CDrive free space was going down

My HDD free space is usually 30 GB. On weekends in last month, I noticed that machine performance was too slow. Then I checked HDD free space, which is less than 10GB. Used system cleanup for C Drive and got another 500 MB space.

Did few google search and found utility - TreeSize to get to know the utilized space by each directory.

Lastly found that Office cache had more than 30 GB for Office 2015 and Office 2016 versions. Removed all cache from following directories and Machine performance is so much better.

**Office Cache - C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\16.0\OfficeFileCache1
**Office Cache - C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\15.0\OfficeFileCache
**Office Cache - C:\Users\\AppData\Microsoft\Office\15.0\OfficeFileCache

Invoking OneDrive for Business App

Using OneDrive for Business app for few years to sync official related documents. Much useful to share the documents with colleagues.

Couple of times, I noticed that after OneDrive app is not there after restarting the system. Tried different solutions and this one is working always. To invoke the OneDrive app, you open 'OneDrive.exe' under your profile ==> [C:\Users\[userId]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneDrive\]

Microsoft Services openings

Are you ready to take BIG challenges and passion about Microsoft Technologies? Microsoft Services Global Delivery is looking for software professionals in following disciplines..

Architect/Development/Testing/PMO
CRM/SharePoint/AX/BI/Azure

Share photos from XBOX play

Kinect Sports, Kinect Adventures, and Kinect JoyRide Games have functionality to upload pictures taken during game play. The pictures load to KinectShare.com. In the games there is a Remember and Share style section, where you can look at the pictures that were taken. From there you can select which items you would like to upload.

The pictures on KinectShare are only accessible from your Microsoft (Hotmail/Live/Outlook) login and are only stored for 14 days. They can be shared to Facebook or other social network site from there. They can also be removed from KinectShare.com (such as, as soon as you get the Achievement....)


Change your privacy settings to allow Kinect Sharing

1. On your console, sign in using your Xbox LIVE gamertag.
2. Go to Settings, then select Privacy
3. Select Change Settings
4. Select Customize
5. Select Kinect Sharing.
6. Select Allowed or Blocked. Allowed: You can upload and share photos and videos using websites and services such as KinectShare.com, Blocked: Photos and videos cannot be uploaded and shared on photo-sharing websites and services.
7. Press B on your controller
8. Select Save and Exit.

Steps to Upload photos

1. Enable Internet connection through Wi-fi in XBOX Console
2. Get the Pictures from games
3. Go to the photos menu and choose which photos/statues you want to upload
4. Uploaded to www.kinectshare.co
5. Go to kinectshare.com, Login and you can see your photos
6. You can download the pictures and share it

Cloud Computing and Windows Azure Platform

I was going through couple of URLs in last week and liked the way, example was given by Arun.


What is Cloud Computing?


To start with let’s understand what exactly “Cloud computing” is?


Cloud computing is providing computing resources (Software, Platform and Infrastructure) as a service over the network. Cloud computing users can use the services provided by the Cloud Computing service provider without taking the trouble of planning, procuring, building, configuring and maintaining the infrastructure. Cloud is a metaphor used for Internet.



To take a real world example, it’s more like if you need to travel from one city to another you don’t buy a train. You just buy a ticket and “pay as you use”. And train service provider will take care of maintaining trains and rail-treks and manpower. Similarly cloud computing is using computing resources managed by provider and “pay as per usage”. The service provider will take care of infrastructure management and user needs to pay only for services used.

To know more about the cloud basics, go through Arun's blog
One more article by Arun --> Windows Azure - Step by Step guide for Designing, Developing , Deploying and Administrating a Windows Azure Applications

SkyDrive Pro

SkyDrive Pro is a professional library—the place to keep your work documents and other files. You can think of SkyDrive Pro as your SkyDrive for business. When you store your files on SkyDrive Pro, only you can see them, but you can easily share them with co-workers and access them from your mobile devices. Your files are safely kept in the cloud with SharePoint Online or on your company’s SharePoint Server 2013 servers, depending on what your company has set up.

Advantages of SkyDrive Pro

• Store and organize your private documents and other files in cloud.
• Share files and folders with other people in your organization and give them permission to review or edit the content.
• Synchronize files and folders in your SkyDrive Pro and other SharePoint libraries with your computer or mobile devices, so you can access your content offline.

Difference between SkyDrive Pro and SkyDrive

OneNote

Micrsoft's OneNote is another great tool from Office product group. It is very useful for taking notes, tracking notes and in different formats such as text, audio & video. I'm a big fan of this after using couple of months.

You can search your notes across different notebooks or sections. Also you can organize and share them in web as well.

For more info, Go through following links
Wiki about Microsoft OneNote
Microsoft OneNote official Site
Microsoft OneNote object Model for extensions

Microsoft Products

Microsost has many products in variety of domains and divisions. Just listed down the various business units.

Microsoft Business Solutions
Microsoft Office Division
Online Services Division
Server and Tools Business
Windows & Windows Live Division
Windows Phone Division
Skype

For more information, visit Fast Facts about Microsoft!!!

Windows 8 Launch to external world

Finally, Windows 8 is launched across world to consumers. Windows 8 comes with a new smooth and intuitive start screen and tiles that are brimming with content, and update in real time. Same look and feel across Tablets, Hybrids, Ultrabooks, Desktops.

