If using SlickRun:  http://twitter.com/home?status=$W$

$W$ means to put parameters URL encoded there.  I’ve it mapped to a magicword of “tweet” so can send an update in SlickRun with: tweet wuzzup world!

See it in action:

This article is designed for computers running Windows 7 (or newer).  If you’re still running Windows XP or Windows Vista, read below as to why it’s about time to upgrade.

Why is my computer slow?

Here’s what’s going on…  to be productive you need a clean work environment with the tools you need at hand.  It’s like having a clean office with a desk, chair, and the few tools you need, right?  Right.  Unfortunately, as you’ve been busy using the computer and having ‘visitors’ (aka programs) to your office, it is becoming more and more cluttered to the point it’s counter productive.  Many of these these visitors are leaving behind a trail, their cousin Vinnie, to keep an eye on your business (aka startup apps or viruses).  Most of the time you don’t even notice this happening like you would in a real-life office, instead they’re just piling up behind the scenes.  Even fairly legitimate programs and websites will cause troubles if not protected against.

Don’t be Fooled!

Many Most of the “Free PC Scan” or “Speed My PC” tools like maxmyspeed.com, stuff advertised on TV, websites that state they’ll disinfect your computer, and the such are outright scams.  They prey on people’s fears and actually infect your computer with more viruses, malware, Trojans, and adware.  Wired Magazine had a good article about two entrepreneurs that built a ‘successful business’ off this practice: How Two Scammers Built an Empire Hawking Sketchy Software

How to Improve: Clean House & Be Secure

Generally a computer has slowed down because too much stuff has gotten into it.  So you need to remove stuff to get it back to optimum performance.  Just adding another “clean up” program isn’t going to help.  In fact, your computer already has some good cleanup programs on it.  You just need to take a few moments to use what’s already available.  The second part is keeping your computer secure and protected from bad programs getting on it in the first place.  Both are covered in this guide.

This Guide

Is meant to be as comprehensive as possible with all the little tips and tricks I’ve learned over the last 20+ years helping friends, family, my own PC, and managing an IT department at work.  It’s written in a style I hope helps an average computer user, like my uncles, but with some breadth in techniques that will hopefully provide a new angle or two to PC professionals.

Quick Performance Boost

While there are many things that can be done to help improve your computer’s speed, I’ve found just these two quick easy steps make the largest difference in most cases.

• Turn Off Automatic Startup Apps
  The single most effective task is to disable those pesky little programs that are starting up behind the scenes without your knowledge.  Effectively disabling those “cousin Vinnies” left behind by other apps will speedup boot time and free up processing power and memory.   Windows includes a program called msconfig.exe that makes it easy to disable these.  My recommendation is to start off disabling every startup program listed.  See how your computer goes.  If there’s something no longer running that you used, go back and turn it on.  Most of the apps there are to check for updates or make loading their parent programs a little faster.  Very rarely are any of them essential; and you can turn them back on at any time.  Doing this doesn’t actually remove anything from your computer, it just prevents them from automatically starting.  Your programs will still run when you actually need to use them.
  
  Run msconfig.exe
  
  
  Then disable startup items under the Startup tab.  All Windows core services needed to run your computer are run as Services (under that tab), so you don’t run a risk of disabling critical computer functions by turning off the items under the Startup tab.  You can also turn any of them back on at any time.
  
  
  For more detailed info, see this post: How to use MSCONFIG in Windows 7 
  
  p.s. There are some startup items that can be helpful, like if you have an iPhone there is a startup item that will automatically start iTunes when you plug your iPhone in.  Not actually necessary for the computer to work (you can start iTunes manually to sync your iPhone), but handy to leave active.
  
• Get a Better Browser
  Most people are using the Internet Explorer web browser because that’s what came with their PC.  Unfortunately it is prone to getting a lot of toolbars, clutter, adware, and other nasty stuff.  There’s even a term called “Toolbar Hell” to describe the extreme state of toolbar overload.  Even one toolbar can slow down your browser, start showing random popups, and install other bad programs.  Better all-together to switch to a different browser that doesn’t have this tendency, such as Google Chrome.  It is simple, fast, and clean.
  
  For a laugh, here’s an example of “Toolbar Hell”.  I’ve never personally seen a computer this bad, but in my experience even one of these toolbars is ‘too much’ and can wreck havoc on a computer.
  

Deep Cleaning

Beyond the above quick tips, here is the more compressive list of techniques to clean up the computer and protect against bad stuff from getting in.

• Hard Drive Space
  If your computer gets down to less then about 10% of disk space free, it can dramatically affect performance.  Imagine an office with only 10% working space available, you’d end up spending more time moving things around than getting stuff done.  In PC land, over 10% free space (like 20% or 30%) doesn’t really make a difference in speed so there’s no need to keep a whole lot of free space available, but it is something to keep an eye on.  Here’s how to check your drive’s free space, and tips to clean it up:
• Remove Temporary Files
  Your PC keeps lots of little bits of temporary files around that can be removed.  Windows has a program called Clean Manager (cleanmgr.exe).  It removes old left over files that can be safely removed.
  
