Bug of the moment 2026-05-08

This is one of those things that if you told anyone that you saw it, they would be quite sure that you were making it up:

With Windows 11, Microsoft insisted that we had to have a whole new File Explorer, because the old File Explorer’s context menus weren’t fluffy and powder blue enough. With it, they destroyed the ability to have simple verbs on file types (now you have to set up a development environment, learn programming and compile a DLL just to add a single verb to a file type) and took away all hope of ever using the truly invaluable True Launch Bar again. (Standalone mode is no use: it just gets in the way of other windows, and there is no way to make it float above the taskbar as the taskbar keeps burying it. True Launch Bar takes advantage of the unused space on the taskbar in a way that Microsoft made sure had to be taken away from everyone.)

Our reward for the continual erosion of anything good in computing was meant to be that File Explorer should now be stable and stop crashing, except that Windows 11 File Explorer is no better than its Windows 10 counterpart; now we have to sit and watch it draw in folder windows little piece at a time. It has now also decided that the Recycle Bin is just a regular folder.

Posted 8th May 2026 – Comments and questions?