Post Windows XP SP3 hangover - or - where's my address bar?!?!?!?!

by jk 12. October 2009 08:29

I'm an address bar kind of guy.  I constantly type in command line or web site urls.  Start -> Run is just not as convienent.  I don't do much Microsoft-bashing but I don't really see the logic in taking away the address bar in the Windows XP SP3 update when it is still available on other Windows-based OSs. It is supposedly due to an anti-trust ruling (http://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/itproxpsp/thread/6748d140-cde9-4705-9612-7013a6bcd910/)...but I digress.

Thankfully our friends over at muvenum.com have created a free app called MuvEnum Address Bar to replace this feature.  You can find the download here:  http://www.muvenum.com/products/freeware/

I've been running this tool on my personal laptop since Windows XP SP3 came out.  I am installing it this morning on my client desktop workstation (XP SP3 is in the process of being rolled out here).  

cheers

jk

 

Be the first to rate this post

  • Currently 0/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Tags:

General | Technical

An honest job description

by jk 10. March 2009 07:22

I found the text below in a Monster.com job posting...I like the honesty in stating "Screen Scraping" is a required skill.  I haven't seen any certification tests or books on it.  Maybe there is an untapped training/authoring niche to fill in Screen Scraping™?

Minimum of 2 years experience in Microsoft .​NET; Microsoft SQL Server 2000/​2005.​ Preferred experience includes 5 years C# experience, 5 years SQL Server 2000/​2005; exposure to Screen Scraping, SQL2008.​

Please don't screen scrape my feed; subscribe to the RSS/ATOM feed instead! :)

jk

Be the first to rate this post

  • Currently 0/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Tags: , ,

General | Technical

Random text feature of Word 2007

by jk 2. March 2009 15:27

Check out this new feature of Word 2007 - you can now add random placeholder text!  I can already smell the productivity gains :) - Thanks for the tips Logan!

cheers

jk

6. Add random placeholder text.

Sometimes you need to add random text to a document as part of a demonstration or to get a feel for a new layout. The designer's standby is lorem ipsum, a block of Latin derived from Cicero's De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum (On the Ends of Good and Evil).

The lorem ipsum text has no meaning for modern readers, which makes it perfect for not being distracted by what the text says, so you can instead focus on what it looks like.

Place your cursor where you want the random text to start and type:

=lorem(x,y)

where x is the number of paragraphs you want to insert and y is the number of sentences each paragraph should contain. When you hit Enter, Word will insert the desired chunk of text. For example, =lorem(1,4) generates this:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna. Nunc viverra imperdiet enim.

Prefer your dummy text in English? Word 2007 will also insert English text, drawn from a Word 2007 tutorial, by replacing lorem with rand, like this:

=rand(1,4)

(Interestingly, in earlier versions of Word, the =rand function inserts repetitions of the classic typesetter's dummy sentence, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." The tutorial text that Word 2007 uses is longer and more varied.)

   From:  http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=Software&articleId=9128449&taxonomyId=18&pageNumber=3

 

Be the first to rate this post

  • Currently 0/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Tags: , ,

General | Technical

Faking digital signatures

by jk 2. January 2009 11:29

A coworker (thanks James) found this article about how to fake a digital cert on a web site.  The quote below is from a related article: Researchers Use PlayStation Cluster to Forge a Web Skeleton Key 

A powerful digital certificate that can be used to forge the identity of any website on the internet is in the hands of in international band of security researchers, thanks to a sophisticated attack on the ailing MD5 hash algorithm, a slip-up by Verisign, and about 200 PlayStation 3s.

"We can impersonate Amazon.com and you won't notice," says David Molnar, a computer science PhD candidate at UC Berkeley. "The padlock will be there and everything will look like it's a perfectly ordinary certificate."

stay safe out there :)

jk

Be the first to rate this post

  • Currently 0/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Tags: ,

Technical

Favorites from smashingmagazine

by jk 17. November 2008 11:29

Be the first to rate this post

  • Currently 0/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Tags: ,

Tiny URL to Fowler EAA book

by jk 3. November 2008 10:27

I created a named Tiny URL for the Martin Fowler Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture (easier than googling for it):  http://tinyurl.com/fowlereaa

enjoy!

jk

Be the first to rate this post

  • Currently 0/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Tags:

Twin Cities Code Camp 5 complete

by jk 13. October 2008 03:26
[No text]

Be the first to rate this post

  • Currently 0/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Tags: ,

Trying out the new blog engine

by Admin 12. October 2008 22:20
First post to try out http://www.codeplex.com/blogengine

Be the first to rate this post

  • Currently 0/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Tags:

MSDN Magazine - New column - Patterns in Practice

by jk 13. June 2008 13:16

I was just browsing MSDN Magazine (online, i'm trying to save trees LOL) and ran across a new column titled "Patterns in Practice" which looks promising!

"This is the first installment of a new MSDN® Magazine column on software design fundamentals. My marching orders are to discuss design patterns and principles in a manner that isn't bound to a specific tool or lifecycle methodology. In other words, my plan is to talk about the bedrock knowledge that can lead you to better designs in any technology or project. "

For any developer who wants to get better at their job (you DO want to improve don't you??), common patterns and best practice can only help lead you into the 'pit of success'. 

Single Responsibility Principle

On the first release of a product our team just completed, one section of code violates the Single Responsibility Principle in a BIG way.  We will refactor it during the next release, but it would be great to spend that refactoring time on something else (new features, better perf, more unit tests....). 


The Chain of Responsibility Pattern

I actually implemented this pattern in a web service to do querying/filtering in a financial application.  e.g. I want to find a particular fund based on criteria which were specified dynamically at runtime (per query by the user).  The web service used other services and did not have a direct connection to a SQL Database (so appending where clause conditions wouldn't work).  The Chain really worked nice because I could dynamically construct a chain based on the input criteria, then run funds through the chain.  As soon as a fund failed a criteria, the code could stop looking...if it got to the end of the chain, it passed!  I was really pleased with the implementation and it turned out really clean.

Liskov Substitution Principle (LSP)

If you Google LSP, you'll get a ton of results.  The ObjectMentor PDF is an excellent read and Ward Cunningham's Wiki is always top-notch content.  I think of LSP as just programming to an abstraction instead of an implementation.  e.g. in .NET, when you write a method that returns a collection, do you return ArrayList (an implementation), or do you return one of the abstractions IEnumerable, ICollection, IList? 

 

I'm hoping for great things out of the Patterns in Practice column.  It is one thing for a developer to learn a grammar or syntax of a language, but to become a better developer/engineer, applying solid programming principles is essential!

cheers

jk

Be the first to rate this post

  • Currently 0/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Tags:

Magenic Technology Summit - 1 week away!

by jk 13. June 2008 12:23

Have you registered for the Magenic Technology Summit yet (June 20, 2008 in Chicago, IL)?  If so, GREAT!  We're looking forward to seeing you.  If not, you still have time to register

See you in Chicago!

jk

Be the first to rate this post

  • Currently 0/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Tags:

Powered by BlogEngine.NET 1.4.5.0
Theme by Mads Kristensen