ArticleConfusing gotcha: PSECURITY_DESCRIPTOR is not a pointer to a SECURITY_DESCRIPTOR
There is a structure called a SECURITY_DESCRIPTOR. It describes the layout of an absolute security descriptor. There is also a structure called a SECURITY_DESCRIPTOR_RELATIVE. It describes the layout...
View ArticleWhy does my in-place tooltip dismiss itself as soon as it appears?
One subtlety in the use of in-place tooltips is that you should create the tooltip with the WS_EX_TRANSPARENT extended style. This style makes the window invisible to hit-testing, which is a good...
View ArticleWhen is the correct time to call FreeLibraryWhenCallbackReturns?
When is the correct time to call FreeLibraryWhenCallbackReturns, or any of the other ...WhenCallbackReturns functions? In practice, many people call the function immediately before returning...
View ArticleDetermining how each Explorer window is sorted
Today’s Little Program lists all the open Explorer windows and their current sort criteria. (I will refrain from mentioning how auto-sort makes this meaningful.) Remember that Little Programs do...
View ArticleWhy are Windows setup logs stored in a Panther directory? Does it have...
Some time ago, I discussed the fates of the various cat projects that led to Windows 95, which was in turn a follow-up to a list of cat-related code names from projects that led to Windows 95. In...
View ArticleWhy is my call to ChangeTimerQueueTimer having no effect? (And another case...
A customer had a question about the ChangeTimerQueueTimer function, and they shared a sample program that demonstrated the issue. (Hooray for reduction.) #include <windows.h> #include...
View Article2015 year-end link clearance
The year-end link clearance is here! You may have noticed that the link clearances are getting shorter and shorter. I may have to cut back to only one link clearance per year. Not Even Close: The...
View ArticleIf you want to receive a message that is broadcast to top-level windows, you...
A customer wanted to suppress autorun from a wizard page. They started with this page on MSDN but found that their wizard page did not receive the QueryCancelAutoPlay message. default: if...
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