  
  
• Remove Big Files
  WinDirStat is an awesome free little program that shows you visually at a glance what’s taking up space on your drive.
• Uninstall Unused Programs
  There are probably many programs installed on your computer you’re not even aware of.  Many apps install additional apps you probably didn’t want (called creepware).  Most PC manufactures install apps before you get the computer (called crapware); they even get paid kickbacks for doing it.  It is common to remove these as a first step in cleaning a computer.  I’ve put it further down my list since it’s actually the programs running that slows down the computer, which is addressed above.  Removing these programs still makes a difference, and can help the computer ‘feel more clean’ by removing popups, ads, and other annoyances.  Yes, even pre-installed anti-virus software is considered crapware, like a dandelion in a flower bed, it’s still considered a weed since it should be there (see below for a better anti-virus).  Here are instructions on how to remove programs.  My recommendation is to remove all of the programs you are not actively using.  They can always be added back later if really needed.  When provisioning new computers at work, we remove almost every program that came on pre-installed on the computer.  Note: This only removes legitimate well-behaved apps.  For viruses, malware, etc the other techniques below are required.
• Upgrade to a Modern OS: Windows 7 (or newer)
  If you’re not using the latest operating system, you don’t have the latest protection against intrusive programs and technology in keeping a computer fast.  For example, in Windows 7 (as compared to Windows XP), it does a number of things to help keep your computer optimized.  Such as automatically defragmenting the hard drive, pre-caching frequently used applications, supporting the latest hardware (like solid-state drives), and many improvements in security.  If your computer came with an old OS (like Windows XP or Windows Vista) then it’s probably a good idea to ditch the computer itself, since it’s so old anyway, and get a new computer.  (Windows XP was released in 2001, 11 yrs ago at the time of writing this, even Windows 7 was released in 2009, three years ago now)
• Power Settings: High-Performance
  Windows 7 by default is set to try to balance computer performance with power consumption.  This can be handy in a laptop running off battery, where battery life could trump performance.  Just choosing “High performance” is all that’s typically needed, particularly for desktop computers.  See Manage Power Settings
• Keyboard Speed: Decrease Repeat Delay
  There is a small setting in Windows to adjust how quickly the keyboard starts to repeat a key.  Just decreasing this time makes the keyboard can make the whole PC feel faster.  I’ve changed this one setting on people’s computers and they swear their computer is faster.  Particularly helpful when using the arrow keys to move the cursor.  1 min video: How to Increase Keyboard Speed
• Get a Faster Internet
  Most of the time spent on the computer these days is utilizing the Internet in some way.  A slow connection turns the world-wide-web into a world-wide-wait.  You can measure your connection speed at http://speedtest.net.  For normal web-browsing, I’d consider a fast connection to have: (1) a ping time of less than 30ms (the time it takes for a signal to get from your computer to a remote computer) and a download speed of about 4 Mbps or more (how wide your pipe is).  The better connections tend to be (in order): Verizon FIOS (fiber-optic, about 25 Mbps), AT&T U-verse Fiber, cable from a cable TV provider (usually 6 Mbps+), with other options avoidable if possible (DSL, dial-up, and wireless).  Just visit Verizon, AT&T, or the local cable company’s website or call them to find out if their service is in your area.
• Use a Reliable 3rd Party PC Cleaning Tools
  There are a few 3rd party applications that help further clean a PC that are well respected and reliable.  If the other tips here are applied, these typically give just a slight improvement.  Specifically CCleaner, used to be called “Crap Cleaner”, does what Clean Manager (cleanmgr.exe, above) basically does but cleans a few other areas as well.  It’s like a good flossing for the computer.  Be very careful here though, even previously legit cleaners like AdAware sometimes get purchased by scammers and turned into scams.
• Reinstall the Operating System
  When all else fails, there’s always the option of starting over fresh by clearing the hard drive and starting over again.  If the other practices here are used regularly this shouldn’t be needed, but if computer upkeep has been neglected, sometime this is the best way.  When doing so, remember:
1. Have your Windows CD or USB key on-hand
2. Write down the applications you use (you’ll re-install them after)
3. Back up your entire computer (at least all your data, but the whole thing is preferable)
4. Make sure your backup is thorough!
5. Boot from the Windows CD or USB key
6. Run through the windows installer.  When prompted for a drive to install to, choose Advanced options, delete the current drive, then continue the installer.  Windows will automatically create a new drive letter and install completely fresh and clean.
7. After Windows is installed, apply all the Windows Updates possible (keep rebooting and running Windows Update until it says there are no more updates and no reboot needed)
8. Re-install your programs and copy your data back over
9. Follow the other tips here to keep the system performance at top notch and keep it secure
• Stuff I Won’t Cover
  There are an endless number of small tweaks that trade computer experience for performance. Things like disabling certain visual elements or styles in Windows, removing hotfix installers, registry tweaks, etc. I find these to generally provide very little improvement in performance, reduce the experience of a nice modern computer, and even be detrimental to the computer’s stability in some cases.  I generally recommend avoiding them.

