"cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)" wrote in
message ...
On Mon, 2 Apr 2007 10:46:13 -0500, "Keith Miller MVP"
"cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)"

I'm going to read this reaaaly slowly - great content ahead!

Ahh... thanks! I'm a bit confused on the details of how behaviors are
linked to locations; is it all from file system to behaviors via
Desktop.ini, or all forward from CLSIDs to locations, or a combination
of the two? Because it seems to come unstuck easily...

View behaviors, right?

Yep!

First & foremost, saved views are dependent on the namespace path, which
is
graphically represented in the folder tree in Explorer.

'Desktop\UserName'

...what I refer to as the "namespace object"

can save a view distinct from

'Desktop\Computer\C:\Users\UserName'

...what I refer to as the "file system location"

In XP, the difference was clear - the one would show the object name
and the other would show the directory name. The contents may or may
not look different and the icon would usually look the same (giving
you feedback that that particular location was "special").

In Vista, things get murky because object (rather than directory)
names are often appended at the end of the file system path.

If you take a look at:

'HKCU\Software\Classes\Local
Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU '

which is the index to saved views, you'll see that is a tree structure,
with
BagMRU corresponding to the Desktop and each numbered subkey representing
a
subfolder. If a key has a 'Nodeslot' value, that is the Bag number for
the
saved view for that folder.

I can't find that in XP SP2 but similar in
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell etc.

In XP, the equivalent key is:

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\BagMR U"


According to http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms647825.aspx

...when a folder is opened, Explorer first looks for a saved view for that
particular folder. If that does not exist, Explorer works its way back
up
the namespace path to see if any of the parents' views have an 'Inherit'
subkey (this is how 'Also apply this template to all subfolders' works).
If
there are none, then Explorer checks for 'AllFolders'. If 'AllFolders'
exists and specifies a template, that template is assigned. If no
template
is specified or 'AllFolders' doesn't exist, then content sniffing kicks
in.

Tell me more about these templates... in the IE4 era, we had
Desktop.ini pointing to *.htt files that allowed HTML scripting to be
bound to locations, in ways amenable to malware use - so that every
full-shared location was potentially a malware drop-and-run point.


When I say template, I'm refering to the choices that appear on the
'Customize' tab: 'All Items', 'Documents', etc. These govern the tasks
offered, default icon style, & default columns selected, etc. Nothing so
advanced as retaining HTML malware

Win98/SE/ME had the ability to kill "View as Web Page" to curb this
risk; a setting that no longer appears in XP and Vista.

Are these newer OSs cluefull enough to suppress "Web Page" scripts, or
dumb enough to integrate these with no option to disable them?

They're suppressed by default in XP, but could be activated:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/819028/

I doubt they work at all in Vista, but I never really played with them, even
in XP.


Are there other opportunities to edit a Desktop.ini so as to invoke
code; say, via a CLSID? Let's leave aside pointing to a "specially
crafted" .ICO using the .ANI exploit for now.

There was under XP, but it was disabled by default in one of the updates,
but can reactived via a policy setting. Haven't checked under Vista -- I
assume it's at least disabled by default if not completely unavailable.


Once Explorer has determined content type, it will look for the template
UUID under 'AllFolders' and then under:
'HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Explorer\Streams\Defaults'
If those don't exist, then the settings found under:
'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ explorer\FolderTypes'
will be used.

OK. Is this "CU before LM" order pervasive across all file
associations etc. as lumped together in the HKCR view?

Only items under 'HKCU\Software\Classes' & 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes' merge to
form the HKCR key. User-specific takes precedence over machine-wide, but
'Defaults' uses a Binary data structure to hold the view settings and holds
more specific detail, such as column width, whereas 'FolderTypes' uses
individual values for Icon Style, default columns, etc -- there're not
identical keys/values like:

'HKLM\...\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons'
&
'HKCU\...\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons'


Thanks for a great article, BTW :-)


You're welcome! :-)


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

"Andre" wrote in message
...

I'm using Keith's reg now. I haven't created any new folder yet but, for
now, Windows seems to be behaving well. Keith, if you're still reading,
could you tell me if it is possible to have the best of both worlds? I
mean,
I've noticed that Win2K doesn't have templates, but I like that my Music
folder, my Pictures folder and my Videos folder look different than the
rest.
So, could I have the templates applied to those folders and make the rest
behave like Windows 2000? Thank you.

All folders are using some sort of template. 'All Items' is the most
generic, so set an 'All Items' folder to the view you want to be your
'default' view & use the 'Apply to Folders' option. Even with the
'AllFolders' reg key in place, you still have the option to customize your
Pictures folder back to the 'Pics & Vid' template, and can use the 'Apply
this template to all subfolders option' as well.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

Well, I think that settles my problem then. I'm still testing. Will report
back later.

Thank you for all the help Keith.

Andre

"Keith Miller MVP" wrote:

All folders are using some sort of template. 'All Items' is the most
generic, so set an 'All Items' folder to the view you want to be your
'default' view & use the 'Apply to Folders' option. Even with the
'AllFolders' reg key in place, you still have the option to customize your
Pictures folder back to the 'Pics & Vid' template, and can use the 'Apply
this template to all subfolders option' as well.

You're welcome. Keep us posted.

--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

"Andre" wrote in message
...
Well, I think that settles my problem then. I'm still testing. Will report
back later.

Thank you for all the help Keith.

Andre

"Keith Miller MVP" wrote:

All folders are using some sort of template. 'All Items' is the most
generic, so set an 'All Items' folder to the view you want to be your
'default' view & use the 'Apply to Folders' option. Even with the
'AllFolders' reg key in place, you still have the option to customize
your
Pictures folder back to the 'Pics & Vid' template, and can use the 'Apply
this template to all subfolders option' as well.

