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"
   

Certifiably... smarter

Well, it is finally done. I've finally finished my full Microsoft Certified Application Developer path. My test was 2 days ago on Wednesday and I had been reading the SQL 2000 book in my free time for a couple of months. With about a week to go, I start really dedicating my time to it... all free time including skipping soccer games (a really big deal!) I had gone through the book about 4 times altogether and had taken a few practice tests so I felt pretty good going in; but I was worried about the time limit. (100 minutes for 44 questions)

The test itself was more of a ridiculous sort of test than anything. The questions they ask you are specific to the syntax of the language and the nuiances of the language (aka gotchas) What bugs me about that is that those are the first things you forget. From my experience, the concepts are more important... when it comes to the details it only takes a few minutes to look it up online. During the test it was taking me a bit longer than I anticipated to figure out exactly what they were asking so I was stressing out a little bit. In the end, I ended up with an 87% which isnt too terrible but I felt I could probably have made that a 97% if I had another hour. (many of the questions were simply too long to figure out in the time frame)

Anyways, overall i'm extremely satisfied with the results and glad I took the test. I feel a better grasp of the language and have a better idea of how SQL will interpret and execute my code....which makes me a better programmer.

Now... onto a new challenge.....hmmmm.....

In need of some good elbow grease

Boy, just when I thought soccer was hard on the legs.... God enlightens me by showing that it can be hard on the arms as well.

I was having a pretty good game tonight. After watching my team play in a tournament over the weekend I was ready to get my ankle brace back on and stretch out the lungs. Everything was going good until about 30 minutes in when I was trying to dribble the ball. The ball got a little caught up in my legs and my toe got stuck on the ball. This happens every once in awhile... no big deal. You fall down and then get back up again. It is a turf field as well so the surface is fairly soft to fall on. This time though, when I fell my arm must have gotten caught under me in the fully extended position because I felt my elbow strain under the full weight of my body falling down on it. I didnt feel a pop or anything but my elbow ligaments were pulled farther than normal and it hurt quite a bit. There isnt much swelling and no discoloration so that is good.

For all my soccer enthusiasm, I'm left with an arm that hurts to move paired with my existing bum ankle. At least there is a bright side to it.... I have something to blog about!!!

Been forever since I have blogged!

Boy, I think I need to get a more exciting life because it seems like I have nothing new to talk about. (Or maybe I just need more readers because the only people that read this are the same ones that know what is going on) Doh!

Well at the very least I can post some links to some cool stuff. Check it out-

• BMW that can change shapes
• Dog that can throw and retrieve
• Car that can run on water
  

Rail of a tale

Made a minor improvment to my condo over the past couple of weeks.... although I say minor, it was quite a lot of work. I'm still not a huge fan of the oak. I was looking for something in a lighter color that would match more to the white molding and light colored wood of my kitchen, but I do have to say it looks pretty good.

The fun part was surprising mom of course. She loves it so I think I'll be building one at their house in the near future.

Clearflow from maps.live.com.

So Microsoft recently released this new technology that added to their mapping system that gives you the ability to route you around traffic backups that occur on the highways. Previously, mapping systems could not do this because there was no guarantee that the surface streets would have any less traffic than the highways. How microsoft implemented this (apparently) is they analyzed traffic data on surface streets around seattle and came up with models that are supposed to help predict when / where backups would occur on city streets. Then they can use this model to generate information that would allow their route calculation engine to determine which route would get you to the destination the quickest.
Sounded like a good idea to me so I thought I would give it a try. Here are my results:
Try #1: Clearflow cost me 20 minutes - Didnt calculate the time it would take to get through a timed-onramp light.
Try #2: Ontime
Try #3: 20 minutes late - No signification cause... just heavy traffic along the route.

Overall it has cost me more time than it has saved. Although it does seem to work sometimes, I wonder if it is a fluke or if the "model" they are using is actually correct.

Why I wont use it in the future? If it can't anticipate on-ramp blockages then I have no need for it in a city where you need to eventually get on the freeway. Additionally, I wonder how this system scales up nationally. If Microsoft cant accurately predict how traffic is going to flow it it's own city, how could it work in other cities?

To me it seems like money was spent on a technology that Microsoft wanted to get back so the solution is more "hype" than anything else. If it doesnt work, why make it available?

Home improvement

Well it has been over a month since I blogged last.... not that anybody reads this thing but me and those I specifically send it to. lol.
So I have these lists I keep of things to do in my life. There are 2 lists - "hard" to-do and "easy" to-do. Lately I've been feeling ambitious and trying to get a few things done off the list. 2 of the major items are my final big home improvement projects:

• Tile my kitchen counter backsplash
• Replace the wooden hand rail in my upper hallway.
  

Neither one of these tasks are a whole lot of fun. For my counter backsplash the big problem is choosing a tile design. I've been to a few tile stores but nothing has really striked me a "perfect" for my setup. The other thing I'm worried about is doing too-fancy of a backsplash for my linoleum countertop. Of course I could put a nice stone tile in as a countertop, but I think that would be overkill and not necessarily cost-effective.

For the upstairs railing, what I really need to do is pull the existing railing out and buy wood in the same proportions to match what the existing railing looks like... then hopefully put that railing together with only a few modifications. Seems relatively easy until you realize that I only have a chop-saw. DOH! My kingdom for a few good woodworking tools.

The other fun thing coming up is Jen's 30th birthday party. We spent last weekend trying 5 different martinis in anticipation of the big event. All were good, but we discovered it is difficult to try a bunch of different martinis and stay sober at the same time. :) (especially when they are really good!)