Daemon - Tools 4.0 Released

Daemon - Tools

The very cool Daemon Tools is now at v4.0...

Their server is getting slammed with the release of this, so give it a bit if you can't get through.

One thing they make very clear is that this version includes optional ad-ware. During the install you can decide to install the ad-ware to help support them or opt-out.

It's alsovimportant to note that this is not a pirating tool. But with great power comes... etc, etc.
This tool should only be used with CD images you've created yourself for your own usage from CD's you legally own.

If you've never heard of this utility, here's a snip about it.

"INTRODUCTION:

DAEMON Tools is an advanced application for multiprotection emulation. It is further development of Generic Safedisc emulator and incorporates all its features. This program allows running Backup Copies of SafeDisc (C-Dilla), Securom, Laserlock, CDCOPS, StarForce and Protect CD (and many others) protected games. Also included is a Virtual DVDROM drive (Generic DVD-ROM) enabling you to use your CD images as if they were already burned to CD! DAEMON Tools works under Windows9x/ME/NT/2000/XP with all types of CD/DVDROM drives (IDE/SCSI) and supports nearly any CD protection.

DAEMON Tools needs a 1:1 Copy to run!!
DAEMON Tools is used to RUN GAMES, NOT TO BURN THEM!!! Means emulation must be active while you want to play a game, not while burning the copy (except for you want to use DAEMON Tools' "fastdump" feature on a safedisc protected CD).
If you want to run a copy protected application from an image mounted to a Generic DVD-ROM enabling the copy protection emulation(s) is NOT necessary!!
Generic DVD-ROM is able to run nearly every protected or unprotected CD image (Safedisc®, Securom®, Laserlock®, Lockblocks® etc.) like it was the original CD! Just do an image file using one of the supported burning programs and mount it with Daemon Manager!

DAEMON Tools supports the following image files:

cue/bin
iso
ccd (CloneCD)
bwt (Blindwrite)
mds (Media Descriptor File)
cdi (Discjuggler)
nrg (Nero)
pdi (Instant CD/DVD)
b5t (BlindWrite 5) "

(via Gameguru Mania - Daemon Tools 4.00)

"DataGridView BackgroundWorker Async Data Load App"

Windows Forms .NET: The Official Microsoft Windows Forms Community Site

"This application uses the BackgroundWorker component and the DataGridView control, both new to Visual Studio 2005 to asynchronous load data into the DataGridView. The sample performs a “find in files” type of search on a background thread using the BackgroundWorker component. As file matches are found, the file info is reported back to the DataGridView to display the data using the ReportProgress method. "

(Scroll toward the bottom... or download it here)

There seems to be a bunch of Sample activity on WindowsForms.Net. Stuff that doesn't seem to be hitting the any of their RSS feeds (and there doesn't seem to be a Samples related feed, which bytes). So I want to make a note to myself to try and check the WinForms.Net Samples page every so often...

For example, the above "DataGridView BackgroundWorker Async Data Load App" just appeared in the last day or so...

Pandora VB/VS 2005 "Minimize to System Tray" Player

Since I read about Pandora, I’ve been listening to it non-stop. But as I mentioned before, it bugs me that I can't minimize it to the system tray.

Finally I stopped obsessing about it (Who me? Obsessing about something? Na…  ;)  and I took a few minutes and built my own VB/VS 2005 host for it, using the updated WebBrowser and NotifyIcon controls.

Now I have a Pandora Player that I can minimize to my system tray! Yeah. Instead of being hosted in IE, it's just hosted in the new WebBrowser control… No hacking, content removal, etc, etc.

