My Not-So-Recent Documents
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<FONT face=Verdana size=2>This one is truly a "side-bar" WTF. If you've ever saved an image from a web page using IE6, you may have noticed the "favorite places" sidebar in the save dialog. This usually shows buttons that link to the Desktop, My Documents, etc. There's also a button at the top that links to "My Recent Documents".</FONT>
<FONT face=Verdana size=2>I usually ignore this button, but one time I clicked it to see what would happen. It actually not only contains shortcuts to recently used documents, but recently used folders. This is incredibly useful, because it saves me a lot of time having to navigate to the same folder over and over every time I save an image.</FONT>
<FONT face=Verdana size=2>But it's somewhat flawed, however. Everytime I start up IE and click on My Recent Documents, it takes several minutes to come up. I have to assume this is because it shows documents going back to June of 2002, which is when I bought my computer.</FONT>
<FONT face=Verdana size=2>That's right.. IE considers documents I worked on nearly three years ago to be "Recent Documents". Have a look for yourself...</FONT>
<FONT face=Verdana size=2>Now, the wait time wouldn't be so bad, since I only have to wait once every time I start up IE. Unfortunately, the file list always sorts on Modified Date in ascending order, every single time I bring up the dialog. This means the stuff I worked on three years ago is always at the top of the list when the dialog comes up, no matter how many times I click to resort the column.</FONT>
<FONT face=Verdana size=2>Typical Microsoft behavior: Introduce what could potentially be a useful new feature, then totally blow it with an unusable interface. And yes, I know this screenshot always shows an example of the neverending "untitled.bmp" bug in IE, but don't even get me started on that.</FONT>
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What, you actually use that sidebar? :P
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The sidebar's very useful, but generally only if you customize it to
reflect your actual open/save habits. I hate having to play the
"where the hell is it" game every time I want to change something I
rarely do. I'm feeling extra stupid right now because I can't find this
setting anywhere.
The problem with recent docs is that it's like my network places -
misunderstood by people to think that the contents recycle, and given
that impression by the nature of the UI, when they're really a dumping
ground for shortcuts that you have to manually delete.
omfg, why can't I find the setting, I've used it a dozen times before. Grr.
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Hell, if you ever need to find a file, whatever kind of file it is, just use Google Desktop. Works wonders for me!
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speaking of that sidebar, this is kinda useful (about 1/3 of the way down):
O'Reilly to the rescue!
