There is only one efficient way to empty your Recycle Bin in Windows XP; by right-clicking the desktop icon and selecting Empty Recycle Bin. This method works well for those casually browsing, blogging, and otherwise having fun, however for those of us whose livelihoods depend on their computer, this method of emptying the recycle bin can be somewhat irritating. Outside of just being a hassle, some of us really loathe having icons on our desktop and choose to have no icons whatsoever.

I was quite surprised when I came across a registry edit a few months ago that adds a Empty Recycle Bin entry to Explorer right-click context menus. I expect that most people won't find this tool exceptionally useful, but for those who use explorer as much and as extensively as I do, this will come as a godsend.

How to use:

1. Extract the file from the zip. double click the .reg file and accept the warning that pops up
2. Open My Computer/Windows Explorer; right click in any white space, in any folder, in any directory. You'll see the empty recycle bin option.

Guaranteed for use with Windows XP; I haven't tested this with Vista yet, but I plan on getting around to it eventually.

Download: Empty Recycle Bin Registry Addition

Tags: windows, xp, registry, explorer, empty, recycle, bin

Microsoft’s newest Windows release, Vista, has been out for a few months now, but most users will still be using Windows XP for some time to come. For some this is due to financial considerations, but for most this is due to a distaste for Microsoft Vista.

XP was released more than five years ago, however there are still things to be learned about XP, which is why I’m happily reporting to you a great Windows XP Optimization Guide. I must admit that most of the information won’t come as anything new to experienced power users, but for beginning to intermediate users this guide will be a great help.

As the site explains it:

Clean Spyware and Viruses + Optimize Windows XP to improve home, work and gaming performance safely. Windows XP’s default configuration is far from optimized. This Free guide will help you improve your overall system performance without having to manually edit the Registry. I avoid using or recommending “all-in-one” Windows XP Tweak programs since many blindly adjust settings that have no affect on performance and can cause future problems.

Even if you are confident in your XP mastery and don’t feel the need to check out the XP Optimization Guide, you should still visit the site as it is home to a few other interesting guides such as XP Freeware, XP Myths, and XP Secrets.

Tags: microsoft, windows, xp, vista, tweaks, optimization

One of the more limiting features of most taskbars is the complete lack of interaction with them, outside of the standard click to minimize, click again to restore. I have yet to come across any system where the user could drag and drop the apps in the taskbar to any location they desired in the taskbar. Luckily for me, and any others who would enjoy this feature, I came across a great Windows app that does just that, known as Taskbar Shuffle

From the site’s description:

• No hotkey, no extra steps, rearrange the programs on your Windows taskbar by simply… well, dragging and dropping them! Neat concept, huh?
• No need to get all nervous when a program crashes or if you wanna reboot; you can reorder the programs/buttons on your taskbar exactly how you like.

Again the program is called Taskbar Shuffle, and can be downloaded directly here. Hope you enjoy.

Tags: windows+taskbar, windows, taskbar, microsoft

The ability to access NTFS formatted partitions within linux was a dream we thought would never come true. While for many years now there existed a kernel module for reading said NTFS partitions, actually managing these partitions was an impossibility. While you could technically allow NTFS write support, it was not recommended, and almost always ended up destroying your partition.
Recently a new project emerged, known as NTFS-3G whose team has developed a linux kernel module with full NTFS read and write support. Here is some more info direct from the NTFS-3G home page:

The NTFS-3G driver is an open source, freely available NTFS driver for Linux with read and write support. It provides safe and fast handling of the Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 and Windows Vista file systems. Most POSIX file system operations are supported, with the exception of full file ownership and access right support.

The purpose of the project is to develop, continuously quality test and support a trustable, feature rich and high performance solution for hardware platforms and operating systems whose users need to reliably interoperate with NTFS. Besides this practical goal, the project also aims to explore the limits of a hybrid, kernel/user space file system driver approach. Performance, reliability and feature richness per invested effort are being examined.

Having used this module for some time now, I can honestly say it works wonderfully and is, so far, very stable. Time will tell of course, but assuming nothing goes horribly awry, I would highly recommend this to any linux user with NTFS needs.

You will find more information as well as download information from the NTFS-3G homepage

Tags: NTFS, filesystems, Linux, Microsoft

Microsoft’s ASP.net server side web technology is great for development, but until recently being able to utilize it required very specific conditions. Your server had to be running Windows Operating system, and for the most part had to be running SQL Server if you wanted to utilize a database connection.Servers running Apache technology were just out of luck regarding hosting ASP.net, until now.

The Mono Project is an open-source, Novell sponsored, project which aims to “provides the necessary software to develop and run .NET client and server applications on Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X, Windows, and Unix.”

Today I will focus on one aspect of the Mono project, known as Mod_Mono which is an Apache module adding ASP.net support. Straight from the project page:

Mod_Mono is an Apache 1.3/2.0/2.2 module that provides ASP.NET support for the web’s favorite server, Apache.The module passes off requests for ASP.NET pages to an external program, mod-mono-server, which actually handles the requests. The communication between the Apache module and mod-mono-server is established using a Unix socket or a TCP socket.

A very cool module allowing great possibilities. Give it a shot

Tags: apache, asp, asp.net, dotnet, microsoft, mono, mod_mono