I recently got a new Linksys WRT610N wireless router and I have to admit, while it looks neat, I've noticed no difference in performance from my old Linksys router.

If you run Windows 7 and haven't already installed the Image Resizer, you need to check it out. It's a quick and easy way to resize images - individually or in batch. I've been using it for a few months now and it works great!

Model View Controller (MVC) 2 RTM was just released yesterday. After some very smooth test results here at OrcsWeb we've now installed and made it available on all of our shared hosting servers. Dedicated hosting clients can install it themselves or just contact you're support team and we'll do it for you. It is even available on the Free ASP.NET 4.0 Beta Hosting accounts.

Enjoy!

Visual Studio 2010 has an extremely functional and easy-to-use publish feature built-in. I use it to push sample code and changes up to my free ASP.NET 4.0 RC trial account (sure, I can get a site free as the CEO, but with this beta program running through March, anyone can get a free test account!).

When you get your account information for your hosting account it will contain all the information needed to quickly and easily set up VS2010 for 1-click-publishing. With those few pieces of information in hand, select the VS2010 Publish option then "<New...>" to add the connection.

You then get a dialog box with fields for you to enter your account information.

The service URL for our free beta program is already entered above, as is the name of my personal test site. I then just enter my username and password, and save the connection using the huge button at the top of the window. Note that if you click Close or Publish the settings will not get saved automatically.

Once the connection is set up, all you need to do for your code to be uploaded to the site is to click the single Publish icon.

If you need to edit the settings for any reason, there is a easy access edit icon right there next to the publish icon.

Microsoft has made it super easy with Visual Studio 2010 to publish and maintain your ASP.NET applications. You should definitely set up and use this handy feature.

C# is case-sensitive. C# is case-sensitive. C# is case-sensitive.

I have to keep reminding myself of this.

I'm not used to case-sensitivity yet and it continues to challenge me.

If you decide to install the IIS Manager for Remote Administration on Windows 7 you will likely initially get an error message stating that the IIS Management Console is not installed.

This error threw me for a little loop initially. It's pretty straight forward, but my first thought was "I know it isn't installed, that's what I'm installing". It seems that when installing the IIS Manager it should be smart enough to also enable the IIS Management Console, but it doesn't - likely for a reason related to security - but still, it struck me as a little odd.

Resolving the issue is easy and straight forward. Just as the message notes, open the Control Panel and select Turn Windows Features On or Off.

Then check the box next to the IIS Management Console.

Then click okay and accept the installation prompts.

After that completes, you can restart the installation of the IIS Manager for Remote Administration.

I've been running Windows 7 since the beta cycle and love it. If you aren't running it already, I highly recommend upgrading - it's worth the effort for sure.

Until yesterday I've had ZERO issues with Windows 7. It has performed beautifully and has handled application faults gracefully. But yesterday I encountered my first Windows 7 total freeze situation.

While iTunes was running I tried to eject a CD (from one of the two CD burners) that was already written to. For whatever reason, this seems to have really confused iTunes, which in turn totally confused Windows 7. The mouse pointer would work but nothing else. I tried to force close iTunes but "clicks" didn't seem to do anything. Ctrl-Alt-Del wasn't being recognized by the system. It was a total freeze. I actually let it sit like that for an hour to see if it would clear itself, but it didn't. The only way to get the system back online was a hard reboot. I HATE doing hard reboots but in a total freeze situation there are no other viable options.

Hopefully this was a once-in-a-lifetime situation because Windows 7 really has been rock-solid and stable otherwise. I had hoped, and still hope, that the quirkiness and issues of past Microsoft OS's has moved into history never to been heard from again.

Visual Studio 2010, the latest and greatest version of Microsoft's developer toolset, will be releasing soon. I've been around hundreds of users (OrcsWeb clients, MVPs, and industry Insiders) who have used it through the beta cycle (as I have too) and the comments are overwhelmingly positive. If you haven't tried it out yet, you might want to check it out for free during the current RC phase.

Once you've got it downloaded and running, feel free to set up a free ASP.NET 4.0 RC test hosting account with us this month to try out the deployment related features and the general hosting experience.

Somasegar recently blogged with an announcement about special pricing ($299) for current users of VS2005 and/or VS2008 to upgrade to Visual Studio 2010. That's great. Thanks Microsoft!

Guy Kawasaki's book The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything is an excellent resource and I recommend it for anyone starting a business or running an existing business. Guy spends a lot of time talking about venture capital and dealing with investors, but even if you don't need (or want) funding for your business, there are a lot of interesting insights and tons of useful information nuggets, on a wide range of topics