How to always run applications as administrator in Windows 8

I recently got a new laptop with Windows 8. I’ve been trying to not hate the removal of my start menu too much. One of the changes they also made, is that User-Account-Control can’t really be disabled without a registry change– and if you make that registry change, most of the Metro/Modern UI apps will no longer work! Having certain applications not run as administrator can really be a problem, however… Visual Studio needs admin access to create IIS web applications, for instance. Additionally, shelling out to cmd.exe for doing a multitude of different things will be very frustrating when you don’t have those admin privileges that are rightfully required to do administrative things…

Unfortunately, there’s no easy GUI way to tell Windows 8 to always launch applications as an administrator. You can right click on a shortcut and select ‘run as admin’ each time– or even define a shortcut and set ‘run as administrator’ on the compatibility tab– but this doesn’t work if you use start->run->’cmd.exe’, such as I do… It also doesn’t work if you’ve pinned solutions to your task bar, such as I do for Visual Studio.

Thankfully, after some searching, I found a solution. You can have any executable on your computer run as admin(assuming you have permission to do so), by adding entries to this registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers\

Simply add a new string value, paste the full path to the executable(such as c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe), and then edit the value to say ‘RUNASADMIN’. Next time you start that executable– through a shortcut, by going to start->run, through entries pinned to your taskbar, or double-clicking on an associated file in explorer, Windows 8 will actually run it as an admin, as you require.

Authoritive domain root list

I recently wanted to write some code that analyzed URLs to determine if the source was the same– eliminating sub-domains. For something simple like “sensiblesoftware.com” or “www.sensiblesoftware.com”, this is easy. However, what about othes countries? Something like “www.company.co.uk” or “company.co.uk”? It was clear I needed a list. Initially, I went and found the TLD/Top Level Domain list at the ICANN. It was clear by just looking at this, however, that it didn’t include individual country’s second level domains, such as “.co.uk”. This makes it difficult to use for getting the effective organization domain(which would be the ‘company’ in company.com or company.co.uk).

After looking, I eventually found a list of these, but it wasn’t formatted very nicely for use in programming, so I formatted it and I’m providing the list here– you can easily copy/paste this list into a text file for programmatic use.

