Tools to Spy on Running Code...

A few days ago, I was reading Long Zheng's always fresh technology blog, istartedblogging.

Specifically, I was combing his "Lazy man's Desktop Aurora" post. If you are not familiar, Desktop Aurora was the name given to a speculative feature of Vista that would display an "active" wallpaper background. Kinda like a shimmering, blendy, non-static background. Sounded cool.

Except it hasn't showed up in the Vista dance hall yet.

So Long posted a "How To" on how to make your own "active" wallpaper in Vista, anyway. Really cool concept...but I'm not sure how distracting it would be. Execution would have to be VERY subtle to be worth having, and it couldn't take up too many CPU cycles to keep running. In my opinion at least. (Related Cool Toy: JediConcentrate application -- freeware application that dims background on all but active window....)

Anyway...While reading his guide...he mentioned the use of a Visual Studio Package software debugging tool from Microsoft called Spy++.

He had a direct download link, so I bit and tried it out. Nice.

Using this tool, you can hover over any window element to find the code controlling that item. It also can show a tree-view of code running under different processes.

Now I'm no programmer. At all. I'm more of a processes and thread's guy when hunting down malware buggers. So Sysinternal's Process Explorer is my top-drawer tool. But I can see where a tool like Spy++ might have some uses in the fight against malware.

That got me looking for more information on this tool, and in the process, I found a number of cousins of Spy++ that added more features.

Oh yeah. Did I mention these are all free? Sweet!

WinID (freeware) - From Dennis Babkin. "WinID is a controls (and) windows identification utility that is both powerful and compact. Its main purpose is to give an easy way to retrieve information about Microsoft Windows controls visually right off the screen. WinID resembles Spy++ from the Microsoft Visual Studio toolset but it also incorporates lots of its own handy features."

SysTree++ (freeware) - Maarten van Oosterhout Software. "SysTree++ is a freeware application that lets you see what is going on on your system. It is a cross-over between ms spy++ and windows task manager. A complete tree-hierarchy of your system, so you can see literally everything that is running on your system. Lets you monitor, manage and save all processes, threads and windows running on system. You can set the priority for processes and threads. End processes and individual threads without warning pop-ups. Toggle windows visibility. Easily copy info text to clipboard and save all info to a text file."

Managed Spy (freeware) - MSDN - "a new utility called ManagedSpy and its associated library ManagedSpyLib, both of which are available for download from the MSDN Magazine Web site. Similar to how Spy++ displays Win32 information such as window classes, styles, and messages, ManagedSpy displays managed controls, properties, and events. ManagedSpyLib allows you to programmatically access Windows Forms controls in another process. You can get and set properties and sync on events in your own code. ManagedSpyLib can also help you build test harnesses and can perform window, message, and event logging." (needs .NET Framework 2.0)

Finally, my favorite find in this class of utilities...

Winspector - Ultimate Programmers Window Spy Utility (freeware) - Wonderful multi-pane view. Has a ton of tools and views and property listings. It's really the kitchen-sink of these applications. I can't compare them from a programmer's standpoint, but for just all-around curiosity and exploration...this is the tool I'm keeping handy on a USB stick!

Good luck, 00's,

--Claus

Windows Live Writer Features...Wish List

Some Windows Live Writer features I would really like to see in the final version:

1) Give me the option to toggle the paragraph code inserts on and off. Too often I have to post to my blog, then go back into it in the Blogger on-line controls and remove the extra paragraph code tags. I can do it in Windows Live Writer's HTML mode if I remember to switch into it before I post, but it is a hassle. I'd just like to turn it on and off depending on my wishes.

2) Enable "Tabbed" blog posting support. If I want to compose multiple posts at one time, I would like to open a new tab in the same Windows Live Writer (WLW) window and start a new post. Then I can switch between them both at will. If I close the WLW window and later reopen it...wouldn't it be nice to see them all restored? Kind of like Internet Explorer 7 or "that other fiery browser" nipping at your ankles?

3) Once I publish a finished post to my blog, offer me a dialog box to either close WLW, remain with the current post, or clear the current post and open a new blank page...in the same WLW window (or a new tab..see #2 above!).