It’s very easy to do…

1. Create a new VB project


2. Add a WebBrowser control to the form


3. Dock the control to the Parent (i.e. Docking = Fill)


4. Add a NotifyIcon to the form


5. On the NotifyIcon SmartTag, select “Choose Icon” and pick a icon somewhere on your system.


6. Paste in the below code to the form.


7. You’re done! You now have System Tray Pandora Player.. Yeah!

Public Class Form1

  Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
    WebBrowser1.Navigate("http://www.pandora.com/?cmd=tuner")
  End Sub

  Private Sub NotifyIcon1_MouseDoubleClick(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs) Handles NotifyIcon1.MouseDoubleClick
    Me.Show()
    Me.WindowState = FormWindowState.Normal
    NotifyIcon1.Visible = False

  End Sub

  Private Sub Form1_Resize(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Resize

    If Me.WindowState = FormWindowState.Minimized Then
      NotifyIcon1.Visible = True
      Me.Hide()
    End If

  End Sub

End Class


Update #1 11/13/2005 @ 2:14 PM (PST):
There's one thing that is a little weird...

The Flash player does not respond to clicks unless you first click on the hosting web page. For each click you want to make on the Flash app, you must first click on the web page and then the Flash app...

So if you want to pause the playing, click on the web page area above the player and then click on the pause button... If you want to say "I Like it" on a song, click on the page, the song (to get the song menu), the page again and then finally on the "I Like It" menu item.

Yeah it's kind of a pain but for me its worth it to have a SysTray player... Your milage may vary, yada, yada, yada...

Office Space Stapler Scenes

VirtualStapler.com : Staplers in Film : Office Space

"Presented below are screen-shots of just about every appearance of the mystical Red Swingline from the movie Office Space (buy it here). Click on a thumbnail to view a larger version of the image. ..."

18 scene screenshots from Office Space featuring the Milton and the Swingline... LOL

Visual Studio Team System RC & Team Foundation Server Beta 3 VPC Available on MSDN Subscription

Sam Gentile - Visual Studio Team System Release Candidate VPC on MSDN

"I just noticed that the VSTS Release Candidate VPC image is up on MSDN Subscriber as they promised. This is a great thing as it will save myself and many others a boatload of time. ..."

You know I'm a huge fan of pre-built VPC images, and I've been waiting on this specific VPC for a bit now.

There's some interest in VSTS starting up at work, which is cool and will make getting the hardware for it much easier. So it's about time to start looking at this for real...

Sam hits it right on the head. VPC's like this save tons of people many hours of duplicated work... When playing/eval'ing new stuff, I want to start using it ASAP. I don't want to install an OS, install the servers, install the updates/patches, try to mount the DVD sized ISO on VPC (and then see that it's bigger than 2.2GB, so I have to extract all the files or burn it to DVD... bla, bla, bla), install the actual tool,etc, etc. An unattended background download and then unzip/mount is much easier.

"VPC Contents
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite RC
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server Beta 3
Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Redistributable Package RC
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Community Technology Preview
Microsoft Office 2003 Standard Edition "

Downloading now... 2886.8 MB total size (it seems slow today... 8+ hours to go... sigh).

Related Past Post XRef:
Team Foundation Beta 3 Virtual PC Coming Soon
MSDN Subscriptions - Visual Studio 2005 Team System Beta 2 VPC

Update #1 11/14/2005 @ 8:14AM (PST):
Downloaded and expanded. The expanded files take 9GB...
Booted fine, all services started, etc.

Nice job MS.

"Google Search VS.NET Macro"

Coding Horror: Google search VS.NET macro

"Here's a handy little Visual Studio .NET macro which searches for the currently highlighted term in Google. The search is launched as a new tab within the IDE when you press

Alt+F1

I know what you're thinking: you've seen this macro before. Yeah, but this one goes to eleven. It actually works with any highlighted text in the IDE -- including highlighted text from the Output window..."

This is a pretty cool little VS macro. What's also cool is that Jeff provides complete instructions to install/add it to your macro collection.

Make sure you check out the comments as there are suggestions on how to make the search results appear in a new top level IE window (instead of the default, a new VS tab), to switch the search engine to MSDN, etc...

Document Outline Window in VS 2005 is a Must When Doing WinForm UI Development

There are so many new things to play with in VS 2005 that it's easy to miss, or forget about, some cool stuff.

