You're right. I missed that. I interpreted it backwards.

By telling iexplore.exe to do it instead? I'm guessing that's how the Hotmail configuration works, since (according to Tom) it bypasses the default browser setting. Windows doesn't seem to have the hook of just putting a URL there. Should it work? Yeah. Does it work? No. (That's a frequent Windows mantra.)

Regardless, you have to pass the email address (and other data in the mailto: link) to the "application". Unless the web application understood that exact syntax — I'm guessing Hotmail does; Gmail doesn't seem to, though it should — you still have to have something to translate the mailto: information into however the web application wants it presented.

What's the problem with having a 3rd party application anyway? You seem hell-bent on not wanting it, even though it doesn't have to run all the time.

Purely academics. Me, I leave Gnotify.exe on all the time. I just wonder how someone handles this for a web-based mail service that DOESN'T have an applet available. I can think of web-based mail systems, including Microsoft's own Outlook Web Access and Hotmail services, that fall into this category.

Greasemonkey? Do mailto: URLs really show up anywhere other than in a browser?

Word documents and the like.

Isn't *that* a third-party add-on application?



Although they can be used in things other than a browser, that's mainly where they show up, yeah. Which is why it's even more ironic that they don't work for web-based mail systems.

3rd party app... As best I know it, Windows needs a helper in the form a shell extension, just to do what it currently does.

This extension, handles making the connection from the context menu's sendto, various apps file>email, send link as... to the installed email application. That works because the various apps are configured to work with the shell extension. Like wise installed email apps are programmed to work with that extension.

I don't believe there is any way for a browser, like FF, to be programmed to act as an email client itself. Basically FF would have to incorporate a function like Gnotify into it, but also be able to deal with every webmail available. Not likely.

So, we have Gnotify. Which acts like an installed email client, as far as the shell extension is concerned, and interacts with Gmail in a similar way that a user would.

edit: Gnotify could have been designed, to operate like Outlook does. Loading only when called by a mail to: or such, But then it would, like Outlook, have to be sitting in your task bar in order to notify you of new mail arriving.

Fortunately, backspace still works.

For certain values of "fortunately". I always hated that shortcut, frequently going up a directory instead of deleting a file when working with a laptop keyboard.

No, it doesn't. That's the "BACK" button now. Which is a completely different thing from the up directory button, and serves a different function.

One of the things I dislike about Mac OS X is that it also doesn't have an up directory button. I can't fathom why they would remove it there, either.

Anyway, in both cases, the keyboard functionality is alt+uparrow (or in the case of the mac, swizzlestickcloverunpronounceablesymbol+uparrow). Those are the same as the up directory button.

On the mac, supposedly I can make a piece of applescript to turn that into a button. Haven't tried that yet. Would be nice if something like that could be done on Windows Explorer.

Ahhh, yep. Apparently, in my personal usage of Vista "back" has closely correlated to "up directory".

Those idiots! Alt+leftarrow already does/did that... why screw it up and delete reprioritize functionality?

"command", though there are many synonyms.


Right-click (or control-click) on the window's title. Not the title bar, the actual title text (and maybe the icon). It'll let you go up as many levels as you want. This has been in MacOS for a loooong time. At least as far back as System 8, I think.

hah! That's great. Thanks for that tidbit.