.af
.com.af
.edu.af
.gov.af
.net.af
.org.af
.ax
.gov.al
.edu.al
.org.al
.com.al
.net.al
.dz
.com.dz
.org.dz
.net.dz
.gov.dz
.edu.dz
.asso.dz
.pol.dz
.art.dz
.as
.ad
.nom.ad
.ed.ao
.gv.ao
.og.ao
.co.ao
.pb.ao
.it.ao
.ai
.com.ai
.net.ai
.off.ai
.org.ai
.aq
.ag
.com.ag
.edu.ag
.co.ag
.net.ag
.nom.ag
.org.ag
.com.ar
.edu.ar
.gob.ar
.gov.ar
.int.ar
.mil.ar
.net.ar
.org.ar
.tur.ar
.am
.aw
.com.aw
.ac
.com.ac
.net.ac
.gov.ac
.org.ac
.mil.ac
.com.au
.net.au
.org.au
.edu.au
.gov.au
.csiro.au
.asn.au
.id.au
.act.au
.nsw.au
.nt.au
.qld.au
.sa.au
.tas.au
.vic.au
.wa.au
.archie.au
.conf.au
.gw.au
.info.au
.otc.au
.oz.au
.telememo.au
.cx
.hm
.nf
.at
.gv.at
.ac.at
.co.at
.or.at
.az
.com.az
.net.az
.int.az
.gov.az
.org.az
.edu.az
.info.az
.pp.az
.mil.az
.name.az
.pro.az
.biz.az
.bs
.com.bs
.net.bs
.org.bs
.edu.bs
.gov.bs
.bh
.com.bh
.info.bh
.cc.bh
.edu.bh
.biz.bh
.net.bh
.org.bh
.gov.bh
.com.bd
.edu.bd
.ac.bd
.net.bd
.gov.bd
.org.bd
.mil.bd
.bb
.com.bb
.net.bb
.org.bb
.gov.bb
.info.bb
.co.bb
.store.bb
.tv.bb
.biz.bb
.by
.be
.bz
.com.bz
.edu.bz
.gov.bz
.net.bz
.org.bz
.bj
.gouv.bj
.mil.bj
.edu.bj
.gov.bj
.asso.bj
.barreau.bj
.com.bj
.bm
.bt
.bo
.com.bo
.net.bo
.org.bo
.tv.bo
.mil.bo
.int.bo
.gob.bo
.gov.bo
.edu.bo
.ba
.org.ba
.net.ba
.edu.ba
.gov.ba
.mil.ba
.unsa.ba
.untz.ba
.unmo.ba
.unbi.ba
.unze.ba
.co.ba
.com.ba
.rs.ba
.bw
.co.bw
.org.bw
.adm.br
.adv.br
.agr.br
.am.br
.arq.br
.art.br
.ato.br
.bio.br
.blog.br
.bmd.br
.cim.br
.cng.br
.cnt.br
.com.br
.coop.br
.ecn.br
.edu.br
.eng.br
.esp.br
.etc.br
.eti.br
.far.br
.flog.br
.fm.br
.fnd.br
.fot.br
.fst.br
.g12.br
.ggf.br
.gov.br
.imb.br
.ind.br
.inf.br
.jor.br
.jus.br
.lel.br
.mat.br
.med.br
.mil.br
.mus.br
.net.br
.nom.br
.not.br
.ntr.br
.odo.br
.org.br
.ppg.br
.pro.br
.psc.br
.psi.br
.qsl.br
.rec.br
.slg.br
.srv.br
.tmp.br
.trd.br
.tur.br
.tv.br
.vet.br
.vlog.br
.wiki.br
.zlg.br
.io
.vg
.com.bn
.edu.bn
.org.bn
.net.bn
.bg
.bf
.net.mm
.com.mm
.edu.mm
.org.mm
.gov.mm
.bi
.per.kh
.com.kh
.edu.kh
.gov.kh
.mil.kh
.net.kh
.org.kh
.cm
.gov.cm
.ca
.ab.ca
.bc.ca
.mb.ca
.nb.ca
.nf.ca
.nl.ca
.ns.ca
.nt.ca
.nu.ca
.on.ca
.pe.ca
.qc.ca
.sk.ca
.yk.ca
.cv
.ky
.com.ky
.org.ky
.net.ky
.edu.ky
.gov.ky
.cf
.td
.cl
.gov.cl
.gob.cl
.cn
.ac.cn
.com.cn
.edu.cn
.gov.cn
.net.cn
.org.cn
.ah.cn
.bj.cn
.cq.cn
.fj.cn
.gd.cn
.gs.cn
.gz.cn
.gx.cn
.ha.cn
.hb.cn
.he.cn
.hi.cn
.hl.cn
.hn.cn
.jl.cn
.js.cn
.jx.cn
.ln.cn
.nm.cn
.nx.cn
.qh.cn
.sc.cn
.sd.cn
.sh.cn