Use Protection

Your computer isn’t going to get fast or stay fast if it isn’t protected from malware sneaking into the computer in the first place.  Here are the essentials:

• Keep PC OS Up to Date: Automatic Updates
  Fortunately Microsoft does actually care, quite a bit, about your computer’s health. They are constantly looking out for any new vulnerabilities. Like keeping an eye on a huge dam holding back the bad programs from flooding your computer. MS is providing fixes to potential leaks before they’re a problem. If your computer isn’t set to automatically apply updates (which is free), the dam can break and bad stuff gets through. Many viruses these days take advantage of the fact many people don’t keep their computer updated and target those vulnerabilities after they’re found. See here about Windows Update and how to turn it on to apply automatically.
• Use a Decent Anti-Virus: Microsoft Security Essentials
  If you don’t have some anti-virus software on your computer is certainly less protected. Good anti-virus isn’t everything, but it does help. Like taking vitamin C helps, but you still don’t want to go walking down a dark scary ally downtown at 3am. Many anti-virus programs are just trying to dig deep into your pockets for cash or are more obtrusive than the viruses they try to protect you from. Norton Anti-Virus is that way, even McAfee can be troublesome. Thankfully Microsoft actually has a free, effective, completely innocuous solution called Microsoft Security Essentials. Just click that link to get it. They can’t bundle it in Windows by default due to concerns of the anti-virus companies suing them. But it is free, effective, and stays out of the way unless there’s a problem (like a good anti-virus should).
• Keep the User Account Control Turned On
  Windows 7 introduced the concept of “User Account Control” which prompts the user anytime a program tries to make a system change to the computer. Such as installing a program or changing a system file. By default this is turned on in Windows 7. Many admins turn this off (I do), but it really does help cut down on bad programs getting on your computer without you knowing it.
• Use the Web-of-Trust Browser Plugin
  This amazing little free plugin gives an indication of the reliability of the websites visited in real-time.  It can help protect your browser from going to sites known to have viruses.  http://www.mywot.com/ 
• Be Aware, Use Your Brain
  When it comes down to it, the most important step in keeping a computer secure and at top performance comes in being careful. Don’t open that suspicious email attachment. Even though it says “I Love You”, it doesn’t.  If it looks questionable on the web, it probably is.  If you feel your heart rate increase when seeing a website saying it detected a virus on your computer or your PC is infected, run away!  Those sites will infect your computer.  If you’re seeing popup ads when using your computer, it’s already infected, get it clean fast before it gets worse.

Upgrading Hardware

If you’re really looking for a more drastic change, improving your computer’s hardware of course helps.  I’d certainly recommend applying the above before making hardware changes as if the computer isn’t clean already, just throwing more hardware at it may not make a difference.  A computer has three main hardware components affecting speed:

• Processor (or CPU)
  The brains.  How fast your computer can think.  Generally it’s not something you upgrade unless getting a new computer.  Most CPUs these days are quite fast enough for general use, particularly the Intel i5, i7, or newer.
• Memory (or RAM)
  The easiest to improve in most computers is the memory. Taking a system from 2 GB (gigabytes) to 4 GB of RAM can make a noticeable difference in Windows 7!  See: Find out how much RAM your computer has   This upgrade isn’t all that expensive these days, around $40.
• Storage (or hard drive)
  This is where programs and data are stored (pictures, video, etc).  It’s not just about how much you can store these days, but how fast can it be retrieved.  In my opinion, this is the single most effective piece of hardware to upgrade to improve performance (assuming the other factors are reasonable).  Replacing a standard drive with a Solid-State-Drive (SSD) makes a huge difference.
  
  Here is a simple comparison.  The first pic is a benchmark of a standard “high speed” laptop drive at 7200 RPM.  The second pic is of the Crucial 512 GB M4 SSD I replaced it with.
   
  As you can see, it has a 3x faster sequential read and 171x faster “4K QD32” write speed (which means data is written in various locations across the disk).  And this is an older SSD with faster drives now available.  See Jeff Atwood’s blog post on The Hot/Crazy Solid State Drive Scale if you need more convincing. Bang for the buck, if you’ve got an okay computer, a SSD drive will kick it into a turbo awesome computer.
  
  This is upgrade can be expensive.  See Newegg’s SSD section for current pricing.  Crucial, Intel, and Vertex are excellent SSD brands.  Not all SSDs are fast!  In fact some are slower than regular hard drives.  Check reviews and generally those brands are the fastest and most reliable.  SSDs do fail more often than a classic HDD, so make sure you have a reliable regular automated backup in place (which is recommended anyways since all drives will fail, it’s just a matter of when).
• Check the Experience Index
  Okay this doesn’t actually speed up your computer, but it can tell you where what the hardware bottleneck on computer could be. Here’s how to check the rating, info from Microsoft about it, and what my mid-line MacBook Pro 13” w Windows 7 experience index is for a totally non-benchmark reference.

Concluding

Just by playing it safe from the start by using Windows 7 can keep the computer in a clean optimal state.  The basics are: disable startup items, uninstalling crapware, have automatic updates turned on, install Microsoft Security Essentials, use a clean browser like Google Chrome, and be mindful of not letting questionable programs onto your computer.  While there are more scams and viruses than ever before, good computer maintenance is also easier and keeps a computer in top shape better than ever.

Other Resources

Here are additional resources if you’d like to learn more…

• Scott Hanselman on What geeks need to tell our parents about shopping online safely and securely
• The How-to-Geek Blog on Simple Tips to Reduce Disk Usage in Windows 7

If I’m missing anything or you have another favorite tweak, let me know in the comments.

