SqlRyan

251 reputation

1512

bio	website	trycatchfinally.net
	location	Phoenix, AZ
	age	31
visits	member for	3 years, 10 months
	seen	May 10 at 17:00
stats	profile views	23

My name is Ryan McCauley, and I'm a database/reporting manager for a mid-size cable company. I spent a number of years as a .NET developer (mostly of the VB.NET variety), but now largely focus on T-SQL and the reporting with the Microsoft BI stack.

On my own time, I build small apps to help get things done a little better, and have a couple posted at Codeplex:

SQL Space Map - if you have some large SQL Server databases and you'd like a visual picture of which tables and indexes are taking up that space, it's the tool for you.
SQL Server Contention Monitor - watches as may SQL Servers as you want and alerts you to blocked SPIDs, showing you the block tree (which process is blocking which, an what others are affected). It's still in a pretty alpha-ish phase, but it despite some instability at times, it gets the job done.

Check them out and let me know what feedback you have!

	251 reputation	bio	website	trycatchfinally.net	visits	member for	3 years, 10 months
1512 badges		location	Phoenix, AZ		seen	May 10 at 17:00

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Apr 24	comment	Does the “Cancel Server Request” option in Outlook actually do anything? I realize that this command wouldn't necessarily kill whatever Outlook is doing that's locked up the main UI thread - of which "server request" is only one thing - but it seems like bad practice to lock up the UI anyways. I gave this a bit more thought - if the UI thread is locked, this command won't do anything, because the message pump is locked too. If the GUI is responsive, but waiting on server response, this command likely works. However, in cases like mine when the interface is physically unresponsive, this command likely won't have any impact at all.
Apr 15	comment	microsoft mouse and keyboard center doesn't show my mouse FWIW, my mouse is supported but switching the software to a left-handed configuration (which involves reprogramming the two buttons, not just checking an "I'm left handed" or "Swap buttons" checkbox) doesn't actually seem to do anything - my mouse still acts right handed. It's not even bloatware that works, which is even more irritating...
Mar 13	comment	Can I play Blu-ray movies from an external drive? Okay - given that, I found another conversation (avsforum.com/t/1232083/…) where the person is saying that the data is encrypted at rest and that the encrypted stream is sent the player, so HDCP isn't a factor until the player, which decrypts the signal - once it's decrypted, then the whole path has to be HDCP compliant. That seems to support that a USB drive (or eSATA, for that matter) would be fine.
Mar 13	comment	Can I play Blu-ray movies from an external drive? I read through the thread you attached, and through informative, it doesn't make any specific mention of a connection via USB, but I take your answer to mean that if a drive works directly in my PC, it would work in a USB enclosure? Or are you saying that the USB enclosure has to specifically support HDCP by having an internal chip (which I'm sure it doesn't)? I'd like to say the issue is clarified, but it's not - or maybe I should interpret that as "it won't work".
Feb 23	comment	Proper Outlook Free/Busy status when working from home The irony isn't lost on me, BTW, that I asked this question a year ago, though there seems to be no less ambiguity about how I'm supposed to be scheduling this :)
Feb 23	comment	Proper Outlook Free/Busy status when working from home I'll still find it useful :) So it sounds like, in an office where telecommuting is common, there's no need to denote remote work days on your calendar at all. However, in my case, I'm at a workplace where telecommuting is still pretty uncommon - everybody in my group does it once day/week, but that's far more than average, and it's still not common practice to include a conference bridge in meeting invites (though that's changing). In my case, I'm not able to attend in-person on these days, but I'm still fully available. Should I signify these days in any way on the calendar?
Feb 10	comment	Downsides to Microsoft Excel 2007 XLSB binary format? Just for reference here, I've been using XLSB almost exclusively since posting this question a year ago, will no ill effects - no corrupted data or files, and in addition to be smaller, they load in about half the time.
