Many time we need to programmatically retrieve the size of a file before downloading it from a web location or a network path. This is require to calculate the progress and/or the estimated time to download and display it to the user. For a local file it is easy, but to retrieve this information from a remote location, the implementation is little different.

 

Today in this small blog post, we will learn how to retrieve it dynamically using C# code. Continue reading to know about it. Code snippet has been shared in the post.

Everyone cares about his/her system's security and cares more when its related to virus. Here comes one new enhancement in security perspective in Windows 10 November updates and that's about Windows Defender. Its now more integrated with Windows Operating system.

We all know Windows defender is already present from Windows 7 on wards. Lets see what Windows November update has added more to Windows Defender.

You might be aware that, Microsoft planned to downgrade all OneDrive personal accounts from 15GB free space to 5GB and that will hit all of your account soon. Now they came with an offer which will allow you to keep your base storage quota and camera roll bonus, even after the changes rolls out.

If you want to keep your 15GB free OneDrive space, just follow the steps mentioned in this post and your account will not be affected when the amount of free storage changes.

If you are running Microsoft Office 2010 and a regular user to it’s Outlook product, you might have recently observed that, many buttons, menus changed their state to disabled mode. If you are using any add-ins, those became disabled. This is because your Outlook switched into Safe Mode.

 

This is quite obvious and actual reason behind this is a little bit different. In this post, we will discuss more about the issue and a quick fix to resolve it. Continue reading.

This could be one of the issue you might face while using service call or HTTP Post to server. Though this issue rarely happens but in case you encounter such error in your production, possibility is your client application is facing issue connecting to the server due to proxy server.

 

If you come across such issue, this quick blog post will help you to resolve it. You don’t need to do much, but just a configuration settings will help you.

Serialization and deserialization of .NET objects made easy using various serializer classes that it provides. But serialization of Dictionary object is not that much easy. For this, you have to create a special Dictionary class which is able to serialize itself. The serialization technique might be different in different business cases.

 

Today, let’s discuss how to implement the same with a sample. Code is shared in the post, which you can use in your application. Continue reading and let me know if you have any other approaches.

“Linked Inbox” feature is now available again in Outlook Mail for Windows 10 Mobile. After a new build pushed recently, Microsoft pulled the same and replaced with an older version of the Outlook Mail due to some issues. The issue was causing the app to crash and close.

 

Good news is that, the app is again available in store with linked inbox feature, which will enable you to merge multiple mail boxes into one inbox. Continue reading to know about it.

Microsoft has announced availability of Visual Studio 2015 Update 1. There are plenty of new changes in this final build apart from CTP release and RC release. Apart from our favorite IDE, the final release of Team Foundation Server Update 1 is also available. Download and checkout the new features.

 

In this post, sharing the download link as well as features list and release notes shared by the giant company. Go thru them while the download is in progress.

You might have been heard about the product JIRA. It is a bug tracking product, developed by Atlassian. It can be used as general "issue tracker", “new feature request tracker” and more, rather than solely a bug tracker. It’s more customizable than BugZilla and queries also can be modifiable.

 

Today in this small blog post, we will learn how to create a query to list down all the issues “Resolved by” a particular user or you. Continue reading to know more about it.

Microsoft brought a new set of enhancements along with Windows 10 November Update. Among them, one is lock screen enhancements which will allow you to set background image of lock screen from the Windows Spotlight and set/remove the login screen background image.

 

Today in this post, we are going to discuss on the same and will see how to set those various options in Windows 10 November update (aka. Threshold 2).

Microsoft restores the availability of Windows 10 November Update, which was pulled just after release. The giant company also explained why it was pulled. If you have the RTM build 10240, check out Windows Update. You might have got the notification to install version 1511 by that time.

 

If you have already installed the November Update (version 1511, build 10586), there’s a patch for you. To know more about this, continue reading the post.

If you are building add-ins for Microsoft Word, at the time of add-in installation you might want to check whether user has installed MS Word on his system or not. Based on that, you might want to show a message to the user or take proper action as per your business need.

 

In this small blog post, we will learn what needs to be done using C# to find out whether the said Microsoft Office product is installed or not. Continue reading to know about this coding tricks.

On various scenarios, especially when you are building and shipping Add-Ins for outlook, at the time of add-in installation you might want to check whether user has installed outlook on his system or not. Based on that, you might want to show a message to the user.

 

In this small blog post, we will learn what needs to be done using C# to find out whether outlook is installed or not. Continue reading to know about this coding tricks.

The giant company brought a set of new features in Windows 10 November update. It’s the first big update after Windows 10 gone RTM. Along with other features and enhancements, it brought Start Screen/Menu enhancements. This includes more tiles and occasionally showing suggestions.

 

Today in this small blog post, we will discuss about these enhancements along with it’s settings to enable/disable the same. Continue reading to know more about it.

I hope many of you have already installed the Windows 10 November Update on your system. This new build includes bug fixes, product improvements along with many new features. Among those new feature, one is to show or hide the background image in the sign-in screen.

 

Microsoft provided an option in the settings app. In this small blog post, I will show you how to do this. Continue reading to know about this new feature.

Windows 10 November update features a new settings, which when enabled, let you receive fun facts, tips, tricks and more on your Lock Screen. This is a new feature, you will get in Windows 10 version 1511 (build: 10586.3) and above. If you didn’t receive this update yet, check the Windows Update service.

 

In this small blog post, I will show you how to enable or disable this option from the Windows 10 settings app. Continue reading to know more about it.

Few days ago, I wrote a blog post about Windows 10 Start Screen image programmatically using C# code. Today in this blog post, we will discuss about changing Lock Screen background image of Windows 10 using C# code. Microsoft Windows SDK provides the API sets to call.

 

Let’s start learning about the API with a small piece of code. Continue reading. Code has been shared at the end of the post. If you have any comments, drop a line.

Outlook and other office applications provides an easy way to restart itself. Though there are no directly exposed APIs to restart it, but you can easily write code to do the same operation. Today in this small blog post, we are going to discuss on the code to be implemented.

 

Just three simple steps and your code is ready. C# Code has been shared at the end of the post. Let me know if you have any queries. Would be happy to help.

Microsoft aired Windows 10 build 10586 for the fast ring Windows Insiders. If you are one of them, you can get it via Windows Update service. This build is mainly focused on bug fixes and improvements to move forward the final build of Threshold 2. As it is a developer preview build, has some known issues.

 

This post lists all the fixes and known issues in this build. Before installing, please go thru the lists. Windows Feedback app to report any problems that you might encounter with this build.

John Montgomery, Director of Program Management for Visual Studio, announced the availability of Visual Studio 2015 Update 1 RC (Release Candidate) stepping forward to release the final update of our favorite IDE. It has many new features to improve the productivity of the developers.

 

Find in this post the download link (ISO image for offline installation) and the features set. Try it, provide your feedback and report any bugs if you notice.