MS Access and VB Programming
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Dev Ashish's Access Web Page
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Probably the best Access resource around. FAQs, code, utilities, add-ins and lots of tips,
plus a comprehensive set of links to other resources on Access.
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VBnet Visual Basic Developers Resource Centre
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Enhanced functionality using the win32 api for
intermediate and advanced visual basic developers using 'VBClassic'
(not VB.NET). If you need to call something using the win32 API, it's probably here.
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Karl E. Peterson's Classic VB Code
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Maybe Classic VB wasn't so bad after all...
Especially Karl's list
about how VFred (aka VB.NET) totally breaks most existing VB code.
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Allen Browne's tips for Access users
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A great set of tips for Access users, especially the
Tips for Serious Users and the
Pop-up Calendar.
We are especially grateful to Allen
for his assistance in helping us upgrade from Access 97 to 2003.
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Tips from the FMS Team
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A mixture of Access, VB, and other tricks and tips.
Includes what to do with the
Error 49 Bad DLL calling convention
error in your Access 2003 database.
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ADO Connections
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Carl Prothman's collection of ADO and ADO.NET connection strings.
Samples for OLE DB Providers, .NET Data Providers,
and ODBC Drivers, both DSN and DSN-Less.
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Trigeminal Software
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Michael Kaplan's site with utilities, components and tools. A bit dated now but
includes free code to recover the database password from any Jet 3.x/3.5x database.
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Visual Basic Tutorial
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Online Visual Basic (VB6) tutorials intended for programmers of all levels.
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Jenda Krynicky's Regex Control
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If you want to use Regular expressions (Regex) in your VBA code or use a
better interface than the messy Microsoft VBScript Regular Expressions object,
try using Jenda Krynicky's Jenda.Rex
Active-X DLL.
We have used this in Access projects to do some really hairy stuff
with large input data and frightful expressions. We love it.
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FreeWheel mouse wheel support
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Does your wheel mouse not work in VB or VBA? You've tried downloading the latest
Intellipoint software and it still doesn't work?
Try installing Jim Barry's FreeWheel software.
Works on both Windows 9X and NT+.
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Microsoft Naming Conventions
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A concise guide to naming conventions plus tips on formatting and commenting your code.
Uses our preferred shorter naming convention for variable names: sName instead of strName.
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Perl and Web Programming
Web Site Construction
Useful Utilities
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ERUNT - Emergency Recovery Utility NT
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Registry Backup and Restore for Windows NT/2000/2003/XP/Vista. We now run this every night after we had an unfortunate
programming accident that deleted our entire registry.
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Nullsoft Scriptable Install System
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We now use the Nullsoft Scriptable Install System (NSIS) to package and distribute all updates to our clients.
Reckon on taking three or four hours to figure out how to use it. (Hint: work through the examples they provide, starting
with the simplest.) Then it's just a dream to use.
NSIS is a tool that allows programmers to create installers for all variants of Windows.
It is released under an open source license and is completely free for any use. Highly recommended.
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Dimension 4 time synchronisation utility
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Fed up with your computer's clock always being wrong?
Want it to be synchronised with the US Navy's atomic clock?
Install Rob Chambers'
Dimension 4 time synchronisation software onto your Windows 95/98/NT/2K/XP computer.
Inobtrusive, accurate and free to non-commercial users.
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FRHED free hex editor for 32-bit Windows
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If you do any work with binary files you need a good hex editor.
Raihan Kibria's FRHED free hex editor is brilliant.
Very well constructed with options to work in hexadecimal, text or binary mode.
An excellent piece of freeware.
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Skype
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Skype is free Internet telephony that just works.
Skype is for calling other people on their computers or phones. We've even used it from a 45k dial-up connection.
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Computer Security
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AVG Anti-Virus system by Grisoft
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Grisoft offer a free version of their excellent AVG anti-virus software
(just keep following the links for "Free Basic Protection").
They put out frequent updates. We have installed this on a variety of Win32 operating
systems without any problems (which is more than we can say for McAfee or Norton).
Problems with AVG Free (July 2009): Unfortunately the free version now has annoying advertising pop-ups that come up unexpectedly and interfere
with your work. You can't turn off these pop-ups. A truly disastrous advertising gimmick on AVG's part that must surely backfire.
Time to think about using something else.
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Zone Alarm free personal firewall
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ZoneAlarm is probably the best software firewall available. The
"no-frills" version is free.
ZoneAlarm monitors any unauthorised outgoing connections from trojans
and spyware inside your computer.
(It also prevents Microsoft utilities "phoning home", which MS's firewall probably still forgets to tell you about)
We once paid for the "Pro" version and upgrades which we were happy with until we required support, which is pathetic.
When downloading, follow the links for the "Basic Firewall" carefully and avoid any options to "Upgrade".
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Firefox browser
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We still recommend installing the Firefox browser to eliminate all the security hassles of Internet Explorer.