.sn.cn
.sx.cn
.tj.cn
.tw.cn
.xj.cn
.xz.cn
.yn.cn
.zj.cn
.cx
.cc
.com.co
.org.co
.edu.co
.gov.co
.net.co
.mil.co
.nom.co
.km
.com.km
.coop.km
.asso.km
.nom.km
.presse.km
.tm.km
.medecin.km
.notaires.km
.pharmaciens.km
.veterinaire.km
.edu.km
.gouv.km
.mil.km
.cd
.cg
.co.ck
.org.ck
.edu.ck
.gov.ck
.net.ck
.gen.ck
.biz.ck
.info.ck
.cr
.ac.cr
.co.cr
.ed.cr
.fi.cr
.go.cr
.or.cr
.sa.cr
.ci
.hr
.cu
.ac.cy
.net.cy
.gov.cy
.org.cy
.pro.cy
.name.cy
.ekloges.cy
.tm.cy
.ltd.cy
.biz.cy
.press.cy
.parliament.cy
.com.cy
.cz
.dk
.dj
.dm
.com.dm
.net.dm
.org.dm
.edu.do
.gob.do
.gov.do
.com.do
.sld.do
.org.do
.net.do
.web.do
.mil.do
.art.do
.tl
.com.tl
.gov.tl
.ec
.com.ec
.info.ec
.net.ec
.fin.ec
.med.ec
.pro.ec
.org.ec
.edu.ec
.gov.ec
.mil.ec
.com.eg
.edu.eg
.eun.eg
.gov.eg
.mil.eg
.name.eg
.net.eg
.org.eg
.sci.eg
.edu.sv
.gob.sv
.com.sv
.org.sv
.red.sv
.gq
.com.er
.edu.er
.gov.er
.mil.er
.net.er
.org.er
.ind.er
.rochest.er
.w.er
.ee
.com.et
.gov.et
.org.et
.edu.et
.net.et
.biz.et
.name.et
.info.et
.eu
.co.fk
.org.fk
.gov.fk
.ac.fk
.nom.fk
.net.fk
.fo
.fm
.ac.fj
.biz.fj
.com.fj
.info.fj
.mil.fj
.name.fj
.net.fj
.org.fj
.pro.fj
.fi
.fr
.tm.fr
.asso.fr
.nom.fr
.prd.fr
.presse.fr
.com.fr
.gouv.fr
.gf
.pf
.com.pf
.tf
.ga
.gm
.ge
.de
.com.gh
.edu.gh
.gov.gh
.org.gh
.mil.gh
.gi
.gr
.com.gr
.edu.gr
.net.gr
.org.gr
.gov.gr
.gl
.gd
.gp
.com.gp
.net.gp
.mobi.gp
.edu.gp
.asso.gp
.org.gp
.com.gu
.com.gt
.edu.gt
.net.gt
.gob.gt
.org.gt
.mil.gt
.ind.gt
.gg
.ac.gg
.co.gg
.gov.gg
.net.gg
.sch.gg
.org.gg
.com.gn
.ac.gn
.gov.gn
.org.gn
.net.gn
.gw
.gy
.co.gy
.com.gy
.net.gy
.ht
.hm
.hn
.uk
.com.hk
.edu.hk
.gov.hk
.idv.hk
.net.hk
.org.hk
.hu
.2000.hu
.agrar.hu
.bolt.hu
.casino.hu
.city.hu
.co.hu
.erotica.hu
.erotika.hu
.film.hu
.forum.hu
.games.hu
.hotel.hu
.info.hu
.ingatlan.hu
.jogasz.hu
.konyvelo.hu
.lakas.hu
.media.hu
.news.hu
.org.hu
.priv.hu
.reklam.hu
.sex.hu
.shop.hu
.sport.hu
.suli.hu
.szex.hu
.tm.hu
.tozsde.hu
.utazas.hu
.video.hu
.is
.in
.co.in
.firm.in
.net.in
.org.in
.gen.in
.ind.in
.ac.in
.edu.in
.res.in
.gov.in
.mil.in
.nic.in
.ac.id
.co.id
.net.id
.or.id
.web.id
.sch.id
.mil.id
.go.id
.ir
.ac.ir
.co.ir
.gov.ir
.id.ir
.net.ir
.org.ir
.sch.ir
.iq
.gov.iq
.edu.iq
.com.iq
.mil.iq
.org.iq
.ie
.ac.il
.co.il
.org.il
.net.il
.k12.il
.gov.il
.muni.il
.idf.il
.im
.plc.co.im
.net.im
.co.im
.org.im
.ac.im
.ltd.co.im
.com.im
.gov.im
.it
.com.jm
.net.jm
.org.jm
.edu.jm
.gov.jm
.mil.jm
.jp
.ac.jp
