I've been trying to determine how to install a windows service and in the process have been delving into the intricacies of MSI files which, it turns out, are extremely flexible and programmable. There's a windows installer SDK and the SDK includes a utility called ORCA that allows you to edit existing MSI files. I've been trying to add a call to the InstallService table/feature and it's sort of working, but I am getting an "insufficient permissions" message.

I think the full version of InstallShield would automate this but it's very expensive ($1000+) so I intend to keep plugging away with Orca...

I've just discovered a new Google feature, Google Analytics...It's very neat and it's free...I think this will be extremely popular but I feel sorry for all the individuals and companies that are selling this stuff currently. It's hard to compete with free, but free and really good?!?

Cheap Space
A terrabyte of disk space for under $1200? No problem...here's the recipe:

1) 5 Maxtor 300 GB hard drives ($130, last time I checked)
2) 1 LSI Logic MegaRaid Sata 150-6 PCI Raid Controller ($300)
3) A case with SATA power connectors ($70)
4) A motherboard so that the case will power up ($130)

Total cost $1150

In my case, I had an old PII. I bought SATA power adaptors from CompUSA, took everything out of the case except the motherboard (including CPU and memory) then installed the drives. The MegaRaid comes with 6 1 meter cables which I from the drives out the back of the case. I installed the MegaRaid adapter in my server (an old Compaq), and ran the cables in through a slot in the back. There is BIOS software in the adapter that makes it very easy to configure the drives. I did so, formatted them and now have lots and lots of cheap RAID 5 space.

For the LSA Logic MegaRaid Sata 150-6, try ZipZoomFly:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=132610

For Maxtor Drives, try ZipZoomFly:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=100719-4

For SATA power adaptors, try MonoPrice:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/search.asp?keyword=1253

A few days ago I was going through my old CDs looking for a backup copy of a project I'd worked on a few years back when I came across a stash of obsolete games, including Total Annhilation, Command and Conquer, Tank Racer and Duke Nuke'em. With some help from a friend I got Total Annhilation to work fine on Windows XP, but the others did not.

A quick google search lead me to DosBox, a wonderful open-source DOS emulator designed to make it possible to play old games on new operating systems and then a search for help with tuning DosBox lead me to Abandonia, an on-line warehouse of obsolete video games. These are the games that were the best sellers 15 years ago and it's nostalgic to boot them up now.

I've posted FindRecentFiles, an application that I created to help me free up disk space on my laptop but also to make incremental backups. While creating documentation for FindRecentFiles, I discovered that Visio allows you to specify a color to make transparent when saving images in GIF format. Nifty feature!

The way that the keypress event works in VB.NET 2003 is annoyingly different from the way that it worked in VB6. In VB6 you could change the value of the key being pressed while in the event. IE: If the user pressed TAB you could change the keycode to CR, or if the user pressed a lowercase "a" you could change the keycode to an uppercase "A". In VB.NET 2003 it appears that to accomplish the same feat, you need to subclass the control (this is pretty easy in VB.NET I have to admit).

I found some references to the keypress event in VB.NET 2005 and it looks like keypress event handling in VB.NET 2005 has been changed to emulate that in VB6.