For example, if you're doing UI Development in VS 2005 make sure you turn on/open/view the Document Outline window. Since it's not open by default it's easy to miss/skip/forget about.

View menu, Other Windows, Document Outline (CTRL + ALT + T)

After using it just a few times I'm wondering what I did without...…

Here is a screenshot of the Document Window from the Outlook UI example.




In short, it provides a hierarchical view of all the controls on a form, including those that might not visible or easily selectable. You can select a given control, see its selection in the Design window, edit properties, etc. So for example, if the item you select in Document Outline window is a sub-sub-menu item, the menustrip in the Designer will expand to show you the control.

Here's an example of how in the Document Outline window I selected the "optionsToolStripMenuItem1" item. When I selected it, the Designer window automagically opened the Tools/Find menu and selected the menu Options item.



And of course it works both ways. So as you select controls in the Designer, the Document Outline window stays in sync.


On a side note, I really don't care about all that's being said about the bugs in VS 2005... This thing just rocks...!

(But a hotfix rollup between now and SP1 would be nice... ;)

Krypton Toolkit 0.9.0 (Free Office-Like UI Controls)

Component Factory - Krypton Toolkit

"Take your application to the next level with our free library of user interface controls. Designed to work with Visual Studio 2005 and the .NET Framework 2.0 they allow you to create professional looking applications in a fraction of the usual time.

Combine the new MenuStrip and ToolStrip controls with the Krypton Toolkit to create professional Microsoft Office style applications.

Download the free library right now."

How did these guys know that I'm just now starting a new VB/VS 2005 app that I want an Outlook like UI? The UI samples I posted about yesterday are cool, but not simple to re-use in my apps.

One thing I worry about in "free" packages are their licensing (i.e. usage in commercial applications). Well the terms for this package are very liberal.

Below is a snip from the help file.
"The Krypton Toolkit is a free collection of Windows.Forms controls that are available for both personal and commercial use. That means you can use the Toolkit in your own commercial applications that you charge for and make a profit from. There is no fee to pay either for the Toolkit itself or for the distribution of the Toolkit with your commercial or personal applications. In short the library is free and there are no royalty or distribution costs. We only ask you honor three simple licenses terms.

1. You will not use the Krypton Toolkit to create a product that competes against the Krypton Toolkit or any other product from Component Factory.
2. You will not charge for the distribution or supply of the Krypton Toolkit to third parties.
3. You will not decompile or modify the Krypton Toolkit.
..."

Also check out their Products page for some screen shots. The screen shots don't really do the product justice. The sample browser included in the MSI does a better job of showing off the features.

Okay, back to coding...

(via WindowsForms.net Control Gallery - Krypton Toolkit)

Veterans Day

Being a veteran myself, this day has special meaning to me.

If you can, take a second to thank every veteran you know. Look them in the eye, shake their hand and just say thank you. It's amazing how good it will make both of you feel...

And please make sure to thank in your heart those currently serving.

Remember, Freedom is not free...

Pandora - aka Greg's Rock Radio

Discover Music - Pandora

"Q: What is Pandora?

Pandora is a music discovery service designed to help you find and enjoy music that you'll love. It's powered by the Music Genome Project, the most comprehensive analysis of music ever undertaken. Just tell us one of your favorite songs or artists and we'll launch a streaming station to explore that part of the music universe.

Q: How do you decide what to play?

We take your input (artists, songs) and feedback ("I like this", "I don't like this") and use the Music Genome Project to create stations that play songs that are musically similar to what you've told us. That's it; only the music counts. We don't care how popular the artist is, who's backing them, and we don't care which genre bin they usually belong in. Only the music matters.

Q: How much does it cost?

Pandora is available in two forms. Both versions have exactly the same features.

The first form is an advertising-supported version which is entirely free. ..."

This is a very cool music streaming service.

You feed it songs or bands you like and it creates a station for you with songs of the same "type". For example, I started my station with Green Day, AudioSlave, Yellowcard... Now I'm listening to Never Again by Nickelback (and now Wall of Shame by Course of Nature).

