IIS 7 Admin Pack

If you are running IIS7 you should try out the Admin Pack. There are quite a few additions that look like they would be very useful. Check it out here. If you are running Vista, make sure you have SP1 installed before installing the Admin Pack.

Temp Cleanup

My hard drive space was getting low so I did some searching online and found out what could be deleted. Windows apparently keeps temp files in a few places, the main one being %TEMP%. Another place that unnecessary files can hide is %WINDIR%\SoftwareDistribution\Download (this is where Windows stores files from Windows Update). Windows also stores Window Update Install files at %WINDIR%\$NtUninstall* & %WINDIR%\$MSI31Uninstall*. If you don't plan to roll back any updates, these directories are safe to remove.

Chances are in 6 months I'll run into the same issue with space and have to search for this info again. Instead, I wrote a WPF program that has a few buttons that deletes the files in these places. The first version was a "get the job" done project, but I decided to do another version that just expands on the first one (making it possible for other people to use it). If anyone is interested in the program, comment or send me an email.

Code Camp

There is a Code Camp in the Twin Cities on April 5th. Lots of great speakers and a good variety of topics. Link here. They already have 200 registrations, so if you haven't already registered you'll be on the waiting list. Hope to see you there.

Call of Duty 4 (PS3)

I picked up Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on PlayStation3 at the end of February. I started playing it when I got back to my apartment and it is the best shooter I have ever played. It is the main reason that there hasn't been any posts the last two weeks and the cause of my procrastination for everything else (outside of work).

The game looks good (I haven't seen it on my HDTV since that isn't at my apartment) and it is really addictive. The single player mode was engaging, but short. It can be beat in one night (I did it in about 7 hours). The battles and the enemies aren't easy, but they also weren't "throw your controller at the screen" difficult either.

Now for the key feature of the Call of Duty franchise, multiplayer. There is no shortage of people playing online and with the variety of maps and game types people will be playing for a long time. There is also going to be a Map Pack released relatively soon (4 new maps). You start at Level 1 and initially you can only play Team Deathmatch, but more modes become available as you progress. You gain experience for kills, assists, and a game bonus. You also gain experience points for completing certain challenges, like getting 150 kills with the AK-47 or killing 5 opponents by calling in air strikes. Some of the challenges you don't unlock until you reach a certain level. There is also a "Create a Class" option (unlocked at level 4, I think), this allows you to pick your primary weapon, secondary weapon, and perks, which you can save to use when playing games. The perks are separated into three sections and are very well balanced. There doesn't seem to be a dominant one, everyone likes different ones for different reasons. The better ones are unlocked as you level up.

I'm up to level 36 right now, if you want to play my PSN is frostedcakes.

My Rating: 10/10 - If you like shooters, BUY THIS GAME!

KeePass

I like to use complex passwords for all of my online accounts, but trying to remember all the passwords is almost impossible. To help, I have been using a tool called Password Safe for the last year or so. The only complaint I had with this program is that you had to install it on every computer that you used it on. There is a portable version, but it costs money. About a month ago, I heard about KeePass Password Safe. This program is portable (for free!) and has all of the other features of Password Safe. The portability by itself convinced me to move all my password storing from Password Safe to KeePass.

USB Drive Security

I carry my 1GB USB Thumb Drive with me everywhere I go and I store some stuff on there that I wouldn't want anyone to get a hold of (Quicken backup & KeePass mainly). So this was the perfect opportunity to try out TrueCrypt 5.0a.

First, I did a full device encryption. I quickly found out that this wouldn't work for me, since in order to mount the device TrueCrypt has to be installed on the computer. I reformatted and then went the "Traveler" route. I used the version of TrueCrypt installed on my desktop to create a standard volume on my USB Drive. I went with a size of 950 MB, leaving roughly 32 MB for the "Traveler" install. After the volume was done, I went to Tools -> Traveler Disk Setup (on TrueCrypt's menu). I picked the root of my USB Drive as the create location and unchecked "Include Volume Creation..." since I had already created the volume. I also setup AutoRun to mount the volume I just created. Now, all I have to do is plug the Thumb Drive in, enter the password, and it's ready to go. And I don't have to worry about someone getting my sensitive data since they won't know my "secure" password to mount the drive.

NOTE: The "Traveler" install took up less than 1.5 MB on my thumb drive

Service Project Update

I finally finished up my project to solve the Dynamic IP issue. I was having a hard time sending out an email (Charter must block outgoing SMTP requests to any server other than their own). But thanks to this post about the C# .NET GMail Tools, I was able to use the DLL and in a matter of minutes send an email. If anyone wants to see the code (it's pretty basic) just send me an email or post a comment.