Tools
For those of you using Gmail and the integrated Gmail chat client you could be affected by this bug if access to the Google talk server is blocked by a firewall or another method. The past 2 weeks I noticed that Gmail is using 100% of one of my processors when I am at the office. Access to the Google talk servers is blocked at our firewall so my Gmail integrated chat client is disabled when in Gmail, at least that is what Gmail tells me. See the attached picture on the right. However, when the integrated...
There is some confusion in how-to setup a BlackBerry in tether mode to share internet with your laptop or PC so I would like to share my setup process. Overview: Since you are already paying for a data plan why not take advantage of this data connection when you are away from home? Hotels and other facilities can charge you $15+ per day for Internet access. BlackBerry and other hardware providers allow you to tether your smart phone as a modem to your laptop or computer. Keep in mind that your tethered...
As a standard, we use ClickOnce to deploy all of our applications. I don't want to get into all the benefits as I have discussed some in a previous post. To summarize my scenario, I do software development for a 24 x 7 x 365 manufacturing plant. Our systems must always be online and we must provide after hours support. This week, one of our developers deployed an update to his end users. It was not until 7 PM that the end user determined there was a significant bug in the application that could cause...
I needed to find the version of .NET framework required for a vendor provided application in short order; there was no documentation (of course), the vendor was not available and the super user was not available. Your typical support scenario. When you try to run a .NET EXE on a computer that does not have the framework, your application informs you with a prompt along the lines of 'The Application Requires .NET framework version x.x' If you have the framework installed, it does not prompt you (of...
I spent a couple hours today installing Windows Server 2008 on my home server. I have to admit, this was the easiest and fastest Windows OS software install I *EVER* completed. My goal was to build a Windows 2008 Server as a VPC host using Hyper-V; I literally spent more time installing the Hyper-V Role than installing the Win2k8 OS (I suppose this is the benefit of Role based installations). Do yourself a favor and download this utility (http://www.grc.com/securab... to verify your BIOS is configured...
Currently my client has a number of WinForm applications in development. When it came time to deploy these solutions to end users in multiple facilities, discussions of xcopy installations started. Xcopy is not the best solution; in the past it has been servicable to meet this requirement, today we have better options. Some of the flaws of xcopy deployment include - Network connectivity required: if the PC is off it will not get the update - Installation Lists: You need to know which PC's have your...
Shaneo just posted 2 how-to articles that every development team should be using; Source Control and Continuous Integration. 1) Subversion Install Quick Tutorial Subversion is a free source control management server that integrates seemlessly with Visual Studio. 2) CruiseControl.Net Install and Configure Quick Tutorial CruiseControl.NET is an automated Continuous Integration server. CC.NET automates the integration process by monitoring your source control repository. Every time a developer commits...