Category: Windows
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How to Stretch a Menu Control to the Width of a Window in WPF
If you’ve ever created a Menu in WPF, you’ve probably noticed something peculiar: A Menu will not stretch to fill the entire width of its parent container. If you set the Menu’s width to ‘auto’ or delete the width property altogether, the Menu will shrink to the maximum width needed by its MenuItem elements (so…
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How to Remove the Start Button from Secondary Display Taskbars in DisplayFusion 3.3.1
If you’re like me and use multiple monitors as part of your computer setup, DisplayFusion is one of the best ways to take advantage of that extra screen space. Simple features like adding a taskbar to your secondary displays – a feature that Microsoft has glaringly neglected to include in Windows – make extra displays…
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How to Make Launchy Find ClickOnce Application Shortcuts
If you’ve never heard of Launchy, let me do you a favor by quickly explaining it. Launchy is a simple application launcher for Windows, Mac, and Linux that makes it easy to open any application installed on your computer just by using your keyboard. After installing Launchy, you’ll basically never have to open your Start…
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How to Restore Aero Effects if the Windows Desktop Window Manager Crashes
“Aero” is the graphical user interface that Microsoft introduced with Windows Vista and Windows 7. It includes many productivity features for managing your windowed desktop environment, but one of the most noticeable features is the glass-like transparency effect that is typically present on the borders of windows. At times, the Desktop Window Manager (DWM) service…
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Windows Phone 7: A Guided Tour
Windows Phone 7 is the most refreshing take on a smartphone OS to date. I find iOS to be awkwardly simple, with little innovation or interest generated by the operating system itself. Instead, Apple relies on its App Store and solid hardware to keep the customer’s attention. Android has its established fan base that appreciate…
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How to Create a HTML-style ComboBox in WPF and C#
Before I started doing software development in C# and WPF, I spent quite a bit of time with HTML. Because of this, I was used to having the ability to create drop-down boxes (known as select in HTML) to display lists of information with a “front-end” value the user could see and a “back-end” value…
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How to Perform SharePoint Development On A Client Workstation
One of the most difficult restrictions for a SharePoint developer to deal with can be the requirement to do development on a SharePoint server. Personally, I prefer doing my development on my local machine, eliminating the need to establish a remote desktop connection to a different machine in order to write code. Unfortunately, SharePoint development…
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Fix: Advanced Search Fields in Microsoft Outlook are Disabled or “Grayed Out”
Group policy is a feature in the Microsoft Windows operating system that allows administrators to set rules and privileges for users on a network. One of its abilities is to disable indexing of files on your hard drive, which can be done for security or performance purposes. A common problem that can occur when indexing gets disabled…
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Microsoft Unveils a Slimmer, Smarter Surface 2.0
How’s that for alliteration? When Microsoft first unveiled their Surface technology in 2007, I was impressed with the possibilities that could be had when combining advanced displays with accurate, multi-touch optical recognition. Their original product combined a 30” display with a series of cameras to establish the position of inputs (like your hands), which produced…