4) Can I please change the skin color? Blue is nice, but silver or green or something else might be nice also for a change.

5) Can I have a shortcut key-combo that allows me to paste a copied hyper link directly to a section of selected text? Yes, I appreciate the addition of the "insert hyper link" to the right-click context menu now, but I still have quite a few clicks to make it happen. Speed bloggers would like to select and paste hyper link directly onto the selected text and move on. If we want to make additional link control, we can use the enhanced "insert hyper link" tool you have given us.

6) Umm...I see in my RSS feeds on Google Reader that I have a mysterious post that was done while WLW was getting my blog style code. It doesn't show at all in my Blogger Post listing nor my "normal RSS feed" lists. The entry says I just need to delete it. Umm. How can I delete it if it isn't registering as a "real" post in Blogger? Just wondering.

7) I know there's not a lot offered yet in the tool bars, but it would be nice to customize them like in MS Office. Move them around the way I'd like. Or hey! I've got an idea. Could I pull them off the bar and float them? No? How about just move them to the left column for easy clicking? Is that hard to code? I know you kinda have some on the right, but I just want the icons alone on the left. That's just me, though.

8) Oh! Here's a good one! As I browse the Web, I collect links I'd like to blog and save them as bookmarks in a Favorites folder called "To Blog" Can you integrate a Favorites bookmark list into WLW? Sure it would be nice to have it linked/synced to my Internet Explorer Favorites folder, but even better, just give me a "hot-spot" on the tool bar so I could drag web-links from my browser and drop them onto the hot spot. Then when I am blogging, I could just drag them out of the "to blog" folder in WLW and drop them into my blog or selected text for instant hyper link insertion. Sure, give me a wizard to format it--the dialog box you have now should work fine to fine tune it.

9) I almost hate to mention this request...maybe if you implement "tabs" one could plug into Internet Explorer and have one of those tabs switch from "composition" to "browser" mode. Just in case I want two browse and compose in the same window. Sure. I have dual monitors but some folks don't. Might make blogging and researching more fun and efficient. I know. You got those state DA's and the EU breathing down your back and "browser" integration is a dirty word right now, but I promise. I'd appreciate and use it! That other blogging tool company "Performancing" offers a Firefox extension that let me blog and browse at the same time in the same window. I've switched to WLW but still miss that ability very much.

10) Ditch the Windows Live Writer name. It's fine for Beta, but needs a real snappier title. Sorry, no suggestions right now from me, but I might be blogging about it down the road. Right now it's kinda a mouthful.

Just wishing upon a star...

--Claus

Yahoo, MeeVee and TV Movie Static

So I've been deeply frustrated with my Internet TV grid offerings...

Normally I use the Yahoo TV grid. This past week it has been up and down terribly. Don't know if someone forgot to pay the bill for a while but either nothing is posted in the grid, or just a handful of sporadic channel offerings. At first I thought it was me, but when it happened in all my different browsers and at work also, well....

My backup is MeeVee. Unfortunately, it wasn't loading the grid either. It would just sit there and spin the little "downloading" logo for "my guide" and "my interests". Wouldn't work in IE or Firefox. Not for about a week or two.

I think my MeeVee issues had something to do with my decision to upgrade to the latest Java release. When I had done that, it stopped working.

Good news is they are both finally working normally again.

And by the way guys...how come neither one of you have the AZN channel listings? Huh? Seems I've got to get my letter writing campaign going.

I've started watching a Japanese soap opera on Sunday nights..."101st Proposal". It's got an awkward, clumsy kind-hearted guy who is not handsome and not rich. Rejection is his speciality. He makes a chance encounter and is hopelessly smitten. Will True Love prevail?

Lavie is kinda watching it with me. The problem with Japanese soap opera's I've watched is that they are very rarely dubbed or sub-titled. So I'm watching them and listening to the Japanese dialog. That's fine and kinda fun, but since I don't speak Japanese it's kinda touch-and-go on the deeper plot intricacies!

