Sounders Wedding

Well I was kinda leaving my blog alone for awhile because I didn't think anybody was reading it anyways, but I seem to be getting SOME feedback from people about not posting anything in awhile, so here is an update.

Wedding:
Jennifer and I are busy trying to get everything planned out for the wedding. I'll jump on the realization bandwagon like everybody else and say that wedding planning is a lot of work! It is coming along nicely but I do miss my free time. Currently we are working on getting the details regarding the actual ceremony worked out and next on the list is finding a ring. (Although Jennifer won't let me get a Tattoo ring, I'm thinking Platinum is almost as permanent)

Seattle Sounders:
Gotta love Seattle's new major league soccer team. They have 3 shutouts and are generally kicking some butt at every game. Fans are crazy and it has become a whole lot of fun to attend the games. Now if I can just get Jennifer to change the wedding colors to Sounders colors...

That is pretty much my life besides work right now. Of course, I always have another computer tip for anybody / nobody that cares. Here you go:

Wake your computer with the Escape key:
A lot of people are used to pushing the space bar when trying to wake their computer or clicking the mouse. You might not want to do that for one main reason: Space bar can be used to click OK on confirmation dialogs. With the screensaver on, you have no idea what you are selecting "OK" to. This can be a problem if:

• A program deleted a file and was asking you to confirm
• A virus tried to access a restricted setting and windows was prompting you to confirm
• Text is selected on the screen and any keyboard key will replace the text.
  

Although none of these things are very likely, it doesnt take much work either to get in the habit of hitting Escape instead of any other key.

Anyways, thats the latest.

How to move an off-screen window back on-screen

With anybody who hooks up external monitors or uses multi-monitor displays, I'm sure you have encountered the situation when the window / program you are trying to access is outside of the visual display area. I've figured out a way over the years to quickly bring the window back in the display area. Here is how you do it:

1. Right-click on the window you are trying to access and click "Move"
2. Hit any one of the arrow keys on the keyboard. (This will lock the window to your mouse cursor)
3. Move your mouse around to bring it back within the display area.

I'm not sure why hitting an arrow key on the keyboard has this effect, but it does work and is alot faster than resizing your desktop or restarting your computer.

Finding large files wasting space on your computer

Vista's Folder explorer now has a "Stack View" option. Stack view organizes the files in the current display based on whatever Stack View options you choose (irregardless of whether the file is in a folder). One of the options for Stack View is "Size". So, all you have to do is open your root C drive and choose from the file menu View -> Stack By -> Size. Vista will group your hard drive files based off their size and give you the results.

(Great way to figure out which files are using up your hard drive space!)

Software Explorer in Vista

It has been awhile since I have blogged.... not because I haven't had the time or dont want to, but more like having something useful to say. I started thinking and since I'm a software professional, maybe I should share some of the more useful things I have learned / figured out over the years. As such, here is a cool one - Software Explorer in Vista.

What is great about this tool is the information it displays as an alternative to hitting Ctrl-Alt-Del and going to the task manager. (Great for trying to figure out why your computer / internet is running so slow)

Here are the things that are really useful:

• You can see and disable all startup programs that run when Vista starts. (great for killing malware apps)
• You can see more information about the running applications than Task manager displays. i.e. "Ships with Operating System", "File path"
• You can see which programs are access the internet and to which IP address.

Very useful little tool. I'm just surprised it isnt more visible in vista. Here is how you get at it:

1. Open Start->Control Panel -> Windows Defender
2. Select "Tools"
3. Select "Software Explorer"