Friday, August 18, 2006

Disabling Windows XP Startup Programs

Is your computer taking too much time to startup?
Is your computer loading unnecessary programs in the system tray in the boot process?

If you are using Windows XP than I have a simple cure for you. (Disclaimer: Please use the following instructions at your own risk. I am not responsible if this causes any problems with your system.)

  • Click Start
  • Run
  • Type msconfig in the dialog box and click OK
  • System configuration utility dialog box should show up
  • Click on the Startup tab
  • You should now see all the startup items checked in a list
  • Uncheck all the unnecessary items you don’t want to load at the system startup
  • Please do not uncheck the virus protection programs from the list
  • Click OK
  • Restart your machine

I disabled Yahoo Messenger and Kodak Easyshare camera software starting up at the boot up process by following the above instructions. I do not use Yahoo messenger everyday, and I only load pictures from my camera once every couple of months. I do not need these two programs starting up every time I boot up my computer.

Does this instruction work out for you? Please leave a comment below with any suggestions/tips you may have.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

URL Rewriting ASP.NET 2.0

Simple URL rewriting is very easy in ASP.NET 2.0 with element in the web.config file. You can just add the following to section of the web.config file to map UglyUrl.aspx to NiceUrl.aspx.

<system.web>
<urlmappings>
<add url="”~/UglyUrl.aspx”" mappedurl="”~/NiceUrl.aspx”">
</urlmappings>
</system.web>

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist - MCTS

Move over MCAD (Microsoft Certified Applications Developer), there are new certifications in town. "To showcase their technical and on-the-job skills" related to Microsoft .NET framework 2.0 and Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, Microsoft suggests using MCTS (Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist). There are five new certifications from which to choose from:
  • Technology Specialist: .NET framework 2.0 Web Applications
  • Technology Specialist: .NET Framework 2.0 Windows Applications
  • Technology Specialist: .NET Framework 2.0 Distributed Applications
  • Technology Specialist: SQL Server 2005
  • Technology Specialist: BizTalk Server 2006
Since I am a web developer and use ASP.NET at work, I am leaning towards the first option and want to pursue this certifications with full force. There are only two required exams for this .NET framework 2.0 Web Application option.
  • Exam 70-536: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 - Application Development Foundation
  • Exam 70-528: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 - Web based Client Development

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Washington Beltway Traffic Jam

Today, August 1, 2006, was one of the worst traffic days of the year on the outer loop of the Washington DC beltway in the Montgomery county Maryland. A truck dropped the load of the frozen vegetables on the outer loop between Connecticut Avenue and Wisconsin Avenue overnight and cleanup continued until 9 a.m. in the morning.

The traffic was backed up from the accident site to all the way back to the Baltimore-Washington parkway on the outer loop. The southbound I-95 traffic was backed up from the 216 to the beltway to all the way around to the accident site.

The daily commute was stretched to at least the double of the normal daily duration for almost everyone using this route.