Ever had this?
Your colleagues are connecting fine and your IT service desk say everything is functioning normally and it's just YOU!
Script Function
If you are on a network that frequently loses connection or simply forgets what intranet site you were trying to access and your usual solution is a reboot, then this tool may be for you.

In my environment, I am working with a Visual Studio 2008 IDE (Business Intelligence Development Studio - BIDS) along with Microsoft's Team Foundation Server (TFS). Sometimes I'll check out an item from TFS and before I get to update it, my connection will drop and my computer will say that it could not connect to either the TFS or my target deploy location.

I found a quicker fix than rebooting your computer which is to open a command prompt and to type "ipconfig /flushdns" then "ipconfig /registerdns" and the connections would have been restored. As I love automation and reducing processes to single-click fixes, I made this teeny tiny program to run the above commands and check the error levels.

Installation:
1) Decompress to a folder of your choosing
2) Run the EXE (there is no install process, it should just start)
3) Done!

ChangeLog:
v1.0 (22/11/2011)
- Display internal and external IP address
- Display flushdns errorlevel
- Display registerdns errorlevel
- Change color to green if successful, red if failed.

License Details:
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see .

This software uses portions by the following third parties:

* AutoHotkey v1.0.48.05 -- http://autohotkey.com/
* Joes Brains v0.1 alpha -- http://joellipman.com/

Future Considerations:
Any suggestions? Send them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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So this is a program I've been wanting for ages. Only way to be sure it doesn't have any malicious code and that it does what I want and looks like I want it to look, was to make my own.

What does it do?
Amazing. It detects transmissions over a network. Basically on a computer that isn't on a network (ie. not connected to the internet), this program is extremely boring and doesn't do anything. But unlike many other similar programs which add to the network traffic, this program adds NOTHING to the network traffic, and therefore is a much better measure of what data is being received/sent from your workstation.

So I'm revisiting this component for the third time (previously known as "downloadtracker" and "joesdownloadtracker"); for ages I have needed a replacement for the download component managers for Joomla! CMS. I've tried all the following for about a year each and these are my reviews/opinions:

Phoca Download
Good compatibility and actively developed. Unfortunately hacked on more than one occasion. Conflicts with its built-in stylesheet and my RocketTheme template.

RokDownloads
by commercial Joomla! template and extension providers, RocketTheme. They don't use the standard Joomla! admin component tools and instead have built a back-end Joomla! administration component that only works in MS Internet Explorer; any database hacks or FTP file uploads immediately corrupt this component. The component itself is sort of good, but file description has very little space allocated on your website and RocketTheme templates would create a style that was hard to customize.

Remository
Really liked this and used for the best of 2 years. But 1000 downloads in 10 days caused it to crash my Joomla! website. It was very plain and basic, needed tweaking to get rid of adverts and to integrate with a website's template which could be quite tiring. Following the crash, database performance was at an all time low and analysis revealed it be incorrectly designed. Interestingly enough there is a Bug Tracker for Remository that they use (not Joomla! integrated though?).

Joes Bug Tracker (JBT)
is a Joomla! CMS component created by JoelLipman.Com as a download manager and bug tracker all in one.

I needed a solution that was FREE but was good enough to replace RokDownloads, Phoca Download, or Remository. Something like "JoomBug" but this was commercial and reviews weren't positive. "Zerosoft ZJ Downloads" looked just like remository and lacked the features I needed. There were also standard features I wanted that didn't exist in the other systems. I wanted minimal code and leave the comments/videos/pdf to be handled by existing Joomla! CMS features. I also needed a component which isolated the download functions external to Joomla! for performance purposes.

What makes this one different to others, is that it it treats each file like a project. Combining all file versions, descriptions, statistics, documentation and changelog under each project. This means you only update one documentation/changelog page which will be a Joomla! article. The Joomla! article will support whatever content based on however your Joomla! website is configured. My day job uses Team Foundation Server, Agile/Jira and even a bespoke project management system I wrote; so the brief for this component had to include features I've used all along but in their most basic form.


OPTIONS/FEATURES

• All versions combined under one entry (project).
  
• Links to Joomla articles for documentation and changelog.
  
• Share/Like/Review/Feedback by JComments or Facebook.
  
• Uses MD5 Hash/Sum and numerical post/get data (anti-SQL-injection?).
  
• Minimal typing (for click-happy people like me).
  
  
• Currently only allows for back-end Joomla! administration.
  
• Automatic version control
• Automatic changelogs based on support tickets/development requests.
  