Well Keith, it seems that with your registry modification (disable content
sniffing) and the use of templates I could make Windows Vista behave the way
I expected. Finally! Now new folders are created with the view I wanted and
it seems Windows is not losing customizations on my "different" folders (that
used to bother me as well). Probably because it is not saving any different
customizations in registry anymore.

Just one more question. Keith, if I wanted to restore Windows Explorer
customizations back to Windows post installation default (that is, no
modifications at all) can I simply delete the entries on
HKCU\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags
and BagMRU?

Thank you for all the help. I do appreciate it.

Andre

"Keith Miller MVP" wrote:

You're welcome. Keep us posted.

--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

Glad to here it's all sorted.

To restore to default state, you would need to delete the two keys you
mentioned as well as this key:

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ex plorer\Streams\Defaults"

and the value named 'Settings' under:

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ex plorer\Streams"


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

"Andre" wrote in message
...
Well Keith, it seems that with your registry modification (disable content
sniffing) and the use of templates I could make Windows Vista behave the
way
I expected. Finally! Now new folders are created with the view I wanted
and
it seems Windows is not losing customizations on my "different" folders
(that
used to bother me as well). Probably because it is not saving any
different
customizations in registry anymore.

Just one more question. Keith, if I wanted to restore Windows Explorer
customizations back to Windows post installation default (that is, no
modifications at all) can I simply delete the entries on
HKCU\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags
and BagMRU?

Thank you for all the help. I do appreciate it.

Andre

"Keith Miller MVP" wrote:

You're welcome. Keep us posted.

--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

Glad to HEAR...!!! I'm so embarassed!!!!


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

"Keith Miller MVP" wrote in message
...
Glad to here it's all sorted.

To restore to default state, you would need to delete the two keys you
mentioned as well as this key:

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ex plorer\Streams\Defaults"

and the value named 'Settings' under:

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ex plorer\Streams"


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

"Andre" wrote in message
...
Well Keith, it seems that with your registry modification (disable
content
sniffing) and the use of templates I could make Windows Vista behave the
way
I expected. Finally! Now new folders are created with the view I wanted
and
it seems Windows is not losing customizations on my "different" folders
(that
used to bother me as well). Probably because it is not saving any
different
customizations in registry anymore.

Just one more question. Keith, if I wanted to restore Windows Explorer
customizations back to Windows post installation default (that is, no
modifications at all) can I simply delete the entries on
HKCU\Software\Classes\Local
Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags
and BagMRU?

Thank you for all the help. I do appreciate it.

Andre

"Keith Miller MVP" wrote:

You're welcome. Keep us posted.

--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

OK then, I might try deleting them one day. For now Windows is doing great.
And don't feel embarassed, everybody makes mistakes.

Thank you again.

Andre


"Keith Miller MVP" wrote:

Glad to HEAR...!!! I'm so embarassed!!!!


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

"Keith Miller MVP" wrote in message
...
Glad to here it's all sorted.

To restore to default state, you would need to delete the two keys you
mentioned as well as this key:

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ex plorer\Streams\Defaults"

and the value named 'Settings' under:

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ex plorer\Streams"


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

"Andre" wrote in message
...
Well Keith, it seems that with your registry modification (disable
content
sniffing) and the use of templates I could make Windows Vista behave the
way
I expected. Finally! Now new folders are created with the view I wanted
and
it seems Windows is not losing customizations on my "different" folders
(that
used to bother me as well). Probably because it is not saving any
different
customizations in registry anymore.

Just one more question. Keith, if I wanted to restore Windows Explorer
customizations back to Windows post installation default (that is, no
modifications at all) can I simply delete the entries on
HKCU\Software\Classes\Local
Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags
and BagMRU?

Thank you for all the help. I do appreciate it.

Andre

"Keith Miller MVP" wrote:

You're welcome. Keep us posted.

--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

On Wed, 4 Apr 2007 02:11:55 -0500, "Keith Miller MVP"
"cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)" wrote
On Mon, 2 Apr 2007 10:46:13 -0500, "Keith Miller MVP"
"cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)"

'HKCU\Software\Classes\Local
Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMR U'

I can't find that in XP SP2 but similar in
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell etc.

In XP, the equivalent key is:

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\BagM RU"

OK, thanks; got it...

Tell me more about these templates... in the IE4 era, we had
Desktop.ini pointing to *.htt files that allowed HTML scripting to be
bound to locations, in ways amenable to malware use - so that every
full-shared location was potentially a malware drop-and-run point.

When I say template, I'm refering to the choices that appear on the
'Customize' tab: 'All Items', 'Documents', etc. These govern the tasks
offered, default icon style, & default columns selected, etc. Nothing so
advanced as retaining HTML malware

That's good. WinME let you slam the door on "View As Web Page", but
XP and Vista no longer have such an option, and yet have suspiciously
detailed and lavish possible views. It wasn't at all clear wether
this was using Folder.htt etc. but with no safety catch anymore.

Are these newer OSs cluefull enough to suppress "Web Page" scripts, or
dumb enough to integrate these with no option to disable them?

They're suppressed by default in XP, but could be activated:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/819028/

OK, good that they're suppressd by default.

Are there other opportunities to edit a Desktop.ini so as to invoke
code; say, via a CLSID? Let's leave aside pointing to a "specially
crafted" .ICO using the .ANI exploit for now.

There was under XP, but it was disabled by default in one of the updates,
but can reactived via a policy setting. Haven't checked under Vista -- I
assume it's at least disabled by default if not completely unavailable.

OK, that's good.



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