Over time you can continue to add bands or songs to keep expanding or refining your station.

What I also dig is that there are links to Amazon (and iTunes) to purchase album (or song).

But like Robert, I wish there were a full client in addition to the Flash based one. Like him, I'd like it to hide in my system tray, instead of keeping a browser window open (which even the "small" version does). Not that the Flash version is bad. Heck it's a great Flash app, one of the better and most usable I've seen. But still...

Anyway, that's not going to keep me from using this service... It's very very cool.

(via Scobleizer - Microsoft Geek Blogger - Mary Jo warns Microsoft not to drink Web 2.0 koolaid

Now THIS is an e-Book Collection...

Syngress Publishing - ULTIMATE CYBERCRIME INVESTIGATOR'S CD



"Price: $199.95
The Ultimate CyberCrime Investigator's CD contains the following PDF E-books:

Scene of the CyberCrime
Cyber Adversary Characterization: Auditing the Hacker Mind
Hacking a Terror Network
Aggressive Network Self Defense
Ethereal Packet Sniffing
War Driving: Drive, Detect, Defend
CyberSpying: Tracking your Families (Sometimes) Secret Online Lives
Security Assessment Case Studies for Implementing the NSA IAM
Stealing the Network: How to Own an Identity
Microsoft Log Parser Toolkit"

Being in the EDD field, I find this collection... um... interesting...

Seven WinForms UI Examples Posted to Windows Forms .NET

Windows Forms .NET: The Official Microsoft Windows Forms Community Site

"Quicken Cone - WinForms PM
This is a UI front end that has the look and feel of Quicken.

Outlook 2003 Clone (V2) - WinForms PM
This is a UI front end that has the look and feel of Microsoft Outlook 2003.

File Explorer Clone (V2) - WinForms PM
This is a UI front end that has the look and feel of Windows File Explorer

Windows Forms RSS Portal - WinForms PM
This is portal type application that aggregates RSS feeds asynchronously.

Money Like Clone - Stock Viewer(V2) - Joe Stegman
This is a UI front end that has the look and feel of Microsoft Money

Internet Explorer Clone (V2) - Joe Stegman
This is a Windows Forms app that looks like Internet Explorer 6 and uses the new WebBrowser control.

MSN Messenger Clone - Scott Morrison
This is a Windows Forms app that emulates the functionality of MSN Messenger. "

These seven Cool WinForm UI example apps with downloadable source...

If you go directly to the Samples page , scroll to the bottom to get at the UI samples...

(via Simon's Mu-zings - New Windows Forms UI samples posted)

"Visual Studio 2005 Web Deployment Projects"

Visual Studio 2005 Web Deployment Projects

"Visual Studio 2005 Web Deployment Projects provide additional functionality for building and deploying Web site applications that you create in ASP.NET 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005. This add-in includes a new tool that enables you to merge the assemblies created during ASP.NET 2.0 precompilation, and it provides a comprehensive UI within Visual Studio 2005 for managing build configurations, merging, and pre-build and post-build task using MSBuild.

Overview
A Web Deployment Project creates and maintains an MSBuild project file, and is associated in a solution with a Web site project. A Web Deployment Project enables you to manage not only build configuration and merge options, but other tasks such as specifying changes for the application's Web.config file during compilation, changing connection strings, creating virtual directories, and performing other tasks at specific points in the deployment process.

The new assembly merge tool (Aspnet_merge.exe) combines assemblies created during ASP.NET 2.0 precompilation for deployment. The tool supports many merge options, from combining assemblies for each Web site folder to creating a single assembly for the entire Web site.

More information about the new merge tool and about Visual Studio 2005 Web Deployment Projects is available in the following article:

Using Web Deployment Projects with Visual Studio 2005. This article describes the Visual Studio 2005 Web Deployment Project add-in and how to create and manage Web Deployment Projects.

..."

Interesting... Sounds like ASPNET_Merge.exe is something like ILMerge.