I only use my laptop and am frequently traveling, suspending the laptop, or using a MiFi hotspot ($$$ over 5GB) and so don’t want to download torrents, or even run a torrent client, on my primary machine.  Instead I’d prefer to be able to select torrents at anytime from my primary machine, and have a remote server downloads the files.  My remote server is at home with a high-bandwidth fiber connection and is running 24/7.  This way wherever I’m at, I can select torrents from my laptop and they’ll be downloaded fast at home.

There are a few very small helper apps I created for this.  They use the Microsoft .NET 4 runtime, so please install that first if not already on your computer.

Download these supporting apps and source here: TorrentTools.7z

.torrent Files

For .torrent files, the process is relatively simple with Dropbox, uTorrent and just a small tool.

Setup Instructions:

1. Install Dropbox on both computers to keep a folder in sync.  We’ll call this “dropbox\Torrents\Autoload”.
2. Install uTorrent on the remote server and set it’s autoload watch folder to the same.
3. Last step is to get the .torrent file automatically moved into that autoload folder when it’s clicked in the browser.  To do this, on the primary machine when clicking on a .torrent file, the browser will ask what program to open the file with, tell it to always open .torrent files with this little tool: MoveTorrentFile.exe.  First open the MoveTorrentFile.exe.config file in a text editor and set the “TargetDirectory” setting to the folder in #1.

That’s it.  Now when you click a .torrent file link in your browser the remote server will start downloading it.  See it in action (opens an about one minute video as a link)…

Magnet Links

Many torrent sites use the newer magnet uri scheme instead of .torrent files.  This is a little trickier to offload than just the .torrent files, but another tool or two makes this easy.  In this case we’ll use the same general technique above, but put the magnet links into files that Dropbox will move over and then have an app that opens the link files on the remote server.

Setup Instructions:

1. Follow steps #1 and #2 from above.
2. Now when clicking a magnet: link in the browser, we want to capture the link into a file that Dropbox will move across.  That’s what the MagnetLinkToFile.exe tool does.  Edit the MagnetLinkToFile.exe.config file’s TargetDirectory property to point to your autoload directory.  Run it once and it’ll register itself to handle magnet: URI links.  Then you can click a magnet: link in a browser and it will put the link into a .magnet file in the autoload directory.
3. On the remote server, run OpenMagnetLinkFiles.exe which monitors the target folder for .magenet files created by the above.  Before running, set the WatchDirectory property in its OpenMagnetLinkFiles.exe.config file to the autoload directory.  When it finds a .magnet file, it runs the marnget: link inside the file then deletes the .magnet file.  uTorrent registers a “magnet:” handler when installed, so it’ll then start downloading the torrent.

Misc Tips

• Always run OpenMagnetLinkFiles.exe
  To get OpenMagnetLinkFiles.exe to always run on my remote server, I put a shortcut to the app in the Startup folder.  Then set the shortcut properties to run it minimized.  Also used autologon to have Windows automatically login on reboot.  You could alternatively use Windows Task Scheduler if you’d prefer not to run it under a user account.
• Torrent Client on Primary Machine
  If you do want to have a torrent app on the primary machine, but use this technique as the default, then… In step #3 up top, the torrent client will probably have already registered itself to open .torrent files.  So to redirect the app that opens them, find a .torrent file, right-click and choose “Open with…”, select MoveTorrentFile.exe and choose to “always open with this program”.

Conclusion

I’ve been using this technique for awhile now.  I’d be very interested in learning if you’ve tried this or done something similar.  Please leave a comment if so.  thanks

Update (5/18/2012): Wil Wheaton shows another good example of the usefulness of bittorrent for entirely legal purposes

Use a Timer to Dampen Event Triggers

Example Code

Closing Remarks

A few months back Brian Harry (MS Technical Fellow and Program Unit Manager of TFS) asked me if he could include my Search Work Items VS addin in the TFS Power Tools.  It’s awesome seeing it here now!

A little back story…  I originally created the addin while we were working on VS 2008.  I had heard the passion our head of Team System at the time Andrew Kass talk about the need for providing some level of work item search.  It wasn’t something our VSTS team was able implement in a more fully supported way at the time.  So that evening in about two hours I coded up this little vs addin and put it up on MSDN.  It was the #1 download for about a month and has continued to be popular.  Thanks to the community on CodePlex others have kept it up to date.

Differences… now I will say that my addin does have a few differences

• Ability to edit what field are being searched on. Typing “—template” will open the work item query used
• Jumps directly to a work item if a number is specified, like 993. Team Explorer already has a feature for that in Go To Work Item (Ctrl+G) so that’s not really important, but I put it in so there was was a visual way to click and type a work item number to jump to
• The Search Work Items box also shows up in the “Team” main menu so if you don’t like toolbars (I turn mine all off), then you can still find it
• An finally, the addin has a registered VS Command, Team.SearchWorkItems, so you can assign a keyboard shortcut to jump to the box (I use Ctrl+Alt+S)

References 

• Team Foundation Server Power Tools December 2011 Update
• Search Work Items for VS2010 in the Visual Studio Gallery
• Search Work Items source code home on CodePlex
• Original blog post from when Search Work Items was released

In conclusion, a big thanks goes out to the TFS team for asking me and putting the feature into the MS sponsored Power Tools package.  I hope more TFS users are able to be more productive because of it.  :)

This is a new blog I’ve started as an outlet for political, religious, NSFW, and other random bits and bytes.  If you’re interested in keeping tabs on the other half of my mind not suited for the mainstream, this is where it’ll be. » Zulu Hour

But not so this time!  I’ve been using Windows Home Server (WHS) which automatically backups my PC every night and recovery was a breeze!  For the first time ever I was able to get back up and running in about just 1 hr.  WHS does nightly ‘bare metal’ backups which it can restore the entire system to a  new drive.  This is the first time I can say in my 20+ yrs w computers that I’ve had a backup system fully restore my system perfectly.  The time savings and frustration alone was well worth the cost.

