Is your PC not running as "fast" as you expected?

 

Typically, most Window users who come to me regarding their computer running slow have too many programs running on start up (i.e. whenever the computer is turned on...). Whenever you buy a new laptop or desktop from companies like Dell or HP, they have a lot of their own software installed by default, and these programs run everytime you turn on your PC. Overtime, as you buy new software, or install free software such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, your PC's start up menu becomes a beastly list of programs that you don't need to run whenever booting up. Not only does this take longer whenever logging into Windows the first time, it makes the entire experience a slower one.

NOTE: You will need to be logged in with an administrative account.

 

THE FIX:

 

For Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP:

 1. Hit the start menu button in the bottom left corner of the screen or hit the Window key on your keyboard.

       OR   

2. Type MSCONFIG and hit enter.

3. At the top of the pop up window, hit the Startup tab.

4. Uncheck any unwanted programs. This will not delete your program, but simply remove it from whenever your computer boots up.

5. Click Apply and OK. You will need to restart your PC. You should see the following prompt:

 

Once you have performed these actions, you should definitely see an improvement. If you still do not see an increase in your computer's speed, I recommend a hardware upgrade on your RAM (Random Access Memory).

 

NOTE: Please be careful and not remove any necessary system programs (e.g. System32 files). Peform these steps are your own risk. Z5 Concepts will not be held liable and is not responsible for the actions you take in following this tutorial.

Whenever we upgraded to OS X Lion,

 

we noticed our MacBook Pro (w/Core 2 Duo, 4gb ram) was getting the dreaded rainbow wheel. And, as I assume, this may have been the case for many people. 

NOTE: This is for Intel based Macs only.

This little trick is worth trying, and I'd recommend doing so maybe every quarter just to make sure your Mac is running at optimal speed.

Before I show you what to do, I'd like to explain it for those who really want to know what is going on.

In a nutshell, we are going to be resetting the RAM of your Mac. On the Mac, you have what is called NVRAM or PRAM. This stores information such as speaker volume, startup disk options, and more. I currently have AppleCare and called in regarding the slowness I've experienced since upgrading to OS X Lion. Re-setting this is what Apple recommended and obviously uses for cases as such. Once I ran this fix, I immediately saw a difference in  my speed and has been working wonderfully since that time.

 

Here is the fix: 

1. Turn off your Mac! (Shut it down, baby…that's right!)
2. The next step is to hold 4 keys down, but you will first turn the Mac back on (Don't do it yet!).
3. The Four Keys: Command + Option + 'P' + 'R'
4. You should hear the start up noise twice before releasing the keys...
5. Turn your Mac on.
6. Hold the keys down! Hold until you hear the start up sound twice (2x after the initial start up sound.)
7. You are done.

In ASP.NET, you may want to implement a solution with the Microsoft Chart controls that has multiple series, but have two different scales for the Y-Axis. First of all, your “SelectCommand” must return the correct number of columns, with data, for this to work smoothly. Secondly, you must make sure the properties are set properly for each series for the Chart controls to know how to display them. Please see my example below.

 

<asp:ChartID="Chart5"runat="server"Width="750px"Height="500px"

                       Palette="BrightPastel"DataSourceID="SQLDataSource1">

 

 <titles>

 

  <asp:titleName="Title1"Text="Our Chart"

             ShadowColor="32, 0, 0, 0"Font="verdana, 14.25pt, style=Bold"

             ShadowOffset="3"Alignment="TopCenter"ForeColor="SteelBlue">

  </asp:title>

  <asp:titleName="Subtitle2"Text="Me vs. You"

             ShadowColor="32, 0, 0, 0"Font="verdana, 10pt, style=Bold"                                                     

             ShadowOffset="3"Alignment="TopCenter"ForeColor="SteelBlue">                         

  </asp:title>

 </titles>

 

 <borderskinskinstyle="Emboss"></borderskin>

 

   <series>

    <asp:SeriesName="You"ChartArea="ChartArea1"ChartType="column"

               IsValueShownAsLabel="true"XValueMember="yourxvalue_datacolumn"