I'm not doing much ASP/ASP.Net development right now, but when that changes I bet this would be useful.


Related Past Post XRef:
ILMerge Updated
The Code Project - Merging .NET assemblies using ILMerge - .NET

(via Mikhail Arkhipov (MSFT)'s WebLog - Web deployment projects are live)

OUCH: "Papa John's Pizza's Corporate E-mails Still Exposed"

Papa John's Pizza's Corporate E-mails Still Exposed (thanks Google)

"According to this posting on the Full Disclosure mailing list, Papa John’s Pizza’s web-based e-mail system was not password protected for a while. They have since fixed the problem, but Google currently has the information in its cache. The following Google query will let you see these e-mails (click on the ‘Cached’ links):

site:webmail02.papajohns.com PJFS


Now try the following query to find the more interesting e-mails:

site:webmail02.papajohns.com PJFS password

..."

ouch... ouCH... OUCH!!!! Wow, this so sucks for their IT folks. I'm sure someone is SO busted.

Searching on site:webmail02.papajohns.com right now returns 31,800 in cached emails.

Boy I hope for the sake of the people involved there's nothing really bad in there... But as we've all said and always been told, never write anything in an email that you wouldn't want to see posted on a newspaper's front page, a company bulletin board or have your mom read...

I just wish I could follow that advice more myself... :|

"Windows Explorer Background Images"

Tips, Tricks, and Technology for the Field : Windows Explorer Background Images

"Windows Explorer Background Images
... Ever get confused which hard drive you are working in? Well, the Windows Explorer can put different backgrounds on them to help you remember. Just create a file at the root of your drive called desktop.ini and place the following in it:


[ExtShellFolderViews]
{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}={BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}
[{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}]
Attributes=1
IconArea_Image=background.gif


Next, find a washed-out image or create a light color in MSPAINT and put it there called background.gif. (be sure to make the file type a GIF too) Open Windows Explorer and see your creation! ... "

This is kind of neat... It is a very quick and simple way to customize a folder, including a drive's root folder.

Some notes:
1. The change is not recursive. So the background image does not show in subfolders.
2. The background.gif will tile.
3. Windows Explorer doesn't need to be restarted for this change to take effect (i.e. the desktop.ini is read each time the folder is displayed)

For a little more information on the Desktop.ini, check out, Customizing Folders with Desktop.ini

103 SQL Server 2005 Samples and AdventureWorks Sample Databases Download

Download details: SQL Server 2005 Samples and Sample Databases

"The samples download provides 103 samples for SQL Server 2005, demonstrating the following components:

Database Engine, including administration, data access, Full-Text Search, CLR integration, Server Management Objects (SMO), Service Broker, and XML
Analysis Services
Integration Services
Notification Services
Reporting Services
Replication

The samples databases downloads include the AdventureWorks sample online transaction processing (OLTP) database, the AdventureWorksDW sample data warehouse, and the AdventureWorksAS sample Analysis Services database. These databases are used in the samples and in the code examples in the SQL Server 2005 Books Online."

Tons of VB/CS/TSQL code samples and tutorials for SQL 2k5 and related products...

Scalable Shared Databases in SQL Server 2005

Scalable Shared Databases supported by Sql Server 2005 RTM

"Scalable shared databases
The scalable shared database feature allows you to attach a read-only reporting database to multiple server instances over a storage area network (SAN). A reporting database is a read-only database that is built from one or more production databases that are used exclusively for reporting purposes. To be made into a scalable shared database, a reporting database must reside on one or more dedicated, read-only volumes whose primary purpose is to host the reporting database or a coordinated set of reporting databases. These volumes are known as reporting volumes. ..."


This is the first I've heard of this feature... So multiple SQL Servers all pointing to the same read only report data DB. Interesting... I've run into reporting perfromance "issues" in the past so I can see where this could be very useful.

Check out http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=910378 for more information...

FolderShare - OMG What Was I Thinking?

