Recycle bin sorting error

[Don Taylor]

Looks like a new bug.

SP2. Have the recycle bin showing name, original location, date
deleted, size, type, date modified. Items should be sorted by most
recently deleted first. That column has the tiny triangle at the
top claiming this, the column is slightly shaded, showing this.
And they are not in that order. Click the column header and they
are reversed into oldest first. Click it again and it does go back
to correctly showing most recent first. Close the recycle bin,
open it again, and it has again forgotten how to sort items into
most recent first, but still shows that that is what it thinks it
has done. Can't see any pattern to how they are sorted, it isn't
by size, name, location, type, etc.

 

[Protocol]

I have had the same problem since upgrading to SP2. Have not yet found
a fix. Have you managed to fix it?

 

[Don Taylor]

I have had the same problem since upgrading to SP2. Have not yet found
a fix. Have you managed to fix it?

This appears to be a consistently reproducible bug. Have detail
view selected in the Recycle Bin, have items deleted on a variety
of dates, choose to have it sort on date of being deleted, on entry
to the Recycle Bin the sort order is screwed up. And the bug shows
up on other systems that I've now checked.

So I search Microsoft. According to Q318872 they were in there
screwing around trying to fix a completely different sort bug in
Windows Explorer and the changes were incorporated into SP2.
(Doesn't being able to correctly sort a list seem like such a 1950's
level challenge?!?)

I have not been able to locate any public acknowledgement in the
Microsoft web pages of this new bug.

Now since sorting and Windows Explorer are underlying so many different
things I'm betting this same bug can be exhibited in other ways.

However, to be fair, fifty years of software engineering has shown
that you are damn lucky if you only introduce one new bug for every
two you try to fix, and it is a miracle if you only introduce one
for ten, especially if the the code is huge, the original authors
of the code are long since promoted, it has been figured out that
the original mindset led to all kinds of problems and you are trying
to patch yourself to software quality land. And they supposedly
screwed around with five million lines of code.

As for a fix, it will be a miracle if you even get them to recognize
it, let alone dream of having a fix show up. Other mistakes I've
pointed out, in the online and help system, simply resulted in them
deleting the paragraph that described what it was supposed to do.
One example, go look for postings of mine in response to some MVP
pointing a user to documentation in the help system and online,
describing how the symbol table could be pulled of the OS cd and
used to provide more details in error reports. The table was nowhere
to be found on the OS cd. So they silently deleted that paragraph,
rather than pointing out where the symbol table was.

I hope it works out for you.
My apologies for what they call software today.
Each day I celebrate Windows ain't my fault.

 

[Protocol]

Well, I was hoping for a fix. But I guess I will have to live with it.

 

[Protocol]

I was hoping for a fix, but I guess I will have to live with it.

 

[Protocol]

But no fix unfortunately...

 

[Protocol]

But no fix unfortunately...

 

[Don Taylor]

This appears to be a consistently reproducible bug. Have detail
view selected in the Recycle Bin, have items deleted on a variety
of dates, choose to have it sort on date of being deleted, on entry
to the Recycle Bin the sort order is screwed up. And the bug shows
up on other systems that I've now checked.

So I search Microsoft. According to Q318872 they were in there
screwing around trying to fix a completely different sort bug in
Windows Explorer and the changes were incorporated into SP2.
(Doesn't being able to correctly sort a list seem like such a 1950's
level challenge?!?)

I have not been able to locate any public acknowledgement in the
Microsoft web pages of this new bug.

Now since sorting and Windows Explorer are underlying so many different
things I'm betting this same bug can be exhibited in other ways.

I have had the same problem since upgrading to SP2. Have not yet found
a fix. Have you managed to fix it?

But no fix unfortunately...

Having no sense to stop pissing in the wind, I discover

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/contactbug

which tells me apparently the way to report a bug to Microsoft is
to call 1-800-642-7676.

I call that and recorded messages says "cannot process this" and
hangs up on me. I do it again. It does the same. I do this again.
It does the same.

After more than a dozen attempts at various times of the day and
night I get a different voicemail menu. I punch the buttons and
finally get to talk to someone who is likely in India. This is the
worst phone connection I've ever had, a half second delay echo of
everything I say, a roar on top of everything she says. She may
be having as much trouble understanding my accent as I am having
with hers. But she asks for my name, phone number, Windows serial
number. Then she asks me if there is anything else. This seems
like an odd question to ask me. So I say no. And she hangs up.
And she hadn't asked anything about what I was going to report.

A few days later I almost faint when I get a call from a different
puzzled person, also almost certainly in India, but at least with
a slightly better phone connection. He asks if the problem has
been fixed. I say no. He says something is wrong because I didn't
provide the information to them. I explain what I said in the
previous paragraph. He explains that he cannot talk to me more
about this, that is above him. But he does say he can send this
to his superiors and they can decide what to do.

An hour later I get another call from India, from yet someone else.
I describe all the symptoms to him. He explains he has never had
more than one file in his Recycle bin so he is limited in his ability
to see this. We spend maybe an hour or two walking him through
reproducing this. Astonishingly enough, I think but cannot be sure,
that he actually did reproduce this. He put me on hold a few times
for 5-10 minutes at a stretch when he went to talk to his manager.

We do discover that you can get the sort error in the Recycle bin
when with detail view and sorting by name or by date deleted. We
don't find the error when sorting by other columns. Then he tries
displaying by group in the recycle bin and the errors are still
there for these two columns, but the error seems to be different.
We try other incantations of Windows Explorer but can't find the
trick needed to see this error in other places, yet.

He has repeatedly talked to the only person he is allowed to, his
manager. His manager is telling him it is probably supposed to not
sort correctly. But after spending hours duplicating the various
versions of this, he is saying he agrees with me and this looks like
a bug. After two hours of this he wants to put me back on hold
again, this time for longer, and I beg off.

He says they will continue testing this. I ask if I'll be informed
about what they do. The answer isn't clear. He apologizes that he
is only a level 2 phone person and is not allowed to talk to anyone
but his manager. But he says he will try to get this submitted to
someone to have this recognized.

Maybe a miracle will happen and someone will recognize this bug.

If I hear any more progress I'll let you know.

 

[Protocol]

I never piss in the wind.