We loved the Korean drama, Winter Sonata, and it was sub-titled. Almost every Korean drama I've watched to date is either dubbed or sub-titled. While only the Japanese anime and movies are either dubbed or sub-titled. Wonder why...

TV Movie Static...Part I

So I get home from work Friday and the girls are watching Disney's "Little Mermaid." I'm beat so I go take a catnap for an hour. When I get up they are watching extended scenes....

Me - "I didn't know our tape had these on...the picture looks really good on our "new" TV."

Girls - (silence)

Me - "This is our VHS copy right?"

Alvis - "It's the new DVD."

Me - (silence)

Alvis - "It's the Platinum Edition, Dad. Come on!"

Me - "Oh....what was wrong with the VHS copy?"

Alvis - "Nothing, it just wasn't the newest release and didn't have the bonus features."

Me - "OK"

Being from the "Home Media" generation, we have at least a hundred or more VHS tapes, over half are Disney movies. It appears my daughter feels we need to expand our collection so it contains a DVD copy as well. I should invest in a stack of DVD's and convert the VHS versions we own to disk...if that is legal...but I suspect it will become an investment as sound as Enron stock.

TV Movie Static...Part II

Alvis - "We need to watch Castaway this weekend...They've been advertising it on TNT."

Me - "Have you seen it?"

Alvis - "I think I watched part of it, but not the whole thing. I really want to, when can we?"

Me - "Maybe we can watch it on Sunday."

Alvis - (frowning) "I don't think it's on Sunday."

Me - "We have the DVD. Widescreen version!"

Alvis - "But that's not what I mean. I want to watch it on TV."

Me - "Why? We can skip all the commercials that way."

Alvis - "It's not the same, I like the commercial breaks..."

Me - (silence)

I can't win....either way.

--Claus

Found! Microsoft's Secret Plan for World Vista Domination

Just the other day while poking around for additional information regarding the upcoming Beta release of Microsoft Virtual PC 2007, I stumbled upon Voldermort's secret plan for World Vista Domination!

Worried that it was a devious trap set for the "not-so-young-anymore-boy-who-lived", I quickly snagged the document and beat a hasty retreat to my "Room of Requirement" where I could study the document in safety.

Step 1) Cunningly hide the plan under a benign White Paper title "Using Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 for Application Compatibility" -- Clever... Who but true Death Eaters would bother to read a title like that? Is that the new Dark Mark Logo against the green and blue background?

Step 2) Reassure Vista adopters that if their apps run under XP SP2, they shouldn't have any issues with using them under Vista, but new security features need to be considered.

Step 3) Now strike fear in the undecided by reminding them that 16-bit applications and 32-bit drivers are not supported on 64-bit versions of Vista...along with some other scary sounding combinations. Some of those legacy applications you have might be left out in the pasture! Oh my gosh! What should I do? I'm an IT manager and I just know I'm going to have to deploy new hardware along with Vista to stay competitive. Please! Not the Cruciatus Curse!

Step 4) Offer your victims (customers) a chance to swear allegiance: pick up a free copy of Virtual PC 2007 for all your Vista deployments! Why? Well...

Step 5) Explain how Virtual PC 2007 has been optimized for Vista and has a whole new slew of bells and whistles to make running of virtual machines more efficient.

Step 6) Provide neat Visio-like illustrations to show how victims (customers...there I go getting terms confused again) can upgrade to Vista, but then create as many virtual machines as they want on Vista in Virtual PC 2007 so if their legacy application can only run on say 2000 Pro, or MS-DOS, or Win98, they are still covered nicely! Evil is so clever.

Step 7) Drop your guard, accidentally, and remind converts to your evil plan that they must still obey your power by making sure they have a proper license for all of the operating systems installed in each virtual machine. Oooooo. Very Evil indeed.

Step 8) Kill the first convert who raises their hand and asks you, "Is it OK if I just use my "virtual license keys" since they are "virtual" operating systems?" Evil cannot be mocked in public by its minions....

Step 9) Offer a handy step-by-step guide (with pictures for the kiddos) of how to set up and utilize your own Virtual PC operating system of Evil.

