I'm having problems with DEP causing Visual Studio to crash, perhaps because of third party components that I'm using? In any case, I found that this command can be used to disable DEP:

bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff

Once I can determine a better work around, then I can use this command to turn it back on:

bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOn

I'm installing visual studio 2008 on Windows Server 2008 and got this error message:
"VJSharpCodeProvider could not be located"

After a bit of research, I found that the problem was caused because my application contained some .java files and that the solution was to download and install the Microsoft Visual J# redistributable package, 64-bit edition from microsoft's download site.

On a different topic, I'm thinking that sterling engines like this one might be an excellent cost-savings measure for anyone that burns wood as heat.

Here are a couple more helpful tips for running Windows 2008 Server as your desktop O/S:

1. How to disable user access control (UAC) so that you aren't bombarded by those "are you sure" messages.
   
2. How to disable data execution prevention so that visual studio doesn't act weirdly.
3. Turn off Shutdown Event Tracker and change performance setting from background to programs (for some reason the background setting appears to interfere with Visual Studio)

I've just acquired a kill-a-watt power consumption meter. It's a pretty nifty gadget and with it I've been able to roughly calculate how much some common devices cost to power up. For example:

A Dell M5200 laser printer uses 960 watts while printing, so if you printed continuously for 24 hours, you'd burn up $2.46 worth of power.

My laptop uses 80 watts while active, so if I leave it turned on and running for a whole day, then I've spent $0.20.

A 100 watt light bulb burns through $0.26 per day, while a small desk fan requires $0.08 and a cell phone charger $0.01.

These costs are based on my residential electric bill. Here in the Allentown, PA area our utility is PPL and rates are structured so that you pay one rate for the first 200 KWH consumed, a slightly lower rate for the next 600 KWH and a third, even lower rate for additional KWH. The max rate comes out to something like 0.11/KWH although this is scheduled to drastically increase in 2010.

I couldn't find a calendar that I liked today and rather than make one in word or excel, I decided to use iTextSharp. I'm growing quite dependent on iTextSharp. I hope that it sticks around. It's a wonderful library.

The puzzle app that I created last month has got me to thinking of a way to cut the puzzle pieces out, and that led me to do a bit of research into industrial lasers. I think if I won the lottery, I'd buy one of these: Epilog Legend 36EXT .

A lot of sign shops have CNC routers that they use for cutting vinyl. These routers accept DXF files, so if I can create the puzzle as a DXF file then I could take it to a sign shop. I'm looking into how difficult this is to do now.