windows

As I was building OpenSpartan Workshop for Windows I needed the ability to convert a hexadecimal HTML color code to a SolidColorBrush object. Unlike with previous UI frameworks, WinUI 3 (which is what I use) doesn’t have a built-in construct for this kind of conversion. Naturally, I had to improvise.

A non-comprehensive list of tools embedded into Windows that can save you precious time and frustration.

I was recently setting up a new Windows machine for work - a desktop machine that actually has enough storage for me to run local SQL experimentation. I diligently followed the steps to create a bootable Windows 11 Enterprise USB, got the disks properly formatted, installed the OS, and tried to start customizing everything to my liking only to hit a brick wall.

We need to talk about Windows priorities as a product. And I am saying this as someone who wants Windows to succeed - it’s a great OS that, despite it’s naysayers, is still one of the best when it comes to backwards compatibility and richness of functionality. I mean, I can literally run a game written for Windows 95 on Windows 11 without major issues.

How to make sure that your new tabs in Microsoft Edge are blank.

For some time, I needed a way to use caffeinate on Windows. If you are coming from macOS, you know how useful this utility can be when you want to keep the computer awake for some definite or indefinite time. So, following the engineer mindset, I decided to build my own, starting with a PowerShell script.

Getting an open source speech-to-text library up and running on one of the most popular operating systems.

I just recently got a Stream Deck - it’s a wonderful tool to automate some of the more boring (read: routine) tasks. Literally with a click of a button I can kick off a bunch of automation. Apparently it can do everything but launch Windows Store applications.

Just like I need coffee to function, Windows needs it to stay awake when I need it to. In this post, I share a simple solution to this problem.

How to install Windows from a larger USB flash drive when you don’t have a smaller drive accessible.

How to bring back the Windows Photo Viewer as an option for your media files.

You can now download the game I built to demo the capabilities of DirectX with Windows Modern apps.

If you want to learn how to use DirectX with XAML, you can now download a book on this topic.

Check out the resources on FallFury on one of the key Microsoft developer sites.

An outline of my journey to explore C and C++ with the native Microsoft compiler and some minimal tooling.