 For example, a window on the desktop is represented by a handle of type codice_3 (handle, window).Doubly indirect handles have fallen out of favour in recent times, as increases in available memory and improved virtual memory algorithms have made the use of the simpler pointer more attractive.However, many operating systems still apply the term to pointers to opaque, "private" data structures—opaque pointers—or to indexes into internal arrays passed from one process to its client.