.ad.jp
.co.jp
.ed.jp
.go.jp
.gr.jp
.lg.jp
.ne.jp
.or.jp
.je
.co.je
.org.je
.net.je
.sch.je
.gov.je
.jo
.com.jo
.net.jo
.gov.jo
.edu.jo
.org.jo
.mil.jo
.name.jo
.sch.jo
.org.kz
.edu.kz
.net.kz
.gov.kz
.mil.kz
.com.kz
.co.ke
.or.ke
.ne.ke
.go.ke
.ac.ke
.sc.ke
.com.ki
.biz.ki
.net.ki
.info.ki
.org.ki
.gov.ki
.edu.ki
.mob.ki
.tel.ki
.phone.ki
.kp
.kr
.co.kr
.ne.kr
.or.kr
.re.kr
.pe.kr
.go.kr
.mil.kr
.ac.kr
.hs.kr
.ms.kr
.es.kr
.sc.kr
.kg.kr
.seoul.kr
.busan.kr
.daegu.kr
.incheon.kr
.gwangju.kr
.daejeon.kr
.ulsan.kr
.gyeonggi.kr
.gangwon.kr
.chungbuk.kr
.chungnam.kr
.jeonbuk.kr
.jeonnam.kr
.gyeongbuk.kr
.gyeongnam.kr
.jeju.kr
.edu.kw
.com.kw
.net.kw
.org.kw
.gov.kw
.kg
.gov.kg
.mil.kg
.la
.lv
.com.lv
.edu.lv
.gov.lv
.org.lv
.mil.lv
.id.lv
.net.lv
.asn.lv
.conf.lv
.com.lb
.edu.lb
.gov.lb
.net.lb
.org.lb
.ls
.co.ls
.org.ls
.com.lr
.edu.lr
.gov.lr
.org.lr
.net.lr
.ly
.com.ly
.net.ly
.gov.ly
.plc.ly
.edu.ly
.sch.ly
.med.ly
.org.ly
.id.ly
.li
.lt
.lu
.mo
.com.mo
.edu.mo
.gov.mo
.net.mo
.org.mo
.mk
.com.mk
.org.mk
.net.mk
.edu.mk
.gov.mk
.inf.mk
.name.mk
.mg
.org.mg
.nom.mg
.gov.mg
.prd.mg
.tm.mg
.edu.mg
.mil.mg
.com.mg
.ac.mw
.co.mw
.com.mw
.coop.mw
.edu.mw
.gov.mw
.int.mw
.museum.mw
.net.mw
.org.mw
.my
.com.my
.net.my
.org.my
.gov.my
.edu.my
.sch.my
.mil.my
.name.my
.aero.mv
.biz.mv
.com.mv
.coop.mv
.edu.mv
.gov.mv
.info.mv
.int.mv
.mil.mv
.museum.mv
.name.mv
.net.mv
.org.mv
.pro.mv
.com.ml
.net.ml
.org.ml
.edu.ml
.gov.ml
.presse.ml
.com.mt
.org.mt
.net.mt
.edu.mt
.gov.mt
.mq
.mh
.mr
.gov.mr
.mu
.com.mu
.net.mu
.org.mu
.gov.mu
.ac.mu
.co.mu
.or.mu
.com.mx
.net.mx
.org.mx
.edu.mx
.gob.mx
.md
.mc
.tm.mc
.asso.mc
.mn
.gov.mn
.edu.mn
.org.mn
.me
.co.me
.net.me
.org.me
.edu.me
.ac.me
.gov.me
.its.me
.priv.me
.ms
.ma
.net.ma
.ac.ma
.org.ma
.gov.ma
.press.ma
.co.ma
.co.mz
.org.mz
.gov.mz
.edu.mz
.na
.com.na
.co.na
.org.na
.edu.na
.alt.na
.in.na
.info.na
.mobi.na
.ws.na
.nr
.edu.nr
.gov.nr
.biz.nr
.info.nr
.net.nr
.org.nr
.com.nr
.com.np
.org.np
.edu.np
.net.np
.gov.np
.mil.np
.nl
.an
.nc
.ac.nz
.co.nz
.geek.nz
.gen.nz
.maori.nz
.net.nz
.org.nz
.school.nz
.cri.nz
.govt.nz
.iwi.nz
.parliament.nz
.mil.nz
.ni
.gob.ni
.co.ni
.ac.ni
.org.ni
.nom.ni
.net.ni
.mil.ni
.ne
.com.ng
.org.ng
.gov.ng
.edu.ng
.net.ng
.nu
.nf
.com.nf
.net.nf
.per.nf
.rec.nf
.web.nf
.arts.nf
.firm.nf
.info.nf
.other.nf
.store.nf
.mp
.no
.com.om
.co.om
.edu.om
.ac.om
.sch.om
.gov.om
.net.om
.org.om
.mil.om