What had turned me onto WHS in the first place was the file storage capabilities.  The ability to add any number of drives to a single storage pool with redundancy and not requiring RAID (not in WHS 2011 I’m told).  I didn’t expect the backup to work as advertised, but it sure did.

p.s. This post was written just after the HDD crash but was posted later.  I now use Windows Home Server exclusively in a Hyper-V VM which is working out fantastically well.

Shouts go out to Scott Hanselman for turning me onto the HP MediaSmart Server and this post Virtualizing Windows Home Server On Hyper-V for the encouragement to move my WHS to a Hyper-V environment (highly recommended).

http://coad.net
http://facebook.com
http://noahcoad.com

1. Use a loss-less codec.  It is annoying to see video of a screen that is too small or fuzzy to see clearly.  It is poor form when a loss-less codec would look perfect.  Jing and Camtasia support loss-less recording (careful w Camtasia’s output, choose ‘original resolution’ when producing).
2. Recorded simple, clear, verbal instructions along with the video.
3. Drop your screen resolution as low as possible, 800×600 if you can (1024×768 if not) or resize an app to the minimum size needed and record just that app’s area.  It keeps the watcher focussed, reduces wasted visual space, and makes it easy for them to watch the video.
4. Make sure the mic level is set appropriately so that on playback the volume isn’t too low or too strong (how to vid).
5. Prep everything ahead of time for a smooth video focused on exactly and only the topic at hand.  Reset states, settings, and apps before each new take.  Do not record boring or obvious steps like repeatedly logging into a website or launching an app that takes awhile to load.
6. Watch the video yourself and imagine you’re someone that’s never seen this before, is it simple, clear, interesting, and easy to understand without being boring?

1. Use a good quality external microphone.  Even a $20 unit from Best Buy will produce significantly better audio than what’s in the laptop.  Like this $20 Logitech USB mic on amazon.  Or get a great mic, like the Samson CO1U USB condenser mic (I use the Samson CO3U).
2. Remove your hand from the mouse when not purposely clicking on something so that the mouse doesn’t move (which is distracting).
3. Keep videos as short as absolutely possible, people’s attention span is very short.  The shorter the video the more they’ll remember and happier they’ll be.
4. Verbally tell the listener what to click on as you click.  Even though it should be obvious because you’re doing it in the video, telling the user brings their attention to it.  Like “We click on ‘File’, ‘Save As’, then type the name MyApp.config and hit enter.”
5. Pause momentarily before and after clicking, to let the person focus and understand what you’re moving onto next.
6. Use the mouse to draw the watcher’s attention to a part of the screen as you tell them about it.  People’s eyes will naturally follow the mouse and they won’t really be listening while it’s moving.  Don’t move the mouse unintentionally as it is quite distracting.
7. Give a <10 sec intro at the start to state the what and why about the video.  Like “This is John Smith and I’m going to show you how to disable Windows Explorer file expansion.”
8. Use a title screen.  Like a single PowerPoint slide in full-screen with the title of the video or even just notepad or Word with the font enlarged.
9. It may take 3, 6, or more attempts to get the video ‘right’, but it’s worth it.  Keep going until it’s right, smooth, and tight.
10. Grab a co-worker to view a draft of the video to get their feedback and refine your style before sending more broadly.  A second pair of eyes can turn up a lot, particularly if they regularly record videos too.
11. Don’t use superfluous words, sentences, or phrases (like “um”).  Keep the verbiage very focused on what’s actually needed.  These may be normal and mostly overlooked in casual conversation but are amplified and stick out like a sore thumb when recorded.  The clarity of speech is also a direct indication of the presenter’s competence.
12. Have fun!  Make it sound like you’re interested in the topic.  If you’re not interested, the listener won’t be.

1. Get the Tools
   Have a master AutoHotKey hotkey file and set PowerShell to autoload my little
   iTunes.ps1
   library on PowerShell startup.  With these two it makes it real easy to assign hotkeys to various iTunes commands.
2. Create a “PlayHotkey” Playlist in iTunes
   Just a playlist to be kicked off when the hotkey is pressed.  I’ve got mine set to shuffle unplayed tracks.
3. Add AutoHotkey Line
   What enables this line to be so simple is that there is a
   itPlaylist
   function in the above
   iTunes.ps1
   file that gets auto loaded as part of step 1.
   

   ; Play Music NOW with Win+Alt+P
   #!p:: Run powershell -command (itPlaylist('PlayHotkey')).PlayFirstTrack(),,Hide

My full script: MediaKeys.ahk
Related posts: Hotkey to Play/Pause/Next iTunes Tracks, Hotkey to Rate an iTunes Track 

p.s. Another option is to just launch Pandora with a hotkey.

