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I want to get into using the Enterprise Liabary so I am picking up http://apress.com/book/view/1590596552 With VS2008 I am sure there will be wave of new books. What has caught your eye? Rant: LINQ IN Action by Manning is a rehash of demos during Beta times. Not a recommended book unless your a beginner. More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

I know that many niner's have liked Bill Buxton's videos. Well here's another one from the Microsoft France group. http://blogs.msdn.com/expressionfr/archive/2008/01/08/bill-buxton-getting-the-design-right-the-right-design.aspx More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

My primary project at the moment is a touchscreen epos system. I am trying to create a On Screen / Virtual keyboard, and I would like to do so in WPF, to keep in with the look of the rest of the product. I have craeted my layout etc, and I have managed to get my onscreen Keyboard working nicely with notepad.... almost. The problem I have is that when I click a button on my keyboard, the keyboard then* becomes the active window. I then have to call SetActiveWindow(8975651603260375040) in order to set the notepad window(for example) as active again, before using Keybd_Event in user32.dll to send the keystroke through. Is there a way I can stop my keyboard from getting focus / becoming active, in the same way that the MS OSK works? I would use the MS one if it did not look so hideous, and the fact that it is so small makes it useless to me! More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

I thought my motherboard's onboard Realtek HD soundcard had digital connectors but it does not; while the chip obviously supports it (digital output is listed as an option in Vista) the mainboard lacks the connectors. So I'm looking for a sound card. It's main purpose will be for the digital output, I don't care so much about the analog since the onboard sound does that fine. Here's my requirements: Digital RCA and/or optical connection. Must support S/PDIF passthrough to external decoder for Dolby Digital AC3 and DTS signals. Must support Vista x64. Must be available in Japan.It's*Vista x64 support*that is likely to cause issues. The Sound Blaster X-Fi ostensibly supports Vista x64, however my experiences have been less than stellar with getting S/PDIF passthrough to*function*(I had one on my old system, I've been able to get it working exactly once on one specific driver version which is no longer available and I don't have anymore either). Creative has not impressed me at all with driver support in the past, so I'm very hesitant to go that route again. In fact, the main reason I'm posting this is because I'm looking for an alternative to Creative. I've heard good things about Turtle Beach but they don't have Vista x64 support and they don't appear to be available in Japan. I found two Japanese manufacturers, Onkyo (don't support Vista x64) and Ego-Sys (have beta drivers for Vista including*x64; the fact that their last driver update is half a year old doesn't inspire me with confidence, one review on Amazon.co.jp isn't favourable about their drivers either). The only card I have good experiences with in Vista x64 is the Realtek HD Audio, but I don't believe there's a stand alone version of that, and replacing my motherboard just to get digital audio connectors is a bit overkill I think. Does anybody have any other ideas? All input is appreciated. More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

<img alt="" height="1" width="1"> Solid ROE for NVIDIA Trading Markets (press release), CA - 6 minutes ago We believe that several factors will benefit the company in the future, including Windows Vista, two new major product lines, and growth in mobile devices. ... More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

Microsoft Corp has offered to buy Norwegian Internet-search software firm Fast Search & Transfer for 19 crowns per share, valuing the company at about $1.2 billion, the companies said on Tuesday. http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7207163 http://blogs.technet.com/mikep/archive/2008/01/08/hot-news-microsoft-to-buy-fast.aspx :-) More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

http://ms-os.com/ Hardware Zone <img alt="" height="1" width="1"> BenQ Launches Joybook Q41 Featuring Auxiliary Display Hardware Zone, Singapore - 35 minutes ago Equipped with 14.1” UltraVivid widescreen, a 2.5” auxiliary display, Intel Core 2 Duo processor and Microsoft Windows Vista® operating system, ... More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

Hello guys (and girls), I remember seeing a while ago on partners.microsoft.com a free training course for the exam 70-290 for MCSA but I don't have the link anymore. I looked today all over the site but couldn't find the link. Does someone around here have the link by any good lord luck? All the best, Chris More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

http://ms-os.com/ Pocket PC Thoughts <img alt="" height="1" width="1"> CES 2008: Bill Gates' Keynote Pocket PC Thoughts, Canada - Jan 7, 2008 Windows Vista, love it or hate it, is currently being used by 100 million people. Windows Live has a strong user base of 420 million. ... More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

Click on the picture for larger view : http://paranormalstories.com/wtfwtf.png More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

Are there are cool media players and browsers that take advantage of WPF. I'm thinking an app that will let me browse my video collection visually, with cool zool and mouseovers, visual bookmarks, instant jumps into the video etc. And the same for photo gallery. Anyone remember the Longhorn demos from pdc 03 - they had this wonderful dynamically resizing and rearranging content window. I don't actually know if WPF has any advantages in this ares - say I want to write a video player, do I still have to use the old DirectShow api's or is there something richer? More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

