In IE/Windows I know what MRU is. Most Recently Used searched-for or used objects.

But I frequently see MUI or MUICache. What is MUI?

Sorry for such a basic question. Fairly diligent Googling didn't yield an answer.

Multilingual User Interface

Thanks for the response, but I remain puzzled. MRU and MUI (and MUICache) are things I see in the Registry. (Sorry I didn't say that before.) The context doesn't look anything like it might refer to multiple languages.

mru - most recently used

such as documents or programs
shows up in the start menu on left as a list of programs u used last.
shows up in start menu documents as a list of recently opened documents.
shows up in the file menu of most programs as the last 4 to 9 files opened with that program.
etc.

you can re-order the list in the registry or delete it with no ill effect on the os itself (deleting, of course, looses the list...)

Sorry Plukaduk. MUI indeed has to do with languages. I guess it's MUICache that's my concern. The information on the web is very skimpy. But it looks as if MUICache may be a list of recently=run application programs. Sort of the way MRU can be a list of recently=searched=for items.

All corrections gratefully received.

Oh, and here I thought it was the language that Jar Jar Binks speaks..."I am mui mui happy!"

Windows XP is sold 3 ways:

1. English
2. Localized
3. MUI


1. English.
able to be modified with LIP, language interface pack, which provides about 80% of the localization - does not include localized help files and many admin features.

2. Localized.
a single language, such as italian. CANNOT switch between languages.

3. MUI
multi user interface. for global companies or companies with users who work in multiple languages. 3 basic groups of languages (european, complex right-to-left, east asian) for a total of 24 types of languages.

overall, about 135 languages supported.
documents produced must support unicode, a system that includes every character of every alphabet.

Thanks Temmu. But by now I've figured out that my question wasn't about MUI (languages), but about MUICache, which appears in the Registry. If I remember rightly from looking at it a couple of days ago, MUICache has what looks like names of programs in it. This is consistent with the hint on the web that MUICache is a list of recently=run applications.

My interest in this comes from cleaning leftovers of uninstalled programs out of the Registry. If I search for the name of the program in the Registry (using Regedit or similar), and I find that name in an MRU list, I ignore it. The MRU list may correctly state that the program name was recently searched for (or whatever that MRU list is about), but that's not a Registry entry of the program itself, and it's only the latter that need to be cleaned out.

That's a long=winded approach to saying that MUICache entries can be treated the same way. If the entries are names of recently=run applications, then when cleaning out leftovers they can be ignored like MRU entries, for the same reason.


"All corrections gratefully received."

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~geoffch/sam...lkey/getkey.htm

as cited by this forum, several programming api's relating to muicache are still undocumented by microsoft.

the whole microsoft website returns 0 results for muicache.

this leads me to believe ms doesn't want we, the end user, to know about it. obviously, we don't.

many forums allude to it, saying remove this or that from it when dealing with a virus, ad or spy ware.

several forums show how to change "my computer" "network neighborhood" "my trash" to some other name from within muicache.

no one pens a definition for it.

i've spent over an hour searching on it... sorry i can't find you a better answer.

Thanks Temmu. That tells me more than I knew before. You found more on the web than I did, but what you say matches my impression that the web information is skimpy.

I'm not sure what MUICache stands for but I know for sure that Windows uses HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\MUICache to cache location of icons and their string descriptions for various internal windows uses.

For example, if you change the value of @C:\WINDOWS\system32\SHELL32.dll,-8964 from Recycle Bin to Trash and Hit F5 on the destkop, the description of your Recycle Bin will be Trash.

Basiclly, the string Trash is now associated with Recycle Bin icon stored in SHELL32.dll. If you right click on any shortcut and select properties and then select Change Icon on Shortcut tab, you will see all the icons stored in SHELL32.dll.

Another example is, when you try to run a file with an unregistered/ unregconized extension in windows, you will get a dialog box asking you to select the program from the list.



In Programs listbox displays icons and their string names which represents programs that have "open" command in the registry.

Adobe Acrobat 7.0 corresponds to the key-value pair of
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\Acrobat.exe - Adobe Acrobat 7.0 in MUICache.

The key represents the location of the exe where icon is stored and value represent the description string of exe. You can get the description string by right click on the exe and select properties. In the version tab, you will see the description string that is used.

A C++ developer will put this information in the resource (.rc file) under VS_VERSION_INFO entry.

A developer may choose to create the key in MUICache during the installation or programatically when a program starts.

This entry is usually automatically generated by windows when a user double clicks on a registered/regconized extension.

For example, there is a key called .doc in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. The default value of this key is Word.Document.8. When a word document file is double clicked, Windows looks for .doc key in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and knows what type of document .doc is and in this case Word.Document.8. Then Windows searches for Word.Document.8 in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. Under Word.Document.8, there is a key that tells windows what program and what arguments to pass to open such document. In my computer the key is HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Word.Document.8\shell\Open\Command and its value is "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\WINWORD" /n /dde

This entry also gets called when you select Tools > folder options from the folder menu and select File Types tab. You will see doc entry in there. Highlight it and select Advance and double click on open entry. You will see the exact same string in HKEY_CLASSES\Word.Document.8\shell\Open\Command.

After a known extension is double clicked and the program opens the document, Windows Automatically generates 2 entrys: one is HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\Winword.exe\shell to indicate what to show up in the application list and how to open a document (picture below) and the other is in MUICache for corresponding icon and description string.



A developer can programtically create key in MUICache and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\filename.exe or use scripting during installation process. If not, when the registered/recognized extension is activated, these two entries are automatically generated.

When you deleted these two entries (but please don't), it'll pop up again the next time you double click on a known extension file (as long as, exenstion registry is still in tact).

That's why sometines we see these two keys related to viruses because as long as the virus exe is still on the machine, you can't seem to get rid of these keys. If you look on a symantic website, they documented a virus called dialer.exe (which dials high-cost telephone calls from your computer) associated with MUICache.

I hope I'm clear enough.

MUI__Mother's Under Invention ? ?

Sorry ,couldn't resist.
RIP Frank.

patio.

I asked about MRUCache because, when cleaning uninstalled program leftovers out of the Registry, I would sometimes find the program in MUICache. My question was whether to delete it or leave it alone. But after Temmu's and Inbfedsp's comments, and my further look at MUICache, I wonder if I really saw this. I will wait until it happens again and then consult this thread.

My further look at MUICache showed one or two program names, but not enough to justify my earlier belief that MRUCache is a list of recently=run programs. I could identify in MRUCache all the settings of IE/Tools/Internet_Options/Advanced. But I couldn't connect those with Icons.

Thanks all.

welcome inbfedsp - wow, quite a detailed description.

MUIcache - no doubt, multi user interface. microsoft uses that phrase, and it makes sense as the os reconfigures many things based on who is logging onto the system. therefore, a multiple user interface, customized by and for each user.