Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 is on MSDN!
Go grab it and let the fun begin. See the Beta 2 home page to see what’s new and how to get the bits.
Initially Turning on FxCop/Code Analysis for a Large Code Base
Recently I was asked a question that’s come up several times so I thought I’d share the answer. I’ve inherited a large code base that has never had FxCop run on it. When I ran the binaries through FxCop, it reported tens of thousands of warnings, which overwhelmed me. While I should fix those warnings,…
Updated Compile-Help.PS1 and Neat PowerShell Scripting Tricks
One of my favorite PowerShell scripts of all time is Jeff Hillman’s Compile-Help. Instead of attempting to read the PowerShell help in a text window, Jeff’s outstanding script packages up all the help into a searchable, linkified, and easy to read Compiled HTML Help (.CHM) file. Especially if you are new to PowerShell, easily being…
Changing the Visual Studio Splash Screen Registered User
On a mailing list I subscribe to, there was an interesting question, “How do you change the user information shown in the Visual Studio splash screen?” I’ve circled in red the user information below. As I was curious about the same thing because my copy of Visual Studio shows that my company name is Microsoft,…
WinUnit is Now on CodePlex
As there are still tons and tons of native C++ development going on and you need to test that code just like you do for your C# code. I’ve been using WinUnit, which was first introduced in a great MSDN Magazine article by Maria Blees, for all my native testing and love it. Where previous…
Mac Pro + OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) + Windows 7 x64 = Love
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you have already seen my infatuation with using Apple hardware. With a freshly pressed copy of Apple’s latest, OS X 10.6 now in my hot little hands, it was time to install both the Leopard and Windows 7 RTM on my main desktop Mac Pro. After…
Fixing a Server 2008 R2 Upgrade from Server 2008 Activation Problem
After remoting into my domain controller I recently upgraded to Server 2008 R2, I very briefly saw a balloon tip pop up that said: “Invalid Windows Activation” (or something close to that). That was odd as I was sure I had already activated the server. I shudder to think what would happen if your domain…
Paraffin 3.11: Fixed Directory Reference Option
Sam reported a bug in Paraffin where I wasn’t handling the –dirref option correctly. How embarrassing! It was a quick fix so grab the updated code and binary here. As always, please let me know if you have feature suggestions or bug reports for Paraffin.
Bugslayer Tips Reappear
A while ago we lost the link where I had put all the tips that ran in my Bugslayer column in Microsoft Systems Journal and MSDN Magazine. Now they’re back. Here’s the complete collection: https://training.atmosera.com/bugslayertips.aspx. Enjoy!
More on Backup and Restore
On my post about restoring with Windows Home Server, Bill Tudor had an excellent comment that I felt everyone needed to read concerning backup and restore: Don’t overlook the build-in image-based backup available in the better SKU’s of Vista and Win7. It took me less than 10 minutes to recover a machine when replacing a…
Windows Home Server Restore Hint
Messing around I managed to wipe out one of my machines. Fortunately, I have rock solid backups with Windows Home Server, which I highly recommend. When disaster strikes, all you need to do is pop in the WHS Restore CD, follow the prompts, and you’re computer comes magically back to life. It truly is that…
Can the VS Debugger Automatically Attach to Any Child Spawned by a Process Being Debugged?
In my article on Easier Multithreaded Debugging, there was a great question in the comments from GregM: < p style=”margin-left:36pt”>John, how about a way to make VS automatically attach to any children spawned by the process(es) being debugged? The short answer: that’s not possible without a major architectural change to the Visual Studio debugger. That…