Small code with powerful results, the occasional opinion … and beer. 

13 Mar 2012
Weed Killer 1.0.4.0 (Stable)

Weed Killer 1.0.4.0 is now available. See the project page here.  This is the second stable, production-ready release of the package. Highlights are: Corrected a problem where saving a configuration file, before an active change was accepted or canceled, could corrupt the entry in the file. Added a new ability for an administrator to assign […]

13 Mar 2012
ThreadPooling in .NET 4

I was reading up on (and experimenting with) the new classes introduced for managing the ThreadPool objects in .NET 4, and they are a nice change from previous versions of the framework. One technique I really like is the Task<generic> implementation. I wrote a test piece of code to implement this using a dictionary object, […]

23 Dec 2011
Bulk File Rename v1.0.0.0

Bulk File Rename is a simple windows form application, which allows complex file renaming within a folder, for all or a selected subset of the files. It supports remove, find/replace, prefix, suffix (root or extension), or “insert at” adjustments, and even supports wild cards and character remapping. See the help screen for examples. It works […]

12 Dec 2011
Task Manager: wherefore art thou?

I’ve observed a stange behavior in Windows XP with the Task Manager, which apparently is also rearing its ugly head in Windows 7.  The symptoms appear sometime after a few defaults are changed, and a few reboots and application installations or uninstallations occur– just like in XP. After opening Task Manager, the options menu has […]

21 Sep 2011
The relations between controls and idle states in a Windows Form

I recently wrote a code conversion project, with a simple windows form to review and adjust the results.  It had a list view container on the left to enumerate the scripts, and two text boxes on the right for the selected script in the list: the top for the original script, and the bottom for […]

14 Aug 2011
The mysterious mutating power properties .. SOLVED !

Back in 2009, I wrote a post related to issues of mutating power settings in Windows XP Media Center (I’ve got the Power! … but not over power properties?!). Since then I have seen the problem also on Windows XP Professional, and on multiple manufacturers laptops (HP, Gateway and Dell). After digging a little further, […]

07 Aug 2011
Finally, Internet-based irrigation control for the tech-savvy homeowner

So that you know up front: I have neither purchased nor ordered the device yet.  I’m not promoting it.  I am just publishing this because so many people I talked to over the past few years really wanted what this device does and, like me, couldn’t find anything like it. I’ve been repairing my 5-year […]

04 Mar 2011
Overcoming a vulnerable power jack design in a laptop

For the third time in three years, my Gateway MX laptop has a broken DC power jack connector on the motherboard.  I always fix this myself. It takes about 2 hours each time (after waiting for the new part to arrive in the mail from eBay) and, surprisingly, the repair time is quite relaxing for […]

08 Feb 2011
The die hard DIY’er PC guy got spooked…really??

I do much less with hardware nowadays, than when I was younger.  I no longer build entire custom systems from scratch. Still, the occasional simple maintenance task, like changing out a hard drive, is something that I enjoy doing.  And in fact, have done for years. But today, I was fearing that the worst thing that can […]

15 Nov 2010
Clipboard Munger 1.2.0.0 Released

Clipboard Munger 1.2.0.0 has some improvements over 1.1.0.0, and some new default scripts.  The enhancements are: The code editor now uses the ICSharpCode.TextEditor class and supports highlighting. The GAC reference now uses split lists for included versus available assemblies to quickly determine what the clipboard code is referencing. The project page is located here. I […]