INSTALLATION

1. Download the ZIP file from my website.
   
2. Login to your Joomla! Administrator Panel.
   
3. Go to "Extensions" > "Install/Uninstall".
   
4. Click on the "Upload" button and select the file you downloaded in step #1.
   

GLOSSARY/TERMS/DEFINITIONS
- File = A file which is available for download from your site, each version is its own file.
- Project = A project or solution will contain all files and its versions for this particular project on one page.


CHANGELOG

v? (?)
- Support for Joomla! FTP upload.
- File Download: Payment Options 
--- merchant ID,
--- amount
--- currency, 
--- paypal, google, 
--- order ref, 
--- download limit, 
--- download period, 
--- thank you message


v0.1 (06/07/2011)
- Added Admin Section: Settings/Configuration
--- Component landing page customization (add note to see Component Style).
--- Storage folder for files (can be outside of Joomla! for performance).
--- Protect storage folder (only accessed through Joomla!?).
--- Integrate JComments/Integrate Facebook Comments (for Product Reviews/Feedback).
--- Auto-increment minor/major version number / Assign naming convention.
--- Date Format for files (mysql format please cos unix will take my server's one).
--- Enable Captcha to download?
--- Specify News category (to tell everyone about your new projects)
--- Specify high download rate or total downloads as "HOT"
--- Specify number of days a file is "NEW" 
--- Specify number of days a file is "UPDATED" 

- Added Admin Section: Manage Categories
--- Category Title
--- Category Parent
--- Create Date / Modified Date / Expired Date
--- Order by / Order az
--- Display all reviews/comments (or just for this version)
--- Display/Access based on User level

- Added Admin Section: Manage Projects (each include all versions per entry)
--- Project Name
--- Category Name (dropdown of categories)
--- License (textarea / option require or not)
--- Specify Joomla! Article (for General Description)
--- Specify Joomla! Article (for Documentation)
--- Specify Joomla! Article (for ChangeLog)
--- Specify URL (for Support)
--- Specify URL (for Demo)
--- Like/Share in Facebook
--- Download count (total of all versions)
--- Permanent URL for this page (must ignore SEF, eg. "?option=com_joesbugtracker&id=")
--- Display/Access based on User level
--- Free-Text Changelog or Auto-generate

- Added Admin Section: Manage Files (each version is a separate file)
--- Filename (as it is on disk)
--- Title (friendly title of this download)
--- Version (to override auto-versioning)
--- Version status (stable, RC, beta, alpha, etc)
--- Parent Project Name
--- Specify Download URL (or auto find?)
--- Author / developer / team name (Free text / associated to uploader)
--- Create Date / Modified Date / Expired Date
--- File Size (as it is on disk)
--- Enable MD5 Hash/Sum checks
--- Version Notes (applies to this particular version)
--- Icon (let me put Joomla 1.6 or Joomla 1.5 icons :c)
--- Images (more than one - can add rel for lightboxes - include captions?)
--- Restrict to Registered/Special/Joomla! user (allows for dev versions not released to public - overrides category restriction)
--- Display/Access based on User level
--- Joomla! CMS check-in/check-out supported.
--- Download count (read-only? - would apply to just this version - total showing on general page)
--- Rating (read-only? - modified by front-end votes)
--- Dependencies

- Added Admin Section: Manage Support Tickets / Development Requests
--- Bug/Issue/Development Request title
--- Bug/Issue/Development Request description
--- Bug/Issue/Development Request category type (see dropdown options)
--- Assigned to developer Name
--- Originator/Source (Self, Email, Phone, System)
--- Customer Name
--- Customer Ref/JUser ID (Joomla! registered user or email address?)
--- Priority (High, Medium, Low - configurable in settings)
--- Impact (free-text message by developers -> who does this affect?)
--- Progress Status (acknowledged, testing, qa [=awaiting customer], resolved, postponed)
--- Progress Indicator (red, green, orange)
--- Create Date / Modified Date / Due Date / Expected Completion Date / Expired Date
--- Display status for: public, registered, special
--- Fix Included in file release version (link to version file ID)

- Added Admin Section: Dropdown Options
--- Priority Values (immediate, high, medium, low)
--- Progress Status Indicators (red, green, orange)
--- Progress Status Types (received, acknowledged, on-hold, in progress, awaiting customer [uat], closed)
--- Version Status Types (milestone, alpha, beta, test, dev, qa, RC, stable)
--- Support Ticket Categories 
(nice to have, need to have, development, investigation, maintenance, bug fix, enhancement)

