Link Tracking Architecture

[This is preliminary documentation and subject to change.]

Microsoft® Windows® 95 shell shortcuts include heuristic link tracking that uses a tree-search algorithm to find a likely match for a moved link source. The search algorithm is based on the last known path of the file as well as file information that includes the creation date, the file size, and the file name and extension. OLE linking includes the same heuristic link tracking. Windows NT 4.0 also includes the same heuristic link tracking with some added improvements in searching name spaces to yield results in some common scenarios. The improvements include the following steps subject to time limits imposed by the client application:

1. Search four directory levels down from the last directory.
2. Move up one directory and repeat steps 1 and 2 another three times which can yield results if the object has been moved nearby.
3. Search four levels down from the desktop root which can yield results if the object has been moved to a location on the same desktop.
4. Search four levels down from the root on each local fixed drive.
5. Repeat steps 1-3 without the four directory limit.

These link-tracking schemes are transparent to the end user. However, they do not always yield positive results and can be time consuming.

Windows NT 5.0 adds a new distributed link tracking service for the Windows NT File System (NTFS).