Links to useful sites

Note: DI Management Services Pty Ltd has no connection or arrangement of any kind with any of the firms or individuals mentioned here, unless you count the fact that we've actually paid for their products or services. They are just sites or utilities we've found useful. Use at your own risk, etc.

MS Access and VB Programming

Dev Ashish's Access Web Page	Probably the best Access resource around. FAQs, code, utilities, add-ins and lots of tips, plus a comprehensive set of links to other resources on Access.
VBnet Visual Basic Developers Resource Centre	Enhanced functionality using the win32 api for intermediate and advanced visual basic developers using 'VBClassic' (not VB.NET). If you need to call something using the win32 API, it's probably here.
Karl E. Peterson's Classic VB Code	Maybe Classic VB wasn't so bad after all... Especially Karl's list about how VFred (aka VB.NET) totally breaks most existing VB code.
Allen Browne's tips for Access users	A great set of tips for Access users, especially the Tips for Serious Users and the Pop-up Calendar. We are especially grateful to Allen for his assistance in helping us upgrade from Access 97 to 2003.
Access-Freak.com	Oliver Stohr's Access-Freak.com site looks at Access 2007 versus Access 2003. Oliver (a.k.a. freakazeud) is a Microsoft MVP and was a Microsoft® Office 2007 BETA tester.
Tips from the FMS Team	A mixture of Access, VB, and other tricks and tips.
ADO Connections	Carl Prothman's collection of ADO and ADO.NET connection strings. Samples for OLE DB Providers, .NET Data Providers, and ODBC Drivers, both DSN and DSN-Less.
Trigeminal Software	Michael Kaplan's site with utilities, components and tools. His articles and musings are worthwhile reading. Includes free code to recover the database password from any Jet 3.x/3.5x database.
Jenda Krynicky's Regex Control	If you want to use Regular expressions (Regex) in your VBA code or use a better interface than the messy Microsoft VBScript Regular Expressions object, try using Jenda Krynicky's Jenda.Rex Active-X DLL. Lots of other useful utilities, especially for Perl programmers.
FreeWheel mouse wheel support	Does your wheel mouse not work in VB or VBA? You've tried downloading the latest Intellipoint software and it still doesn't work? Try installing Jim Barry's FreeWheel software. Works on both Windows 9X and NT+.
Microsoft Naming Conventions	A concise guide to naming conventions plus tips on formatting and commenting your code. Uses our preferred shorter naming convention for variable names: sName instead of strName.
Microsoft Access Free Downloads	Downloads for Access and other Microsoft Office products.

Perl and Web Programming

HotSource HTML Help	Webpage authoring resource from Scott Brady.
Perl for beginners	A good simple introduction for beginners on learning Perl and CGI.
Robert's Perl Tutorial	The best tutorial on Perl we've found. Aimed at Win32 users, but it's nearly all usable on Unix systems.
Rex Swain's HTMLified Perl 5 Reference Guide	A superbly short and handy version of the Perl 5 Desktop Reference by Johan Vromans converted to HTML by Rex Swain.
BigNoseBird free CGI scripts, HTML tips and more	A fantastic resource for free Perl scripts, the key elements of HTML, troubleshooting, and other HOWTOs. A must if you have your own web site.
CGI Resource Index	Even more free scripts and tips on managing a web site.
Javascript Reference	Full reference manual to JavaScript from Sun (the Netscape reference site seems to be no more).

Web Site Construction

Web Design Group	This must be the best free resource on web design on the net. Full HTML help and reference, free HTML Validator and cascading style sheet checker, web authoring references, tools, style guides, FAQ, links, ...
Hosting your own web page	We use the services of Philex Enterprises to host our site. We've used them since 1999 without a problem. They are very helpful and are not paying us a thing for this free plug. Check them out.

Useful Utilities

FRHED free hex editor for 32-bit Windows	If you do any work with binary files you need a good hex editor. Raihan Kibria's FRHED free hex editor is brilliant. Very well constructed with options to work in hexadecimal, text or binary mode. An excellent piece of freeware.
Nullsoft Scriptable Install System	We now use the Nullsoft Scriptable Install System (NSIS) to package and distribute all updates to our clients. Reckon on taking three or four hours to figure out how to use it. (Hint: work through the examples they provide, starting with the simplest.) Then it's just a dream to use. NSIS is a tool that allows programmers to create installers for all variants of Windows. It is released under an open source license and is completely free for any use. Highly recommended.
Dimension 4 time synchronisation utility	Fed up with your computer's clock always being wrong? Want it to be synchronised with the US Navy's atomic clock? Install Rob Chambers' Dimension 4 time synchronisation software onto your Windows 95/98/NT/2K/XP computer. Inobtrusive, accurate and free to non-commercial users.
Skype	Skype is free Internet telephony that just works. Skype is for calling other people on their computers or phones. We've even used it from a 45k dial-up connection.

