Windows XP delivers another disappointment

[KThunder]

well there are some of us who really really love microsoft  :-)  (exp8lorer is spy8ing on me because i actualy didnt read the eula i just skimmed)
some people get ticked off when someone slags off ms for some simple little thing they screwed up in the first place, but your problem definitely is more complex than that. i hope you can fix it.

[Tomas]

Tenacious wrote:
When forced to use Windows in the past, I could click on My Computer and manipulate files and folders on various drives.  Usable.

Recently, I installed Service Pack 2 and other updates on my work laptop.  Now, clicking on drives or folders brings up an empty finder window titled "Search Results", everytime.  Unusable!   I don't want to do a search everytime I click on an icon!  Not only was the behavior of my desktop changed without permission, I've spent the last several hours trying to change it back.  Folder Options isn't cutting it.  Has anyone else seen this?

This is definitely not how it should be, so it sounds like it somehow broke your install. I am running sp2 here myself and have never seen anything like that.

[Matt_H]

My solution. I can't recommend it enough. It makes Windows very usable for a change and even borders on *gasp* enjoyable! It can even replace Explorer entirely.

EDIT: Fixed link

[mr_a500]

some people get ticked off when someone slags off ms for some simple little thing they screwed up in the first place

I can understand that - if the user actually did screw it up themselves. But some people get even more ticked off when someone slags off someone who slags off MS for a load of bugs they found, and assumes that they don't know how to use Windows.

Personally, in the 10 years I spent in software development and consulting, I have found and documented hundreds (yes, hundreds) of annoying bugs and design flaws in Windows that have nothing to do with third party software. Then when I mention that Windows is buggy, I get annoying responses - usually from inexperienced teen gamers saying that I don't know how to use Windows. People should find out first if user actually did cause their own problems before just stupidly assuming.

I'm getting a bit off topic now, so I'll stop. :-)

[ChaosLord]

mr_a500 wrote:
...
The worst thing is that there's no way to boycott Microsoft. Every possible job you can get now requires you to use Windows. (unless you're one lucky MF)

"He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark in his right hand or in his forehead so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666" (Revelations. 13:16-18).

"in his right hand" = what you do, how you do it
"in his forehead" = what you think

[adolescent]

@Tenacious

IMHO, you could have been less abrasive yourself and the problem would have been solved without the jumping to conclusions..

[T_Bone]

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=321186

CAUSE
This problem occurs when you open the Edit File Type dialog box for the Drive or File Folder registered file types. For example, this problem occurs for folders if you complete the following procedure:
1.   Open the folder, and then click Folder Options on the Tools menu.
2.   Click File Folder in the Register file types list, and then click Advanced.
3.   After you perform this procedure, the None setting is removed from the value data for the Default string value in the following registry key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell

NOTE: This problem occurs even if you do not create a new action, edit existing actions, or change the default action in the Edit File Type dialog box.

lol! Jeeze, they should probably fix that.  :crazy:

[boing]

Holy crap that's bad!^  When is the government going to stop kissing MS's ass and force a recall on such defective software?


> Check the Drive, File Folder and Folder file types to make sure that Find isn't set as default.
>(ie. Tools -> Folder Options -> File Types tab -> Select Drive -> click Advanced)

Mine says "Find" and there's no way to edit it. You can only add "New".  And my Xp box works normally.

It's so stupid to have a "My Computer" icon on your computer "desktop". Retardville.


>Try selecting it and "set as default" and chaos ensues.

Should be fun for Best But, Circuit City, etc.


>I had to create a new action, "browse" and use "explorer.exe" as application used
> to perform as a workaround untill I find out how to undo it.

More details please?


Now how about one of you showing us what to edit so that when we click on a window to make it active, it doesn't automatically come to front?

[AmiDude]

What can you expect from a Win-PC? Why are people still playing around with that crap? Don't ask your PC questions here, ask 'm to B. Gates! He's the one that's bringing all this pc-troubles into the world
 :rtfm: :horse:  

AMIGA RULEZ!!!
 :banana:

EDIT:
This text is edited by myself because last night
I had a few :pint: to much!  :crazy:
 :lol:

[adolescent]

boing wrote:

> Check the Drive, File Folder and Folder file types to make sure that Find isn't set as default.
>(ie. Tools -> Folder Options -> File Types tab -> Select Drive -> click Advanced)

Mine says "Find" and there's no way to edit it. You can only add "New".  And my Xp box works normally.

Yes, "Find" is there but not default.  It would be bold if it was default.  If you make it default, then you'll have a problem.

It's so stupid to have a "My Computer" icon on your computer "desktop". Retardville.

Off topic.  But, the default for XP (and later) is NOT to show "My Computer" on the desktop.  If you don't like it, don't change the setting that puts it there.  Sounds like a bit of user Retardville to me.

[Waccoon]

I'd be more willing to bash Microsoft if every platform didn't have its own heaping piles of stupidity.  There are plenty of things about Amiga, various builds of Linux, MacOS, Be, QNX, OS/2, and all the other OSes I've used that drive me nuts.