Just install (it's free) and then delete all the obvious links to MSIE on your desktop.
When first introduced, Firefox was "blindingly fast" but now (2009) sadly seems to be suffering from bloat.
Despite that, we especially like the
NoScript and
FlashBlock add-ons.
How to
Remove the Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant (ClickOnce) Firefox Extension
which would have been installed without your permission in the February 2009 Windows Update service and doesn't have an Uninstall option.
B***ards!
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Magic Mail Monitor
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Magic Mail Monitor is a free utility that sits silently in your system tray and notifies you about new messages in one of your mailboxes.
You can preview messages and delete unwanted emails before they get onto your system.
Set your email client options NOT to download messages unless you
click on the Send/Receive button. (In Outlook Express, uncheck "Send & receive messages at startup" and "Check for new messages every...").
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Shields UP!
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Follow the
Shields UP! link to have Steve Gibson's excellent site check the security of
your computer's connection to the Internet. You'll get very paranoid and with good reason, too.
Lots of other good information on security and network issues.
See especially his page on
configuring your computer's network bindings
"the
single best thing you can do for your system's Internet connection security".
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Spybot Search & Destroy
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Spybot Search & Destroy detects and removes spyware. An alternative to Ad-Aware.
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Startup Monitor
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Startup Monitor is a small, free utility that runs transparently
(it doesn't even use a tray icon) and notifies you when any program registers itself to run at system startup.
It prevents annoying programs from registering themselves behind your back.
Teach your kids not to click on OK when they are surfing the web.
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SnoopFree Privacy Shield
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Prevents keyboard loggers and other spyware from monitoring your system.
Free and low impact, but annoying icon in the tray.
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HijackThis
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A free utility which quickly scans your Windows computer to find settings that may have been changed by spyware, malware or other unwanted programs.
For expert users only.
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CCleaner
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CCleaner is a freeware PC optimization tool.
It combines a system cleaner that removes unused and temporary files from your system and also a fully featured registry cleaner.
The underlying software appears reliable but be careful following links on their site that suggest you "may need a tune up".
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Ad-Aware by Lavasoft
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Ad-aware is a free multi spyware removal utility designed for all
Windows platforms.
It scans your system for components of known spyware parasites and lets you remove them safely.
If you are plagued with pop-ups, use this or Spybot Search & Destroy.
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SMTP2Go
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Are you trying unsuccessfully to send emails from your laptop, desktop computer, iPhone or PDA?
Simply use smtp2go.com as your outgoing mail server.
In our opinion, this service is worth every cent of its very reasonable annual fee.
We travel a lot and find smtp2go.com works every time. Highly recommended.
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Witopia VPN
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Reasonably priced personal VPN service. Useful to bypass internet filters installed by
primitive third-world authoritarian governments, like Australia.
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Windows
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A43 File Management Utility
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Frustrated with Vista's useless Windows Explorer. Our preferred substitute is
the A43 File Management Utility by Bradley G. Miller.
We like the old Explorer look, the fact that it is fast, and works with USB and network drives.
It is such a bad reflection on Microsoft that we need to turn to third-party alternatives for something so basic as
a file manager.
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Agent Ransack
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Do you find that the search option in XP Windows Explorer does not work? Incredible, isn't it?
Install the free Agent Ransack tool for finding files and information on your hard drive fast and efficiently.
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Safarp
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Finding the Windows "Add or Remove Programs" applet is taking forever to load?
All the fancy (and useless) extra information it gives just takes too long to find.
Use the open source and free Safarp
(Small And Fast Add/Remove Programs) program instead.
It loads up almost instantaneously.
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FastStone Image Viewer
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In Microsoft XP PowerToys there was a really useful utility that re-sized your photo files and could be used with the context menu.
Simple, eh?
In Vista, you can't get this. So, despite all the bloatware in Vista and its so-called media-friendly approach,
you need a third-party utility to do something as simple as re-sizing your photos.
FastStone Image Viewer is a fast, stable, user-friendly image browser, converter and editor.
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VLC Media Player
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Do you hate Windows Media Player and all its unwanted "protection" and its rights to destroy your computer if it does not agree with what
you are doing? (If you didn't realise this, read the license conditions.)
As an alternative, use the VLC media player - a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats as well as DVDs, VCDs,
and various streaming protocols.
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WinDirStat
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WinDirStat is a disk usage statistics viewer and cleanup tool for Microsoft Windows.
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Networking
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OzCableGuy
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If you have a problem with your broadband ADSL or Cable internet connection, or need
to configure your network to work with it,
Darren Stribning's excellent site will have the answer. Well laid-out
with FAQs and complete 'how to' guides to set up your network and troubleshoot.
It includes how to cope with the Telstra Cable
'heartbeat' and how to set up a LinkSys router to work with it.
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Other Links
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Links to useful sites
