The Old New Thing
Practical development throughout the evolution of Windows.
Latest posts

Aug 11, 2025
Post comments count
0
Post likes count
1
Thoughts on creating a tracking pointer class, part 1: Concept art

Following an object as it moves.

Aug 8, 2025
Post comments count
6
Post likes count
3
Under what conditions could a ReadFile
or WriteFile
fail to transfer all of the bytes, and how do I detect that?

If there is not enough data to read, or not room to write.

Aug 7, 2025
Post comments count
11
Post likes count
2
How can I detect that Windows is running in S-Mode?

Check the code integrity policy.

Aug 6, 2025
Post comments count
9
Post likes count
4
How do I disable pieces of the property sheet for a service in the Services MMC snap-in?

There's no secret setting. It's all based on access control.

Aug 5, 2025
Post comments count
21
Post likes count
3
Why are Windows semiannual updates named H1 and H2?

To address an unconscious bias.

Aug 4, 2025
Post comments count
23
Post likes count
1
How can I read more than 4GB of data from a file in a single call to ReadFile
?

You can't, but you can try to fake it.

Aug 1, 2025
Post comments count
2
Post likes count
0
Two related questions about keeping track of PIDs of IPC clients

Since you're doing IPC, you may as well let IPC do the work for you.

Jul 31, 2025
Post comments count
7
Post likes count
1
A consequence of the weird wReserved
value at the start of the DECIMAL
structure

It overwrites things by accident.

Jul 30, 2025
Post comments count
2
Post likes count
0
In C++/WinRT, how can I await multiple coroutines and capture the results?, part 0

If you don't really care about what happens if something goes wrong.