There are bugs in Firefox that have been aroud since v0.8.  As I type in forums like this one, the Alt key gets "stuck" and causes tons of hotkeys to activate instead of normal text.  Does anyone fix this?  Hell, no... they've got more features to add, first.  Does anyone get mad at Firefox?  Hell, no... because it's open source and better than IE, and that makes it perfect.

I think the whole computer industry went to hell in the mid 90's.

[uncharted]

Waccoon wrote:
Does anyone get mad at Firefox?  Hell, no... because it's open source and better than IE, and that makes it perfect.

I do, I've been at the mercy of deadlock bugs in nearly every version.  If it wasn't for the fact that I have to run an old, slightly unstable version of Safari on this 10.2 machine then I wouldn't touch it on the Mac.

Last 2 bugs...

1.5.0.1:  Bug where drop down lists would cause lock-ups which would have to be force quit.  RSS bookmarks would always cause this if you tried viewing them more than once.  But worst of all was typing in an address or filling in a form could trigger this at any time.

1.5.0.2:  Return of the input lockout bug.  Once it occurs, all keyboard input is ignored, you can't type into forms, or use shortcut keys.  Only a quit (or in some cases force quit) will fix the problem.

[mr_a500]

I'd be more willing to bash Microsoft if every platform didn't have its own heaping piles of stupidity.

True, but the piles are highest at Microsoft ;-). It's not so much that there are bugs. Obviously there are bugs in every system and every software. It is the fact that there are so many and they are so obvious that you wonder how the biggest software company in the world can miss them year after year. Even that alone is not enough to bash Microsoft. It is that combined with Microsoft's evil buisness practices and arrogance and the fact that you can't ever get away from their software that makes me bash Microsoft. If I don't like McDonalds food, I just don't go there and everything's fine. If I don't like Microsoft software and decide not to support them, I can't get a job, I can't go to a bank, I can't buy groceries, I can't get a flight, I can't go to the hospital, and so on. Everything runs on Windows now.

For over a decade I never had a bank machine "crash" on me. Then I had bank machine crashes all over the place at different banks, different machines. I later found out (at a company conference) that the banks had switched to Windows. I also read stories by medical technicians at a Toronto hospital. They switched some medical computers from proprietory system to Windows. The technician wrote that compared to their old systems, the Windows ones are much slower and unstable and they crash occasionally.

I think the whole computer industry went to hell in the mid 90's.

Yes. Computers aren't a fun thing anymore. They're just boring commodities with no real innovation (for compatibility reasons of course). Wow, a new menu item in the latest software. Wow, a new graphic in the Start button. A "totally revolutionary" slightly faster CPU which will allow me to run a wordprocessor 10% faster. Whoopie.

[bloodline]

mr_a500 wrote:

I think the whole computer industry went to hell in the mid 90's.

Yes. Computers aren't a fun thing anymore. They're just boring commodities with no real innovation (for compatibility reasons of course). Wow, a new menu item in the latest software. Wow, a new graphic in the Start button. A "totally revolutionary" slightly faster CPU which will allow me to run a wordprocessor 10% faster. Whoopie.

The computer industry is no longer an amature hobby place... the major innovations come in the specilist markets now.

[T_Bone]

boing wrote:
Holy crap that's bad!^  When is the government going to stop kissing MS's ass and force a recall on such defective software?


> Check the Drive, File Folder and Folder file types to make sure that Find isn't set as default.
>(ie. Tools -> Folder Options -> File Types tab -> Select Drive -> click Advanced)

Mine says "Find" and there's no way to edit it. You can only add "New".  And my Xp box works normally.

It's so stupid to have a "My Computer" icon on your computer "desktop". Retardville.

I don't have a My Computer on my Desktop, but I do have a df0: on my Workbench. Is this optional? I never bothered to do anything about it, so never looked.

>Try selecting it and "set as default" and chaos ensues.

Should be fun for Best But, Circuit City, etc.


>I had to create a new action, "browse" and use "explorer.exe" as application used
> to perform as a workaround untill I find out how to undo it.

More details please?

which part?

Now how about one of you showing us what to edit so that when we click on a window to make it active, it doesn't automatically come to front?

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse
ActiveWindowTracking
SnapToDefaultButton
AutoRaise
Mouse Focus

or use something like this: http://www.mdgx.com/files/XMOUSE2K.ZIP
or Tweekui, there were a bunch of Stardock utiities allowing customization too.

I think on my Amiga's, I couldn't even get windows to come to front without third party software.

[Daedalus]

I don't have a My Computer on my Desktop, but I do have a df0: on my Workbench. Is this optional? I never bothered to do anything about it, so never looked.

Yes it is (in the 3.9 prefs anyway...)

I think on my Amiga's, I couldn't even get windows to come to front without third party software.

ClickToFront has been a commodity supplied with Workbench since 3.0 (maybe before?) which does that. My personal preference is to double-click a window to the front. It does annoy me in Windows to have windows popping forward with a single-click, but hey :-) As so many people have said, you have to put up with it if you want a job.