{"id":975,"date":"2018-11-08T07:07:06","date_gmt":"2018-11-08T12:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=975"},"modified":"2018-11-08T07:11:17","modified_gmt":"2018-11-08T12:11:17","slug":"a-reader-asks-why-does-the-registry-ignore-my-preferred-order-for-storing-bookmark-favorites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/08\/a-reader-asks-why-does-the-registry-ignore-my-preferred-order-for-storing-bookmark-favorites\/","title":{"rendered":"A reader asks: Why is the Registry ignoring my preferred order for bookmark\/favorites?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reader John used the Contact<\/a> link to ask:<\/p>\n

“Hi Fred! My problem isn\u2019t with Registry per se, but rather MS\u2019s confused muddling (mangling?) of OS vs apps & user data. Please tell me why MS chooses to store my Internet Explorer bookmark order (i.e., my arranged<\/span> bookmark order \u2013 in other words, the order I prefer & choose to arrange & display my IE bookmarks\u2026 versus, say, alphabetical order) in their $%#%&#$ registry?”<\/em><\/p>\n

I hear you, John! IE\u2019s issues with the sorting of Favorites\/Bookmarks isn\u2019t something new — it\u2019s been clumsy almost from the start.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s never been fixed, and likely never will be. Here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n

First, and to answer your direct question, the data in the Registry is stored in a standardized, hierarchical fashion that\u2019s optimized for software to read and parse<\/em><\/strong><\/span>, so your OS and apps can see what the other apps are doing and what data they\u2019re using. Human convenience — such as storing the data in a user-selectable order — wasn’t a major consideration.<\/p>\n

So, why not fix the problem with some kind of add-on sorting option for IE?<\/p>\n

With a better foundation, that probably could have been done decades ago. But IE lacks a solid foundation! Recall that IE is now 23 years old<\/em><\/span><\/strong> (IE first appeared in 1995 as part of the “Internet Jumpstart Kit” in \u201cMicrosoft Plus! for Windows 95\u201d).<\/p>\n

Over the years, IE became encrusted with an incredible number of add-on\/splice-on features and functions. This complexity made IE the slowest of the major browsers; and also gave rise to numerous security vulnerabilities, which lead to IE earning the reputation as the least-secure of the major browsers.<\/p>\n

Worse, IE\u2019s morass of weird, internal, interdependencies made constructive change nearly impossible: Fixing problem X might break feature Y; fixing feature Y would then break Z, A, and B\u2026 and so on.<\/p>\n

Making changes or adding features became an exercise in software-development whack-a-mole, so Microsoft stopped development of IE back in 2013, with the release of the final version of the browser: IE11. No new usability features are coming to IE, ever. Rather, IE is on life support<\/strong><\/em><\/span>, with the browser receiving only essential security updates for the next few years, until even that limited support ceases. (See this IE support page<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

IE11 is somewhat streamlined compared to previous versions but — because it needed to retain compatibility with two decades of add-ons\/add-ins and custom apps that users had come to rely on — it’s still Internet Explorer, with many of its warts, foibles, and crazy complexities intact.<\/p>\n

So that, in a nutshell, is why IE still has so many quirks and oddities; and why its settings are stored in the Registry in a software-friendly (not human-friendly) manner.<\/p>\n

There are various workaround to IE’s mangled-bookmarks issues (see this TechNet discussion, for example: Changing the order of\/move Favorites in IE 11<\/a>), but the workarounds are often as clumsy as the problem they\u2019re trying to solve.<\/p>\n

You know where this is going, don\u2019t you? It\u2019s time — actually way past time! — to get off IE and onto any of the many alternative browsers. There are very few mainline sites that specifically require IE anymore — most IE-specific sites are either very old in themselves, or are special-purpose, internal business sites\/apps that are long overdue for updating.<\/p>\n

For general browsing, I can\u2019t think of a single good reason (besides inertia) to keep using IE.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re frustrated with its features or performance, there are much better options — faster, safer, browsers that are not on life support — to choose from.<\/p>\n

And sooner or later, IE will be gone, and you\u2019ll have to change anyway!<\/p>\n

So why not explore alternatives now? A better, faster, safer, less-frustrating browser experience awaits you!<\/p>\n

Major players:<\/p>\n

Edge https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/windows\/microsoft-edge<\/a><\/strong>
\nChrome https:\/\/www.google.com\/chrome\/<\/a><\/strong>
\nFirefox https:\/\/www.mozilla.org\/en-US\/firefox\/new\/<\/a><\/strong>
\nOpera https:\/\/www.opera.com\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

(PS: just for grins:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Permalink: https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-fJ<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/small><\/small><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Want free notification of new content like this? Click here<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Want to ask Fred a question? Click here<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reply to this item via the Comment box below.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reader John used the Contact link to ask: “Hi Fred! My problem isn\u2019t with Registry per se, but rather MS\u2019s confused muddling (mangling?) of OS vs apps & user data. Please tell me why MS chooses to store my Internet Explorer bookmark order (i.e., my arranged bookmark order \u2013 in other words, the order I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-reader-asks","category-windows"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-fJ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":336,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/09\/11\/a-reader-asks-who-is-the-genius-who-invented-windows-registry\/","url_meta":{"origin":975,"position":0},"title":"A reader asks: Who is the “genius” who invented Windows Registry?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-09-11","format":false,"excerpt":"Q. Who is the \"genius\" who invented Windows registry? (via Quora) A. It was a group, not a single person. But from your snark, I assume you\u2019re unhappy with the Windows Registry \u2014 you\u2019re having some problem with it, yes? Here's the thing: The Registry is just a special-purpose hierarchical\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1338,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/14\/a-reader-asks-how-can-i-check-which-net-version-is-installed\/","url_meta":{"origin":975,"position":1},"title":"A reader asks: How can I check which .Net version is installed?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-12-14","format":false,"excerpt":"Q*: How can I check which .Net version is installed on a Windows 7 PC without administrative rights? 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It gets lost in the middle of the process and never completes. Any advice would be welcome. A: I think we can get\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5455,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2020\/11\/16\/why-does-windows-still-generate-registry-junk\/","url_meta":{"origin":975,"position":3},"title":"Why does Windows still generate Registry junk?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2020-11-16","format":false,"excerpt":"And why does Win10 still\u00a0not\u00a0have a built-in tool for deleting dead, empty, obsolete, or useless registry data? Win10 has capable options for removing file-related debris on drives. But to thoroughly clean the registry, you need a third-party tool. Here's what's going on. Plus: Test your security smarts with this free\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AskWoody Plus"","block_context":{"text":"AskWoody Plus","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/askwoody-plus\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/NL-2020-11-16-Langa-F1.png?fit=511%2C604&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2450,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/26\/a-reader-asks-what-should-i-do-with-files-that-are-left-on-my-system-i-uninstall-an-app\/","url_meta":{"origin":975,"position":4},"title":"A reader asks: “What should I do with files that are left on my system I uninstall an app?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-03-26","format":false,"excerpt":"You usually can delete them, carefully. Sometimes, leftover files are just sloppy programming \u2014 the app\u2019s uninstall routine doesn\u2019t target and remove everything that the app added to the system. D\u2019oh! Sometimes, the files are left in anticipation of future need. For example, if an app requires a somewhat uncommon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6027,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/28\/registry-backups-yea-or-nay\/","url_meta":{"origin":975,"position":5},"title":"Registry backups: Yea or nay?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2022-03-28","format":false,"excerpt":"Windows has had the ability to separately back up and restore its Registry \u2014 the essential internal database of software settings \u2014 since Windows 98. But do Registry backups still make sense in the era of Windows 10\/11? 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