- Added Admin Section: Component Stylesheet
--- Category Layout (text, text with images, include description).
--- Display News Titles or Introtext?
--- File details to display (based on User Level?)
--- Textarea to edit the CSS

- Added Admin Section: Statistics
--- Report on most viewed
--- Report on most downloaded
--- Report on most user downloaded
--- Report on highest download rates
--- Report on least viewed
--- Report on lowest rated
--- Report on highest rated
--- Report on development per project (GANTT?)
--- Report on server bandwidth (security concerns)
--- Use flash charts
--- Publish to URL (for public/registered access)
--- Export to Excel (Joomla! admins only)

- Added Admin Section: Help/About
--- Link to documentation @ joelLipman.com/?option=com_content&view=article&id=516

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Really Important Note

This module has been somewhat popular and the services that offer FREE thumbnail screenshots are getting stricter with their terms of use. You should only enable thumbnail refreshes at the time of install.

Also note, this module will NOT generate thumbnails if you select "Public" as the authorized service group. I know it's the default option but you need to select an user group with higher privileges like "Super User".

Tested on:               Windows XP SP3, Windows 7 (both 32-bit)
Tested with:             MS Internet Explorer 7 libraries
System Requirements:     Used ~55Mb RAM on 1.6Ghz PC
                         Free Disk space to store your pictures
                         Installed MS Internet Explorer (only uses libraries)
Program Size:            1,190Kb (fits on a floppy disk)
Setup/Install:           None, it's portable (can run off USB or media)
Program Name:            WebsiteThumbnailer_v0_6.exe
Prefix:                  JWT

So I need a FREE program that simply takes pictures of some websites my website links to (about 153) for an extension (Quicklist Weblinks) I wrote for an OpenSource CMS. Could also be of some use if your portfolio is a bunch of online websites and you need screenshots of these. Whatever the reason, I needed a FREE option and everything available had a limit to its "FREE" services.

There are websites that do this for me? Yay! for free as well, as long as my page isn't loaded more than 100,000 times a month. I don't understand, one website visitor can generate 1000 hits, so thereafter I have to pay every time someone sees that picture through my site; when I could just go to each website and press the print screen key and save this as an image for FREE. I don't get it.

So I wrote a program that does exactly that: visits each website in a list, takes a picture, converts it to a thumbnail. I then upload the images to my server and this Joomla! CMS uses them. Maybe I'll run this program again in a month, maybe a year. My websites don't depend on real-time screenshots and the sites I link to don't generally change their website design everyday...

It's 100% FREE Open Source, (well as long as you have your own internet connection) mainly because it's not just my code. I simply combined three technologies into one:

• Basic Website browser (in its own window - uses installed MS Internet Explorer libraries)
  
• Uses GDIPlus libraries for screenshots and to convert images.
  
• Autohotkey (my favourite automation tool) to combine the two into an executable and interface (almost as quick as google's chrome :c).
  

Version 0.6 beta is ready. I've left it in BETA stage without an official release because I'm the only one to have tested it and it works perfectly for me. And I guess I'll just keep testing but there is the issue that you can't do anything else while it's sitting there taking pictures; unless you have more than one screen.

Installation

1. Download the appropriate file for your system (see compatibility table below)
2. Login to your Joomla admin panel and install as per usual.

How to Use

1. Install the ZIP using your Joomla! Admin Panel > Extension Manager
2. View the module on your front-end to see if it does what you want it to do.
3. Modify the module parameters as necessary.

Originally dubbed EventViewer Chart Generator. As the name suggests, I was looking for a free program that can take an exported CSV list from a standard MS Windows eventlog or eventviewer log and generate a chart from the data. What my program does is convert all the data into a settings and data file that can be used by the charting system AMCharts.com.

AMCharts.com provide a flash-based interactive chart which you can zoom in and out of, includes almost every type of chart you can think of (though this program only uses chart types: Area, Bar, Column, Line and Pie). Note that AMCharts.com is free as long as you leave the copyright information. If you want to remove the copyright text that displays on the charts, you need to buy the products of AMCharts.com. I have no afiliation with these and I myself don't put any copyright information on the end product.

I needed a program to:
+ Group all the data by a specified column
+ Generate interactive flash charts


The program was intended to chart EventViewer "Security" logs but I quickly found that I could make it group and chart any Comma Separated Value file.

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TESTED ON:

- Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows 7

SCREENSHOTS: