I'm currently working on some tricky CSS coding and have the need to test multiple browser versions.  Of course, Firefox is no problem: very little has changed in CSS rendering from version to version.  Internet Explorer is a bit more tricky.  I've been running the v7 betas for months now and I really didn't want to uninstall v7 for a few quick CSS tests.  v7 fixes a lot of the rendering problems that previous version had, and I needed to verify that my page looked reasonable at least in IE 6 if not 5.5 and 5.01.  I was considering setting up multiple VPCs to test, but then I ran across an installer called Multiple IE.  This handy utility works as advertised - it allows you to have multiple versions of IE installed concurrently.  I have had some problems with versions 4.01 - 5.5 crashing on me, but that's not a problem for quick rendering tests.  All in all, I'm quite happy with the setup.  Alternatively, if you are still running IE 6 and would like to give IE 7 a spin without a full install, give IE Standalone a whirl.  A word of caution, Scott Hanselman - among others - has had some bad luck running running a similar setup.  I have yet to run into problems, but I'll be sure to post an update if the tide turns.

If you've got a few minutes to spare, cruise on over to Google Videos for some "high quality" nerd-type entertainment.

After using Remote Desktop (mstsc.exe) to connect to a computer, the host computer often gets confused about how to draw maximized windows.  Since "Auto-hide the taskbar" is not checked, maximized windows should stop at the taskbar... but they don't - they go to the bottom of the screen behind the taskbar.  I see similar problems when I open "Taskbar and Start Menu Properties" - the window is aligned with the bottom of the screen behind the taskbar.

The quickest fix that I've found is to change a setting in "Taskbar and Start Menu Properties", change it back, and click "OK".  Presto chango - the screen redraws and windows now maximize correctly.  Notice how the properties window now aligns correctly and the browser window status bar in the background is visible.

I finally got around to downloading the latest bits for dasBlog over the weekend, and I was pleased to see that the problem I posted about last December has been fixed.  I can now display "pretty" urls instead of the nasty GUIDs and not have to worry about funky characters in the title.  Sweet!

...well, not dead, just renamed.  Here's the new naming for "the technology formerly known as Atlas" (from ScottGu via Brian Goldfarb):

1) The client-side “Atlas” javascript library is going to be called the Microsoft AJAX Library.  This will work with any browser, and also support any backend web server (read these blog posts by Shanku Niyogi and Brad Abrams to see how to run it on PHP and ColdFusion).
 

2) The server-side “Atlas” functionality that integrates with ASP.NET will be called the ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions.  As part of this change the tag prefix for the “Atlas” controls will change from <atlas:>to <asp:>.  These controls will also be built into ASP.NET "Orcas"


3) The “Atlas” Control Toolkit today is a set of free, shared source controls and components that help you get the most value from the ASP.NET AJAX Extensions.  Going forward, the name of the project will change to be the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit.

I like that they plan to RTM Atlas v1.0 this year and that it will be included with the next release of ASP.NET.  I'm looking forward to seeing the final bits.