Monthly Archive for July, 2007

Download Files Natively with PowerShell

Published
by
Eric Greer
on July 31, 2007
in Other Sites of Mine
. 0 Comments

I just found this neat-o post by Bart De Smet on how to download files natively with PowerShell. Really awesome.

Sample from Bart’s Blog:
PS C:\temp> $clnt = new-object System.Net.WebClient
PS C:\temp> $clnt | gm d*

TypeName: System.Net.WebClient

Name MemberType Definition
---- ---------- ----------
Dispose Method System.Void Dispose()
DownloadData Method System.Byte[] DownloadData(String address), S...
DownloadDataAsync Method System.Void DownloadDataAsync(Uri address), S...
DownloadFile Method System.Void DownloadFile(String address, Stri...
DownloadFileAsync Method System.Void DownloadFileAsync(Uri address, St...
DownloadString Method System.String DownloadString(String address),...
DownloadStringAsync Method System.Void DownloadStringAsync(Uri address),...

PS C:\temp> $url = "http://www.bartdesmet.net/download/ps.txt"
PS C:\temp> $file = "c:\temp\ps.txt"
PS C:\temp> $clnt.DownloadFile($url,$file)

He also wrote a cmdlet that has download progress built in, that is here.

A simple thing that everyone should have in their toolbox.

Overclocking, and Monitoring Tools

Published
by
Eric Greer
on July 30, 2007
in newbie.blog
. 0 Comments

Recently ive been working on overclocking my dual core to the optimal level for stability and performance. With the help of three separate tools, I think i’ve found a good match for that. I needed a tool to stress-test my processor, a tool to monitor the heat of my processor and it’s cores, and a third tool to show me the current settings my processor was configured for.

All 3 Tools

CPU-Z: Monitors current core speed, bus speed, multiplier, and gives loads of other important information.
Orthos: Stress test for CPU. Allows you to select any mixture between pure processor or pure RAM tests. Great for getting the maximum stability out of your processor(s). I thank Greg Dallavalle for this one.
CoreTemp: Awesome freeware temperature monitoring for dual core systems. This did report about 10-14C over my actual temps, though. Still a key componet to this package.

Then, as a ‘bouns’ fourth item, I have been using CPU-Control, which allows you to assign each process you run to a specific core. For example, I can run winrar extrations in one core, along with windows media player, and outlook while the second core (plus any leftover of the first core) runs IE, or windows media center or just whatever! This is a great way to do a lot of things with little interfearence with your normal computing experience. Just make sure you don’t press the ‘X’ and close it, it must be minimized to tray. Play with this and the tools above, you can effectively run one core at a time and watch how the heat effects the other core(s). It’s a lot of fun.

Download: Processor Tools.zip
Download: CPU-Control at SoftPedia

All freeware!

Popup Test!

Published
by
Eric Greer
on July 27, 2007
in newbie.blog
. 0 Comments

I saw this post on Daily Cup of Tech about a site where you can test the pop-up blocking abilities of your browser. Dont worry, you have to click the links before it assaults you…

PopupTest.com

I think just basic IE7 fails almost all of em’ – not sure how FireFox or Opera do. Someone let me know.

PowerShell Quake Console Theme

Published
by
Eric Greer
on July 27, 2007
in Other Sites of Mine
. 0 Comments

Holy cow! This is really neat.

Check out this post on CodePlex by Jaykul about how to make your PowerShell window act like the console in the Quake engine. I realize this might be a little foggy to some of you, but check out the screenshot he posted.

Here’s the code, reposted:

$Host.PrivateData.Settings.ShowInTaskbar = $false
$Host.PrivateData.Settings.AutoHide = $true
$Host.PrivateData.Settings.AlwaysOnTop = $true
$Host.PrivateData.Settings.Animate = $true
$Host.PrivateData.Settings.Opacity = 0.8
$Host.PrivateData.Settings.BorderThickness = “0,0,0,5″
$Host.PrivateData.Settings.BorderColorBottomRight = “Red”
$Host.PrivateData.Settings.BorderColorTopLeft = “#CCFF3300″
$Host.PrivateData.Settings.WindowHeight = $Host.PrivateData.FullPrimaryScreenHeight/3
$Host.PrivateData.Settings.WindowWidth = $Host.PrivateData.FullPrimaryScreenWidth
$Host.PrivateData.Settings.WindowTop = 0
$Host.PrivateData.Settings.WindowLeft = 0
$Host.PrivateData.Settings.ConsoleDefaultBackground = “Black”
$Host.PrivateData.Settings.ConsoleDefaultForeground = “White”
$Host.PrivateData.Settings.FocusKey = “Win+OemTilde”
$Host.PrivateData.Settings.StartupBanner = $false