Below is the script that will assign these keys:

• Play/Pause: Win+Alt+Space or Win+Alt+Left
• Next Track: Win+Alt+Right
• Volume Up: Win+Alt+Up
• Volume Down: Win+Alt+Down

AutoHotkey makes this real easy! Just add this to your .ahk AutoHotkey file:

; Media Keys AutoHotkey Script by Noah Coad, started in 2008, http://coad.net

; #=Win ^=Ctrl +=Shift !=Alt

; Volume Up & Down, Win+Alt+Up & Win+Alt+Down
#!Up::  send {Volume_Up}
#!Down::  send {Volume_Down}

; Media Pause/Play, Win+Alt+Space or Win+Alt+Left
#!Space::
#!Left::
Media_Play_Pause::
  IfWinExist, iTunes ahk_class ITWindow
  {
    ControlSend ahk_parent, {shift}
    sleep 100
    ControlSend ahk_parent, ^{space}
  }
  else
  {
    Suspend On
    SendPlay {Media_Play_Pause}
    Suspend Off
  }
return

; Media Next, Win+Alt+Right
#!Right::
Media_Next::
  IfWinExist, iTunes ahk_class ITWindow
  {
    ControlSend ahk_parent, {shift}
    sleep 100
    ControlSend ahk_parent, ^{right}
  }
  else
  {
    Suspend On
    SendInput {Media_Next}
    Suspend Off
  }
return

Here is my full script: MediaKeys.ahk
Related posts: Hotkey to Rate an iTunes Track, Hotkey to Instantly Play Music in iTunes

Just download, unpack, and drag & drop the .m4r (AAC MP4 audio) files into iTunes and they’ll show up in the Library > Ringtones section and sync to your phone.

I used GoldWave to edit the sound to the right length and this PC World article for the tip on using iTunes to convert MP3 into AAC.

1. Get the Tools
   Have a master AutoHotKey hotkey file and set PowerShell to autoload my little
   iTunes.ps1
   library on PowerShell startup.  With these two it makes it real easy to assign hotkeys to various iTunes commands.
2. Add the AutoHotkey Lines
   What enables this line to be so simple is that there is a
   itPlaylist
   function in the above
   iTunes.ps1
   file that gets auto loaded as part of step 1.

   ; Rate the currently playing song 1 to 5 stars with Win+Alt+#
   #!1:: Run powershell -command (itunes).CurrentTrack.Rating = 20,,Hide
   #!2:: Run powershell -command (itunes).CurrentTrack.Rating = 40,,Hide
   #!3:: Run powershell -command (itunes).CurrentTrack.Rating = 60,,Hide
   #!4:: Run powershell -command (itunes).CurrentTrack.Rating = 80,,Hide
   #!5:: Run powershell -command (itunes).CurrentTrack.Rating = 100,,Hide

That’s it!  Then with just one keystroke you can rate the current song from any app without switching over to iTunes.

My full script: MediaKeys.ahk 
Related posts: Hotkey to Instantly Play Music in iTunes, Hotkey to Play/Pause/Next iTunes Tracks 

1. Tools Dir & Env Var
   I keep a general
   Tools
   directory on my machine with command line tools, scripts, etc and so set a system environment variable called
   tools
   that points to this directory.
2. Run Unsigned Scripts
   Run
   set-executionpolicy bypass
   once in each environment (cmd shell and ISE) to allow easy execution of unsigned scripts.
3. Profiles Auto-Load Script
   PowerShell supports profiles with an auto-load script on PowerShell start up.  Simply put the files
   Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1
   (for basic shell) and
   Microsoft.PowerShellISE_profile.ps1
   (for the GUI) in your
   %UserProfile%\Documents\WindowsPowerShell
   directory. These will be run on PowerShell startup.
4. Consolidate Scripts
   The only line I have in these files is:
   ."${env:tools}\PSScripts\PowerShellEnvironment.ps1"
   to launch my ‘real’ script. This make it easier to manage, with only one file that’s near my other powershell scripts instead of the two separate scripts above.
5. Chain ‘autoload’ Scripts
   Then it helps to separate into individual scripts various aspects of your environment setup.  Like a script for aliases, itunes, functions, regular expressions, favorite assemblies, etc.  So I have an ‘autoload’ directory with these scripts in them to chain load. Here are the contents of
   PowerShellEnvironment.ps1
   :

# directory where my scripts are stored
$psdir="${env:tools}\PSScripts"

# load all 'autoload' scripts
get-childitem "${psdir}\autoload\*.ps1" | %{.$_}

Write-Host "Custom PowerShell Environment Loaded"  

6. My ‘autoload’ Scripts
   Here is a snapshot of my autoload directory of scripts in case you’d be interested.  PowerShellScripts-autoload.7z

That’s all there is to it.  One of the reasons for putting this out there is so that I can now reference it from other posts too.  :)

• Free Books List (fiction, non-fiction, business, advice)
• Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith (7 book series, all free)
• Classic Authors: Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. G. (Herbert George) Wells, Lewis Carroll, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens
• Physics: Relativity: the Special and General Theory, Five of Maxwell’s Papers, The New Physics and Its Evolution
• Baen Free Library, you can email books from this free library to your Kindle
• also worth listing $0.99 Books, Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Collection ($0.99)

Of course if you don’t have a Kindle, don’t walk, run to get a Kindle 3G now or get the app for just about any other device. :)

There is a registry setting that will automatically log your Windows PC into an account when booting up.  Of course this is handy if you’re the only one using your computer and are not overly concerned with security.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"DefaultDomainName"="<if you have a domain, put it here>"
"AutoAdminLogon"="1"
"DefaultUserName"="<your username here>"
"DefaultPassword"="<your password here>"

Just put that into a .reg file or download this template AutoLogin.7z, modify to your needs, then run the .reg file to import the setting.

