Why does microsoft make some windows non-resizable?

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surfisup1000

5288 posts

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#101996 14-May-2012 08:39

eg, the msconfig startup items window.....

You cannot increase the windows size. So, the file and pathnames are obscured and you have to resize columns (but cannot resize enough due to the small window) and use scrollbars to view the contents...surely this is something so basic it would be done properly?

I wonder why they don't fix such obvious faults, as microsoft staff themselves are also probably annoyed by this.

Will have to see if they fixed this in windows 8 :)

sidefx

3717 posts

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#624624 14-May-2012 08:53

Probably because it's easier to lay out and the average user will only use msconfig once in a blue moon (if ever) - yeah I suppose it is a little annoying but it's never really bothered me in the past. Haven't looked at msconfig in win 8 yet but a quick search and it doesn't look like it's changed...

http://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/image40.png

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Octopus Energy | Sharesies
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gzt

17185 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#624777 14-May-2012 12:07

Not on windows today but you can expand that one on the horizontal axis (but not the vertical)? maybe not.

Try this: http://www.digitallis.co.uk/pc/ResizeEnable/index.html

Ragnor

8224 posts

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#624969 14-May-2012 16:34

surfisup1000: eg, the msconfig startup items window.....

Have you seen the Sysinternals Suite?

Autoruns is a the utility you want instead I think

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb842062

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902

fillup

66 posts

Master Geek

#625930 16-May-2012 10:13

Possibly because some tools were never meant to be released, so weren't bound by the same UI rules during development.

But then they turned out to be useful (if only to power users) so they included them, and figured the time spent using x number of users < effort required to modify.