Can anyone else duplicate this simple bug in WMP10?

Ichinisan

Lifer
Oct 9, 2002
28,298
1,235
136
1. Double-click a movie file that is associated with WMP (some porn, perhaps).

2. Close WMP.

3. Open WMP manually (not double-clicking a file).

4. Click File> from the menu bar (displaying the recent file list).

5. Without de-selecting the menu bar, move the mouse over and select Tools>Options.

6. Click the "Privacy" tab.

7. Click "Clear History".

8. Click "OK"

9. Close WMP without checking the File menu.

10. Open WMP.

11. Click File> from the menu bar.

The recent file history is still there!


The only way to bypass the problem is to not display the File> menu before clearing the history.

Can anyone else duplicate this?
 

sparkyclarky

Platinum Member
May 3, 2002
2,389
0
0
trying to hide your porn habit from the folks/significant other, hey?
can't say that I blame you:)
 

Ichinisan

Lifer
Oct 9, 2002
28,298
1,235
136
Clarification:
It the recent file list (MRU) will only clear if you:

a. Do not display the File menu, Click Tools>Options>Privacy>Clear History

-or-

b. Check the File MRU before clearing, but check it again after clearing.

Reason:
When the menu is viewed, it reads the MRU list out of the Windows Registry and the list items are stored in memory. When "Clear History" is used, WMP deletes the registry settings but does not clear the list that is still retained in memory. When WMP is closed, the list in memory is written back to the registry.

Displaying the File menu after clearing the registry settings will cause WMP to overwrite the list in memory with the empty list from the registry, effectively clearing it.

For the programmers, the simplest fix would be to synchronize the list in memory with the registry settings during the same function that is processed when the "Clear History" button is pressed.

Also, there is no logical reason to retain the list in memory if WMP continues to check the registry each time the File menu is displayed. The process of copying the MRU list into memory was probably intended to improve performance. A busy hard drive could cause the player to freeze and wait while the registry settings are retrieved. Because WMP checks the registry each time, having the list stored in memory does not help to improve performance.
 

Staples

Diamond Member
Oct 28, 2001
4,953
119
106
Upon install, I think most people have it set so the history is not kept.