Laurent Duveau : Vista

Quick backup with Live Mesh and Vista

pluginbaby — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:33:58 GMT

Did you know that… you can use Live Mesh to backup files in 1 click ?

Here is how to do this in Vista (with Live Mesh client installed):

First, create a BackupToMesh folder somewhere on your drive
Then Share it on your Mesh (Right-click / “Add folder to your Live Mesh…” )
Now create a shortcut to this folder (Right-click / Send To / Desktop)
Move the shortcut from your desktop to your Links folder (C:\Users\YourUserName\Links)

Now anytime in explorer, just click on BackupToMesh in the left pane and copy/past the files you want to backup on the cloud!

Note: if you don’t see the Favorite links pane, click “Organize” on the top menu and select: Layout / Navigation pane

Permission problem while trying to move/delete/rename folder in Vista ?

pluginbaby — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:09:20 GMT

I get this issue everyday in Vista: I try to move/delete/rename folders and get a “you need permission to perform this action” error.

Note these are not system folders, just some personal folders, and this is not related to UAC or drive hardware.

I have this issue regardless which account I use (User or Administrator).

At first you may want to look in the security tab and give full control permission to everyone… but that does not solve the problem! (and this is a bad practice)

If you experience the same, here is what you can do to get elevated privilege to perform your action:

!!Very Important: First you must close all opened explorer windows!!

Click on the Windows “start” orb and type “explorer”.

In the results pane right-click in “Windows Explorer” and select “Run as administrator”.

Now you can browse to your folder and move/delete/rename it!

Keep in mind that any new explorer window that opens will be running as administrator… to get your explorer windows to open WITHOUT elevated privilege, close all open explorer windows again, and then open an explorer window normally.

WebSlice Viewer Vista Gadget

pluginbaby — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 02:02:00 GMT

Put IE8 WebSlices on your Vista SideBar or desktop ? * not an april's fool *

Yes you can, as IE8 WebSlices are based on Windows RSS Platform.

Sean Lyndersay has released a very early version (alpha 0.3) of his WebSlice Viewer Gadget:
http://blogs.msdn.com/justsean/archive/2008/03/19/webslice-viewer-gadget-alpha.aspx

Here is a WebSlice on my desktop:

The gadget settings allows you to choose an existing WebSlice and configure the refresh rate and size :

Yes... I'm looking for a Boogaboo Frog stroller or Bebecar Raider AT+, anyone help ??

[MIX08] WPF Schedule Manager

pluginbaby — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 22:51:00 GMT

Going to MIX08 next week ?

Thirteen23 has created a very nice MIX08 Schedule Management Application with WPF (so Vista only!) to help you create your own conference schedule, keep track of times, and browse all the sessions.

http://thirteen23.com/experiences/desktop/mix08/

This is free and deployed via ClickOnce, cool!

Technorati Tags: MIX08

What's in Vista Experience Index?

pluginbaby — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 03:12:00 GMT

Ever wanted to now everything about Windows Experience Index ?

Windows Experience Index: An In-Depth Look:
http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/pages/458117.aspx

MIX08 Countdown Gadget

pluginbaby — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 04:03:10 GMT

"The Next Web Now"... well almost (d-50)

Here is a new Countdown sequel... not from me this time!

This nice little gadget uses Silverlight!

Download the MIX08 Countdown Gadget here.

Merry Christmas MVPs!! (+gift inside)

pluginbaby — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 05:03:16 GMT

Are you a Microsoft MVP ?
Are you running Vista ?
Planning to go to the Summit ?

Then download my MVP Global Summit Countdown Gadget for Vista!!
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=c36fa782-4ab9-4383-aaff-81b1b2a27314&bt=1&pl=1

This new release supports 3 languages (english, spanish and french) and the flyout window shows latest entries from the MVP Summit event rss.

Enjoy, and Merry Christmas.

COM Surrogate has stopped working error in Vista

pluginbaby — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 14:53:05 GMT

I had this error each time I browse media folders in Vista :

"This problem is caused because of codecs and other COM components installed by various softwares that aren't fully Vista-compatible, like some versions of DivX or Nero."

Thanks to the How-To-Geek here is the solution :
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/fix-for-com-surrogate-has-stopped-working-error-in-vista/

Vista Sidebar Gadget Template

pluginbaby — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 23:30:00 GMT

Tim Heuer has done a really nice Sidebar Gadget Template for Visual Studio.

The structure you get when creating a new Web Site/VistaSidebarGadget from VS :

Note that it creates one local folder (en-US) so you can easily add some more later, and it comes with lots of comments on the code (html and js). You also get a nice utils.js file full of JavaScript functions!

The link to the vsi template is on his post:
http://www.timheuer.com/blog/archive/2007/03/11/14010.aspx

Delete Live OneCare backup folder in Vista

pluginbaby — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 00:57:28 GMT

Problem: You reinstalled Live OneCare, or you start using v2 beta, and want to delete your old backup folder, but you can't.

This is a permission problem, that maybe you can solve with cacls with command line:

cacls "<drive letter>:\<path>" /t /g administrators:F

Sample:
cacls "F:\Windows OneCare Backup\YourComputerName" /t /g administrators:F
Do NOT put a \ at the end of the path.