Step 10) Leave your stunned converts now under your control with the Imperius Curse pondering the meanings of the section "Comparing Virtual PC with Other Solutions". You have just convinced them to upgrade to Vista and then convert their existing Microsoft operating system licenses into the undead-zombie Inferi form of "Virtual PC" systems. Now cast a stunner at them with long-term suggestions such as: "Apply updates or service packs to the application", "Modify the configuration of the existing application", "Upgrading the application to a compatible version", "Modify the security configuration", "Modifying the application", "Using application compatibility tools", "Consider retirement of your legacy application", and the most mysterious alternative suggestion of all....."Running the application in a virtualized environment". Geesh. Why didn't you suggest that in the first place? Oh, wait. YOU ALREADY DID!

Your Evil Plan is now complete!

Sit back and watch the masses be assimilated.

(Oh, wait. Wrong series....never-mind.)

All Harry Potter references aside, the use of virtualization to continue supporting critical legacy applications in "virtual" systems is a very good idea to consider for your organization if it is flirting with upgrading to Vista. In many cases you may already own sufficient legacy operating system licenses and redeploying the virtual images across your infrastructure might be pretty quick and easy.

If nothing else, it would allow you a window of transition to find alternatives to non-Vista compatible applications, or can hold you over until your custom application vendor releases a Vista compatible version.

Clever stuff indeed...this virtualization stuff.

I think we are just seeing the beginnings of a new (old) technology field re-birth.

Mwuhaaahaaahaaa! Mwuhaaahaaahaa! Mwuhaaahaaahaaa!

--Claus

Or you can take a stand and remain, "Dumbledore's man, through and through."

Additional Thoughts for Dumbledore's Army members:

A Vista kill switch would be good for Linux - George Ou, TechRepublic

Vista's Anti-Piracy Technology - Will It Push Users To Linux? - J_K9 @ Linux

May I see your Windows License and registration, ma'am? - Dwight Silverman, Techblog

Life on the cutting edge...

My current Firefox 2.0 RC2 Beta build was 2006091818.

We are all patiently waiting for the next release version.

So CyberNet Technology News had the following lead: Release Candidate Of Firefox 2 RC2 Available

"Mozilla has placed the second release candidate of Firefox 2 RC2 on their FTP. This is another confusing version because it should be called Firefox 2 RC2 RC2 so I tried to word it a little smoother."

The official testing day for this release candidate of Firefox 2 RC2 is tomorrow (Friday) and the scheduled release date is Tuesday, October 10. Everything seems to be running smoothly for me so they shouldn't have any trouble making that date."

After downloading and installing the new one offered above, my build version jumped to 2006100319.

I just installed it on top of my previous one. Working great.

It has become very stable and (besides the stupid copy/paste issue I keep running into) is very pleasant to use. I'm wondering if this will help with that singular annoyance.

As an added bonus, I'm finding more of my regular extensions for Firefox getting updated by the developers to 2.0+ support.

--Claus

Rapid-Fire Post...

Duck or you may get hit with something!

Got to help Lavie with some work support...let's make this fast:

Vista RC2 might be released on Friday. source - Paul Thurrott, Windows IT Pro.

Comment: Sounds nice. If info is correct, this will be last release we get to play with before the "final" version ships out. Your tester keys should work on this one. They most likely won't work on the release version. Sorry. Get ready to pony-up.

BurnCDCDD (freeware) - Vista compatible standalone application from TerabyteUnlimited that lets you simply burn an ISO file to disk. Simple. Source - Scott Hanselman's ComputerZen.

Comment: Since Nero still seems to choke in Vista, this is a quick and free way to cook some CD/DVD's if you have an ISO already.

"Image" Windows XP for free (Tutorial) - Learn how to make a perfect copy of a hard-drive using a free Windows based tool. (Yes, I know about Linux "dd" but we are preaching to the Windows crew here tonight.)

Comment: I have used both Symantec's GHOST product as well as Acronis True Image to deal with disk imaging. But for home users, these are costly products. DriveImage XML is a free product that has been out for a while and gotten good props.

Windows Live Writer Beta (free) - Bumped up to build number 145 quietly. Fixes a late-breaking issue with Blogger Beta.

