COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO WRITING SHELL EXTENSIONS

According to the author, "A shell extension is a COM object that adds some kind of functionality to the Windows shell (Explorer). There are all kinds of extensions out there, but very little easy-to-follow documentation about what they are. (Although I bet the situation has improved during the six years since I originally wrote that!) I highly recommend Dino Esposito's great book Visual C++ Windows Shell Programming (ISBN 1861001843) if you want an in-depth look into lots of aspects of the shell, but for folks who don't have the book, or only care about shell extensions, I've written up this tutorial that will astound and amaze you, or failing that, get you well on your way to understanding how to write your own extensions. This guide assumes you are familiar with the basics of COM and ATL. If you need a refresher on COM basics, check out the Intro to COM article".....GO THERE!