Links

Windows Home Page

Official Windows Blogs

Windows YouTuBe Channel

Windows 8 on Wikipedia

XBOX 360 and Kinect

I'm not much interested on Games side. I bought XBOX 360 with Kinect for my kid. It is used for games as well as virtual sports. Had amazing experience!!!

I was going through couple of wikipedia pages and Microsoft is a strong contender on this space. Microsoft also gives SDK for Kinect device and many out-of-box projects may come up in near future.

Testing these kind of applications, will bring next level of testing challenges and concepts.

Few links:
XBOX 360 on Wiki

Kinect on Wiki

Accessories on Wiki

XBOX live on Wiki

XBOX Marketplace

XBOX Support

Kinect SDK

Windows Startup error code 0x00000074:BAD_SYSTEM_CONFIG_INFO

Two weeks back, My laptop was unable to start. I got blue screen and error message as BAD_SYSTEM_CONFIG_INFO and error code as 0x00000074

I thought it might be due to Hard disk crash or some other internal issues. But actually these issues were due to some software updates either Windows or Anti-Virus. I used System Restore option to correct this issue. Microsoft has given few more options to recover on Windows 7. You can go through the following links.

What are the system recovery options in Windows 7?
Choosing an advanced recovery method
Startup Repair: frequently asked questions


Hope it may help to few others too!!!

New Microsoft Logo

After 25 years, Microsoft company logo was evolved. For more info, read this post ==> Jeff Hansen’s Microsoft blog - Microsoft Unveils a New Look

Windows 8 Release

Microsoft has released Windows 8 OS. It has many features and new UI style. Check following links for more details..
Windows Team blog
Windows 8 on Wikipedia

Team Foundation Server

Recently I had a chance to use Team Foundation Server (TFS). It is a great ALM tool and having many workflows, templates and reports. Microsoft has integrated with many tools and developed many utilities around for various purposes. Attempted to list down the major workflows and integrated tools.

Major flows / features

• Requirements Tracking
• Project Status Reporting
• Burn down chart/Effort tracking
• Source control
• Defect Tracking
• Test case Management
• Test Execution reporting
• Traceability Matrix
• Various Reporting through MS SQL BI features

Integrated tools

• Visual Studio
• Microsoft Project Professional
• Office Tools (Excel, Outlook & Word)
• Microsoft Test Manager
• SharePoint
• MS SQL Server BI features
• CodedUI Integration

Few Links related to TFS
Manage Team Project Collections
Setup automated UI Tests
Process Template modification

TaskManager - Tiny Footprint mode

Sometimes back, My laptop did not show menu bar and tabs in Task Manager. I restarted the laptop twice and no success. I searched Microsoft knowledge base and got to know about an interesting thing.

Microsoft KB - Task Manager Menu Bar and Tabs Are Not Visible in Windows XP

Problem
This behavior may occur if Task Manager is running in Tiny Footprint mode.

Resolution
To switch Task Manager to its typical display mode, double-click the top border of the window or the empty space in the border.

Visual Studio 2010 - Testing Features

I attended a presentation Visual Studio 2010 - Testing Features. Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 has different set of licenses. Apart from development features, VS2010 can be used for project management, testcase managment, UI automation, unit testing, defect tracking and Load testing.

Microsoft targets testing tools market. As of now, it is supporting microsoft technologies. I am sure that Microsoft would have reasonable share in testing tools market within next three years. Definitely it would be tough competitor for QuickTest Professional in near future. Tool has to be enhanced for object storage and simple scripting.

Few links for your reference:
VS 2010 Testing Capabilities (Videos)
Getting started with VS 2010 Defining Your Testing Effort Using Test Plans
Creating Manual Test Cases Recording and Playing Back Manual Tests
Testing the User Interface with Automated UI Tests (CodedUI Test)
Supported Configurations and Platforms for Coded UI Tests and Action Recordings
How to: Create a Coded UI Test (Documentation):
How to: Create a Coded UI Test Tutorial
Administering Team Foundation
Administration Guide for Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2010 Team Foundation Server
Update on Silverlight support
Partial Silverlight support

Windows Vista Presentation

Last month, I have written a post about Free Training on Windows Vista . Now Microsoft made all those sessions download-able. Hope that It will be useful to you. You can download them from following links:

Login URL
Session 1: Optimize Windows Vista - By Sudhir Rao B
Session 2: Deploy Windows Vista - By Sudhir Rao B

Download Virtual TechDays Presentations

Few days back, I have written about Microsoft's Virtual TechDays. Now Microsoft has shared all presentations and webinars (videos). You can get all 32 sessions materials. All sessions are on Microsoft's three new products - Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008. It is good to see the sessions from experts. You can download from following URL.

Download Page: http://www.microsoft.com/india/virtualtechdays/

Microsoft - Virtual TechDays

April 9th and 10th 2008, Microsoft’s Virtual TechDays was held at Bangalore. More than ten thousand engineers would have benefited. To attend this program, user should install Microsoft's Live Meeting in their machine. Totally 32 sessions were there. All sessions are on Microsoft's three new products - Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008. It is good to see the sessions from experts. I attended SQL Server 2008 and VS 2008 sessions. I missed the BI sessions due to my vacation.

Microsoft has given plenty of information for all sessions. User can get various resources (evaluations, whitepapers, videos) from that site. Below I have given few links and hope that it might be useful to you.


Virtual TechDays - Resources
SQL Server 2008 - Overview
Visual Studio Team System Videos