Windows
Running Komodo Edit Open Source Code Editor Under Windows 7
The open source version of Komodo’s code editor and development environment Komodo Edit is a great tool for development. I use it for PHP, HTML, JavaScript and more. However, I haven’t done any serious coding for a while so I haven’t needed to run it under Windows 7 even though I had it installed. When I did, I was disapointed to find it behaving very poorly. It wouldn’t resize properly without messing up the screen.
How-to use WebDAV on Windows Vista and Windows 7
Windows is supposed to have a built-in WebDAV client. However, it doesn’t ever seem to have been especially robust and certainly since Vista a lot of people (myself included) have found that it simply doesn’t work on many supposedly WebDAV enabled sites. Thankfully there are a couple of free (and some not free) options that, while not as nicely integrated into Windows Explorer, do enable you to transfer files back and forth.
Keeping Control: File and Folder Links for Windows Users
A good backup strategy for any computer involves keeping control of where stuff is stored. The fewer locations that contain files that change, the fewer locations have to be maintained. UNIX users have always had the ability to keep things wherever they wanted and then to LINK that information into the required location. Basically, links create a link or tunnel between one file or folder and another. Most of the time, you will not notice that you’ve entered a tunnel and you are not interested really.
📖 Posts | 📎 Development, Microsoft, Windows | 🔖 AutoHotKey, Configuration, Office, OneNote, Scripting
Setting list item gaps in Microsoft OneNote (AutoHotKey script)
Although I like Microsoft OneNote and use it continuously, it does have a few failings. One of these is the inability to set the default styles and layout for text. In particular, when you create a new paragraph or list entry in OneNote, the default – non-changeable – setting is to have no white space between the paragraphs. This is very poor design and makes more than a small amount of text quite unreadable.
Changing system environment variables from the Windows command line
There are several ways to change global or user environment variables manually in Windows. Most are well known so I wont repeat them here (e.g. in Vista or Windows 7, Control Panel/User Accounts, Change my environment variables). However, sometimes you want to do this from a command (aka script or batch) file. This is not as straightforwards as it might seem. That’s because if you simply set the variable – e.
Windows 7 (Build 7000) still my main desktop OS
A quick update on Windows 7. I’m still using the version from MSDN, Build 7000. Unfortunately, it will not let me report bugs for some reason, the “Send Feedback” link always fails to authenticate my Windows Live login. However, I do have a few issues and a few likes. Issues with Windows 7 Possibly Windows 7 Beta Issues Power options only shows 2 out of 3 std options Creating new folder in all users (in explorer), creates new folder but doesn’t allow rename (says folder already in use) yet allows delete Screen resolution seems to randomly reset to something lower (NVIDIA WDM driver).
How to get and use your local IP address in a Windows 7 (and Vista) batch command file
If, like me, you spend a lot of time on a variety of customer sites, you will probably be familiar with the issues around swapping networks. I’ve already blogged about the problems with Windows 7, Vista and Firefox proxy settings and I will do some more articles on getting on with problematic proxies later. However, I wanted to let people know how to get hold of your IP address from within a batch (command) file.
Sun’s VirtualBox gets on with it!
Yep, I keep being amazed by the quality of VirtualBox which is now owned by Sun. I need to set up a virtual machine to test and demo Sun’s Identity Management (IdM) suite and it needs to be usable with VMware too. So I headed over to the VMware Appliances web site and downloaded a pre-canned Debian 5 server. This is recognised fine by VirtualBox! I gave the VM a Host Networked connection to the network and with no further configuration, fired up the VM.
Easier posting to Blogger Blogs (Zoundry Raven)
Just a quick note to recommend some software that makes writing blog entries very much easier. The software is called [Zoundry Raven][1] and I’m using the latest beta (under Windows 7 beta). The editor is WYSIWYG and has a much more sensible set of standards than the built-in Blogger editor (including the beta version). It also allows you to publish the same entry to multiple blogs if needed. It has image, link and tag handling too and it makes blogging rather more pleasurable.
Windows applications I use
Following on from my post about [what stops me from dropping Windows altogether][1], I thought that I would put together a more complete post about the Windows applications I find myself using. [Memory Map][2] – If ActiveSync is installed, the standard license allows you to push a copy of the Windows Mobile version to a handheld along with extracts of (or whole) maps, POI, routes, etc. It is also best to plan routes and add new POI on the desktop as its easier than the small interface on the handheld.
Keeping information secure but accessible across platforms
One of the issues with Linux is that I can’t use it under all circumstances. In particular I usually have to work with Windows at work. So I need cross-platform tools, especially now that I also make extensive use of a smartphone/PDA. So here is a timely post – with the number of people in UK government departments carelessly loosing private or secret information, how do we keep this stuff secure while still being accessible from different platforms?
What stops me finally parting company with Windows
Will I ever be free of Microsoft? Well, unlike many people I’m not really evangelistic about this. I’ll use whatever gets the job done properly. My main reason for ditching Microsoft products is due to their overly restrictive and greedy licensing without really giving real innovation in return. So why can’t I escape? Well one of the main reasons is that I am constantly faced with Microsoft products through my job as an IT consultant.
