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Bug of the moment 2008-03-07


I’ve mentioned before that my use of older operating systems leaves me wondering how relevant some of my findings are, no matter how funny or bizarre. After noticing something silly in Internet Explorer 6 in Windows 2000, I felt an obligation to check Internet Explorer 7 too, to make sure; you can imagine my relief when I found that Microsoft had never addressed the problem. Slightly surprising, since the user interface seems to be all they altered, instead of anything important like putting in a decent rendering engine!

If you start typing text into the address bar, you are offered the chance to search the Web for it:

If you press down arrow here, Internet Explorer alters the address bar contents accordingly:

If you press up arrow, the address bar reverts to simply what you typed. If instead you press home or left arrow, or resume typing, you can alter the address bar’s text exactly as it is now; here, I have simply pressed home:

And resumed typing:

You can repeat this procedure as many times as you like:

It does surprise me a little that it’s taken me so many years to notice this, so perhaps that’s an indication that it’s not a real problem after all. It’s just another of those silly little things in life to keep us amused, and prevent the onset of premature insanity.


Posted 7th March 2008 – Comments and questions?