               YValueMembers="yourY1value_datacol">

    </asp:Series>

    <asp:SeriesName="Me"Color="Green"ChartArea="ChartArea1"

                IsValueShownAsLabel="true"  ChartType="column"

                XValueMember="yourxvalue_datacolumn"

                YValueMembers="yourY2value_datacol" YAxisType="Primary">

    </asp:Series>

    <asp:SeriesName="Overall"Color="Goldenrod"ChartArea="ChartArea1"

               LabelFormat="{0:##0}%"IsValueShownAsLabel="true"BorderColor="Goldenrod"

               BorderWidth="3"ChartType="Line"XValueMember="yourxvalue_datacolumn"

               YValueMembers="yourY3value_datacol"YAxisType="Secondary">

    </asp:Series>                              

   </series>

 

     <chartareas>

<asp:ChartAreaName="ChartArea1"BackColor="Transparent">

        <AxisXInterval="1"Title="XAxis Title">

          <MajorGridLineColor="Silver"/>

          <LabelStylefont="verdana, 10pt"/>

        </AxisX>

        <AxisYTitle="Y1 Axis Title">

          <MajorGridLineColor="Silver"/>

          <MajorTickMarkLineColor="Black"LineDashStyle="Dash"LineWidth="3"/>

          <LabelStylefont="verdana, 10pt"/>

        </AxisY>

        <AxisY2Title="Y2 Axis Title"Minimum="0"Maximum="100">

        <LabelStyleForeColor="Black"font="verdana, 10pt"/>

        </AxisY2>

       </asp:ChartArea>

       </chartareas>

 

</asp:Chart>

 

<asp:SQLDataSourceID="SQLDataSource1"runat="server"

                  ConnectionString="<%$ ConnectionStrings:default %>"

                  SelectCommand="YourStoredProcedure"SelectCommandType="StoredProcedure">

</asp:SQLDataSource>

 

 

 

 

In the first section, you can set your width and height property for better viewing and needs to be relevant to the page you are displaying them on. You also must set your DataSourceID property to whatever data source you are using. There are also different palettes to choose from to spice it up a bit.

<asp:Chart ID="Chart5" runat="server" Width="750px" Height="500px"

                       Palette="BrightPastel" DataSourceID="SQLDataSource1">

 

Within the “Chart” node, there are several different sub-nodes, such as the “Titles” node. Here we get to set the titles and sub-titles for the particular chart to give a brief overview of what the data in the chart is displaying. You can modify the font however you like. The alignment property allows you to move it around the top of the chart.

<titles>

 

  <asp:title Name="Title1" Text="Our Chart"

             ShadowColor="32, 0, 0, 0" Font="verdana, 14.25pt, style=Bold"

             ShadowOffset="3" Alignment="TopCenter" ForeColor="SteelBlue">

  </asp:title>

  <asp:title Name="Subtitle2" Text="Me vs. You"

             ShadowColor="32, 0, 0, 0" Font="verdana, 10pt, style=Bold"                                                     

             ShadowOffset="3" Alignment="TopCenter" ForeColor="SteelBlue">                         

  </asp:title>

 </titles>

 

Also under the Chart node, you have the series node which sets up the data on the chart for you. In the section below, you will see that you will need to know the columns of data you will want to represent for each series.

In each <asp:Series> node, you set up the “ChartType”, “XValueMember”, and the “YValueMember.” The ChartType can be many different types, but you usually want each series to have the same ChartType and in this case, we have it as column. Now for the third series, our second Y-Axis, we will use a ChartType of “Line” for a better representation of the data for that series.

Now remember, we are setting up this chart to have two separate scales for the second and third series. So notice the additional property YAxisType. In the second series we have it set to “Primary” which will be the main Y-Axis on the left of the chart, and in the third, we have it set to “Secondary” which will display on the right of the chart.

There are also other properties you can add, such as the LabelFormat. In this case, we have a percentage, and we want the label on the chart to have the % sign displayed. 

