Manipulate any program by using C#

Manipulate any program by using CsharpThis article is going to be all about how you can control, customize and extend other programs using C#. As an example scenario we’re going to be extending the default Windows program Notepad with a custom function.
The C# application will modify all running instances of Notepad by adding a new button to the UI and listening for clicks on the button. A click on the button will convert the text in the Notepad text field into HTML using a Markdown parser (What is Markdown?) and display the HTML in our application.
If you follow the article, the finished product is going to look like this:

The article will have you construct the program step by step. If you want to read the full […]

Rebuild Spotlight index in MAC OS X

Rebuild Spotlight indexSince not long ago I have also become a proud owner of an Apple product. After 10 years of Windows-monarchy, the first Apple device, a 13“ Macbook Air, has managed to enter my IT scene, with the result that from now on, in addition to the Windows articles and occasional Linux articles, there will be also some articles about Apple/ MAC OS X.
But let us now get back to the actual topic. The universal search tool Spotlight in Mac OSX is without doubt very powerful. But if Spotlight strikes and if it doesn’t find all apps or files, it loses its sense. In such cases it could be helpful to set the index up again or reincorporate even just a single app in the index.
Narrow down the problem
If Spotlight doesn’t provide the desired search results anymore, even though the […]

Update: Cloud Downloader 2.3

Cloud Downloader Version 2.3In September I brought out the last cloud downloader update. Now today I’ll release the next version for you. With the last update there have been some changes to the download logic in order to respond to the changes on the SoundCloud website. Unfortunately, my algorithm was not 100% bullet-proof, so in playlists only the first 10 songs have been displayed.
In addition to that SoundCloud began to stream some songs exclusively as rtmp stream, so I had to rework the download logic another time. I look forward to your feedback and hope you enjoy the new downloader.
Changelog (Version 2.3):

Bugfix: Possible to search playlists of any size (the 10-song-limit was removed)
Bugfix: Fixed 404-errors while downloading (by adding RTMP support)
Feature: The actual status of a searchquery is shown (this helps you while searching big playlists)
Refactored: Reworked the download logic and routines for wider support
Refactored: Wrote the threading parts again for better overall […]

Update: Cloud Downloader 2.2

Cloud Downloader Update 2.2 - Soundcloud DownloaderThe last release of my Cloud Downloader was round about one and a half year ago. But since then there was no solid ground to release a new version. The Cloud Downloader worked flawlessly since it’s last release and also there were no noteworthy feature requests.
But in the last two days I got several mails and comments telling me that the Cloud Downloader stopped working. So I opened my IDE, stepped into the code, started debugging and worked on a bugfix. And what should I say – here it is!
Today I’ve released the new Cloud Download 2.2 which got some bugfixes and one, simple new feature.
Changelog (Version 2.2):

Bugfix: Search- and download functions got repaired.
Bugfix: The downloader doesn’t crash any longer, if […]

Win8 BTD – [B]oot[T]o[D]esktop

Win8 BTD LogoI already wrote about how you can boot directly into the classic desktop in Windows 8. However those, who do not like to get their hands dirty while working with the Windows registry or just want quickly switch back and forth, should pay me their close attention for a moment. I developed a tiny tool which is called Win8 BTD where BTD stands for Boot To Desktop.
Win8 BTD is a small tool written by me, which does not more or less than to set the appropriate settings in the registry, so that Windows 8 launches directly into the classic desktop. Of course, any changes made can also be undone with a single click, if you would rather want to start again directly into the new tile view.
Download: Win8 BTD – Version 1.0.0.0
Screenshots