FolderShare - File Transfer & Remote File Access - Product Overview

"FolderShareTM allows you to create a private peer-to-peer network that will help you to synchronize files across multiple devices and access or share files with colleagues and friends. You no longer need to send large files via email, burn them to CDs/DVDs and mail them, or upload them to a website. FolderShare allows you to share and sync important information instantly with anyone you invite, making it the perfect solution for personal or small business use.

How can I use it?
Synchronize all your devices - Retrieve work files at home or access photos at work. With your devices in sync, you no longer have to be frustrated that your information is on another computer.
Share files, photos, and home videos with your peers - Select the content you want to share, invite members, and they will be able to access the shared files directly from their device.
Access your computer or device remotely - FolderShare mobile access allows you to access your computer from any web browser.

Any restrictions? We'll let you decide...
Share files up to 2 GB in size
Unlimited file space - Store as many files as you wish; you are only limited by the storage capacity of your device
Unlimited file transfers - no limits on quantity or size of files transferred
Any file type - files are synced and transferred in their original format

How much does it cost?
FolderShare is now free of charge..."

What the heck was I thinking, not checking this out until today?

We've all heard how MS bought FolderShare... Well today I heard that it's now totally free, and since free is 100% "Greg Compatible" I had to check it out. Dude, this is beyond cool. Install it, sign up and go... It just works.

Tomorrow it's going on every PC I own. And I'll probably be setting up an account for my wife so she can share our family pictures... And maybe one work account and one personal account... and... and... and...

And once I figure out how to do auto-accept invites, this is how I'm going to share the code from my personal projects with the world (taking my queue from TestDriven.NET 2.0 Beta on FolderShare) too.

If you were like me, and holding off checking out FolderShare, stop reading now and go check it...

(via Test Driven .NET - TestDriven.NET 2.0 Beta on FolderShare)

Feature Pack for SQL Server 2005 (Nov 2005) Download

Download details: Feature Pack for SQL Server 2005 Nov 2005

"Microsoft ADOMD.NET
Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 6.0
Microsoft OLEDB Provider for DB2
Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Management Pack for Microsoft SQL Server 2005
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 PivotTable Services
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 DTS Designer Components
Microsoft SQL Server Native Client
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services 9.0 OLE DB Provider
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Backward Compatibility Components (DMO, DSO, DTS)
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Command Line Query Utility
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Datamining Viewer Controls
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 JDBC Driver
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Management Objects Collection
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Mobile Edition
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Notification Services Client Components
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Upgrade Advisor
Microsoft .NET Data Provider for mySAP Business Suite
Reporting Add-In for Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2005 Express "

Wow, now that's a bunch of downloads... lol, I sure am glad MS put these all on one download page...

Each of the above items are individually downloadable on the page and many come in 64 bit flavors too.

Blog Worth - VB Style

Inspired by Jon Galloway’s Let's get the Blog Worth thing out of our system post (and cause I needed a simple example project to kickstart my playing with VB8) I’ve hand converted his C# example to VB.

I made some simple modifications to the code so it could handle OPML with nested outline nodes, such as provided by BlogLines (here’s my blogroll OPML for example), to use StringBuilder and to wrap it into a class.

Besides that it’s straight port.

Now I’m going to embrace and extend it a little… ;)

I really want to have the class return a collection of objects, then use the new data binding to bind the new grid to my objects. Then I can do any sorting, filtering. Or I could stuff the data into a datatable, and use it’s native ability to sort and filter.

Also I want to use the backgroundworker so my UI doesn’t freeze. And for the class to raise events so I can see what’s happening…

And.. and.. and...  LOL. Man, I love coding... :)   

sigh... I've been trying to post my code here in a way that doesn't screw up my Blogger layout, and it's just not happening. I think it's important that I share my work so I'm going to try some other approaches. CodeProject? My MSN Space blog? A MSN Group? GotDotNet? Not really sure, but I would like to post the actual files along with a blurb about it, so I'm thinking CodeProject or GotDotNet...