Microsoft just released something that's pretty cool, yet when I realized it wasnt EXACLTY what I wanted, it was a let down. MS released a connector that will allow Microsoft Office Outlook to connect to your Windows Live (Hotmail) account. (Download link at the bottom of post)

Using this you can:

• Manage your Email
• Manage your Live Contacts
• Use advanced options for blocking junk e-mail
• Manage multiple email accounts

If you drop some skrilla on a paid account you'll also get the following (which IMO, I think is BULL and should be included for free, hell Google gives you this stuff for free pretty much with Google Apps).

• Manage Share and synchronize your Live Calendar in Outlook
• Access your tasks and notes.

Will this connector make me drop GMail? Ummm, Nope. Will I still be called a "traitor" for being an MS developer but using Google Products, YULP. Don't get me wrong, I use TONS of MS Products, I just think GMail is on another level when it comes to free email. They've had my account since the beginning, back when Gmail accounts were on EBay for hundreds of dollars.

So far, its Gmail for me, mayne.

But... if you still want the connector...

Download it here

I recently installed BlogEngine.NET on a GoDaddy.com shared deluxe Windows hosting account.  

After following the directions located on BlogEngine.NET's website I ran into a few problems.

Problems

• Trust Level
• The hosting account complained that I was trying to over ride a setting that was set at their Machine level for application Trust. Note: You cannot change the trust on GoDaddy hosting accounts (as far as I know).
• App_Data Directory Permissions
• You can upload the App_Data folder, but there is not a way to set the permissions on the folder (this folder needs Read/Write/Web access so that BlogEngine.NET can write to it).

Resolution

Here's how I installed BlogEngine.NET on a GoDaddy Shared Hosting account:

ASP.NET Set Up

1. Log into your Hosting Account and go to the control panel.
2. Go to Settings --> ASP.NET Runtime
3. Ensure that the Runtime Version is set to 2.0.
1. If not, select "Content Root" and then change it to 2.0. Click Continue.

[This next step is optional.]

Setting up The Blog in A Sub Folder (If you want to set up your blog on a sub directory like this: www.example.com/blog/ then you'll want to do follow these steps. If you want the blog to be your main URL such as www.example.com then skip this step).

1. Return to the ASP.NET Runtime area of the hosting account (Steps outlined above).
2. Click "Create Directory" and call it whatever you want, e.g. "blog"
3. Set the settings of "Read", "Web", "Set Root" (this sets up the directory as a virtual directory)
4. Click Continue to finish.

Setting Up the App_Data Folder

The App_Data folder needs to have write access enabled so BlogEngine.NET can do its work.

1. Return to the ASP.NET Runtime area
1. (If you've  decided to put your blog in a sub-folder, then select that folder name now)
2. Click "Create Directory"
3. Give it a name of "App_Data" with permissions of "Read", "Web", "Write"
4. Click continue to finish.

BlogEngine.NET Configuration Setting Change

You will need to remove one line of configuration in the web.config file.

1. Open the web.config file
2. Find the line that has this in it: <trust level="High" />
3. Remove that line
4. Save and exit the file

Uploading Files to your site

Use your favorite FTP Client, I recommend FileZilla, to upload the files.

1. Connect to your GoDaddy account with the FTP Client.
2. Navigate to the folder in which you want to install the blog.
1. If its a sub directory like "blog", go into the blog directory, otherwise if you want it as your main site landing page, use the home area which will usually be yoursitesname.com (or whatever your domain is)
3. Copy all files EXCEPT FOR THE App_Data to the host. The App_Data folder should already be created (if not, then wait 5 minutes for Go Daddy's system to create the directory for you  - we did this in a previous step, but it can take a few minutes for the process to complete).
4. After the files uploaded, go into the "App_Data" folder of your installation (on your local drive) and then upload all files and folders into the "App_Data" of the web site.

Now navigate to your site and finish with the regular installation

Contact Setup

This step I had to poke around to figure out...

You'll need a mail account with GoDaddy to set this up. Set up the mail account on GoDaddy (see their help for this)

• Once a mail account is configured, go to your site, in the settings tab, and use the smtp adress of 'relay-hosting.secureserver.net'

Enjoy!

Unfortunately due to some unforeseen circumstances recently I have had to reschedule the .NET User Group presentation I had scheduled for tomorrow night.

I apologize to anyone who was making plans to come see it. I will be rescheduling in the next couple of months. I will make another announcement when that date is secured.

A nice feature of TortoiseSVN that is often ignored is the Global Ignore Pattern. It allows your Tortoise client to ignore certain file types during the check in/update process.

I've worked at a few companies  who actually check in everything, including the kitchen sink. The teams would check in all dll's, exe's, pdb's, bin folders, compiled web site folders, everything. In my opinion, those files should never be in source control (with  a few minor exceptions).

Reasoning

Source control is just that - "Source Control". Is that compiled dll for your business layer object really "source"? No, its a binary file that has compiled code in it. Is that PDB really a source file? No. Its a file that assists with debugging. Is that exe really a source file? No, its a compiled application. These SHOULD NOT be in your source control.

Exceptions

The exceptions to this rule are when you use third party components. For example, maybe  you use a product such as MBUnit, NCover, NDepend, or Infragistics. These are dll's that your application must reference to perform a certain duty. At this point, having a dll or exe in your source is completely fine (IMO).

How to set your global ignore pattern

To set your global ignore pattern (with TortoiseSVN) right click Windows Explorer --> TortoiseSVN --> Settings.

Once you click  on settings enter your global ignore pattern.

My Global Ignore  Pattern 

The global ignore pattern I use is: */bin */obj *.bak *.*scc *.user *.suo *.webinfo bin obj *.dll *.pdb *.exe

I'm blocking everything in my bin folder, obj folder, anything that may have been named *.bak, user files, suo files webinfo dll's and pdb and exe files.

If I need to check in a 3rd party component (which is rare). I'll remove the pattern, paste it into Notepad++ to save it temporarily. Then I'll check in the third party component by selecting it exclusively and checking it in.  Then I'll re-add my global ignore pattern.

Now your source control can be free and clear of code clutter.

Every once in awhile I'll make a post that is for my own use, this happens to be one of them.

Ayende, put up a great post awhile back that I just bumped into. It has a bunch of good Windsor Container links/tutorials and he has labeled them as Windsor Patterns.

If you haven't used Windsor/MicroKernel for IoC, its best time you look into it. :)