While this is not a book for beginners in the ASP.NET world I found the book to be very informative.  Joydip Kanjilal has taken a section of data handling and display, dug into the internals and brings it to the pages of his first book.  Even though I’ve been in the ASP.NET world since it’s inception I’ve never been a strong UI type developer.  With this book I have the essentials for using Win UI data display components.

Now, for the little nits:  While all the bits and parts were covered the book and the author displays a very clear understanding of the subject it was a little rough in parts.  Some of it was due to inconsistent indentations in code examples, some code bits that would obviously (to a seasoned developer) not compile due to syntax errors (using upper ASCII instead of quotes, line wrap issues not marked, etc).

For a first dive into LINQ Joydip did an excellent job.  While many people are trying to determine if LINQ is the right fit I see many uses for it in current and future development.  While some are against writing inline SQL in their business objects and others are all for it I think LINQ is the middle part of data <–> business that has been missing.  Yes, you can go directly against a data store with LINQ but I think the versatility of LINQ will shine in the middle layers.  Joydip does a good job of tickling your creative juices with his samples and helps open up some possibilities that have been lacking for a long time.  Not only can LINQ go directly against data sources like SQL and XML it can be a querying object against arrays, lists, generic collections and more.  It makes a great data source for a Model View Controller/Presenter approach as well.  Check out the LINQ Forums for more ideas.

Overall I liked the book.  I would recommend anyone interested in displaying data in ASP.NET to at least peruse the book and determine if there is enough for what they need.  I look forward to more books by Joydip.

I have been busy trimming down my gear. Just want to show my Pentax Auto 110 camera that I purchased few months ago. Here is the debut of my CBA (Camera Buying Addiction) evidence, the shame, the glory, and fun that go with camera collection. Pictures are taken from K10D with Tokina 28-70 f/2.8-4.3 shooting wide open, I can’t sell my Tokina, the product shots are as good as those from my Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 except on the colors.

At one point or another we are faced with a need to either fully restore a machine or just buy a new one. If you use programs such as Quicken or Microsoft Outlook then you will know that a lot of what you’ve done throughout the life of your computer is stored locally in your drive.

This guide is meant to be a quick reference on how to transfer contect from one Outlook program to another. I am assuming here that you are Microsoft Outlook 2002 or later and that you have some kind of medium to transfer the generated files over (Flash drive is the best way!)

In Outlook you must first create a working e-mail profile at the new machine. If you use GMail then you must set it up to send and receive e-mail from that GMail account. It turns out that most e-mail clients out there are very easy to configure into Outlook as long as you know the specific server extensions and credentials. Anyway I digress from the point here.

Once we have a working Outlook e-mail setup the next step is grabbing all the Contacts, Calendars, Old Email, etc.

Go to the old machine and do the following.

- Export -

On the File menu, click Import And Export.

Click Export To File, and then click Next.

Click Personal Folder File (.pst) , and then click Next.

Click the folder that you want to export the .pst file to such as Desktop, and then click Next.

Click the Browse button, and then select the location to save the .pst file.

In the File Name box, type a descriptive file name for the .pst file, and then click OK. Click Finish. Copy the .PST file that was generated and put into a flash drive. Take this flash drive to the new Machine. [In the event of a System Restore proceed with the importing after the system has been restored! I know this is obvious but I like to be specific & proper] 

- Import -

On the File menu, click Import and Export.

Click Import from another program or file., and then click Next. 

Click Personal Folder File (.pst), and then click Next.

Locate the .PST file you exported previously and select it to import, and then click Next.

Select the folder that you want to import but in general just choose the top of the folder hierarchy to import everything, and then click Finish. 

Just to be on the safe side make a backup of your Personal Address Book file.

- Contacts -

Go to Start menu, Search, For Files and Folders, and pick the option
All files and Folders to do a thorough scan of the system.In the All or part of the file name:
Type in *.PAD and hit Search. If it finds one or more .PAD files copy them into a flash drive or the desktop and make sure they are backed up for security.

That’s it!

If you run into trouble or just want to say thanks leave a comment, e-mail me, or even chat it up live with AOL Instant Messenger: MrTechBlogger.

Are you using a Mac laptop or desktop and feel that it is running a bit sluggish? If so read this quick little guide on how to improve the performance. I don’t pretend to be the greatest Mac tweaker in this side of the country but I do have some tricks up my sleeve so listen up!

