Finally, a replacement for Notepad

[Originally posted at http://rydberg.biology.colostate.edu/sites/bioit/2010/02/02/finally-a-replacement-for-notepad]

For the past decade or so, I have been stuck using the default Notepad application that comes pre-installed on every Windows computer. For my purposes, the ‘Development Suite’ applications such as the MS ‘Visual’ tools and other development environments are too much – heavy and complicated. As I am usually working on a single file containing HTML, JAVA or PHP code, Notepad was a sufficient solution due to its lightweight and very simple interface – just type! However, longing for the days when I programmed with Emacs on a Unix system – led me to do a little research to find a similar tool that could highlight syntax and make the coding more human readable with, you know, colors and indentations and stuff. This is when I discovered Notepad++

New Computer? Old Computer? CCleaner!

[Originally posted at http://rydberg.biology.colostate.edu/sites/bioit/2009/11/17/new-computer-old-computer-ccleaner] I am often asked these two questions. I have a new computer, how can I remove all the CRAP that came preinstalled? I have an older computer, how can I speed it up? I will share with you a little IT secret, and that is CCleaner. In short, this program optimizes