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New WhyReboot version (1.0.1) released

December 18, 2006 News flash: Version 1.0.1.537 of our popular free utility WhyReboot is now available for download.

As before, it helps you determine whether you need to reboot your Windows computer after running an installer.

This version adds several UI enhancements requested by users: copy to clipboard, window resizing, word wrapping in log output, and several other UI enhancements.

Drupal adsense_injector.module download (and source code)

News flash:

Now hosted on Drupal.org CVS/Project repository.
Please visit the Drupal.org project page for latest releases, bug/issue reports, etc.

Now hosted on Drupal.org CVS/Project repository.
Please visit the Drupal.org project page for latest releases, bug/issue reports, etc.

Keep your icons out of my system tray!

Related topic: System Tray Scan Utility - identify programs that have icons in the tray.

I don't know about you, but I am saddened whenever I use a non-techie friend's computer and see more than two or three active tray icons in the Windows taskbar "system tray"*. (Usually I see six, seven, eight or even a few dozen!)

Why does it bother me? Because, most of the time, the computer owner has no idea what those icons are for, or how they got there.

It means that third-party installers (or worse, computer integrators or 'manufacturers' like Dell) have hooked more stuff into the auto start chain, which also means: more memory used, longer startup times, another prime opportunity to break the user's system with even more bloated, buggy software.

Brand new Dell 1501 system tray loaded with with an obscene number of running tasks

Windows System Tray Scan Utility

What programs are running your system tray?

This command-line utility for Windows XP or Server 2003 will tell you which programs have inserted themselves into your "system tray"*.

It generates a list of PIDs, the program's location, and the number of visible and hidden icons for each program that has inserted itself into your system tray.

PMMon - Monitor Win32 Power Management Events

PMMon monitors your system for Win32 power management events that are sent to all application windows, under the WM_POWERBROADCAST window message. These messages are then decoded and displayed in a log window. Where possible, the delta between previous and current values are shown. The current battery power level (if available) is shown in a colored bar at the top of the window.

Find compressed files on NTFS filesystems

Locate NTFS compressed (or uncompressed) files on your system

Overview

I was interested in locating all the compressed files in my \Winnt (%SYSTEMROOT%) directory, as I was concerned that the Disk Cleanup utility had compressed often-used system components, which could result in a significant performance degradation.

Internet Explorer Forensics - extract browser history and cache data with IECacheList Lite

Display the contents of Internet Explorer's index.dat files, including 'lost' and hidden content

Current Version: 1.0.2.0

Overview

Have you ever wondered about the contents of the Internet Explorer ("IE") cache? Wanted to know if the cache is really empty when you tell (or ask) IE to delete temporary files? Want to know what's kept in those INDEX.DAT files that are stored in your user profile?

IECacheList Lite is a command line utility that will examine the contents of Internet Explorer's index.dat files and display them for you. The method used by IECacheList is designed to ensure that no 'hidden' or lost information escapes detection.

Webmaster Mindshare

Back in the day, some folks at Microsoft used the term "developer mindshare" in the now-infamous "Halloween Memo" - Microsoft was operating (rightly, I think) under the assumption that they would dominate the software universe in proportion to its domination of the thoughts of software developers.

User notification module

I've been working on a user notifications module (and underlying API module) for Drupal.

This is initially needed for for use with my classified ads module but it can be used by any module that needs a well-defined method of alerting users to various events.

Night Driver game

Posted in

Night Driver screenshot

I always liked the classic driving game "Night Driver" - it was as simple as could be - just a black screen with two lines of dots showing the path ahead - like white picket fences reflecting the car's headlights.

There was an Apple II clone of this game I really liked, back when I was an Apple II user.

I'm thinking of making a clone of this game, just for the exercise... perhaps using C#/.NET runtime, perhaps in C/C++ for Win32, I dunno... whatever gets me there with the least hassle.

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