.museum.om
.biz.om
.pro.om
.med.om
.pk
.net.pk
.edu.pk
.org.pk
.fam.pk
.biz.pk
.web.pk
.gov.pk
.gob.pk
.gok.pk
.gon.pk
.gop.pk
.gos.pk
.com.pw
.net.pw
.org.pw
.edu.pw
.gov.pw
.belau.pw
.ps
.com.ps
.biz.ps
.net.ps
.edu.ps
.gov.ps
.sch.ps
.mun.ps
.net.pa
.com.pa
.ac.pa
.sld.pa
.gob.pa
.edu.pa
.org.pa
.abo.pa
.ing.pa
.med.pa
.nom.pa
.com.pg
.net.pg
.ac.pg
.gov.pg
.mil.pg
.org.pg
.org.py
.edu.py
.mil.py
.gov.py
.net.py
.com.py
.una.py
.pe
.edu.pe
.gob.pe
.nom.pe
.mil.pe
.sld.pe
.org.pe
.com.pe
.net.pe
.ph
.com.ph
.net.ph
.org.ph
.mil.ph
.ngo.ph
.i.ph
.gov.ph
.edu.ph
.pl
.com.pl
.org.pl
.gov.pl
.pl
.com.pl
.biz.pl
.net.pl
.art.pl
.edu.pl
.org.pl
.ngo.pl
.gov.pl
.info.pl
.mil.pl
.waw.pl
.warszawa.pl
.wroc.pl
.wroclaw.pl
.krakow.pl
.katowice.pl
.poznan.pl
.lodz.pl
.gda.pl
.gdansk.pl
.slupsk.pl
.radom.pl
.szczecin.pl
.lublin.pl
.bialystok.pl
.olsztyn.pl
.torun.pl
.gorzow.pl
.zgora.pl
.pt
.com.pt
.edu.pt
.gov.pt
.int.pt
.net.pt
.nome.pt
.org.pt
.publ.pt
.pr
.biz.pr
.com.pr
.edu.pr
.gov.pr
.info.pr
.isla.pr
.name.pr
.net.pr
.org.pr
.pro.pr
.est.pr
.prof.pr
.ac.pr
.com.qa
.org.qa
.edu.qa
.gov.qa
.net.qa
.ro
.arts.ro
.com.ro
.firm.ro
.info.ro
.nom.ro
.nt.ro
.org.ro
.rec.ro
.store.ro
.tm.ro
.www.ro
.re
.asso.re
.nom.re
.com.re
.ru
.com.ru
.net.ru
.org.ru
.pp.ru
.rw
.gov.rw
.net
.edu
.ac
.com
.co
.int
.mil
.aero
.asia
.biz
.cat
.coop
.info
.jobs
.mobi
.museum
.name
.org
.pro
.tel
.travel
.xxx
.gouv
.sh
.co.sh
.com.sh
.org.sh
.gov.sh
.edu.sh
.net.sh
.nom.sh
.kn
.org.kn
.net.kn
.gov.kn
.edu.kn
.lc
.com.lc
.org.lc
.net.lc
.co.lc
.l.lc
.p.lc
.vc
.com.vc
.net.vc
.org.vc
.ws
.com.ws
.net.ws
.org.ws
.gov.ws
.edu.ws
.sm
.st
.gov.st
.saotome.st
.principe.st
.consulado.st
.embaixada.st
.org.st
.edu.st
.net.st
.com.st
.store.st
.mil.st
.co.st
.com.sa
.edu.sa
.sch.sa
.med.sa
.gov.sa
.net.sa
.org.sa
.pub.sa
.sn
.rs
.co.rs
.org.rs
.edu.rs
.ac.rs
.gov.rs
.in.rs
.sc
.com.sc
.net.sc
.edu.sc
.gov.sc
.org.sc
.sl
.com.sl
.net.sl
.org.sl
.edu.sl
.gov.sl
.sg
.com.sg
.net.sg
.org.sg
.gov.sg
.edu.sg
.per.sg
.idn.sg
.sk
.si
.com.sb
.net.sb
.edu.sb
.org.sb
.gov.sb
.ac.za
.city.za
.co.za
.edu.za
.gov.za
.law.za
.mil.za
.nom.za
.org.za
.school.za
.ecape.school.za
.fs.school.za
.gp.school.za
.kzn.school.za
.mpm.school.za
.ncape.school.za
.lp.school.za
.nw.school.za
.wcape.school.za
.alt.za
.net.za
.ngo.za
.tm.za
.web.za
.agric.za
.cybernet.za
.grondar.za
.iaccess.za
.inca.za
.nis.za
.olivetti.za
.pix.za