<series>

    <asp:Series Name="You" ChartArea="ChartArea1" ChartType="column"

               IsValueShownAsLabel="true" XValueMember="yourxvalue_datacolumn"

               YValueMembers="yourY1value_datacol">

    </asp:Series>

    <asp:Series Name="Me" Color="Green" ChartArea="ChartArea1"

                IsValueShownAsLabel="true"  ChartType="column"

                XValueMember="yourxvalue_datacolumn"

                YValueMembers="yourY2value_datacol" YAxisType="Primary">

    </asp:Series>

    <asp:Series Name="Overall" Color="Goldenrod" ChartArea="ChartArea1"

               LabelFormat="{0:##0}%" IsValueShownAsLabel="true" BorderColor="Goldenrod"

               BorderWidth="3" ChartType="Line" XValueMember="yourxvalue_datacolumn"

               YValueMembers="yourY3value_datacol" YAxisType="Secondary">

    </asp:Series>                              

</series>

 

 

 

Lastly, we get to the section of the ChartAreas which does the beautifying of our scales. J

In order for you to have two Y-Axes, you need this section in your code. Most of it is pretty self explanatory. The key thing to notice in <AxisY2> is the properties, Minimum and Maximum. This will allow you to set the scale for your second Y-Axis. Typically, the primary Y-Axis can range from 0-10000, but your secondary Y-Axis may only range from 0-100 (for percent anyhow). Without this range being set, chances are you won’t see the Y2-Axis, depending on the primary Y-Axis range.

<chartareas>

<asp:ChartArea Name="ChartArea1" BackColor="Transparent" >

        <AxisX Interval="1" Title="XAxis Title" >

          <MajorGrid LineColor="Silver" />

          <LabelStyle font="verdana, 10pt" />

        </AxisX>

        <AxisY Title="Y1 Axis Title">

          <MajorGrid LineColor="Silver" />

          <MajorTickMark LineColor="Black" LineDashStyle="Dash" LineWidth="3" />

          <LabelStyle font="verdana, 10pt" />

        </AxisY>

        <AxisY2 Title="Y2 Axis Title" Minimum="0" Maximum="100">

        <LabelStyle ForeColor="Black" font="verdana, 10pt" />

        </AxisY2>

       </asp:ChartArea>

</chartareas>

 

 

 

 

If you have any questions or problems, feel free to e-mail me at DJ@z5concepts.com

When developing with C#.NET in Visual Studio, developers work with the ASP.NET GridView control, there are many cases when needing the ability to check each row in a GridView in order to call a function on button click or even on CheckChanged. In my case, I was needing to allow for the user to delete multiple records at once, either by selecting all or by individually checking each check box.

 

So, here we go:

In the .aspx page where you have your GridView control, you should have the following:

  

<asp:GridView ID="GridView1" runat="server" DataSourceID="DSN">

 

<Columns>

 

</Columns>

 

</asp:GridView>

 

Inside the <Columns> node, you should add the following code:

      <HeaderTemplate>

       <asp:CheckBox ID="cbSelectAll" runat="server" Text="All" AutoPostBack="true"

                     OnCheckedChanged="chkSelectAll_CheckedChanged" />

      </HeaderTemplate>

      <ItemTemplate>

         <asp:CheckBox ID="cb" runat="server"></asp:CheckBox>

      </ItemTemplate>

     </asp:TemplateField>

 

After adding the above code, it should look as so:

    <asp:GridViewID="GridView1"runat="server"DataSourceID="DSN">

 

    <Columns>

     <asp:TemplateField>

      <HeaderTemplate>

         <asp:CheckBoxID="cbSelectAll"runat="server"

                       Text="All"AutoPostBack="true"

                       OnCheckedChanged="chkSelectAll_CheckedChanged"/>

      </HeaderTemplate>

      <ItemTemplate>

         <asp:CheckBoxID="cb"runat="server"></asp:CheckBox>

      </ItemTemplate>

     </asp:TemplateField>

    </Columns>

 

    </asp:GridView>

  

Now, in the code behind file, the .aspx.cs file, you will need to add the following method(s) in order to allow for select all on that column and a button click event. See below:

 

If you have any questions or problems, feel free to e-mail me at DJ@z5concepts.com

The following information is to show how to use the date format in item template in ASP.NET with C#.

