tools

Let's be honest. There's a lot to like about Microsoft Windows, and there's a lot that doesn't measure up. Local search can be filed in the latter category.

Too long have we been forced to endure slow and painful Windows Explorer searches or install a resource hog like Google Desktop to make up for what Windows lacks. A simple program called Everything, from small software publisher voidtools, aims to change all that.

With a simple interface and blazing speed, Everything does mostly one thing, and it does it extremely well. It creates a near-instant index of … Read more

Updated 9:56 a.m. PDT: Added screen shot and a link to Microsoft's Visual Studio 2010 page.

Airplanes are equipped with recorders that capture both cockpit audio and flight data, so in the event that something goes wrong, investigators can try to determine the source of the problem.

Microsoft is aiming to give software developers the same kind of access. In the next version of its developer tool suite, to be known as Visual Studio 2010, Microsoft plans to include the ability to record the full screens of what testers are seeing, as well as data about their machine. When a test application crashes, the technology will enable developers to see the bug as it occurred.

In an interview last week, Microsoft Developer Division Director Dave Mendlen said the feature is designed to avoid the all-too-frequent conflict that occurs when a software tester finds a bug that the developer says it can't reproduce. Internally, the feature has been called "TiVo for debuggers." … Read more

When I showed an interest in baking, my mother got me a few utensils of my own. I had my spoon and my bowl. It was pretty cool not having to share, but it might have been cooler if she had given me the Head Chefs Kids' Posable Silicon Kitchen Utensils from the Harold Import Company. These five tools--a measuring cup, spoon, spatula, pastry brush. and whisk--are so fun that even grown ups will like them. Each implement has a pliable human-like body as a handle that you can fashion into different poses, complete with arms and legs, and suction … Read more

If you've ever wasted time scouring a long document for every place a specific phrase appears, or worse, have had to look for that phrase in more than one document, you need Rider 8 Tools ($19.95), a slim but powerful search application that finds multiple terms in multiple files within any set of parameters you throw at it.

For instance, if you need to see every time the term "business plan" shows up within three words of "market growth" in a 50-page document, you would use Rider 8 Tools to quickly peruse it. You … Read more

Like most enthusiastic home cooks, I love to use fresh herbs in many of my favorite dishes. And lacking an herb garden of my own, I regularly pay outrageous prices for those little plastic packets of fresh herbs, then race to use them all up before they spoil. It's rarely a race I win.

Enter the Stoneware Triple Herb Pot ($40) from Swedish firm Sagaform. You can put one bunch of herbs in each of its three chambers, and water them all through a single corner watering hole. The design of the base ensures all the stems have access … Read more

For many Windows users, the only screen-capture tools they'll ever need are the Print Screen key (in conjunction with the Alt key when they want to capture only the active window) and Windows' own Paint utility.

Others need the industrial-strength features of a commercial screen-grab utility such as TechSmith's $50 SnagIt (30-day free trial available).

The rest of us can make do just fine with the Snipping Tool that comes with Vista and is available in XP via the Microsoft Experience Pack for Tablet PC. (Note that the program runs on all versions of XP, not just tablets.)… Read more

Most of the time our Macs run smoothly due to the well-designed Mac OS X (choose your big cat) operating system. But over time, as you download more applications, visit more Web sites, and begin to use up space on your hard drive, your Mac won't run as quickly and smoothly as it did out of the box. Some users reason that it must be a RAM or hard-drive issue, but more often than not it's a question of maintenance rather than inadequate hardware.

I've talked about programs for uninstalling old or unused apps in an earlier post, … Read more

REDMOND, Wash.--Amid its analyst meeting, Microsoft on Thursday announced a small acquisition, scooping up Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based Datallegro, a data warehousing firm. Financial details were not disclosed.

Speaking at the meeting, server and tools unit head Bob Muglia said that the acquisition will help the company reach the highest-end enterprise data stores, even reaching higher than Oracle can get today.

"We've never been able to do that before," Muglia said.

In a blog about the acquisition, Forrester Research analyst James Kobielus said: "This deal sets the stage for what will surely be a period … Read more

Blogging platform WordPress updated to version 2.6 late last night. It's the latest major release since 2.5, which debuted back in late March and adds nearly as many new features as it does bug and security fixes.

The video above outlines some of the major new features. The most useful of the bunch is aimed at bloggers on the go who can now take advantage of the same Google Gears integration introduced to WordPress.com earlier this month. This "turbo" mode downloads some of the files and scripts from your blog to your Gears cache, … Read more