.gs
.su
.es
.com.es
.nom.es
.org.es
.gob.es
.edu.es
.com.lk
.org.lk
.edu.lk
.ngo.lk
.soc.lk
.web.lk
.ltd.lk
.assn.lk
.grp.lk
.hotel.lk
.gov.lk
.sch.lk
.net.lk
.int.lk
.sd
.com.sd
.net.sd
.org.sd
.edu.sd
.med.sd
.tv.sd
.gov.sd
.info.sd
.sr
.sz
.co.sz
.ac.sz
.org.sz
.se
.a.se
.b.se
.ac.se
.bd.se
.c.se
.d.se
.e.se
.f.se
.g.se
.h.se
.i.se
.k.se
.l.se
.m.se
.n.se
.o.se
.p.se
.r.se
.s.se
.t.se
.u.se
.w.se
.x.se
.y.se
.z.se
.org.se
.pp.se
.tm.se
.parti.se
.press.se
.ch
.sy
.edu.sy
.gov.sy
.net.sy
.mil.sy
.com.sy
.org.sy
.news.sy
.tw
.edu.tw
.gov.tw
.mil.tw
.com.tw
.net.tw
.org.tw
.idv.tw
.game.tw
.ebiz.tw
.club.tw
.tj
.ac.tj
.aero.tj
.biz.tj
.co.tj
.com.tj
.coop.tj
.dyn.tj
.edu.tj
.go.tj
.gov.tj
.info.tj
.int.tj
.mil.tj
.museum.tj
.my.tj
.name.tj
.net.tj
.org.tj
.per.tj
.pro.tj
.web.tj
.co.tz
.ac.tz
.go.tz
.or.tz
.ne.tz
.ac.th
.co.th
.in.th
.go.th
.mi.th
.or.th
.net.th
.tg
.tk
.to
.tt
.co.tt
.com.tt
.org.tt
.net.tt
.biz.tt
.info.tt
.pro.tt
.name.tt
.edu.tt
.gov.tt
.tn
.com.tn
.ens.tn
.fin.tn
.gov.tn
.ind.tn
.intl.tn
.nat.tn
.net.tn
.org.tn
.info.tn
.perso.tn
.tourism.tn
.edunet.tn
.rnrt.tn
.rns.tn
.rnu.tn
.mincom.tn
.agrinet.tn
.defense.tn
.com.tr
.gen.tr
.org.tr
.biz.tr
.info.tr
.av.tr
.dr.tr
.pol.tr
.bel.tr
.mil.tr
.tsk.tr
.bbs.tr
.k12.tr
.edu.tr
.name.tr
.net.tr
.gov.tr
.web.tr
.tel.tr
.tv.tr
.tm
.tc
.tv
.ug
.co.ug
.ac.ug
.sc.ug
.go.ug
.ne.ug
.or.ug
.ua
.com.ua
.gov.ua
.net.ua
.edu.ua
.org.ua
.in.ua
.ae
.co.ae
.net.ae
.gov.ae
.ac.ae
.sch.ae
.org.ae
.mil.ae
.pro.ae
.name.ae
.ac.uk
.co.uk
.gov.uk
.ltd.uk
.me.uk
.mod.uk
.net.uk
.nic.uk
.nhs.uk
.org.uk
.plc.uk
.police.uk
.sch.uk
.ak.us
.al.us
.ar.us
.az.us
.ca.us
.co.us
.ct.us
.de.us
.fl.us
.ga.us
.hi.us
.ia.us
.id.us
.il.us
.in.us
.ks.us
.ky.us
.la.us
.ma.us
.md.us
.me.us
.mi.us
.mn.us
.mo.us
.ms.us
.mt.us
.nc.us
.nd.us
.ne.us
.nh.us
.nj.us
.nm.us
.nv.us
.ny.us
.oh.us
.ok.us
.or.us
.pa.us
.ri.us
.sc.us
.sd.us
.tn.us
.tx.us
.ut.us
.va.us
.vt.us
.wa.us
.wi.us
.wv.us
.wy.us
.dc.us
.as.us
.gu.us
.mp.us
.pr.us
.vi.us
.dni.us
.fed.us
.isa.us
.kids.us
.nsn.us
.com.uy
.edu.uy
.gub.uy
.net.uy
.mil.uy
.org.uy
.vi
.co.vi
.com.vi
.uz
.co.uz
.com.uz
.vu
.va
.com.ve
.edu.ve
.gob.ve
.mil.ve
.net.ve
.org.ve
.info.ve
.co.ve
.web.ve
.vn
.com.vn
.biz.vn
.edu.vn
.gov.vn
.net.vn
.org.vn
.int.vn
.ac.vn
.pro.vn
.info.vn
.health.vn
.name.vn
.wf
.com.ye
.co.ye
.ltd.ye
.me.ye
.net.ye
.org.ye
.plc.ye
.gov.ye
.ac.zm
.co.zm
.com.zm
.org.zm
.co.zw

