Michael Kalika

Add this text to the registry and you'll be able to add your DLLs to the GAC by right clicking on them: [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\dllfile\shell\gacutil\command] @="c:\\windows\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework\\v1.1.4322\\gacutil.exe /i \"%1\"" Found from: http://biztalkia.blogspot.com/2005/12/easier-way-to-add-dll-to-gac.html

“Silk” is a smooth, free icon set, containing over 700 16-by-16 pixel icons in strokably-soft PNG format. Containing a large variety of icons, you're sure to find something that tickles your fancy. And all for a low low price of $0.00. Look for it here.

The Krypton Toolkit has been released
It provides user interface controls for Windows Forms
It is targeted at Visual Studio 2005 and .NET Framework 2.0
It is free for commercial use
A link to http://www.componentfactory.com/downloads.php

This 2.1 update includes over 60 improvements, including new support for .NET 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005. VistaDB is a small-footprint, embedded SQL database alternative to Jet/Access, MSDE and SQL Server Express 2005 that enables developers to build .NET 1.1 and .NET 2.0 applications. Features SQL-92 support, small 500KB embedded footprint, free 2-User VistaDB Server for remote TCP/IP data access, royalty free distribution for both embedded and server, Copy 'n Go! deployment, managed ADO.NET Provider, data management and data migration tools. Free trial is available for download.
- Learn more about VistaDB
- Repost this to your blog and receive a FREE copy of VistaDB 2.1!

A whole bunch of all Microsoft patterns and practices is here.

Ever wanted to see which files are being opened by some process? Ever happened that you wanted to delete some files but got this:



Process Explorer will help you with a first question. Using this tool you can see all the processes that are running on you machine currently and for each process it shows the files handled by the specific process.



Using the Unlocker utility you may release your locked files and directories.

In computer science, generics is a technique that allows one value to take different datatypes (so-called polymorphism) as long as certain contracts such as subtypes and signature are kept. The programming style emphasizing use of this technique is called generic programming. For those of you, who want to get in to generics in NET 2.0, there is a very nice article here.

UMLet is an open-source Java tool for rapidly drawing UML diagrams with a light-weight, pop-up-free user interface.
UMLet lets you draw diagram sketches fast; export diagrams to eps, pdf, jpg, svg, and system clipboard;
share diagrams using Eclipse 3; and create your own custom graphical elements.

Microsoft has published the following articles about their ASP.NET 2.0 provider model:

Introduction to the Provider Model (14 printed pages)
Membership Providers (24 printed pages)
Role Providers (13 printed pages)
Site Map Providers (20 printed pages)
Session State Providers (21 printed pages)
Profile Providers (23 printed pages)
Web Event Providers (14 printed pages)
Web Parts Personalization Providers (12 printed pages)
Custom Provider-Based Services (10 printed pages)
Hands-on Custom Providers: The Contoso Times (3 printed pages)

A nice set of tools to burn on your CD-ROM or USB stick. Found via Paschal L. Thanks a lot :-).

The Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Calendar Views Add-in makes it easy for you to view your Outlook Calendar appointments through a filter that is based on Outlook labels and categories. For example, you can create a view that shows you only the appointments on your calendar that are labeled Must Attend, or are categorized as Important.
You add filters by using the Calendar Views toolbar, which opens in your Outlook Calendar after you install the add-in.
Tips for using this add-in are available within Work Essentials, a resource that provides free occupation focused expert advice, demos, templates and webcasts.
Note: This add-in is for Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 only.
For more details, click here.

I just read Plip's post about Ajax and usability. Recently, there is a lot of buzz around AJAX technology. To use or not use - that is the question. I think it's OK and even a good practice to mix AJAX with a non-AJAX code for scenarios like datetime picker that depends on the server date and time, querying for something on the server every specified interval of time (for some alert for example), parent/child relationship between lists and/or comboboxes, perform some action on server when user closes the window and so on. AJAX will save all the roundtrip to the server and improve experience of your users. But you should use it wisely. I wouldn't build a whole application with AJAX until it become transparent to our users (I mean problems with back, refresh, stop buttons and so on).

Just added 2 nice utilities to my toolbox:

   
•       PureText 2.0 - Removes all the formatting from the text in your clipboard.
        
  
                
•       ShareWatch 1.0 - Allows you to see who is connected to a computer and what files they are accessing.
            

An interesting article about partial classes in .NET 2.0, here.

Estimation of project is a necessary part of the process and it is required for the effective planning. One of the modern techniques of estimation is using Use Case Points.
The idea is to measure a complexity of each of the use cases and count additional environmental and technical factors such as if the requirements are stable, object oriented experience, if the system is a distributed system and so on...
For additional information go and see articles:

   
• How to Prepare Quotation Using Use Case Points    
• Estimating With Use Case Points

And here, you can find an automated tool (EZEstimate) for calculation of the Use Case Points.