Feb 10	comment	Downsides to Microsoft Excel 2007 XLSB binary format? Thanks for letting me know - I suppose if third-party software is going to allow the import of Excel files, they won't implement two different formats, and will likely only support XLSX, as that's the more "Standards-based" one.
Nov 20	comment	Way to automatically compress images pasted into Outlook emails? @Hennes: The answer is generally "no", and I delete where I can, but the mail server size restrictions mean I have to be extra-vigilant about it. Also, there are cases where I want to keep an email chain but not the screenshot, and I can't delete an inline screenshot - I can remove an attachment (from an HTML email, for example), but if the user sends the email as "Rich Text" then the image is pasted directly in the email and can't be removed.
Oct 24	comment	Change CTRL-X, -C, and -V hotkeys in Windows to different keys Hmm - those hotkeys seem to work (I had no idea), though they're not really what I'm after, as they're awkward to reach with my right hand. Good to know, though!
Sep 6	comment	How can I merge duplicate contacts in Outlook? I think this is a method for removing duplicate contacts - ie you accidentally selected all your contacts and copied them into the same folder, creating two of everything. It won't remove duplicates of individual contacts.
Mar 20	comment	Is there any way to mute a thread in outlook? I use ClearContext Professional and it's well worth it, just for the auto-filing and flagging of important conversations.
Feb 16	comment	Downsides to Microsoft Excel 2007 XLSB binary format? I suspected this was the case, but wanted to make sure. From other reading I've done, XLSX appears to be a more open standard, where XLSB is really just the next iteration of the XLS format - proprietary to Microsoft Excel and designed for speed/size, not compatibility. Thanks for your confirmation!
Jul 12	comment	What is the best way to use ReadyBoost on a Latitude E6500 with vista? I've been using the SD card for about a week now, and while not as pronounced as the improvement I got from my Patriot XT stick, it's definitely noticeably, and I've caught it not using my card by noticing the drop in performance. The SD card solution is ideal as well, because undocking my laptop doesn't interrupt the performance boost, as the SD card stays in place. For anybody contemplating this, I'd highly recommend it as a cheap performance improvement. The card I got is at tinyurl.com/5ttmpha, and it's down to $20.
Jun 28	comment	What is the best way to use ReadyBoost on a Latitude E6500 with vista? Thanks - I picked up a 16GB Class SD card from NewEgg for $22 today, so I can report how it goes. I'm not too hopeful, but it's significantly less than an SSD drive and it will stay inside the computer the entire time - even when I undock - and that's really what I want. Thank for the follow-up.
Jun 28	comment	What is the best way to use ReadyBoost on a Latitude E6500 with vista? How has this worked out? I'm in the same situation and I'd like to order a high-speed SD card for my E6400, but I want to make sure you noticed a difference first. A high-speed USB drive makes a huge difference for me, but I'd like to throw an SD card in there and forget about it if it helps out as well.
May 18	comment	View another persons calendar details in Outlook 2010 I assumed "Share Calendar" was about showing people my own calendar, but clearly it's about both. +15 to you.
May 13	comment	Why 64 bit OS can't run a 16 bit application? @Chris Kaminski: After giving it some more thought, I think it has to be emulating it, not just some kind of API-mucking. If it could run code of a different bit-build natively, then why would x64 have Wow64 to run 32-bit apps - wouldn't those run natively as well?
May 13	comment	Why 64 bit OS can't run a 16 bit application? @Chris Kaminski - I'm surprised that they'd do that as an architecture decision - x86 vs x64 - as opposed to saying "Alright - it's Windows 7, and we're not running 16-bit processes anymore". Especially with "Windows XP Mode" now embedded in 7, it seems like the perfect time to cut support even in the x86 version.
May 5	comment	Software with Malicious Intent binded to executable? If you don't trust it, I'd favor running it in a VM without any network access - that way, your machine isn't at risk, and there's no chance it can call home with any useful information.