There are many excellent software utilities available for Windows. There are also many other utilities that have great potential, but missed the mark because of poor program design. I am careful about the impact a program has on my computer. Sometimes programmers fail to realize that I use my computer for many tasks besides occasionally running their program. I may only run their program once a month and I expect their software to maintain a small footprint on my computer.
Rules for Well Behaved Window’s Utilities
Written by BobW on August 20th, 2010Run Windows on Multiple Domains and IP addresses The Easy Way
Written by BobW on June 5th, 2010If you plug your laptop into different corporate networks as I do, you might run into some common Windows network problems.. I will share my solutions to these problems. Since I am an Embedded Systems consultant, I frequently take my laptop computer with me when I visit clients. I connect to my clients networks for internet access. I may also need a static IP on a different subnet to talk to the development hardware project I am working on. The first problem I face is that Windows does not have a way to set up a computer with multiple IP addresses, unless you have multiple network adapters. When I connect to the development network which is isolated from their internal network, I loose internet access. Switching back and forth between networks is not very practical. The second issue is that Windows only allows computers to be part of a single Windows Domain (different from Windows Workgroups). Each client has a different domain to connect to and switching domains is even more problematic.
Free Utility Disables Trackpad While Typing
Written by BobW on May 19th, 2010If you have used a laptop computer you have probably run into this problem. You are typing on your laptop and your wrist accidentally touches the trackpad. Of course, you don’t realize it until you look back at your screen and see that you have just deleted a section of your code or accidentally overwritten your last 20 minutes of work in your Word document. If this has ever happened to you, then you will love this free utility, Touchfreeze.
Using High Energy Protons, FPGAs and Firmware, to Kill Cancer
Written by BobW on May 6th, 2010One of the benefits of being a medical device consultant is the opportunity to work with new technologies that can make a difference in peoples lives. One of our newest projects may provide a superior treatment for many types of cancer.
Why you should Avoid Checksums and Use CRCs Instead
Written by BobW on April 20th, 2010
Error detection is an important consideration for the designers of embedded systems. When the computer in your spacecraft sends a message to the main engine to shut off, it is important to make sure the message is received correctly. You want to make sure it can tell the difference between commands to, turn on, turn off, and self destruct. You might choose to use a “standard CRC algorithm” to guarantee the integrity of your data transmission. However, you might be surprised to find out how many “standard algorithms” there are. Here is some information to help you choose your implementation wisely.
How to Add Graphics in Doxygen PDF files
Written by BobW on April 15th, 2010In a previous post, “Document Your Software the Easy Way with Doxygen”, I discussed how to use Doxygen to create documentation for you software project. This post shows you how to add graphics to the PDFs generated by Doxygen.
Use Google Voice to Update Your ToDo List
Written by BobW on April 13th, 2010Have you ever noticed that your best ideas come when you have left the office, are driving your car, or are walking the dog? Maybe you just remembered that you need to send flowers for your Mom’s birthday. Don’t lose those inspirational ideas and ToDo items.
Document Your Software the Easy Way with Doxygen
Written by BobW on April 12th, 2010Many software developers like writing code but hate writing documentation for it. There is a free program called Doxygen that can generate the documentation for you and safe you time and heartache.
Free Windows Graphical App combines ipconfig, route, netstart commands
Written by BobW on April 9th, 2010IpConfig, ipconfig, netstat, and traceroute are very useful command line utilities built into Windows. They can be used to debug problems with network adapters, internet connections, DHCP and so on. Here is a Free tool that gives you the functionality of ipconfig, netstat, traceroute in a graphical format and you don’t have to remember all of those command line switches. Click to continue »
Windows 7 Tip: Elevated Command Prompt Anywhere
Written by BobW on April 8th, 2010When running Windows 7, I found that I really missed the Window XP Power Toy, Command Prompt Here. It allows you to open up a command prompt in a specific directory from Windows Explorer by pointing to the directory and right clicking. This was very useful when I needed to run a console program or script from a specific directory. Well, I found out that this feature is now built into Windows 7, along with some extra goodies. Check it out! Click to continue »
Subscribe to RSS Feed