Following are some interesting bugs and goof-ups which were accidentally found while beta testing Windows 7 builds. These bugs also exist in final version of Windows 7. You can use following simple steps to recreate those bugs:
BUG 1: Task Manager Maximize Option Bug
Actually its a kind of goof-up and can be found in Windows Vista and 7. To re-create this bug or goof-up, simply follow these simple steps:
1. You need to open a dialog box having only Close button in titlebar. You can open RUN dialog box, Taskbar Properties dialog box or any other.
In this example, we are going to launch RUN dialog box. You can open it from Start menu or press WIN+R keys together.
2. Now open Task Manager by right-click on Taskbar and select "Start Task Manager" option. You can directly open it by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC keys together.
3. Now go to "Applications" tab and right-click on Run dialog box entry and select "Maximize" option.
The first bug is that since RUN is a dialog box, there should be no Maximize option available for it as you can't maximize a dialog box.
Second bug appears when you click on Maximize option in Task Manager. It totally ruins the GUI of RUN dialog box and stretches the dialog box to fit the whole screen as shown in following screenshot:
Funny! Isn't it?
BUG 2: User Picture Disappears from Start Menu after Resizing Taskbar
1. Unlock the taskbar by right-click on the taskbar and uncheck "Lock the taskbar" option.
2. Now resize the taskbar and drag it to the maximum height. Now click on Startmenu and user picture will disappear from the startmenu.
3. That's OK. Since there is not much space available on the screen, that's why Windows doesn't show the user picture. But now resize the taskbar again and set it to normal height.
Now the bug appears, Windows still doesn't show the user picture in startmenu even though we have restored the taskbar height:
4. To restore the user picture, you'll need to drag-n-drop the taskbar to left, right or top of the screen and then restore it back on bottom. Now user picture will start showing in startmenu.
BUG 3: Windows 7 Classic Theme Bug
The second bug is related to Classic theme. Its also present in Windows Vista.
To recreate the bug, first change the Windows theme to Classic from Desktop Properties and then follow these steps:
1. Open My Computer and then open any drive. It'll activate the "Left Arrow" button as well as the drop-down Arrow which is called "Recent Pages".
2. Look carefully at the screenshot. The buttons and their background image both are misplaced. Either the background image should be moved to right by a few pixels or the buttons should be moved to left by a few pixels to fix their positions.
3. Anyway its not a big deal. Now hover your mouse cursor over the drop-down arrow and you'll see following:
The background image and the drop-down Arrow both are moved again to the left by a few pixels upon hovering the cursor over the arrow. Which makes the situation worst.
4. Now click on the drop-down arrow and amazing, the whole background image will disappear:
NOTE: This bug has been in fixed in SP1 for Windows 7.
BUG 4: User Picture Disappears from Start Menu
1. Click on Start ORB (Start button) and make sure that startmenu contains at least one program shortcut in left side pane which is expandable (look at the small black arrow).
2. Now expand the program shortcut by clicking on the arrow or by hovering the mouse cursor over it.
3. Once the Tasks list is shown, hover your mouse cursor on any other program shortcut so that the Tasks list gets disappeared.
4. Now the bug will appear. The user picture will disappear from the top of start menu. Even if you hover your cursor over any item present in right-side pane, the user pic will not appear.
If you exit from start menu and re-open it, the user pic will appear again.
NOTE: This bug has been in fixed in SP1 for Windows 7.
BUG 5: Items Reappear After Deleting From Navigation Pane in Windows Explorer
1. Open Windows Explorer and try to delete an item (Libraries or Homegroup) from Navigation pane. Right-click on the item and select "Delete".
2. It'll show following message:
3. Click on "Yes" button and the item will be removed from Navigation pane.
4. Now exit Windows Explorer and re-open it and voilla, the deleted item will reappear in the navigation pane.
So what's the point of deleting an item if it reappears in the list?
Bug:
1. If we delete an item successfully, then why does it reappear in the list?
2. Try to delete "Computer" from navigation pane, you'll get the same message but it'll not be removed but if you had Computer icon on Desktop, it'll be removed.
Goof-up:
Why the deletion message says that "Are you sure you want to delete the icon from Desktop?". Are we deleting icon from Desktop? NO, we are deleting from navigation pane.
It seems Navigation pane in Windows Explorer takes the data from Desktop, that's why the message asks to delete the icon from Desktop.
BUG 6: Notepad Statusbar Bug
Open Notepad and enable “Status Bar” from “View -> Status Bar“. Now open an existing text file (Yep, you have to open an already saved file to re-create this BUG) and put your cursor at any line, you’ll see its location in Status Bar. e.g. we assume that you put the cursor at column 3 of Line 3, then it’ll show Ln 3, Col 3 in Status Bar.
OK, fine then whats the BUG? Now press <Ctrl>+S or Choose “File -> Save” and look at the Status Bar. It’ll show “Ln 1, Col 1” irrespective of the actual Line and column Number, that was "Ln 3, Col 22" in our case.
Sometimes you may have to press <Ctrl>+S twice to re-create this BUG.
So the BUG is whenever you save an existing file, Notepad will show “Ln 1, Col 1” in Status Bar and it’ll be corrected when you’ll move the cursor.
NOTE: This bug is present in almost all Windows versions including Windows 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista.
PS: There are a few more bugs which are also present in Windows Vista. You can take a look at them in following article:
[Did You Know] Ultimate List of Windows Vista Facts, Bugs and Goof-ups
That's all for now guys! Please try to re-create the bugs and let us know your feedback in your comment. If you know any other annoying bug or goof-up in Windows 7, feel free to share with us in your comment...
This article was posted by VG in following section: Windows 7.
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black-leopard
I have already used all of the M$ OS's to date and the best of all of them is M$-Linux version 11.2 milestone 2 (Yes, it's pre-release, but it's quite stable).
aarthaus
I like Windows 7 but hate the way the headers and taskbar render (ie: dithered). Even if you disable font smoothing and turn off ClearType, the headers and taskbar still won't render in a nice classic style.
Nick
Can Windows 7 get the Classic theme?
VG
^^ Yes. You can apply it using Personalization window.
Michael
Another little "quirk" that I've noticed with 7, is that if you delete more than a couple of favorites, your user picture will disappear.
Doing the same thing in Vista would cause the start menu to lock up.
Mazzi
VG.. I tried maximizing the RUN Dialog and it did maximized it :P Lol
Kyle
wow rly... windows 7 goof-ups?? :P wow all these time i thought windows 7 will be a major improvement with very few bugs...
Vincent
@Kyle
These aren't really dealbreaking holes, just little mistakes to be laughed at
Ashish
@VG
How did your RUN dialog show "This task will be created with administrative privileges"...Mine doesn't shows that..
sasja
the run-dialog-bug can be done with 3rd party software:
windows7 shortcuts for win-XP,
anyway this looks nice,
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
and then try to move the maxxed run dialog...