I don't know about you, but I often send cool stuff I find on the web to my personal email address.  This is mostly because I'm at work or because I often too busy I can't check it out right then and there, nor is it likely it's 'work safe' :).  What I've discovered is that this stuff gets mixed in with all kinds of spam, notifications, etc.  So I found a really simple way of isolating the stuff I send myself for further investigation.

 I append the subject line of the email with a 'cto'.  Short for 'Check this out'.

I then have sub categories.  'cto:Cool stuff', cto:Information' , etc.

I then add rules to my email client that automatically sorts these items to folders I've created.

 This is a great way to sift through the BS and queue up items I might not get to for a while!

I recently installed Windows Vista on a work computer and ran into a problem when ever I would drag and drop files.  Windows Explorer would crash everytime.  Initially I thought it was a permissions issue.  After a few weeks of looking and searching the web I was about an hour away from a fresh install when I found the issue.

The Issue:

Get this...It's a bad context menu handler.  That's right, you know the 'right click' options.  Apparently a poorly coded context menu will make Explorer crash.

Solution:

There is a way to edit your registry to fix this, but my guess is that 99% of people don't like doing this because it can have unintended impacts.  So I recommend downloading Shell Extensions Manager.  This little utility will show you all the shell extensions currently installed.

Open the program and disable all extensions that are not Microsoft, Windows, etc.  Then try to drag and drop!  If you need some of the extensions start enabling them one by one until you identify the one that's impacting your system.

Hope this helps!!!

I've been a Napster to-go subscriber now for about two years.  I have to say that I'm 100% satisfied with Napsters service.  At $14.95 a month it's a great deal IMO.  Recently Napster upgraded their client to 4.0.  For lack of a better term let's just say 'It's Hot'.

Check out Napster

Now that Fall is approaching it's time for the yearly ritual.  Development, Development, Development.  Typically I shut down my various development projects from May to October so I can enjoy the summer.  I have a few ideas of what I'm going to work on this season:

• More Search engine research (continuation of last years project)
• Guild Universe Development - We have some cool ideas and new features!!!
• Mike McGlumphy and I will be teaming up again to do some new sites!
• Site that contains all the links and articles to tools I use for development (thedotnettoolbox.com).
• Contribute to an open source project, or start one.

 I'm always looking for something cool to work on, If you have any cool ideas please send me an email or leave a post!

Here'a a few links to some .NET development tools to help make your life easier.

MSBuild

Automate your build process!

NETTiers

Build applications faster.

Telerik

IMO the best controls out there for .NET.