XP won't copy files - name too long

Infuriating, and keeps happening to me. The problem is that I'm usually copying a large number of files, and the OS will stop copying at the first long name.
Ideally what we want is a prompt to rename the file, but no - XP simply stops.

Solution (it seems): "Total Commander", an open-source filehandling program. It prompts as soon as it finds filenames over the allowable length (usually 259 characters) and gives lots of options (rename, skip, copy anyway, etc.).

Very useful. Why can't XP do this? My recollection is that it once did!