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  • Ninite

    I know that I previously posted about the various pieces of software I installed on each rebuild, but I was just pointed out to a piece of software that basically does everything for you: Ninite.

    As I look through my list, and compare it to their app, it looks like I only have a few outstanding apps.  Granted, I don’t really care about getting all the apps installed or how long it takes.  Usually I don’t even remember until I need the app and it isn’t there.  Regardless, could save someone some time.

     

  • Where's My Disk Space?

    WinDirStat will tell you!

     

  • Large File Transfers

    One of the problems I know I’ve had in the past, especially at work, is transferring large files between two places.  Usually this happens with virtual machines, and developers needing access to the originals.  There has never been a good way around this.  I’ve tried various things: FTP, Dropbox-esque cloud sites, sneaker net, etc.

    However, I stumbled upon a new site that is doing things a bit differently.  Basically their system just maximizes the route between two endpoints and then you send the file directly.  Obviously this isn’t a good choice for upload once, consume a lot items, but if you just need to get things sent once, it could work pretty well.

    The site is called Sendoid, and they have both a web and desktop application.  Looks pretty basic and worthwhile.  I haven’t tried it yet, but it could also work well for distributed backups (house my files on someone else’s computer like my parent’s).

  • Email After 3 Weeks

    The main reason why I dislike taking such long vacations.

    Nothing like 2.8k of unread work email, 457 of which are just in my inbox.  Fun!

     

  • 2004 VW Jetta Brake Pads

    Two days ago, Yow-Yow and I were running some errands, and we noticed an awful grinding sound coming from the front passenger side whenever I would use the brakes.  Thankfully, since it is a manual, I didn’t need to use the brakes a whole lot.  Once we got a chance to look at it, we noticed that the front pad was completely gone!  The only thing I can think of is that the pad shattered during the night or something, because it was there one day and gone the next (and it was completely gone).

    Since I’m on vacation, I ran by pepboys and homedepot to get new brake pads (ceramic to keep the dust down), and a bunch of metric sockets.  I can’t believe that I work so much on my car, but don’t have any metric sockets.  Needless to say, that issue was fixed.

    Anyways, if you find yourself in a similar situation of replacing the front axle break pads on a 2004 VW Jetta TDI (or any with the FS III caliper), the guide pins (bolts on the caliper) are 7mm hex.  Of course, this resulted in another run to homedepot.  I had an Alan wrench with 6mm and 8mm (and an ASE one too), but of course no 7mm.

    Amazing how well it works with the correct tools.  Oh, and the stupid Bentley doesn’t tell you the right size or type either.  The picture alludes to a hex, but no where does it say.

    Still, only took an hour to do both sets of front pads once I had the right tools.  Hopefully this helps someone else (or me when I have to do it again).

    As an aside, I love how the wear indicator is only on 1 pad out of the 4 on the front axle.  Needless to say, the indicator didn’t go on for me, since it was on the wrong side of the rotor and the wrong side of the car.  Go, go german engineering!

     

  • MSDN Downloader Link

    I hate when I go to MSDN and am downloading a large ISO only for something to happen and the download manager closes.  I don’t have a shortcut on my desktop to it, so it is a pain to find.

    In case this happens to you, here is the link load it back up.

    “C:WindowsDownloaded Program FilesTransferMgr.exe”

     

  • SQL Dashboard 2005 for SQL 2008

    1. Install the Dashboard by running the msi, which will attempt to install to a default location of Program FilesMicrosoft SQL Server90ToolsPerformanceDashboard. Save the files to the Program FilesMicrosoft SQL Server100ToolsPerformanceDashboard directory instead
    2. Replace performance_dashboard_main.rdl in the PerformanceDashboard folder with the updated version attached below
    3. Open Management Studio and connect to the server and run the SETUP.SQL script (once for each SQL instance you want to monitor) located below and in attachment
    4. From Object Explorer select the server, right mouse click and choose Reports – Custom Reports and browse to find the PERFORMANCE_DASHBOARD_MAIN.RDL file. This report is the only report intended to be directly loaded from SSMS; all other reports are accessed as a drill through off of the main report

    2008 Dashboard Zip

  • IIS Log Analysis

    Some good things to use when trying to do analysis on IIS logs:

    • TXTCollector – This will make all your individual IIS log files into one large file.
    • Log Parser – Write SQL queries against your IIS Log files
    • Visual Log Parser – No command line (but sometimes a pain in the ass to install)!
    • Log Parser Lizard – Visual Log Parser doesn’t want to install anymore, so a new tool it is!
    • Log Parser Studio – Free from MS!

    Some common Log Parser queries:

    select cs-uri-stem as url,
cs-uri-query, cs-method,
 count(cs-uri-stem) as pagecount,
 sum(time-taken) as total-processing-time,
 avg(time-taken) as average,
 Max(time-taken) as Maximum
from <logfile>
group by cs-uri-stem,
 cs-uri-query,
 cs-method
order by average desc

     

    select cs-uri-stem as url,
 cs-method,
 count(cs-uri-stem) as pagecount,
 sum(time-taken) as total-processing-time,
 avg(time-taken) as average
from <logfile>
where cs-uri-stem like '%.aspx'
group by cs-uri-stem,
 cs-method
order by pagecount desc

     

    select top 500 cs-uri-stem as url,
 cs-uri-query,
 count(cs-uri-stem) as pagecount,
 sum(time-taken) as total-processing-time,
 avg(time-taken) as average
from <logfile>
where cs-uri-stem like '%.aspx'
group by cs-uri-stem,
 cs-uri-query
order by pagecount desc

     

    select cs-uri-stem as url,
 cs-method,
 count(cs-uri-stem) as pagecount,
 sum(time-taken) as total-processing-time,
 avg(time-taken) as average,
 avg(sc-bytes),
 max(sc-bytes)
from <logfile>
where cs-uri-stem like '%.aspx'
group by cs-uri-stem,
 cs-method
order by pagecount desc

    UpdateI’m just adding more queries I frequently use, and fixing the formatting.

    select quantize(time-taken,5000) as 5seconds,
 count(cs-uri-stem) as hits,
 cs-uri-stem as url
from <logfile>
group by url, quantize(time-taken,5000)
order by quantize(time-taken,5000)

     

    select
 quantize(time,3600) as dayHour,
 count(cs-uri-stem) as hits,
 avg(time-taken) as averageTime,
 cs-uri-stem as url
from <logfile>
where url like '%.svc'
group by url,
 dayHour
order by dayHour

    select
TO_LOCALTIME(QUANTIZE(TO_TIMESTAMP(date, time), 3600)) AS dayHour,
count(cs-uri-stem) as hits
from <logfile>
where cs-uri-stem like '%/page.aspx'
group by dayHour
order by dayHour Asc

  • Installed Items

    Again, this post is purely for me to remember and it is in no particular order:

    Optional Items (depending on machine):

  • Quickly Test DB Connection String

    I’m throwing this up here because I consistently forget the file type extension to do this.  If you want to test a DB Connection String, create a new document and rename it something with the .udl extension.  Double click on it and fill in the relevant information.

    Oh, and as an aside, the theme should look a bit different/better here shortly.  This WP install is pretty screwed up right now, so I will be reinstalling it at some point.