Tim Marman's Loosely Coupled

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• Is IIS7 on Vista not serving static content?

  If you add IIS7 and ASP.NET on Vista, many of the common HTTP modules are not installed by default – including the one for static content. The problem is that it doesn’t return a 404 or other error, but rather zero-byte files. If you’re seeing empty files returned for CSS, images and JScript files, this is likely the culprit. (You’ll all see the Static Files handler for * being mapped to the DefaultDocumentModule). The answer is to go into the Windows Features dialog and make sure that the Common Http Features are checked off. Hope this helps. Posted Jul 02 2008, 02:10 PM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Software Development, Vista, Microsoft, .NET, Programming, Knowledge Base

• Vista drivers for the Toshiba M200 Tablet

  Finally! Corey found m200 drivers for Vista that were released on 3/20/2007 on the Swiss support site. The page is not English, but as Corey said it's pretty easy to figure out. (The drivers themselves have english versions). That said, here are the direct links: Bluetooth Monitor Config Free Display Driver Management Console SD Utilities Sound Driver Tablet Access Code Logon Utility Tablet PC Extension Package Touch Pad Driver Value Added Package I installed the other day and so far everything is great (i.e., as it was on Windows XP). Full 32-bit at 1400x1050 with (automatic) screen rotation, sleep/hibernate work properly, and the Tablet PC buttons work again. I have to admit, I was worried we really would never get these - after all, Toshiba doesn't always have the best track record for supporting products it doesn't care about anymore . Still, it would anger me more that they had them and chose to withhold them than not spending the resources to port them in the first place. Posted Mar 28 2007, 02:38 PM by Tim with | with 6 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Tablet PC, Vista, Microsoft

• Start++ brings WDS shortcuts to the Vista start menu

  Brandon recently released a tool for Vista that brings Windows Desktop Search-style shortcuts to the start menu (and command line). Users of WDS on XP may recall the “Deskbar Shortcuts” functionality that allows you to create little aliases between words or characters with commands and searches. For example, you could set up the Deskbar so that you could type “g Stuff” to search for the work “Stuff” on Google. You could also launch programs, run scripts with parameters, and more. Windows Vista replaced the Deskbar with Instant Search built-in to the Start menu, which is totally awesome. Unfortunately, it lacks all of that fun shortcut functionality that the Deskbar had. Unless you have my tool, which for the time being I’m calling Start++. The commands can be stored and shared as XML files called startlets . Download Start++ here . Posted Mar 01 2007, 04:59 AM by Tim with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Productivity, Vista, Microsoft

• Disabling UrgeMS.exe

  I noticed my machine running slower lately, and UrgeMS.exe (URGE Media Scanner) was thrashing the disk and running up to 50% CPU. Obviously, this is part of MTV's URGE music store, the default store for Windows Media Player 11. It appears that the process is related to the "Auto-Mix" feature, which I don't use enough to justify the serious performance impact. I have a fairly large music collection, but it doesn't seem to ever let up. One forum post suggests disabling this via Local Security Policy. Great idea! My system definitely runs better now. Hopefully this is something they address in the future... Update As John mentioned in the comments, you can also prevent this from running by setting "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MTV Networks\Urge\Scanner\Enabled" to 0. If you don't want to mess around with the registry, simply download the attached registry key and double-click on it. Update #2 This fix no longer works. You can replace the UrgeMS.exe with an "empty" executable though. Posted Feb 05 2007, 07:46 PM by Tim with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Music, Vista, Microsoft, Audio

• The Joys of Vista - New user folder structures

  In the past, we had C:\documents and settings\User\My Documents. Now we have C:\Users\User\Documents. Better yet, the Documents finally is just for documents. Instead of putting My Videos and My Music and My Pictures within the My Documents folder, they have been moved up a level and are now "even" with Documents. (I did something similar already to facilitate separate FolderShare libraries). Of course, there is still plenty of bad software out there that wants to clutter my Documents folder , but it's easier to manage with some of the stuff out of the way. Posted Jan 28 2007, 08:55 AM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Productivity, Vista, Microsoft

• The Joys of Vista - Search is Everywhere

  I already mentioned the updated Start Menu , which allows you to search. But there are Search Boxes literally everywhere in Vista that allow you to filter the results. This search box is in everything, including Windows Explorer. In Explorer, you can click the Save Search icon in the toolbar and save the current query as a search folder. Posted Jan 26 2007, 06:49 AM by Tim with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: Productivity, Vista, Microsoft

• The Joys of Vista - Quick Launch keyboard shortcuts

  You can launch programs in your Quick Launch toolbar using the Win+ position . So if you have Outlook as the second item in your Quick Launch toolbar, you can open it by pressing Win+2. ( via Lifehacker ) Posted Jan 25 2007, 06:28 AM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Productivity, Vista, Microsoft

• The Joys of Vista - The New Start Menu

  I absolutely love the new start menu. No more Start -> Run (Win+R). Instead, you can just press the Win key and start typing the name of the program you want to run. It even searches your favorites, history, documents and e-mail. In fact, I don't even really worry about organizing my Start menu anymore, because I never really see most of it. If you want Word, you hit Win and type Word and press enter. Between this and the Quick Launch shortcut keys, I don't have to touch the mouse. Posted Jan 24 2007, 06:21 AM by Tim with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Productivity, Vista, Microsoft

• The Joys of Vista

  I've been running Vista for awhile now off and on during the beta, and it's been on both my desktop and tablet since it was released to manufacturing. Though the cost may preclude some folks from running it, I've really fallen in love and I hate using XP at work. As they say, it's the little things - so as we lead up to the official consumer launch (and beyond), I'm going to start posting some of the features which have me hooked. If you have any to add, I'd love to hear them - please leave a comment. Posted Jan 22 2007, 05:20 AM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Productivity, Vista, Microsoft

• Installing self-signed Certificates in Vista

  This post tells you how to install the key. According to Eric Lawrence, the program manager for IE Networking, " unlike on XP, you must click the 'Place all certificates in the following store' radio button, and choose the “Trusted Root Certification Authorities” store. If you don’t do this, the certificate goes in your personal store, and it isn’t trusted by IE." This is cumbersome, he goes on to explain, but is there for a good reason: "Self-signed certificates are quite dangerous, because unless you manually compare the thumbprint/hash via secure or out-of-band communication, you have no assurance that your connection isn't being man-in-the-middle attacked." In my case, I'm less concerned about a man-in-the-middle attack than connecting to my Exchange server. What's most frustrating for me right now is that Vista seems to randomly "lose" the certificate. That is, after some time, I stop connecting again as if the certificate was never installed, and sure enough when I check the certificate... Posted Jan 18 2007, 04:40 AM by Tim with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Things that bother me, Vista, Microsoft