Globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) appear in many places in a typical Automation application. GUID errors can cause persistent bugs. To help avoid GUID problems, this appendix lists all of the places that GUIDs appear in a typical Automation application, describes common characteristics of GUID bugs, and offers some GUID management techniques.
GUIDs are the same as UUIDs (universally unique identifiers). A class identifier (CLSID) is a UUID/GUID that refers to a class.