Great Add-on for Vista Start Menu

I am a huge fan on SlickRun - its a great little tool that you can use to create "magic words" that execute commands when you enter them into the little command prompt thing.. I found it REALLY boosted my productivity.

However, when I moved to Windows Vista, one of the features I fell in love with was Instant Search. So I thought I would have a look to see if anyone has expanded on the functionality provided by Instant Search to provide something similar to SlickRun.

Well, I quickly came across Start++ a great tool developed by Brandon Paddock, a great guy who seems very passionate about what he does, which is what I like to see. So I instantly added his blog to to my RSS Reader (Google Reader)

Well, its a very, very similar concept to SlickRun, except that is runs from the Instant Search prompt. You can create shortcuts for the commands you want to execute, type it in the search, and if found by Start++, a little icon pops up with the name you entered for it. You then simply hit return, and it runs the command you specified.

Here's a screen shot of me executing my command to open my Live Blog:

Also, it has some pretty neat feature called "Startlets" - these provide the ability to integrate your string into queries for search engines and the like (such as Google, Live Search and Wikipedia) as well as the Indexing features of Windows Vista to play music and videos that meet your criteria (e.g. a particular artist).

Anyway, enough talk, go see for yourself!

Technorati Tags: Vista,Start++,SlickRun,Start Menu,Productivity,Shortcuts

Great Code Colouriser from CarlosAg for Windows Live Writer

Found a link to this great code colouriser from CarlosAg in the blogosphere to plug into Windows Live Writer. Works really well, and nice and quick (found many that either format incorrectly or do it perfect but slowly).

Here's a sample:

/// <summary>
/// Says Hello to the User.
/// </summary>
public void SayHello()
{
    // Say Hello to the User.
    MessageBox.Show("HELLO!");
}

And a screen grab:

Special thanks to CarlosAg for sharing.
Check it out!

Technorati Tags: live writer,plug-in,code colour,CarlosAg

Excellent Tool List from Scott Hanselman

I had a post come up on Google Reader the other day advising me to check out an updated Tool List from Scott Hanselman. I am glad I did, I added another couple to by "Tool Box" (ha). You do not have to be a developer, maybe just someone who uses their computer a lot!

It was nice to see that a few of the tools I have picked up of my own accord in my own "quest for the right stuff" appear on his list (Paint.NET, FoxIt Reader and Daemon Tools to name a few).

I definitely recommend checking out the list, its pretty comprehensive and their is bound to be something you might pick up. One thing I was surprised to find on there was DarkRoom - interesting app, and something I have never really thought of before! There has been so many times where I have wanted to just write. This app is ideal, you get a blank screen and a cursor, that's it! No messy desktop, toolbar's or any other crap. Just a cursor. Excellent!

So thank you for this excellent list Scott! Appreciated.

Technorati Tags: blogging, applications, tools, utilities, developer, power user