Computer Security

Shields UP!	Follow the Shields UP! link to have Steve Gibson's excellent site check the security of your computer's connection to the Internet. You'll get very paranoid and with good reason, too. Lots of other good information on security and network issues. See especially his page on configuring your computer's network bindings "the single best thing you can do for your system's Internet connection security".
Firefox browser	We can't recommend installing the Firefox browser more highly. Eliminates all the security hassles of Internet Explorer at a stroke. Just install (it's free) and then delete all the obvious links to MSIE on your desktop. Especialy useful if you have children use your machine.
Magic Mail Monitor	Magic Mail Monitor is a free utility that sits silently in your system tray and notifies you about new messages in one of your mailboxes. You can preview messages and delete unwanted emails before they get onto your system. Set your email client options NOT to download messages unless you click on the Send/Receive button. (In Outlook Express, uncheck "Send & receive messages at startup" and "Check for new messages every...").
Zone Alarm free personal firewall	ZoneAlarm is probably the best software firewall available. The "no-frills" version is free. ZoneAlarm monitors any unauthorised outgoing connections from trojans and spyware inside your computer. (It also prevents Microsoft utilities "phoning home", which MS's firewall probably still forgets to tell you about) ZoneAlarm is still highly recommended by Steve Gibson. We paid for the "Pro" version and upgrades which we were happy with until we required support, which is pathetic. When downloading, follow the links for the "Basic Firewall" carefully.
AVG Anti-Virus system by Grisoft	Grisoft offer a free version of their excellent AVG anti-virus software (keep following the links for "Free Basic Protection"). They put out frequent updates. We have installed this on a variety of Win32 operating systems without any problems (which is more than we can say for McAfee or Norton). They also do a free Anti-Rootkit product.
Ad-Aware by Lavasoft	Ad-aware is a free multi spyware removal utility designed for all Windows platforms. It scans your system for components of known spyware parasites and lets you remove them safely. If you are plagued with pop-ups, use this or Spybot Search & Destroy.
Spybot Search & Destroy	Spybot Search & Destroy detects and removes spyware. An alternative to Ad-Aware.
Startup Monitor	Startup Monitor is a small, free utility that runs transparently (it doesn't even use a tray icon) and notifies you when any program registers itself to run at system startup. It prevents annoying programs from registering themselves behind your back. Teach your kids not to click on OK when they are surfing the web.
SnoopFree Privacy Shield	Prevents keyboard loggers and other spyware from monitoring your system. Free and low impact, but annoying icon in the tray.
HijackThis	Free utilities including HijackThis, a general homepage hijackers detector and remover.
CCleaner	CCleaner is a freeware PC optimization tool. It combines a system cleaner that removes unused and temporary files from your system and also a fully featured registry cleaner. The underlying software appears reliable but be careful following links on their site that suggest you "may need a tune up".

Windows

Windows Vista	BadVista.org is a campaign to expose the harms inflicted on computer users by Microsoft Windows Vista. Respected security analyst Peter Gutmann looks at A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection. We think Vista is pretty poor and the perfect companion for the equally pathetic Office 2007, a widely-shared view that Vista, Office and Outlook 2007 are a Nightmare. The Joy of Tech's cartoon sums up Vista perfectly.
Save XP	Despite 210,000 people signing Galen Gruman's petition to "Save XP", Microsoft stopped OEM and shrink-wrapped sales of Windows XP on 30 June 2008, trying to force users to shift to the mediocre Vista. Millions of users have grown comfortable with XP and don't see a need to change to Vista: Windows is falling -- run for your lives!. The top five reasons why Windows Vista failed.
OzCableGuy	If you have a problem with your broadband ADSL or Cable internet connection, or need to configure your network to work with it, Darren Stribning's excellent site will have the answer. Well laid-out with FAQs and complete 'how to' guides to set up your network and troubleshoot. It includes how to cope with the Telstra Cable 'heartbeat' and how to set up a LinkSys router to work with it.

This page last updated: 29 October 2008