Factor Mystic

Version 1.3- August 9, 2008

• Fixed a minor UI bug where not all references were updated when the “Rename ProgID to File Type” preference was changed.
• About/Help link now points to this program’s own landing page instead of it’s blog category.
• The information url comment in exported .reg files has been updated to this program’s own page instead of it’s blog category.
• The program now checks for updates automatically when it is launched. This can be disabled in Advanced Configuration.
• A couple of additional minor UI adjustments (including a misspelled word in the error dialog- whoops!).
• Added a dialog to enable the deletion of both an extensions and ProgID’s.
• Fixed an rare bug that caused an immediate crash (both XP and Vista) based on information from online crash reports.
• Fixed a bug where extensions without ProgID’s would have a blank Friendly Type Name instead of EXT File, which is what Windows Explorer shows.
• Program identification comment at the top of generated .reg files now includes the version number.
• Moved the “Include extensions without a ProgID” checkbox to the extensions filter options list.

Several interesting changes in this release.  Also, I’ve enabled comments on the blog.

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Version 1.2

• Fixed a critical bug that caused an immediate crash on Vista x64.
• Added automatic online error reporting (can be disabled in Advanced Configuration).
• Added a friendly error dialog when the program crashes, replacing the generic .Net one.
• A couple of minor UI adjustments.

Default Programs Editor- Error Dialog

What information does the crash report have?
OS version, last executed method from a logging functions, and a stack trace. No personal identifying information. Each crash dump is saved to C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\factormystic.net\Default Programs Editor\<version>\ , which is also where the advanced.config file is saved.

64 bit

The x64 bug was quite odd. I was initially debugging on a vanialla rtm install, and the program worked fine. It wasn’t until I installed hotfix KB932471, an update for .Net 3.0, that it successfully crashed. I’m not sure exactly what changed in the framework to make it start crashing, but the bug was a relatively simple fix.

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Version 1.1

• Now distributing as the exe and this changes file in a zip instead of just the exe.
• Put Context Menu and File Type properties group boxes into separate tabs.
• Replaced File Type column in the main extension list with Friendly Type Name.
• Autogenerated key names are now converted to lower case to fit with convention.
• A couple of additional minor UI adjustments.
• Url in the exported .reg comment was wrong.
• “Show shell extensions” checkbox moved to the Advanced Config tab (which means its state is persistent across sessions now).
• Searching for an extension in both the main extension list, and the File Type dialog now also transparently searches file type key names.
• Fixed the bug on XP where showing shell extension verbs caused it to crash
• New File Types are now created in the Select File Type dialog.
• The Add Extension dialog has been reworked to be more intuitive.

Here’s the biggest change to the UI- tabs replaced panes for Context Menu and File Type groups:

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This is an advanced Windows file association utility

Here is some sweet stuff you can do with it:

• Manually add extension information
• Change a file type’s description
• Change a file type’s icon
• Change an extension’s associated file type
• Add/Edit/Delete an extension’s default association
• Add/Edit/Delete other entries on the file’s context menu
• Preserve verb precedence hierarchy
• View shell extension entries on the context menu
• Remove ‘Default Programs’ association that Windows likes to make annoying to change
• Add/Edit/Delete your own autoplay handlers
• Change which autoplay options are available for users
• Disable that “Search web for unknown extension” dialog
• Single .exe utility, no installation

On top of all that, here are some bonus features:

• Make changes direct to the registry, or export them as .reg files for easy distribution
• Designed for Vista, with UAC support, so you can painlessly run as a standard user
• Works with XP too (a few features disabled, just use TweakUI)
• Make changes to your user account, or the machine default, or both

Documentation is admittedly sparse right now, but here are some how-to’s:

• Set Media Player Classic to Autoplay DVDs
• Change the “Edit” command on a batch file context menu

Feel free to email me with any suggestions or questions.

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This is a command line utility that marks a file or directory for deletion on the next reboot. It’s useful to remove files that are in use, such as file identified by antispyware, etc (though most of the time those programs can handle this themselves). Note that this requires elevated privileges, because the API it calls (MoveFileEx) writes to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. Also, this will bypass the Recycle Bin when deleting the file. One last caveat: if you specify a directory, it must be empty. Requires .Net 2.0

Usage: >mfdelc.exe “some annoying file.dll”

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Changes:

• Modifier key (shift/ctrl/alt/win) no longer necessary for the hotkey
• You must click “Save” to make the hotkey stick, it’s not automatic like before
• ‘About’ link now takes you to the category for this utility, not a specific page, like I originally intended

Known issues:

• Config files saved a bit differently now, and it’s incompatible with the old way, so you might get an error when you first run. Solution: Just save a hotkey, which will overwrite the old config file with the new one.
• If you press a modifier then the key you want for the hotkey, sometimes it doesn’t work. Solution: Press and release the modifier key you want, then press the other key separately. Then it works.

Like before, hit a key or jiggle the mouse to turn the monitor back on (you can adjust that in the system power settings), and requires .Net 2.0.

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Changes:

• Customizable hotkey (click to capture hotkey, escape to stop)
• Tooltip on tray icon now shows what the hotkey is
• Custom hotkey is saved in a per-user config file (%appdata%\turnoffmonitor\turnoffmonitor\1.0.0.0\config.txt)
• Clicking the tray icon no longer turns off the monitor, it just brings up the window
• Interface changes- more compact, less distracting. Clicking the link takes you to the latest post for this program.
• Fixed a really annoying bug where the system would immediately turn the monitor back on

Like before, hit a key or jiggle the mouse to turn the monitor back on (you can adjust that in the system power settings), and requires .Net 2.0.

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Here is a little utility to turn “XMouse” behavior on and off. This means that when you hover the mouse over a window, that window becomes activated, but doesn’t come to the front. It’s handy to scroll background windows. Requires .Net 2.0.

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A little utility for when you want to turn off your monitor. Sits in the system tray doing nothing until you click the button or hit win+z. Hit any key to turn it back on.

Future todo list:

• Customizable hotkey
• Probably some other stuff

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