Update (7/11/2011): For those that use the advanced command interpreter Take Command (formally 4NT), here is a handy little batch script that makes this easy with user prompts.  AutoLoginBatch.7z

Update (7/31/2011 via @intellitect): Microsoft has a tool for this as part of the sysinternals collection called autologon.exe.  It’s super easy.

I’ve got about a dozen main pages that I rapidly switch between, like my work TO DO list, personal TO DO, my list of topics to cover with people when I talk to them, blog topics list, my Stream of Conciousness pages, etc.  With this tip it’s just one hotkey to any of those pages at anytime (not just within OneNote).

The magic lies with the fact that OneNote rocks when it comes to being able to link to tabs, pages, or paragraphs.  Just right-click on any of these to “Copy Link to _____”.  Then use AutoHotKey (open source, my review) to assign a hotkey to that link.  As an example, here are two of my links in my hotkeys.ahk file that runs at Windows startup/login.  I use Win+Shift+<letter> for my OneNote pages.  Like Win+Shift+T for my TO DO list.  

So if you use OneNote much and like hotkeys, give this a try.  I use these hotkeys many dozens of times a day.  Also don’t forget to check out the OneNote iOS app and the ability to share OneNote notebooks with others.

Update (7/20/2011): If there are spaces in the path to your notebook, AutoHotKey won’t like the %20 used to represent a space.  So just replace %20 with a space, for example “…OneNote%20Notebooks…” would be “…OneNote Notebooks…”.

1. Consistently be reading a book for work and for personal enjoyment
   Always have two books you’re working through.  One to improve your occupation and skills, and one just to enjoy reading.  Read them all the way through (if they’re worth your time) and move on to the next. Keep enjoying life and learning through reading.
2. Copy people you admire, listen to, and learn from them
   Have a few people you can specifically name that you admire, respect, and endeavor to learn from.
3. Write Things Down
   “Nothing helps your critical thinking process more than writing down.”, it focuses your thinking and energizes your ability to think. Include pros & cons for decisions, keep an active action items list, and list your goals both big and small (especially for the people you’re working with)
4. Stop and Think
   Meditate 5-10 minutes every day. Stop and really think.  How you want to improve yourself?  What are your goals?  And what are your next steps to achieve those goals?
5. Love People
   Care for people.  Invest in people.  Be there for people when things go wrong.  Friends are the best social safety network.  If you’re there for people when they need you, they’ll be there for you. 

Ice Dawgz Hockey Team (my team)

The general rule of thumb is: Don’t list something on your resume unless you really know it.  Avoid Lingo Bingo.  Seriously, just because someone has used a tool casually or occasionally coded against an API doesn’t necessarily mean they really know it. If a typical developer could learn it in a day, don’t list it. If you don’t feel comfortable demonstrating a depth of understanding on a topic, don’t list it.

Warning Signs: The Buzz-Word List

• Frameworks: Be prepared to explain the key architectural components of frameworks listed (like WCF, ASP.NET MVC, MVVM, MEF, …) and why they’re important. For example, don’t list WCF if you’ve just used VS to connect to a web service as any joe dev could learn in a day. List WCF it if you know its ABC architecture and could write a chat service using WCF from a command line app, or do something else particularly interesting.
• Languages: If multiple languages are listed, like “Java” and “C#” be ready to be asked “what are fundamental language differences between the two languages?” (not just syntax, buy keywords and concepts). Like properties, interpretation of generics, multiple inheritance, partial classes, properties, delegates, etc. Same goes for VB.NET & C#. If you’ve used them in the same way, why list them separately?
• Versions: If you list separate .NET framework versions (like 1.0 to 4.0) then you should know differences between them, otherwise you’ve just used “.NET”. Same goes for languages, don’t list C# versions unless you can tell the differences between them, otherwise you just use C#.
• Specific Techs: If DHTML is listed, be expected to explain the difference between HTML and DHTML. If you list CSS, know pseudo elements, selectors, multiple classes, inheritance priority, etc. LINQ means you understand extension methods, expression trees, etc.
• Phrases: “Excellent Communicator”, “Project Planner”, “Organization Skills”, should have real, specific, damn good examples to back them up if listed. More often than not when I find these on a resume it shines a spotlight on an area that’s normally a challenge for the individual. Much better to list how those skills have been used in practice, like “Organized a team of 10 developers through the project planning phases of dozens of products over 5 years” or “written >30 product specifications, instructional documents, and FAQs”
• Once vs Frequent: Stuff done one time or here or there doesn’t count for much (unless it’s something totally awesome!). It’s better to focus on patterns and things done consistently.
• Methodologies: All software is done under some methodology, even it if doesn’t appear like it sometimes. No real need to list one unless it’s particularly unique or your into improving the methodology. Just meeting 15 min a day is not SCRUM. If I see “Agile” I’ll ask “so what does it really mean to develop software in an Agile way”. Many candidates can’t contrast Agile or SCRUM with other common development methodologies.
• Source Code Control: All developers these days are expected to use source code control of one type or another. It doesn’t really matter on a resume unless you consider yourself an expert in a SCC tool, so don’t be listing subversion or TFS (if you use it only for SCC).
• Bug Tracking: Same here, for the most part entering bugs or tracking issues is common and can be eliminated. It’s worth mentioning if you’ve actually worked on defining the bug tracking fields, put real though into it, analyzing data from the bug DB, and have skilz in that area.
• Super Basics: All developers are expected to have worked with basic technologies like SCC, DLLs, files, Windows (if in .NET), XML, etc. Don’t list them unless you rock in a way worth telling.
• Funny Terms: The way the buzz-words are listed is funny sometimes, like “C# .NET”. Wow, really, you’ve done C# in .NET? Or wait a minute… isn’t C# only done in .NET? (well technically .NET is Microsoft’s branding for C#, the BCL, and CLR, but hey, if someone told me that I’d be impressed)

