Not cheap, Fiscally concerned

I guess this would be my first post regarding my profession in this blog. I’m not going to discuss actual technology, but rather an issue which keeps coming back and will always recur.

An experienced programmer, much like novice ones - is always introduced with new technologies and is required to learn to use them, sometimes in ways that completely override what he used to know and how he used to do things. Sure, there are those who after getting their degree or finished a course started a job somewhere in the 80-s and have since not shifted to new platforms and languages. Most of us though, do program for Windows - and Microsoft has created many new and exciting things every year or two.

Being a developer mainly on windows machines, I’m always in need of upgrading my knowledge of the latest technologies. As I browse through the latest MSDN magazine discussing what’s coming soon in C#4 a thought came to me: Should one approach studying the “very next technology” as an extension to what he knows – or as if he is a completely new developer first encountering the technology? Go through the “books for dummies” and “learn xyz in 10 days” books, or perhaps just go through some documentation of “what’s new” and just flip through some samples?

Simply continuing with what’s already known and adding a few new things here and there could miss on the simplicity offered with new technology. One may get stuck in the “old way” of doing things. This gives new-comers a certain advantage of using the new tools in the way they were intended and actually creating less clutter in his workflow.

It seems to me like a good exercise to try out at times: Approach the next upgrade of technologies as a novice, rather than an experienced programmer – and see how the creators of new technologies intended it to be learned and used.

Thinking out loud.
Cheers!

Last Update to this Post
I repackaged the release with inno-setup and have tested the new installer with virtual machines to verify that it installs and runs on machines with .net2 installed. I did not however verify that Vista comes with .net2 pre-installed.

To download, click here: setup delayedExec.exe

Packaged with inno setup 5.2.3, editied with ISTool 5.2.1 freewares.

Just in case you are wondering why I was focused on .net2 as the requirement and not .net3.5, the explanation is simple:
1. I think that Vista comes with it installed, so you don’t have to download anything from the web.
2. .net2 is much smaller than .net3.5, and I don’t want to deter people from using this software by requiring them to download additional 200MB from Microsoft.

Update 2
I see it’s the installer which refuses to run, I still presume the application would run. I shall look for an alternative to VisualStudio’s default installer. It’s really dumb - you make an application and direct it’s requirements to .net2, but studio will not make a proper installer.

Update 1
I’ve been told in the comments that it still requires .net 3.5, I’d be happy to hear any further confirmation. Also, anyone else experiencing security issues? From what I understand thus far, if you “run as admin” when you open the dialog, it should not affect the start-up status which makes no access to the registry and simply starts other applications after reading the xml-file. I intend on running some virtual machine tests next week to get a better grasp on the situation.

Original Post
I’m releasing DelayedExec 1.1, my open sourced freeware which let’s you delay execution of startup applications and free your Windows Vista for usage quicker.

Major changes:
1. Allow disabling commands - you really don’t have to delete anymore. No need to use both the utility and ms-config.
2. Requirement has relaxed to .net2, instead of .net3.5. I believe that windows vista is shipped with .net2, so unless I’m mistaken - users don’t have to download and install the .net run time for this version.

Installer found here: Setup DelayedExec 1_1.zip
Source code found here: delayedExecApp src 1_1.zip

For previous vesion, click here.
Cheers!

Major additions:

• Setup Dialog UI - does not include all available features, but does include the most important ones
  • Change number of scrolling lines as well as visual settings
  • Add/remove custom feeds
• Change stocks dialog
• Value change in addition to percentage change

These changes were made in accordance with the stated wish list declared here.

Download binaries here: FreeStocksTicker Beta 2.zip

Download source code here: stocksTicker live beta 2 src.zip

Previous posts:

Quick FYI to users of my “Free Stocks Ticker”
“Free Stocks Ticker” Freeware Beta Update Uploaded
“Free Stocks Ticker” Freeware Wishlist
Free Stocks Ticker and Scrolling RSS Freeware

Cheers!

I’m happy to announce a new open sourced freeware I wrote called DelayedExec.

The problem: When Windows Vista starts many applications are registered to run and some are locking up resources and cause you to sit there and wait until the memory and resource consumption storm is over.

The hatchet solution: People on the web would advice you to turn off most of the start up applications. For some it improves windows startup experience.

My solution: DelayedExec is yet another startup applications, only it allows you to move the other applications from startup to being run in a queue in a timely manner - leaving you a less stressful computer upon startup.

Download here. (zipped MSI)
Source code here. (zipped c#)
Prerequisite: DotNet 3.5 Runtime

My personal flavor of setting it up: move everything that doesn’t register itself back into the delayed queue, and put the sidebar at the top of the queue.

What it doesn’t solve: Some services and hardware devices cause windows to lockup for a few seconds, this is out of my application’s control - and playing with devices and services to reduce stress is something a bit “risky” that might not work for everybody.

Screenshot:

License and liability:
I hope it helps you, I don’t take any responsibility regarding how you use it or what it does to your computer. The license is simple: free to use, free to change code - don’t remove link-back and credit from application. The installer is Microsoft standard automatic installer - and if it fails, all I can say is try again.

Have fun and spread the word around, support this site - click on an ad.
Cheers!

P.S. As a recent review commented, yes - you should have administrative rights to make changes to the registry.

Update:
New version 1.1 - does not require .net 3.5!!! (no extra download for vista users)
Click here.

Continuing from my post about an open source freeware I published called “Free Stocks Ticker”:

I didn’t get a lot of feedback, still I did construct my own wish list. Add anything you want in the comments:
* multi instances
* “add rss” command in the context menu
* options dialog: edit stocks list, edit rss feeds
* optional sub menus
* auto rotate feeds
* adjust fonts/colors from xml/ui
* add up/down icons
* add about dialog
* add readme.txt with keyboard shortcuts
* add “start on startup” context menu
* use check mark to show current feed on context menu
* nbc icon
* Link back to my blog and email (why did I not include that to begin with?!)

In the meanwhile, I added a live source zip on skydrive. I will update that source code zip periodically until I make a “release”. At which point I’ll go back to the 3 sites I published to begin with and update them that a new version exists.

Right now, if you are interested, the live c# source contains some fixes to the RSS reader.
Cheers!

Update Beta 2 found here

Allow me to share with you a simple tool I recently wrote. You can download the binaries, unzip them and run for a test. You can also download the source code.

First, you will need to download and install (if you haven’t already, or you do not have visual studio 2008 installed):

Microsoft .Net 3.5 Runtime

Then download the binaries, unzip and run:

FreeStocksTicker.zip

Hint: You can customize this ticker by editing the settings xml file that’s in the zip file. You can add any number of RSS feeds to scroll, as well as change which stocks you want to get quotes for.

For those who are interested in the code, download this file:

FreeStocksTicker_Src.zip

The zip file contains the visual studio 2008 project and c# code. In the code you will find examples of:

• Download stock quotes from Yahoo
• Implement a simple plugin framework
• Read RSS using LINQ
• Parse several date formats in XML based RSS feeds
• Use XML as a generic settings document (instead of INI)
• Open default browser from a web link
• Get primary screen refresh rate

Credits to techniques used in this freeware are within the code.

The license is simple: Download it and do whatever you want with it. A thank you would be appreciated.

Still should write some readme file to explain all the features and keyboard keys… I will do this after I see some feedback and downloads.

Have fun.
Cheers!