Comment: If you blog and are still sitting on the fence, download this tool and try it. Me Like! It's handling 90% of my blogging post work now.

PhishTank (infosite) - Submit suspected phishing sites, Track status of suspect sites, Verify submissions. Develop Software.

Comment: Phishing are attempts to scam you into providing personal information on line with realistic but fake web-sites. If you give em the info, they will take your identity and run. Nice site that allows developer's to work with an API to make custom use of their database information. Clever stuff. More info from the wonderful Paul Stamatiou. Related: CastleCops/Sunbelt Software's FiredPhish/PIRT Squad site.

UnitConversion.org - Website

Comment: Need to know how many pica's go into each pixel? This is the site! Handy bookmark to have.

DIY - GraphPaper - Website

Comment: So Alvis needed some graph paper and we were all out of stock. Found this site and printed out some on the printer. Easy!

Free Utilities under 2MB - WebList

Comment: Who says size matters? If you have a nice tool and execute it well...well, you be the judge.

Photoshop Tutorial - Photo to Pencil Sketch - via LifeHacker.

Comment: Yes, you can use some filters to quickly morph a digital photo into l33t artwork, but with a little help from this tutorial, you can do it the long way and come up with some awesome looking end-results. It's a great way to learn how to get more comfortable in Photoshop Land.

See you in the skies,
--Claus

Dining with Love...

Wrapping up coverage of our anniversary...

Thursday (A-day), I was late coming home as I helped a fellow employee change the tire on her car in our employee parking lot. (Always looking to reflect good Karma.)

Lavie kept calling me to check my progress...

I ducked into our grocery store on the way home to grab some roses and a card.

I was signing the card in the parking lot when the phone rang.

Lavie - "Where are you at?"

Me - "Passing Dairy Queen. I should be home in about three minutes."

Lavie - "Are you sure?"

Me - "Promise! Why?"

Lavie - "Nothing. Just wanted to know how much longer you would be."

Me - "I'll be home in just a minute!"

Lavie - "OK, Bye."

So I quickly finished writing up her card, secured the roses behind a seat-belt and set off.

Were her parents in town? Did they get reservations somewhere?

I got home and surprised Lavie with the cards and flowers, but was kept outside until I could be blindly led into the house (either a Good Thing or Not Good Thing) by Alvis and Lavie.

Allowed to open my eyes, I saw a fantastic Asian spread on the table for dinner.

Miso soup, salmon and tuna sushi, California rolls, Vietnamese spring and egg rolls, dipping sauces, and Japanese white rice. Lavie even found the best imported Japanese sake we have in town.

The girls had spent the afternoon running by our area's Japanese and Vietnamese restaurants (and the spirit house) collecting all the goodies, then making the rice when they got home.

Alvis usually cooks us dinner on our anniversary and we had discussed putting together an Asian salad, but my girls out-did themselves this time. Even pulling out our chopstick sets and our fancy Asian plates. Lavie even went by Pier1 to get some sake serving cups and bottle.

It may not look like much from the picture, but we couldn't manage to eat it all. Yummers. It was a very nice night.

And the reason for the constant status checks? Well, seems that they were not sure how long they should leave the sushi out and were trying to decide it they needed to put it back in the fridge if I was stuck in commute traffic, and I think they were a little excited as well!

I have such awesome girls.

Saturday, Lavie's parent's kept Alvis so Lavie and I dressed up and went to a fancy-pants dinner. We were going to drive over to dine and play on the Kemah Boardwalk, but I had a last-minute change of thought and we went to a (really) out-of the way restaurant on the Houston Port called Brady's Landing. We put on our best, and when we got there around 9pm, the parking lot was packed.

I was worried about a wait, but they were hosting a company party in one their banquet rooms. We immediately were seated at a candle-lit table in an area all by ourselves right next to a panoramic window view of the Houston Ship Channel. We dined on two of the best steaks we have ever had. We watched the night lights sparkling on the water. We held hands and laughed and flirted. We realized that good food, great service, and cherished company can make even the barges and sparks from a hidden welder look romantic at night.

Isn't love grand, sometimes?
--Claus