Bug of the moment 2008-08-22

This entry returns to the roots of what Bug of the Moment was all about. This is the second time that I’ve seen this particular bug, and I made a point of taking screenshots this time. Once in a blue moon, the number of buttons on the taskbar suddenly breeds like bacteria on a computer junkie’s desk:

The window titles of the extra buttons are noticeably odd, too. Cascading all open windows gives a slightly better picture of what’s just transpired:

Windows has made every single one of the hidden windows open on the system, visible: all the windows used for messaging and system calls that aren’t meant to show up on the desktop. (That these windows exist at all is an oddity unto itself.)

There are also a few other bizarre floating windows, such as the Word page indicator (shown during scrolling) and the big empty white one in the middle of the desktop. A lot of the windows are completely mis-grouped by Explorer, naturally, but I didn’t get a chance to document this extensively.

Posted 22nd August 2008 – Comments and questions?