Skip to main content

General

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.

Must Read List

Glycemic Index, Syndrome X, Paleo Diet, and Ketogenic Diet resources

Years ago, I started researching alternatives to low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets. I encountered a lot of confusing and conflicting information, but one thing became clear as I continued to sift through the material: not everyone agrees with the orthodox view of "fat bad, carbohydrates good". And since that time, research has reinforced the case for the alternative view.

I present this page as a resource for anyone who wants to find useful links to online information, avoiding the sites containing little original information. (In other words, these links are for the source sites where the details or original research can be found.)

As always, feedback is welcome. Any new or updated info is appreciated.

Low Carb Diet Resources

Looking for low-carb resources and stories? Check out Low Carb Compatible.
Low Carb Compatible™

Fun with Alexa

While searching for links to one of my sites today, I found alexastreet.com and alexadex.com - these are simulated stock markets, based on alexa ranking.

These are great examples of using alexa data in unique and interesting (if somewhat esoteric) ways.

Interesting spammer pattern - how they find sites

Some our our sites that feature free classified ads (amadorable.com, goatseeker.com, and bunnytrade.com) have been hit with a few recurring spammers trying to plant ads for various off-topic products (like cell phones, etc.) I guess this is a good sign; our sites are visible and spammers feel it is worth their time and trouble to post an ad (and no, as far as I can tell, these are not bots - they're human-generated spam.)

In reviewing the referrer logs, I've noticed that in nearly every case, spammers use search engines to find sites that have been spammed previously using known keywords - or just sites that offer free classified ads or open posting capability. For example, I find these google searches in my logs, just prior to the spammer creating an account and attempting to deposit the spam content.

Antivirus software runs wild; damages user files.

Yes, Virginia, anti-virus software has bugs too!

For over five hours Friday, McAfee's anti-virus software erroneously flagged hundreds of legitimate executables as a malicious virus, leading some customers to quarantine or delete the offending files and render applications such as Microsoft Excel inoperative.

Syndicate content