May's Toolbox Column Now Online

Published 24 April 09 10:18 AM | Scott Mitchell

My Toolbox column in the May 2009 issue of MSDN Magazine is available online and includes the following reviews:

SyncBack Pro - backups are an important part of any IT strategy. For large corporations with established IT departments, backups are automatically performed routinely, but if you work for a small company or work for yourself, backup responsibility falls on your shoulders. The good news is that creating, maintaining, and executing backup schedules is a breeze with SyncBack Pro. Backup to or from folders on your local computer, on a network share, over FTP, to CDs/DVDs, and even via e-mail! A freeware edition of SyncBack is available as well.
VS Explorer - do you routinely find yourself toggling between Visual Studio and Windows Explorer? If so, check out VS Explorer, an affordable Visual Studio Add-In that integrates the Windows Explorer user experience as a window within the Visual Studio IDE. What's more, VS Explorer includes features not found in Windows Explorer, such as one-click access to the Solution or Project folder, as well as to the file currently displayed in the IDE.
Tools for Multiple Monitors - want to increase your coding productivity? The easiest and most cost-effective way is to buy another monitor. I've blogged about my move from one to two monitors and from two to three. Unfortunately, there's not very rich support in Windows for multiple monitors. The good news is that there are a number of commercial and free tools for making the most of your multiple monitor setup. UltraMon ($40) is a must have - it extends the taskbar across all monitors, adds one click access to moving windows from one monitor to another, and so on. Another great tool is WinSplit Revolution, a free utility that adds keyboard shortcuts for repositioning and moving windows around the screen and across monitors. Once you install and start using WinSplit Revolution you'll wonder how you lived without it. And the most important configuration aspect of a multi-monitor environment is your desktop. Do you stretch one image across all three? Have unique images in each window? Have your pictures displayed in a montage? To make the most of your desktop space check out John's Background Switcher, a utility that periodically swaps out your desktop background. It works wonderfully on multiple monitors and can pull images from your hard drive or from image sharing sites like Flickr, Facebook, and Picassa.
Blogs of Note: Signal vs. Noise - 37signals is a company that makes web-based applications with a simple design goal in mind - making simple software that makes it easy to do what you need and doesn't do anything else. Less is oftentimes more, after all. Signal vs. Noise is the company blog, where various employees post ruminations on marketing, usability, web design, and interesting anecdotes. It's a must read blog for web developers and designers alike.