So I am back in the saddle again after a few weeks out teaching a T-SQL/DTS class and then vacation. Always hard to get back into the swing of things after a few weeks out (not to mention the couple hundred new blog posts I have waiting for me in RSSBandit and another hundred or so e-mails to get through).

Anyway, to get me back into posting mode, I'll pass along a few quick tweaks to make your programming/computing life easier that I've picked up over the past few weeks (Wish I could give credit to someone but I didn't keep track where I got them from).

1.) Don't you hate having to open the VS.NET Command Prompt to get all the environment vars loaded to do command-line compiles and other stuff (sn, gacutil, tlbexp, etc to name a few)? I sure do. This registry tweak will make it so you can just use any regular cmd window and you'll have access to everything you need. Add the following to the registry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Command Processor]
"AutoRun"="\"%VS71COMNTOOLS%vsvars32.bat\""

2.) This one gives you quick access to the Event Viewer via a right-click on the My Computer icon. Add this to the registry to get it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

;Adds EventViewer to right click of MY Computer
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\shell\Event Viewer\command]
@="eventvwr"

3.) Don't you hate it when you forget a password to a website? You go to the page and IE (yes, I use IE - I just can't get into FireFox) fills it in for you but you can't remember what the password is. Doh. This quick bit of JavaScript can be placed in a shortcut on the links bar to reveal any passwords from the current page you're looking at. Here's the complete JavaScript so your geek side can take a look. It's not pretty code, and poor and unmeaningful var/function names, but once you add it into a shortcut you'll never need to see it again:

var p = r();

function r() {
    var g = 0;
    var x = false;
    var x = z(document.forms);
    
    g = g + 1;
    var w = window.frames;
    
    for(var k=0; k < w.length; k++) {
        var x =((x)||(z(w[k].document.forms)));
        g = g + 1;
    }
    if(!x) alert('Password not found in '+g+' forms');
}

function z(f) { 
    var b = false;
    
    for(var i=0; i < f.length; i++) { 
        var e = f[i].elements;
        for(var j=0; j<e.length; j++) {
            if(h(e[j])) {
                b = true;
            }
        }
    }
    return b;
}

function h(ej) {
    var s = '';
    
    if(ej.type == 'password') {
        s = ej.value;
        if(s!='') {
            prompt('Password found ', s);
        }
        else {
            alert('Password is blank');
        }
        return true;
    }
}

What you need to do is mash that all into one line (preceeded by “javascript:”) and add that as the URL of the shortcut. I've provided an internet shortcut (.url file) for you to download and just add to your links bar. Give it a try.

It is great to be back! I actually missed posting to my blog.