Keys to Remember

• A Resume is a Quick Intro: The resume is just your entry into the door and springboard for discussion. You get hired on actual evaluation by the recruiter of your skills, experience, and communications. Let’s hope this includes some actual coding to.
• List Standouts: List things that make you stand out. Like writing Visual Studio plugins (if you’ve done it a number of times and really know what it takes), contributing to open source, a Stack Overflow rating to be proud of, etc.
• Less is More: If you list “just a lot of stuff” the gems will get lost in the noise. State just the things you really know and are particularly proud of.
• Still want buzz-words? If you still feel compelled to place lots of buzz-words on a resume for search engines or because that headhunter is pushing you to do so, add a “keywords” section to the bottom of the resume. Or another option is to list at the top “Competencies:” with what you really know and have a “Worked With: ” section for other buzz-words.
• Simple Explaination Test: “If you can’t explain something simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” – Albert Einstein, and it is so true, and “explaining something simply” means conveying why and how it’s important in a clear and concise way.
• Just be honest. Dead honest. It really does show.

p.s. For context… my last resume was one-page with relatively little text, mostly clean colorful use of whitespace, and only listed stuff I truly felt competent in. It landed me a job on the Microsoft Visual Studio Platform team. Now I’m reviewing dozens of resumes a month, and generally the more of these all-too-common pitfalls I see on a resume, the less competent the candidate tends to be.

Focus your resume to be a tool highlighting your best skills and spark a meaningful discussion with a future employer.

They have great clarity and for the price are unbeatable.  They’re not marketed as having enhanced bass, but do have a strong bass response.  The mids are clean.  While they do have clear highs, they’re slightly biased towards the mid-to-lower range.  They’re built sturdy with a very long cord.  The ears muffs can pop off in case of kids playing with them (which is good) and easily snap back.  They’re okay on the comfort level, not all-day type of phones, but decent for a few hours at a time.  They’re definitely ahead of the curve for the price.

These are now my standard household headphones since I don’t have to watch them like a hawk (like some of my other headphones), and I’ve established them as my company’s standard issue.  If you’re interested in getting a decent pair of headphones at a great price, this is a good option.

I also own a pair of Sennheiser HD 555 which are more comfortable, cost 4x as much, and while may have a more flat/even response, these HD 202s have more ‘punch’.  The HD 202s also have more response across the sound spectrum than my $300 Boss QuiteComfort 15 (which shouldn’t be a surprise since the Boss are first designed to be noise cancelling which does affect the sound).   Also many other headphones which I’ll blog about later.  Combined with free 2nd day shipping using Amazon Prime (totally recommended) and the fact they’re easy to return if you don’t like them, it’s a fantastic deal.

So the solution?  http://tungle.me is a very useful (and free!) site that addresses just this issue.  With my tungle.me link http://tungle.me/noahcoad, people can see my work availably in real-time.  They have a little app that keeps the online calendar synced with my Outlook Calendar.  I just ask people in email now “http://tungle.me/noahcoad shows my availably, please propose a few times that work for you using that link”.  They click the link, select a few times that work for them, tungle.me send me their proposed times, I pick one, meeting scheduled.

A few other notes:

• Back at Microsoft my meetings were mostly internal and we all used Outlook so it was easy to see and schedule meetings within Outlook.  This solution is geared to working with people outside your organization.
• I have noticed a few glitches in the Outlook sync tool, particularly with reoccurring meetings that come from others, so you occasionally need to make sure it’s in sync.
• Not everyone is going to be familiar or comfortable with the tool at first so it does take a little educating sometimes, but it is still far easier for both parties.
• Office Live used to have a way to publish an Outlook Calendar, but the feature was abandoned.  That was a read-only solution anyway and tungle.me looks nicer.
• I also use an AutoHotKey AutoReplace string so that it’s quick and easy to insert the link into an email.  I just type ]tme and it’s replaced with the link.

Video Link: http://screencast.com/t/AlDQhcJ81

(Update) Also if you’re using Google Chrome, check out the Add to Wish List extension that makes it real easy to add any product on the web to your list.  Thanks to William Reading for reminding me.

Playing At the Gates of Loyang at the Dallas Games Marathon w David Stern and other cool cats. It’s new, popular, and good fun.