You'll get a message "Are you sure(Y/N)?"

This will strip the permissions from the folder and you should be able to delete it.

Another solution found on the Windows Live OneCare Forum :

Under Computer, double-click the disk letter that corresponds to your hard disk.
Right-click the Windows Live OneCare folder, and then click Properties.
On the Security tab, under Groups or user names, click either Administrators or your user name.
Click on Edit
Next to Full Control, select the Allow check box, and then click Apply.
In the Windows Live OneCare folder, select the backup set folder, and then press DELETE.

Using your mashups from Popfly

pluginbaby — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 03:30:09 GMT

For a tutorial on creating Popfly mashup, read my previous post :
Building a simple mashup step by step with Popfly.

So now that you have a mashup, what can you do wih it ?

Your mashup is private by default.

First thing to do is switching it to public by clicking on "Share" :

Now that the mashup is shared, you have several new options :

You can :

Embed it in a web page
Export as Gadget for Vista Sidebar
Add it to your Windows Live Space

Embed it

Click on "Embed it" to get the HTML code needed to embed your mashup in any web page.
Note the options to publish your mashup in a new entry of your blog (requires MetaBlog API), also TypePad, and probably more to come.

Download as Gadget

Click on "Download as Gadget" to install your mashup directly in your Vista's Sidebar, like any Gadget from the Live Gallery. A mashup is just HTML, Javascript and Silverlilght, so there are no problem to host it in Vista Sidebar, but users will have to install Silverlight.

For now (beta...) export is not perfect (specially for the size) but you can easily tweak it by going to your local folder :
%userprofile%\appdata\local\microsoft\windows sidebar\gadgets

Better now!

In fact the exported gadget is just an iframe with a link to your content in Popfly, for my sample :

If you point your browser to http://www.popfly.ms/users/pluginbaby/Blaugh Carousel.content you'll see that the entire content of the mashup is there, the exported gadget act like a wrapper for the Sidebar.

Add to Windows Live Space

I don't have a Live Space but I assume you just have to specify which account to publish and it will create a new entry with your mashup embeded.

Is it friday? gadget update

pluginbaby — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 17:38:52 GMT

Just a little update on my Is It Friday? incredible gadget for Vista :

Now you have a setting to change your preferred day (what about monday... you love your boss?).
The gadget is now localized in 3 languages, depending on your system's regional settings, it will translate well in english, french and..... french canadian (quebec ostie)!

The new version is available free to download in Windows Live Gallery.

And you, what is your bloody day ?

Vista Gadget deploying problem

pluginbaby — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 16:42:23 GMT

You have created a Vista Sidebar Gadget, but when you try to install the gadget on your system nothing happens and in your directory(C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets) there's a folder named : mygadget.gadget.~0000

2 possible problems :

- The Zip package: don't zip your gadget root folder directly, instead go inside it and zip up all its contents (files and folders) with right-click / Sent To / Compressed (zipped) Folder.

- Special chars in manifest file: you must encode special chars like accents in gadget.xml.

Sample chars to replace:
é by é
è by è
, (comma) by ,
! by !
? by ?
@ by @

You can find a good list of special chars codes there :
http://resources.bravenet.com/quickref/special_chars

Is it friday? now in Vista gadget

pluginbaby — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 03:13:00 GMT

Here is my contribution to the Gadget vs Gadget competition : Is It Friday?

Story: one day Guy Barrette told me that it will be nice to have www.isitfriday.net as a gadget. So here it is! This gadget sits on your Vista Sidebar and notify nicely if today is the day you have been waiting for... friday!

Admit that it is completely useful, now I'm sure to win the competition!

Download it for free on the Windows Live Gallery.

Please read the requirements and note that one of them is "sens of humour"... so don't bother with comments like "Your gadget is a crap, you made it in 15 min." You'll be right, worst than that I made it in 1 hour... and the idea is not even from me!

Update: removed link to www.isitfriday.net as it appears that the website is no more live.

Gadget competition (Canada only)

pluginbaby — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 02:33:11 GMT

MSDN Canada runs a Gadget VS Gadget competition.
Create a great Windows Vista Gadget and you have the opportunity to win great prizes such as a Samsung 40” WideScreen LCD HD TV, Xbox 360 Pro, and a Dell UltraSharp 24-inch Flat Panel LCD Monitor!

Competition closes July 16, 2007 5:00 pm EST.

Register your gadget in the Windows Live Gallery and submit it there:
http://www.microsoft.com/canada/msdn/gadgetvsgadget/default.aspx

If you plan to participate, here are some links to resources that might help to distinguish your gadget:

Call a .NET class from a Gadget (without regasm.exe):
http://blogs.msdn.com/fredeq/pages/call-a-net-class-from-a-gadget-without-regasm-exe.aspx

Write your gadget in C# !
http://projects.nikhilk.net/Projects/ScriptSharp.aspx

To push things further you could add a spice of Silverlight in your gadget!
Gavin Gear has a great tutorial on how to create a Silverlight-enabled gadget:

http://blogs.msdn.com/gavingear/archive/2007/06/07/how-to-create-an-ink-enabled-sidebar-gadget-using-silverlight.aspx

Good Luck!