To format the date when calling the Bind() function on your .aspx page, see below for details:

 

 

<asp:TextBoxID="txtBox" runat="server" Text='<%# Bind("DateDataField", "{0:d}") %>'>

</asp:TextBox>

 

 

 

If you have any questions or problems, feel free to e-mail me at DJ@z5concepts.com

     Have you ever retrieved a long string of numbers for a datetime before? Chances are that this string of numbers is the number of milliseconds since Epoch, aka Unix Date. According to Wikipedia, Epoch or Unix date is "defined as the number of seconds elapsed since midnightprolepticCoordinated Universal Time (UTC) of January 1, 1970. Yes, believe it or not, this sometimes happens when trying to retrieve the datetime of some piece of data.

     C#.NET allows for you to convert this long string of milliseconds to retrieve a more user friendly date and time. Depending on Daylight Savings Time, the converted time may be off by an hour, which you can modify the code to add/subtract an hour if needed. You can see this in the code below.

 

 

 

 

 

    static string epochTime(string d)

    {

 

        long e = long.Parse(d);

        DateTime dt = DateTime.Parse("1970-01-01").AddMilliseconds(e);

        dt = dt.AddHours(-4);   // This is to allow for specific time zones.

        d = dt.ToString();

        return d;

 

    }

 

 

      If you have any questions or need help, feel free to e-mail me at dj@z5concepts.com.

 

    In ASP.NET, when using the RequiredFieldValidator control on a textbox, you must always enter a value in the textbox before postback occurs. In the event you have a form which has a textbox that cannot be null or must have a value, you want to use the ASP.NET RequiredFieldValidator control.

    On most forms, you typically have a submit button. You also should have either a cancel button, or a reset button of some sort to either refresh the page, or clear the form fields. If this is the case, and you have a requiredfieldvalidator control tied to one of your textbox controls, then whenever the textbox is empty, and a user clicks cancel, your requiredfieldvalidator control will kick in and state you must have a value in the textbox.

    There is a way around this and that is using the "CausesValidation" property. CausesValidation can be added to many different ASP.NET controls. In this instance, you will want to add it to your cancel button control. See example below for more details.

 

 

       

   

  <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox1" runat="server"> </asp:TextBox>

   <asp:RequiredFieldValidator ID="RequiredFieldValidator1" runat="server"

                               ErrorMessage="RequiredFieldValidator"

                               ControlToValidate="TextBox1">

   </asp:RequiredFieldValidator>

   <asp:Button ID="btnSubmit" runat="server" Text="Submit" />

   <asp:Button ID="btnCancel" runat="server" Text="Cancel" CausesValidation="false" />

 

 

   

     If you do not understand how this works or need help, please comment, and I'd be glad to help. Or feel free to go to our contact page and send us an e-mail.

 

 

I'm assuming if you are viewing this, you are experiencing some issues setting up BlogEngine.Net in your website. Your error may be along the lines of:

1. 500 - Internal Server Error

or

2. It is an error to use a section registered as allowDefinition=’MachineToApplication’ beyond application level.  This error can be caused by a virtual directory not being configured as an application in IIS.

Other posts have stated the issues of having sub-folders that have multiple web.config files, however, that is not necessarily the issue.

Goal: To integrate BlogEngine.Net into existing website in Visual Studio 2008 or Visual Studio 2005

Steps:

1. Separate your site's root folder from the blog folder.

2. Start Visual Studio 2008 or Visual Studio 2005 and go to File > Open Website.

3. Locate your blog folder and select Open.

4. Build website and View in browser. (Just to make sure everything is working accordingly)

5. On the Main toolbar, go to Website > Copy Website. (You can edit styles later, but for now, lets get it out on the web server.)

6. Once you connect via FTP, upload the files to your blog directory on your site.

7. Done! You should be running as normal.

 

*If you have any issues with this solution, or additional questions, feel free to ask/comment away.

 

www.z5concepts.com