More Un-freaking-believable-ness

Okay, okay.  I admit, that when you read this one you’re going to say “so what?”.  But you have to look at it from a programmer’s perspective.  This one is just as dumb as the Mickeysoft Internet Exploder error in my last post:  not as mind-numbingly frustratating, but just as dumb.

So, have you ever turned on the preview pane in Windows Explorer?   It shows you… well.. a little preview of whatever file you have selected.  If it is a picture, you see the picture; if it is text, you see the first part of the text in the file, etc.  A handy feature sometimes.

Now, have you ever clicked on a text file and the preview shows you text so large that you can only see a couple of words split over 20 lines, or text so small you need to call in CSI:NY’s super incredible digital enhancement software team to resolve the letters? Yeah, happens to me all the time.

So what do you do? You hit ctl and spin the scroll wheel on the mouse until you can read the text. Great!

Then you click on the next file and, voila!, you’re back to macro/micro-scopic print.

Well, guess how you resolve this. Go on, guess…

Nope, that would make sense. Here’s how you do it: you open Notepad and set the font size used by Notepad to whatever size you want Windows Explorer to display information in.

Yeah – Notepad.

A simple operation, true; but my brain hurts trying to figure out why a system-wide parameter is configured by an application that is not in any way, shape, form or purpose related to system administration?  Do you inflate your tires to adjust you carburettor?  Do you switch radio stations to adjust your TV’s volume?  Why do I have to use Notepad to set the font size used by Window’s Explorer?

Un-freaking-believable!