jamesfinnigan.com

I've noticed that a number of different programs just look at the Approved list of shell extensions [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Approved] and figure that all shell extensions will be in that list.  It's not true, because lots of folks don't really care about that policy.  I don't know ...

I've been thinking about the registration problem where you want to add a context menu (much of this applies to static verbs as well) to a file type (we'll say .ogg).  You don't want the default verb, you just want to add some verbs.  Because you don't want the default, you shouldn't put your progid in the HKCR\.ogg default value, so you ...

So... I've been looking more closely at Wix and I think I'm going to build some custom actions to do a really good job installing shell extensions.  Which ones do you find most problematic?  I realize this is a bit of a change of pace for the blog, so I'll probably hit a few other forums, but please feel free to add comments/complaints ...

Let's say you want to install a few things and want UAC to stop bugging you while you install them.  Should you turn off UAC and install the apps?  Since that disables UAC's virtualization, it can destabilize things that depend on data written to those virtual locations.  Here's an alternative that keeps all the virtualization ...

The goal I think that most things don't need to require a UAC prompt to install - just install it for that user.  Why not make the MSI so it doesn't prompt and your users get a smoother experience?  (Also, I feel much better installing a program that doesn't require elevation to install - at a minimum I know it's not disabling my ...