~ Programs you don’t need

The first thing you should consider is the use and avoidance of unnecessary programs. This really has to do with Widgets and Widgets are like the toys you got at Christmas but never ended up using ever again. They just sat there in your room collecting dust and taking up unnecessary space. Think of all the Widgets that are available out there for free. You could spend all day downloading and installing them. To make a long story short… keep the widget obsession to a minimum because they do use up system resources and if you hardly ever use them… maybe you shouldn’t have them loaded at all This method also applies to other unnecessary programs that you may have installed in your apple computer at some point. The first step towards a faster more efficient computer is the removal of unnecessary programs.

~ Start Up Program Clean-Up

It might be time to tidy up that start up menu. In a Mac they are called Login Items. Click the Apple Button on the top left. Go to > System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items.

You will find many programs in there that you probably don’t need to start up. I can’t really go into detail here because your layout in the Login Items will most likely differ from mine but in general look at the programs listed and think to yourself… “Do I need this program to start up as soon as I turn on my machine?” If you can say no then just select the program in question and hit the [ - ] Minus button. That’s it! You’ve disabled another unneeded item.

~ Tweaking the System

You will find many useful features under System Preferences. You can enable / disable many different features that come built in to your machine. You can turn off the Bluetooth feature if you don’t really use it. You may also turn off the Universal Access features of your Mac. Go nuts in there but of course mind what you turn off. If you disable the Wireless radio and suddenly lose the internet you should be able to go back and retrace your steps. System Preferences is your buddy and through that panel you will be able to change the system as you see fit. Keep in mind that any feature that is Enabled and not used will simply use up RAM / System Resources / and Voltage which lowers battery life.

~ Hard Drive Clean-Up

Use Finder to explore different areas of your hard drive. If you see remnants of old programs you have long since removed then just drag those to the Trash. If you see old files and or large picture folders hanging around the hard drive try to organize them into folders in the desktop so that you have a neat layout of your most used files.

~ Backup and External Storage

This is actually a very good way to keep your Mac in good standing. Backup everything you need from your machine and keep only necessary files in there. The less files the machine has to load at start up, the better the performance will be. The choice for external storage has become vast nowadays because every major hard drive company is jumping on the external storage market. Pick up a nice 500GB Hard Drive with dual interface plugs [FireWire + USB] and plug it in your computer. Create a structured backup and backup often. In most cases the machine must be just about spotless with few files running around in memory. Everything you need will be in that hard drive and with a fast FireWire or USB connection, accessing the data should be fast and easy.

~ Heat Management

O.K., Heat is one of those unspoken subjects because it does not seem to interest many when it comes to their machines. Too much heat in a machine can cause all kinds of weird problems anywhere from an abrupt shutdown of the system to actual data loss and internal chip damage. Heat makes machines run sluggish so you should consider options on how to make your unit run faster. When you’re sitting in your bed and using the laptop try not to have the air outlets be covered by anything. Unfortunately beds act as ovens for the underside of the machine so their use in bed does not make it a recommended location. Try getting a cooling fan or some kind of elevated rest for the laptop so that it has plenty of room to “breathe” the hot air it warms inside. The cooler the machine runs the better it will run and the longer it will last. There are also utilities that let you adjust fan speeds like the Fan Control application found at the following website: http://www.lobotomo.com/products/FanControl/

~ Hardware

Let’s face it… Everything described above would not do much if you lack RAM in your machine. If you have it in you to purchase more RAM and a bigger hard drive then you might actually get yourself a real treat with your current machine. I recommend that with any Mac you have at least 1GB of Ram and at least an 80GB hard drive. The more the merrier but stick to those numbers as a bare minimum if you care about performance and like to multi-task with your machine. Imagine being able to run Photoshop while listening to your favorite tune and chatting with your friends on AIM. If your computer can handle that situation without too much sluggishness then you are on the right path my friend :-).

As always I don’t expect this article to apply to everyone but if you like what was written here and it really made a difference… write a comment and leave me some feedback. Feedback makes me happier than a case of beer… and believe you me, Mr. Tech loves his beer.

Ok before I go into this post I’d like to apologize to all the Mac users out there. I actually happen to love Macs just as much as the next guy but I tend to write more about Windows (Because it has more problems =D ). So if you come accross this site and think I’m just another Windows Lover / Mac Hater then you are mistaken. I respect most operating systems out there but let’s face it… Windows is everywhere! I invite any Mac user that is experiencing any issues or would like to see something posted here to shoot me an e-mail and I will seriously write a whole post based on what you say… this blog is for you so it’s semi-interactive in that regard.

Anyway… now that we are all friends again. Keyboard shortcuts! Windows Shortcuts. OK, this is where my geeky side comes out, I am a nutcase when it comes to shortcuts, I just love them for everything. This will be a quick useful guide on how to keep your desktop clean and have some effective shortcut layouts that will make your friends jealous. *Somehow it always comes down to making your friends jealous, people are funny.

OK, on to the basics. In a Windows environment there are many pre-defined shortcuts that you can utilize to make your computer experience faster and more efficient. In the old days there were no mouses (I refuse to say Mice!) so anyone that had to use a computer had to use shortcuts from the keyboard to navigate around and do simple functions.

Here’s a list of some of the pre-defined Windows shortcuts.

Alt + F4 –> Quits out of most windows unless the program is designed not to support it. This is the magical key sequence when an annoying spyware ad has taken over your screen and you can’t remove the silly thing by clicking on the exit button on the top right.

 Alt + Tab –> Switches between active open windows and gives you a brief description in text on what the other windows are. (If you get that nifty powertoy in the Utilities section then it will give you an awesome description with an actual page preview!)

Ctrl + C –> Used to Copy selected text or a selected item in Explorer.

Ctrl + V –> Used to Paste a previously copied item(s) or text.

Ctrl + Alt + Delete –> Opens up the Windows Task Manager and allows you to force programs to close when they are not responding and allows you to view stats on your processor voltage, process memory usage etc.

The most useful shortcuts actually derive from the Windows Key as seen below. If you don’t have a Windows key on your keyboard then you have a special keyboard and this article will not really apply to you. But if you’re using a Natural QWERTY layout then continue reading!

That’s the famous Windows key. This key does not just open your Start menu. It has many other tricks up its sleeve.

Windows Key + E –> Opens up a new Explorer window. Explorer is everything you see in My Computer… in any folder. That is what is running to allow you to navigate around you computer. So it opens another one of those windows for you to navigate to a new section.

Windows Key + D –> My favorite one of all. When you’re an avid multi tasker like myself there’s nothing better than when you can just jump to to the desktop without having to minimize 20 windows. Press this key sequence and you will suddenly be jumped back to the desktop. It’s also very useful if someone tries to sneak a peak at your e-mail or at your improper party pictures from the night before, you get the picture it’s useful!

Windows Key + L –> This one locks your computer if you’re stepping away… it is assumed that you have a password protected account otherwise this one is kind of useless. It almost immediately jumps to the Welcome screen where your username is and does not log you off so nothing gets lost in the process. If it doesn’t immediately do it then your computer is slow and you need to refer to my previous post about speeding it up

Windows Key + F — > This is an old-time favorite. Pops up the search menu where you can search for anything on your computer.

Windows Key + M –> Minimizes all active windows that are open but in my opinion it is not as useful as the Windows Key + D shortcut because it doesn’t restore the minimized windows unless you press Windows Key + Shift + M, in other words too much work. Windows Key + D > Windows Key + M. Enough said.

Windows Key + Pause/Break –> You’ll find the Pause/Break key on the upper right area of the keyboard and you probably have never used it unless you play video games :D. If you press these keys together System Properties shows up. This is excellent when you’re trying to see how much RAM there is and who the computer is registered to, windows version, etc…

Windows Key + Tab –> If you know what Alt + Tab does then this is similar except that it switches between taskbar buttons.

And now the best shortcut that we will talk about… Windows Key + R

Opens up the Run utility which allows you to run a program or command by typing the correct name. Some programs come with a name that windows recognizes when you type it in Run. AOL Instant Messenger is one such program and if you typed AIM in the run command and have AIM installed it will run that program. Most programs do not however so this will teach you how to get around it.

I have Google Earth… awesome program in my opinion. I want to run Google Earth from the run command so that I don’t have to jump the desktop to run it from the shortcut. Once you install the program, right click on the desktop icon for Google Earth and make a copy of the shortcut and paste it in the desktop. Now rename it to Earth (not case sensitive). Right click on the new shortcut named Earth and Cut it. Now let’s use a shortcut with windows key :D…. Press Windows Key + R to bring up run and type in \Windows and press OK. It will open up the Windows folder, press Ctrl + V to paste the Cut shortcut into the Windows Folder and scroll all the way to the bottom to verify that it was pasted into the folder and shows up in it. Now for the grand finale close everything down and press Windows Key + R and then type Earth and press Enter. If you did all the steps correctly Google Earth comes up and you’ve just created a manual Run command shortcut.

If you think this is useless then I can’t do much about that, we all have our own preferences on how to do things but I prefer my desktop clean and with no visible shortcuts. When my friends come over and see my computer they can’t really tell if I have any programs installed because there are no shortcuts to indicate this

Google Earth is a mere example but you can do that for any shortcut on your desktop. You can also just rename the existing shortcut and then throw it in the Windows folder and it will work just the same. Go nuts with it! It’s fun!

It is extremely difficult to explain how to prevent harmful malware to get into your computer but it all starts with one source… You.

That’s right, I haven’t used an anti-virus or anti-spyware program on my machine for about 5 years now and still going strong. How do I do it? From experience I have began to notice patterns of malicious sites, certain names of executable files, and even how long it takes for a webpage to load…

I am not trying to brag about my abilities because frankly, I have gotten lucky a few times that I’ve caught a trojan virus before it could spread around my machine. Everyone should have some level of protection no matter how basic. My point on the paragraph above is to show people that the internet is not some hot zone of malware, nor does it infect your machine as soon as you connect to the internet. These myths are simply not true.

The internet works by you sending a request out to the World Wide Web to view a specific address and in return you get a website and download its contents. If you know what you’re typing in the address bar, chances are you are fine. If you typed www.Google.com and Google loaded up you risked little with the process. The main danger comes from websites with ad-link clusters. These websites are out there and numerous so you must pay careful attention to the nature of the content in them before you go on clicking and visiting.

Not to pick sides on the matter but Google honestly has some of the safest search results around. I would say that for any word or phrase that you search on Google.com the top 10 or 20 of them are safe and genuine websites that provide you with relevant content based on what you searched. Of course if you search for “Windows XP Crack Keygen” you are already in trouble because no genuine website would carry such content and still be operational.

Since everyone is connected to the web I would say that safe browsing is the number 1 protection for your computer against all types of malware. Up next… protection programs.

Top 5 on my list of the best protection software for your Windows computer:

1). AVG Anti-Virus - Detects more malware than Symantec and McAfee combined and is free for personal use with updates! Can’t beat that.

2). Ad-Aware Anti-Spyware - And old time favorite of mine… kicks some serious butt when it comes to removing pests in your machine.

3). PC-Tools - A very thorough machine examiner that digs out even the worst malware threats out there.

4). Spybot Search & Destroy - Another awesome cleaning tool from the Spybot team.

5). Kaspersky Anti-Virus - A true giant in the fight against Malware. It is a solid performer and continues to provide some of the highest level protection against threats. Not free but worth the money!

Except for AVG and Spybot S&D the other 3 require that you purchase a license but I would say it’s money well spent considering the high cost of cleaning a computer after an infenction.

Have a protection program running at all times (You pick the best one, I can’t impose these 5 on you) and always mind your browing on the web. If a website has a weird sounding name like warez / xxx / crack / keygen etc… Don’t visit that website, you just never know what might be waiting at the other end.

If you click on a link and it seems to be loading for a long time hit the stop button on your browser and close the windows immediately. No need to risk getting scripts that download in your Temporary Files folder and then are executed once the website fully loads. I’ve seen it all

Like I said before, the ultimate machine protection derives from you.

From experience I have known many people that swear at their computer for being too slow and they normally associate this lack of good performance with the brand of their machine.

Dell, HP, ASUS, Compaq, Lenovo, etc… all make some great machines but the trick is to understand how to maintain a computer.

Unfortunately nowadays no machine is clean and what I mean by this is that no machine really comes with a sqeaky clean install of the Operating System. Most vendors will install trial software and online offers and it has become quite a market tool for the major computer companies.

We’ll take an example and pick on Hewlett Packard. They have been in the business since before Mr. Tech was born. If you purchase an HP computer today you are guaranteed to have at least a dozen programs in there that you have no clue about or that you might never use. It’s sad but it happens daily and the consumer isn’t given a choice.

The only choice is to go and custom build a computer but that doesn’t attract too many users out there from either lack of knowledge on the subject, lack of time, or both.

At any rate, in a HP machine I serviced a few days ago there were so many programs running at startup that it took 10 minutes for the machine to actually start up. The OS? Windows XP Pro. The reason? HP loves money and not about efficiency of your machine. End result? Unhappy customer.

The irony of all this is that without all these “junk” programs that come in the machines I probably wouldn’t have a job or at least I wouldn’t have a lot of work to do on people’s computers.

Anyway, enough chit chat about one computer or another. The truth of the matter is that you need to clean up your machine whether you first got it or have had it for 5 years… the process is the same.

This step-by-step process is assuming that you have a Windows 2000 SP4 or a Windows XP machine that can actually turn on and can load windows properly. For Vista the process is similar but I’ll get to that eventually.

Start by going to START > RUN > Type: control > Press OK.

That will bring up the control panel as seen here…

Click the Add or Remove Programs

Now it’s time to remove “junk” | This category includes any software that you have installed and you know you don’t need anymore. If you don’t know what it is then please don’t remove it because for all we know it might be something important.

Protection Software: If you have Norton / McAfee / Verizon / AOL / Trend Micro… or any kind of malware protection suite that has been installed in the machine you will need to remove it. No I’m not crazy but I am insanely against any of the above software because I know first hand what they do to a machine. They provide such an intrusive protective infrastructure that it usually causes machine instability. On the Downloads section you will find a removal tool for Norton and AOL, while the other software can be removed from the Add/Remove Programs utility in Windows.

Once you’re done removing software you might have to restart. Do that and come back to this post

Are you back? OK! Now it’s time to get down and dirty…

NOTE: For Windows 2000 upgrade to Windows XP Professional and save yourself the hassle, but if you are a die hard fan then download the MSConfig.exe utility from the downloads section to be able to work with the utility.

Go to START > RUN > Type: MSCONFIG > Click OK

You will see this window…

Click on the services tab and check the [ Hide all Microsoft Services ] Option.

Now you’re in control of your system and what it can and cannot start up. Uncheck Machine Debug Manager if you see it and anything that has to do with the Anti-Virus software that you previously uninstalled. (Symantec, Trend, AOL, etc…)

Now click on the Startup tab. In my opinion you shouldn’t have any programs running at startup because you should be able to choose what program you would like to run. Because of this I say that you disable everything in there but that will be up to you. Click Disable All and then go through and see if you need something to startup (Like AIM or some program you use constantly) and check only that.

Click the OK button

It will automatically ask you to Restart. Click on Restart.

Once your machine has been restarted it will come up with a window stating you have used the Startup Configuration Utility. Check the box to make sure it doesn’t pop-up again and that’s that!

Your machine should be much faster and more responsive. Another post that is coming up will explain in detail how to tweak your windows settings to make it run faster. Stay tuned and don’t hesitate to comment or ask me anything.

There is always a need for good web directory script when you want to create a site which has a collection of sites in a particular niche or even an open directory like dmoz.

Paid options always exists and provide you much more features but if you are looking for free web directory software scripts, here are some choices:

• http://www.freephpdirectoryscript.com/: Runs using PHP4 and MySQL. Free to use but ofcource you have to have the “Powered by..” on all pages.
• http://www.freephpdirectoryscript.com/ODP/: if you are looking to create a complete directory from ODP/DMOZ then this is a good script to have.
• http://www.dataspheric.com/services/software/ls/” LinkSpheric is absolutely advertisement free and needs PHP, MySQL to run.
• http://scripts.site-sift.com/: Site Sift Listings is another free web directory software. The script is integrated for Paypal and 2Checkout.
• http://www.hotwebtools.com/TopSite/: Web Directory Script best suited for small and medium-sized Web portals. It allows visitors to vote on sites as well.
• http://www.alectang.com/wordpress-link-directory/: Wordpress Link Directory plugin
• http://www.nicecoder.com/indexu_whatis.php: IndexU has a free version but the free version only allows for 100 links. Uses PHP 5.1 or above and MySQL 4.0 and above.
• Sigsiu Online Business Index 2 (SOBI 2): SOBI 2 - Sigsiu Online Business Index 2 is a directory component for the WCMS Mambo and Joomla! to show entries of companies, clubs, persons, shops, products.

If you know of any other free directory script please leave a comment and we will check it out to include it here.

It is always recommended with AJAX solutions that you put href attribute of the link tag to the server side version of the same functionality and put the JavaScript in the onclick event for that link tag. That way users using your site will get the AJAX experience and the search engines will execute the server side version of the code (making your side SEO friendly)

Orca is an AJAX forum without AJAX problems. The “Back” button does work, bookmarks do work, permalinks do work and yes, it is search engine friendly. A dream solution for current web 2.0 applications.

A very nice explanation on how they have achieved this can be found at: Creating An SEO Friendly Site Using AJAX.

What I liked the most was their solution for the back button problem!

Technorati tags: AJAX, SEO, JavaScript, Orca, SEO Friendly, back button, permalinks, bookmarks

Popularity: 4% [?]

EA Mobile has announced availability of five new titles for Mobile devices. They are:

• The Sims 2 Castaway
• The Sims Pool
• Monopoly Here & Now
• Yahtzee Adventures
• Merv Griffin’s Crosswords

“EA Mobile continues to create and distribute games that compel potential customers to download and play games on mobile devices,” said Travis Boatman, Vice President of Worldwide Studios, EA Mobile. “The wide range of handsets, from everyday devices to sophisticated 3G phones, and the iPod, provide great platforms that foster and satisfy consumer demand for anytime entertainment.”

The games are available as of now only through American carriers but hopefully that will change soon. However, Yahtzee is available worldwide through iTunes as well.

Via Intomobile