icelava.net

Want to be a more knowledgable developer by setting Visual Studio's output window to automatically focus upon activating the Build process? So that you can observe real-time details on what happens behind the scenes with MSBuild and the compilers? Well, curses to you for wanting to know so much! You should remain an unmotivated uninterested ...

Dealing with software, real actual released, gone into production, gone live, working software, is a serious pain. Both as a user as well as a developer, I experience both sides of the coin and most certainly understand and empathise either. I know of the unsurmountable challenge of delivering software that works robustly within unreasonable ...

How is it that I frequently encounter chains of problems that arise out of the simplest of activities that stop me dead in my tracks trying to do my work? Seems like all these bugs all lie in wait to synchronise their actions and achieve a larger concerted effect to increase my suffering. What is the latest way to disable Windows Vista? Simple - ...

*shhhh* I am going to let you in on some secrets. Secrets on how to exploit some vulnerabilities in Windows Vista, thereby stalling the system, rendering in that frustrating despair of useleness. Sounds like fun, huh? Read on. Drag the taskbar around the screen. Yeap, it's that simple. Windows Vista occasionally trips and falls flat on its face ...

What a night this has been. Yup, here I am in the office, half past 12 midnight. And still battling with this nascent laptop to get SQL Server installed properly. Previously I had problems trying to get Analysis Services to start. I thought maybe - maybe - it could be that I am using Windows Vista Home Premium, instead of Business, Enterprise, or ...

So I could finally get my new computer to reboot with ease, and to actually resize the video window during playback; I thought things could simply get better from now on. What a foolish thought that was, for not taking past trends to predict the future. One of the incredibly entertaining aspects of Indian movies is the imperial edict thou shalt ...

It always amuses me when I watch shows of would-be escape-artists who skillfully avoid detection by security guards or manhunters with the arcane distraction technique of rock throwing. Such preoccupation with little disturbance objects almost makes me want to wear figure-hugging black leather catsuits and go on burglary adventures ...

Every parent knows those crushingly exciting and exhausting times. The family welcomes the cute little new member; a wonder bundle of pure joy. There is no greater satisfaction knowing there is the next generation who will carry on your good legacy + fallicies into the future. This joy includes spending many a subsequent night answering ...

And they've said, when you want to hit your enemy hard, hit them from all fronts. Nobody can properly defend blows to all sides. That's why ''outflanking'' is such a critical military strategy. But what happens when your enemy is plain bad luck? First, my bike has not been healthy of late. Just within two months, I have had the engine ''moaning'' ...

After decades technology experience, with well over 10 years of 32-bit Windows operating system development, I thought we were long past this. But nope, apparently Windows Vista with all its delays and quality gates spanning over 3 years, still breaks like a baby who has pooped its diapers at the most fundamental of computing activities. The ...

I knew it. My server, as with just about every other computing device i and my family (extended too) have owned, is ghosted. Deep within the depths of the soul lurks that ''dark seed'' - traumas from the past - those painful mental scars - that ever so whispers into the ear an evil intent and deed that-must-be-done. So when the ...

Looks like the Failure of The Pheonix theme, or virus, is spreading. I am slapped in the face by this same laptop again as I was a year ago.Nope, installing the OS all over on this pathetic piece of hardware does not safe it completely. Now that the adoption rate for the 2005 development solutions have picked up speed, I find myself quite often ...

I guess sometimes even a fresh OS reinstallation cannot undo the work of an anti-miracle. Or, cranky old hardware simply refuse to work properly no matter what. This laptop still exhibits bouts of CPU hijacking by svchost.exe once in awhile, although no where as bad as what it used to be with the old OS. I thought that is still within tolerable ...

In the past few days I tried suggestions in this forum discussion. I installed and ran a check with Windows Defender, and even uninstalled my anti-virus scanner. All in vain. So last night I finally scrubbed my hands with soap, put on the rubber gloves , and sharpened the scalpel that is Dell's Windows reinstallation CD. Only after realising and ...

Are computers like cheeky naughty children? Attempting to commit acts of mischief after observing the misconduct of others, and expecting to get away with it? That seems to be case with my personal laptop. A month after I managed to spank my company laptop into obedience, it tries to follow suit in a similar fashion and brings every process, not ...

And it would seem my company laptop was pretty determined to ensure my productivity is maintained at a steady level of zero. Returning back to work in June, after a much-needed recuperation, the new project I got assigned to brought somewhat a little excitement for me - and ETL project using SQL Server 2005's Integration Services. Whoopie! That ...

It's not just my personal and home zones that suffer. The work place (wherever, whatever it may be) is chock full of bird droppings that hit me out of nowhere. The most persistent case eversince i joined my latest company back in November must be the annoying copy of Windows XP and Visual Studio .NET 2003 installed in the supplied laptop. ...

Seems like this problem was caused by the Group Policy problem that i was simultaneously dealing with. UPDATE: It was all a big fat lie! The server was just acting nice to me at that moment. But after reunion dinner, it decided, ''oh heck it'' and started spewing out the same trash as before. And so my double trouble has both come back. UPDATE: ...

what have i done the past few days with the server? Nothing. Because I was too tired to work on it. And guess what, IE has returned back to its glory days, playing the Ignore game with me again. So I am doubly struck with a server that needs to be pampered. So I discarded faulty hardware + stable software for stable hardware + software that ...

I definitely need to give Agent Mulder a ring. My IE is able to steadily access MSDN Subscriptions, Passport, and Windows update now. What did I do recently? Other than to uninstall all beta installations of .NET Framework 2.0 products in a virtual instance of Windows 2003 within and apply Service Pack 1 to it? To be exact, what happened was a ...