Hi there, Can anybody recommend a source for motivational videos (preferrably for free download)? Would like to spice up an annual kick-off ppt... Thanks in advance. More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

<img alt="" height="1" width="1"> Windows Home Server Breaks Ground on New Features, Expands Into ... MySolutionInfo (press release), Lebanon - 5 minutes ago With Power Pack 1, the Windows Home Server Connector software for home computers is compatible with 64-bit editions of Windows Vista. ... More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

I am writting a console application in C# (actually my first C# app)*and I want to clean up/simplify my code: this*is part of what i am dealing with*what I currently have Console.WriteLine(""); // **************************************** // OS // **************************************** *** string strOS = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("OS"); *** Console.Write("****** Operating System "); *** Console.Write(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("OS")); *** int OS = 0; *** do { Console.Write(" "); OS++; } *** while (OS < 91 - strOS.Length); *** Console.Write(""); *** Console.WriteLine(""); // **************************************** // NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS // **************************************** *** string strNUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS"); *** Console.Write("** Number of Processors "); *** Console.Write(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS")); *** int NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS = 0; *** do { Console.Write(" "); NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS++; } *** while (NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS < 91 - strNUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS.Length); *** Console.Write(""); *** Console.WriteLine(""); // **************************************** // BACK TO THE REST Console.WriteLine(""); Console.WriteLine(""); Console.ResetColor(); That displays ****** Operating System Windows_NT******************************************************************************** ** Number of Processors 4***************************************************************************************** Basically I want to make a class called Format Interface that will simplify the creation of the above.* This is what I have so far but I can't seem to get spaces to format right *** public class FinishInterface *** { ******* public string text; ******* public string varName; ******* public FinishInterface(string text, string varName) ******* { *********** this.text = text; *********** this.varName = varName; ******* } ******* public void TheRest() ******* { *********** Console.Write("****** Operating System "); *********** Console.Write(text); *********** int varName = 0; *********** do { Console.Write(" "); varName++; } *********** while (varName < 91 - text.Length); *********** Console.Write(""); *********** Console.WriteLine(""); ******* } *** } Then I would call it with FinishInterface FI = new FinishInterface(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("OS"), "OS"); FI.TheRest(); Any suggestions? More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

for those who use it... (me..) http://www.channel9.ca/ added: - Facebook Coffeehouse Group + Profile*+ Newsfeed *also* - MSFT Xtreme Makeover - Google News*/ "Microsoft" Made the menu/flyouts blue to match facebook... Now i dont need more than one tab... before i had to have 2 ( CH / FB) :) *actually - does it work? works here but im logged into fb.. More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

<img alt="" height="1" width="1"> Microsoft Plans Two Windows Security Bulletins Next Week InformationWeek, NY - Jan 4, 2008 The "Critical" bulletin affects Windows Vista, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2, and Windows XP Service Pack 2. ... More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

*//############################################################ *//Creates and prepares the cookie jar *//############################################################ *void Cookie_CreateJar(){ **CookieJar = Request.Cookies[Cookie_ContainerName]; **if(CookieJar==null){ ***CookieJar = new HttpCookie(Cookie_ContainerName); ***CookieJar.Expires = DateTime.Now.AddDays(Cookie_ExpiresDaysFromNow); ***Response.Cookies.Add(CookieJar); **}; *} *//############################################################ *//Deletes and breaks the cookie jar *//############################################################ *void Cookie_BreakJar(){ **HttpCookie tempJar = Request.Cookies[Cookie_ContainerName]; **if(tempJar!=null){ ***tempJar.Expires = DateTime.Now.AddDays(-1); ***Response.Cookies.Add(tempJar); **}; *} *//############################################################ *//Creates (bakes) a cookie in the cookie jar *//############################################################ *void Cookie_Bake(string cName, string cValue){ **HttpCookie tempJar = Request.Cookies[Cookie_ContainerName]; **if(tempJar!=null){ ***if(Cookie_Use(cName)!=cValue){ ****//This line adds more values to ONE cookie name : ****//tempJar.Values.Add(cName, cValue); ****tempJar.Values[cName] = cValue; ****Cookie_Update(tempJar); ***}; **}; *} *//############################################################ *//Deletes (eats) a cookie from the cookie jar *//############################################################ *void Cookie_Eat(string cName){ **HttpCookie tempJar = Request.Cookies[Cookie_ContainerName]; **if(tempJar!=null){ ***tempJar.Values.Remove(cName); ***Cookie_Update(tempJar); **}; *} *//############################################################ *//Gets the cookie value *//############################################################ *string Cookie_Use(string cName){ **HttpCookie tempJar = Request.Cookies[Cookie_ContainerName]; **if(tempJar!=null){ ***if(tempJar[cName]!=null){ ****return tempJar[cName].ToString(); ***}else{ ****return ""; ***} **}else{ ***return ""; **}; *} More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

