Case Study 2 - Windows page 2

Part of the file system viewers case study.

What happened to the Forwards button on my Explorer toolbar?

The history menu item is the funniest. Explorer is at a loss to ever know what icon it is supposed to have:

This bug remains in XP Service Pack 3:

Most HTML files on disc have an HTML file icon to show their association with your Web browser. But those created with Microsoft Office, have the appropriate Office icon, despite having the correct extension, perhaps through another abhorrent hack. On asking to send this one to Internet Explorer, Explorer was inexplicably unable to see the file:

Sometimes, the above error is caused by a DDE communications error with the target program which, in Microsoft’s fine tradition, is reported with a completely unrelated and extremely unhelpful error.

The next error is brillant. Copying files from a CD to a Windows 2000 PC:

I am not sure why threading is so under-used. Firefox isn’t properly threaded, nor iCab, for example, and nor is Explorer:

If you attempt to open any folder anywhere on any drive that looks like it might be a hidden Recycle Bin store – regardless of whether it is at the drive root – Explorer will show you the Recycle Bin instead of the folder. The following directory was part of the Trash facility of the It Utilities add-on for File Manager in Windows 3.11, in the copy I took of my 486’s hard druve:

My Windows XP SP3 machine still displays the same bug in Explorer, blocking access to the folder’s contents through mistaking it for my main Recycle Bin.

Finally a bit of painting fun with Explorer: