return of a pest

My Windows 10 install, I noticed, was opening a new window for every click. Me, I do a lot of work in Windows – today has been coding websites, hacking fixing phones, Photoshop, compiling innovative WinPE iso’s.

So when the standard “open in same window” command inexplicably switches to “open in new window”, before I know it, I’ve got more open windows than a trailer park in summer. Then, when I’m backtracking it’s too easy to be click click clicking – closing these rogue & unauthorised windows & end up closing the window I was actually looking for.  Fuck knows why anyone would actually want the “open in new window” option but it’s what I’d been given, like it or not.

I can’t remember the last time I had this problem, but it’s not new. Early days of Windows 7 maybe? Whatever, the simple & obvious solution would appear to be in Folder Options (View/Options/Folder Options), the very first choice available. But no, it’s not there. Of course it’s not there, I wouldn’t write about something requiring such minimal effort to fix.

I hunted through my historic bookmarks, hoping like hell that I’d saved the fix last time round – yup, I did that alright. David Moore blogged this issue in reasonable depth & provided the cure as a downloadable zip file. Personally though, thinking security first, I recommend you create your own .cmd file from the source – that way you know it’s clean for sure:

@echo off :: 32 bit and 64 bit IF EXIST “%SystemRoot%System32actxprxy.dll” “%SystemRoot%System32regsvr32.exe” “%SystemRoot%System32actxprxy.dll” IF EXIST “%ProgramFiles%Internet Explorerieproxy.dll” “%SystemRoot%System32regsvr32.exe” “%ProgramFiles%Internet Explorerieproxy.dll” :: 64 bit only (32bit on 64 bit) IF EXIST “%WinDir%SysWOW64actxprxy.dll” “%WinDir%SysWOW64regsvr32.exe” “%WinDir%SysWOW64actxprxy.dll” IF EXIST “%ProgramFiles(x86)%Internet Explorerieproxy.dll” “%WinDir%SysWOW64regsvr32.exe” “%ProgramFiles(x86)%Internet Explorerieproxy.dll”

Copy the above code exactly, paste into Notepad. Save as “whatever.cmd”, right-click on your new file, choose Run As Administrator. Click away the two confirmations that Regsvr32 succeeded, now reboot. Done.

After your reboot, give it a test run. In my case, all fixed, Yes!!

If this doesn’t fix your multi-window problem, do not panic. Chill, Baby, chill. There is another method, this time the General Fix All for Windows comes into play – just takes a bit longer, that’s all.

Open a Command Window with Administrator privileges, type in “SFC /scannow” (without the “”), press Enter. Go grab a coffee. Or do some tidying up, something, don’t just sit there doing nothing anyway. Depending on your computer spec, System File Checker will take anything from 10 – 60mins before you are required to, again, reboot.

This time, you are sorted. The pestilent windows problem is solved.

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