Windows Tools, Help & Guides

This book is a gift from the Windows Phone 7 team at Microsoft to the programming community, and I am proud to have been a part of it. Within the pages that follow, I show you the basics of writing applications for Windows Phone 7 using the C# programming language with the Silverlight and XNA 2D frameworks.

Yes, Programming Windows Phone 7 is truly a free download, but for those readers who still love paper—as I certainly do—this book will also be available (for sale) divided into two fully-indexed print editions: Microsoft Silverlight Programming for Windows Phone 7and Microsoft XNA Framework Programming for Windows Phone 7. [Note from Devon: we should have these ready for order in December 2010.]

The second part of this book focuses entirely on Silverlight, and the third part on XNA 2D. For your convenience, the chapters in each part build upon previous knowledge in a progressive tutorial narrative, and hence are intended to be read sequentially.

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Yesterday we showed you how to create audio files from your documents. If you now have a large collection of somewhat robot sounds audio books or if you’ve encoded some of your audio book CDs, you may want to organize them a little better. In this guide, I’ll show you how to organize your audio book collection with iTunes.

Can’t stand iTunes? Here are seven alternatives to iTunes.

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I must admit that I am a big fan of Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE). Since Microsoft has the most popular consumer operating system in the world, why don’t they take up the responsibility in releasing a security program for their users for free? Of course, I am aware that Microsoft has previously released a few – less noticeable security programs, like Windows Defender (pre-installed in Windows Vista/7 and will be disabled if the user installs MSE) and Windows Live OneCare (which was a paid subscription and discontinued), but most Windows users still prefer to use some free security software offered by third parties (and most of them are ad-supported), due to various reasons. Don’t be surprised that some of new PC users aren’t aware of the importance of a security product for Windows, and some don’t have security software installed (and they aren’t aware that they are exposed to the various threats during browsing), so it is pretty important (and I think it’s quite fundamental) for Microsoft to have a competitive in-house security program for all Windows users, for free of course, and the answer is Microsoft Security Essentials. Read the rest of this entry »

Windows Guides’ Rating	Compatible with
4.5 out of 5

PROS: Creates MP3 and WAV files of your documents in very little time. Uses Windows’ built in speech tools so installation is minimal. CONS: Adds a “Created by Panopreter” sound clip at the beginning of each audio file. VERDICT: If you have some document files that you’d like to listen to while on the road or you wish you could have your school papers read to you so you can make sure everything is there etc., you may find Panopreter Basic useful. PRICE: Free VERSION REVIEWED: 3.0.9. DOWNLOAD: Panopreter Basic

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I love Google Chrome but find it misses a few features i use a lot in IE.  In particular ‘Send to OneNote’.

If you use OneNote 2010 to take snippets from the web using this functionality you’ll know it’s a real time-saver and very handy.  Respectively, if you’ve moved to Chrome you’ll indeed miss this feature.

This Quick-Tip will show you how you can get ‘Send To OneNote’ back.

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Thanks to advances in web technology, you can these days get tons of free Web Applications to suit your every need. These applications are increasingly powerful and usable. As a result, applications like Gmail, Facebook and Google Docs are soaring in popularity.

Unfortunately the web browser, which was originally designed for reading documents, is not an ideal environment for running applications. It is frustrating and time-consuming to wade through a mass of browser windows and tabs just to find your email client. Unstable applications can slow down or crash your entire browser. And many of the conveniences offered by modern operating systems are unavailable to Web Applications running in the browser.

Introducing PRISM…

Windows Guides’ Rating	Compatible with
4,5 out of 5

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