Geek · Dominic Foster

5 Simple Steps To Speed Up Firefox

August 5, 2007 on 10:07 pm | In Geek | No Comments

I have been getting a bit frustrated recently about how slowly Firefox has been opening up new tabs.

I did these 5 simple steps, and found that it sped it up immediately. Sorry, it ain’t rocket science - but it works!

Select Tools -> Options from the menu bar.
Click the Privacy icon.
Click the Clear Now… button.
Check the Browing History, Download History and Cache checkboxes.
Click Clear Private Data Now.

Clear the cookies too if you don’t really want them. I just keep them because I stay logged into my favorite sites.

I don’t know why it works, but it does. Try it and see how it goes.

How To Fix XAMPP on Windows XP Running ZoneAlarm

May 4, 2007 on 9:50 am | In Geek | No Comments

If you are having problems running XAMPP on a machine running Windows XP with a ZoneAlarm firewall, then this may solve your problems.

When I say problems, I mean that after about 20-30 minutes running XAMPP, your ZoneAlarm craps itself and shuts down. At the same time, XAMPP throws its toys out of the cot and refuses to do anything. Then XP starts leaking memory to the extent that nothing works and you just want to plant your fist in your monitor. You begin to wish you had the brain cells to get Apache, PHP and MySQL working on your Windows box, but you are sure it’s all part of the big plan by Microsoft to get everyone developing in ASP.NET on Windows servers

Anyhow, here is a simple solution that works for me:

Instead of using the XAMPP control panel to manage the Apache and MySQL services.
Navigate yourself to the C:\Program Files\xampp folder. Or wherever else you installed XAMPP.
Double click the xampp_start.exe file.

And thats it. This will start the Apache and MySQL services without using the XAMPP Control Panel, and does not seem to cause the problems outlined above.

If you have found any other ways, please leave a comment.

Performancing Metrics

April 5, 2006 on 10:42 am | In Free Tools, Geek, Tools | No Comments

I’m now using Performancing Metrics for this blogs stats.

When I first read about Performancing Metrics, I was not convinced that it would be of any value to me. However, I managed to brush aside this initial assumption and actually had a look at what it offered.

The first thing that I liked was it’s no-fuss interface. A very pleasant Web2.0 style look to it, with simple navigation and easy to read graphs.

Next, it is really simple to install. Using the easy interface, you add your blog and then copy and paste the code it spits out into the the selected blogs footer. A logo is optional and you can copy and paste this code too.

Now I can check all my blogs stats from one central location using a simple tool.

And finaly, you get all this for free!

From now on I’m going to make the effort to look into the recommendations that are made on websites that I regularly read and respect. I wouldn’t want to miss something like this again.

Technorati Tags: performancing, performancing+metrics, stats

15 Rules to Better Code

August 30, 2005 on 9:25 pm | In 31 Days to a Better Blog, Geek | 2 Comments

Well, I was at TechEd today, and quite by accident ended up in Adam Cogan’s session on 15 Rules to Better Code & Tools to Keep Your Code Healthy.

disclaimer: this is all typed up from hurried and garbled notes taken during the session!

Adam Cogan is Chief Architect at SSW in Sydney, Australia.

The session was mainly about erradicating bugs from your code and achieving consistency throughout your business.

Adam explained that erradicating bugs could be achieved through the use of Test Driven Development and Unit Testing. He also talked about integrating NUnit and respective Unit Tests into the release of your products for users to run when everything goes wrong on their machine when it works on yours.

Unit Testing is especially useful when an application has dependencies and operates under the .Net JIT compiler, for fragile code such as regular expressions, and for difficult to spot bugs like rounding and arithmatic.

Areas which Adam talked about applying Unit Testing to were MS Access, SQL Reporting Services, and Javascript (JSUnit).

He also mentioned that it can be very useful when testing database schemas and for reconciling databases - ie. when a client has fiddled with the backend db of your product, thus rendering the application useless or ineffective, and is blaming your coding for the problems. Running the reconcile test will show that the DB has been tampered with - subsequently absolving you of any responsibility - Brilliant!

Adam then went on to talk about MS FxCop and how it can be used to scan for inconsistencies in yours and your colleagues coding methods - and also about a tool that SSW has produced called SSW Code Auditor - which analyses for inconsistencies by applying a series of configurable rules to scan your code files with regular expressions. This can pick out such inconsistencies like buttons being different sizes and Check Boxes not having mnemonics.

He also raved about how good JetBrains Resharper is - which is not exactly difficult since it is a superb coding tool - and their dotTrace Profiler tool for performance tuning your .Net applications.

Finaly, Adam talked about the importance of not breaking the build on the build server - i.e. always test changes before checking in, and don’t check in if tests don’t work.

And that was about it really. Obviously it was much better being there than reading about it from my brief notes. If this sort of stuff interests you then I suggest you read some of the articles on the SSW website.

Also, if you ever have the good fortune to meet Adam, be sure to get him to tell you the story of the laser treatment he had done on his eyes during a trip to Brazil.

Microsoft TechEd - Auckland 2005

August 25, 2005 on 10:23 pm | In Etc..., Geek | No Comments

I might be attending Microsoft TechEd in Auckland (New Zealand) for a few days next week. If anyone is going to be there and fancies meeting up to shoot the breeze - then email me or leave a comment.

Test Driven Development

August 24, 2005 on 10:21 pm | In 31 Days to a Better Blog, Geek | 32 Comments

I’m just about to finish reading Test Driven Development: By Example - written by Kent Beck. Well I’m actually due to finish it on the bus to work tomorrow morning, but thought that I would post about it tonight while it is reasonably fresh in my mind.

For those who don’t know - by day I am a Software Developer working on software for the Accounting Practice industry. Just about all of my development work is done using Microsoft VB6 and Microsoft Access - But over the last few months I have been developing using the Microsoft C# programing language and the MS .Net framework.

Up until today, my software testing methods have probably been somewhat un-structured. But after getting through the first two chapters of Test Driven Development: By Example I thought I could try a change. When I got to work I cranked up my PC - and continued to work on something that has been giving me grief for the best part of the previous 1 to 2 days.

However - today I approached the problem armed with NUnit and my newly aquired knowledge of Test Driven Development - and even though the first hour or two was a combined mixture of work and getting myself aquainted with my new methodology - I was astounded to develope a solution for my problem not long after finishing my lunch. And with hardly any swearing or violent thoughts! - and it was pretty much from scratch having binned the previous code because it was getting way too gnarly!

You see, the trick with Test Driven Development is to write the tests first! Which I found a little perplexing when I started reading about it. But by doing this you are breaking down the Complex Bigger Problem into Smaller Achievable Goals. Starting with something that blatantly doesn’t work - and making sure that each goal works fully before moving onto the next.

To me this sounded like a laborious and tiresome activity. And I have to admit that as I progressed through the morning I wasn’t sure that I was actually getting much done. However - suddenly - after lunch - I had a Fully Functioning product of what I had been trying to achieve for the last couple of days!

Now that I’ve had time to dwell on todays experience after writing it down - I’m wondering what else, apart from software development, Test Driven Development could be applied to. I reckon you could probably get quite philosophical about the whole thing.

Anyway, I’m going to have to try and get some kind of TDD system set up for my VB6 development environment - because I think I’m going to miss it.

And thanks to Maruis Marais for the lend of the book.