Thanks, Mother Microsoft, for the Annoying Message!

A new, annoying message

Among the surprises of the SP3 update to Windows XP is a new annoyance: a message box which pops up each time you drag a file from one open Windows Explorer file to another:

“Do you want to move or copy files from this zone?

As if I perhaps mistook dragging and dropping a file for, say, making cheesecake or scratching my ass.
The interesting thing is that when googling the above phrase, I found old, pre-SP3 forum posts asking how to remove the popup. So this is not the first time Microsoft has instituted some security “protection” that provides this wonderful bit of prose.

I have not found a way to universally turn off this interruption. There is a new “Unblock” button in the properties dialog (right click on the file and select “Properties” from the context menu). “Unblocking” the file will remove the offensive, mothering question, albeit at the cost of two additional mouse clicks.

New unblock button on file properties dialog

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  • About Gary Burge

    I am an experieced web programmer, techno-activist, romantic idealist, who never quite left the sixties, even though I became quite successful in the Internet space.

    My business philosphy is different now than when I toiled in the bigco world. About a decade ago I experienced a life-altering epiphany: I was sacrificing my personal life and health to feed a corporate monster.

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