I recently purchased Guitar Hero III for PC and while the game itself is fun and runs fine, the software in general is not very respectful to my settings. My biggest gripe is that it seemingly disables monitor sleep mode.*I have my monitor sleep after five minutes and I can see the importance of disabling that for the duration of the game, but after I exit my monitor doesn't sleep anymore, what's worse is that even after reboots it still doesn't sleep. I checked the power management control panel and all my settings are intact, so GH3 is doing something more sneaky. A lesser, superficial gripe is that it disables cursor shadows after every exit, but at least I can fix that myself. To add insult to injury, GH3 complains that its "security software" cannot load and the game terminates if I try to run Sysinternals Process Monitor to see what it's sticking its hands into. To get back to the primary concern though, does anyone know what the game could be doing to break my power saving settings like this and if there's a way to fix it? Thanks! More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

How can I access ASP.NET Controls that are in the LoggedInTemplate inside of the LogInView? Thanks. More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

http://ms-os.com/ Pocket PC Thoughts <img alt="" height="1" width="1"> CES 2008: Bill Gates' Keynote Pocket PC Thoughts, Canada - 16 hours ago Windows Vista, love it or hate it, is currently being used by 100 million people. Windows Live has a strong user base of 420 million. ... More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

http://ms-os.com/ Palm Infocenter <img alt="" height="1" width="1"> Windows Mobile 7 Detailed in Presentation Leak Palm Infocenter - 1 hour ago Advanced details about Microsoft's next-generation version of Windows Mobile have been leaked on the Inside Microsoft blog. ... More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

oh my God!... this autocomplete, this autocomplete Francine, oh my God, this autocomplete oh my God! http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/5443/ohmygodyj0.png (for those who don't get it FF3 allows searching pages by title in the address bar) More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

http://ms-os.com/ Palm Infocenter <img alt="" height="1" width="1"> Windows Mobile 7 Detailed in Presentation Leak Palm Infocenter - 25 minutes ago Advanced details about Microsoft's next-generation version of Windows Mobile have been leaked on the Inside Microsoft blog. ... More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

Ever wondered how much time you spend waiting for Visual Studio to respond? Well its been driving me nuts for a while so I wrote a little app to tracks the time that VS 2008 spends "not responding". I think you'll be shocked by the results on solutions with 15+ projects. Hopefully making this information available to others will motivate Microsoft to fix these problems. Heres the code for your enjoyment (tested with VS 2008).. using System; using System.Diagnostics; using System.Runtime.InteropServices; using System.Threading; namespace CalulateHangTime { [Flags] public enum SendMessageTimeoutFlags : uint { SMTO_NORMAL = 0x0000, SMTO_BLOCK = 0x0001, SMTO_ABORTIFHUNG = 0x0002, SMTO_NOTIMEOUTIFNOTHUNG = 0x0008 } public static class ExternalMethods { [DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)] public static extern IntPtr FindWindow(string lpClassName, string lpWindowName); [DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)] public static extern IntPtr SendMessageTimeout(IntPtr hWnd, uint Msg, UIntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam, SendMessageTimeoutFlags fuFlags, uint uTimeout, out UIntPtr lpdwResult); } class Program { static readonly uint WAIT_MILLISECONDS = 2; static readonly int SLEEP_MILLISECONDS = 1000; static void Main(string[] args) { long seconds = 0; Stopwatch stopWatch = new Stopwatch(); stopWatch.Start(); while (true) { IntPtr hWnd = ExternalMethods.FindWindow("wndclass_desked_gsk", null); if (hWnd == IntPtr.Zero) throw new InvalidOperationException("Handle to window could not be found"); UIntPtr result; IntPtr success = ExternalMethods.SendMessageTimeout(hWnd, 0, UIntPtr.Zero, IntPtr.Zero, SendMessageTimeoutFlags.SMTO_ABORTIFHUNG, WAIT_MILLISECONDS, out result); if (success == IntPtr.Zero) { seconds += SLEEP_MILLISECONDS / 1000; Console.WriteLine("Visual Studio is hung. {0}/{1} seconds wasted", seconds, stopWatch.Elapsed.TotalSeconds); } else { Console.WriteLine("Visual Studio is running fine."); } Thread.Sleep(SLEEP_MILLISECONDS); } } } } More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds

Nice! Bill's Last Day: The CES Keynote video More... View All Our Microsoft Related Feeds