I had a MS Media Player 11 / driver / registry mishap last week and ended up having to wipe and reload my system. :(  Thankfully, since Arena ChMS is web based, I was able to find an old spare computer with IE and continue working on most of my website construction tasks while my system was being reloaded with the basics -- OS, patches, Office, updates, etc.

I just got my system back from our service team (thanks David and Robert!) and so I've begun the painful process of getting my system set up and "dialed in" again (SQL Server, VS 2005, updates, Photoshop, Ultraedit, 7zip, ObjectDock, Filezilla, Wink, etc., etc., etc.)  One nice thing about a wipe and reload event is that it's a clear opportunity to replace old software.  I'm all about free utilites whenever possible and a while back I blogged about a great screen capture utility called ScreenPrint32.  Now I'd like to tell you that SnagIt Capture is definitely worth its $39 price.

Consider this standard senario: you need to capture part of the screen as an image, draw a circle somewhere on the image, add a arrow, save and ftp it somewhere.  That used to take me 1-2 minutes but with SnagIt it can be done in under 10 seconds -- all within SnagIt.  (Additionally a snazzy torn edge and drop shadow can be added with no extra time.)

ObjectDock PropertiesThe second thing nice thing I noticed was a trend with newer versions of several other programs I use.  Many now have a convenient backup and restore function to let you back up your settings and stuff as shown here in ObjectDock's properties window.  I'd love to see all utility software do this (*hint* *hint* Ian for Ultraedit and Cerulean's Trillian). This can also be a real time saver to get your system dialed in as quickly so that you can get back to work.  Now back to work... :)