If this list is out of date in any way, please let me know and I’ll udpate it. Thanks.

How to find icons for a software application

Finding icons for your software application can be tough. There are many sources of free icons that you can easily find online with a Google search. If you’re on an incredibly tight budget, but have lots of time, this can make lots of sense. The problems with this, is the amount of time it takes to find the icons you need and often times you end up with an inconsistent look and feel in your application– your icons are often pulled from many different places, and your application looks that way.

I personally prefer to buy big sets of icons. IconShock has been selling icon sets for years, and I can highly recommend their entire icon collection which is only $299 right now– that’s over 600k icons, for only $300. That’s less than $0.0005 per icon… Or roughly 20 icons per penny. Buying icons in a set like this, it’s fairly easy to find just the right icon for every part of your application, and best of all they have the same look and feel(provided you pull from the same or a similar set).

I’ve also started to make my icons larger in my applications. Traditionally, icons are only 16×16 in menus, toolbars, etc… With higher resolutions on screens, I find it’s far best to use 24×24 icons in menus and either 24×24 or 32×3 icons in toolbars. This provides a larger area for the user to see what the icon is(showing off your snazzy new icons!), identify it with the function in your software, and click.

JQuery Mobile Beta 1

As of last week, the JQuery Mobile people finally released beta 1. They’ve been releasing Alpha versions for a long time now, and we’re all still waiting for a “1.0” release… I’ve used this JQM library for some mobile development I’ve done for a client, and while it’s been nice mostly, it’s been a bit annoying all the iterations they’ve gone through– changing compatibility and some interfaces along the way…

I just loaded the beta1 version and fixed up some breaking changes, and it appears to be the best release yet. I have yet to test it with all the mobile phones, but so far it works well in Chrome, Firefox, and even desktop IE! That’s quite something, as IE support has been lacking(even though they claim they added it in alpha3 or something, it didn’t work if you had a form element on your page!!!).

Download tracking revisited

After my recent post about Google Analytics not tracking downloads accurately, I had decided to go back to counting download using a weblog parsing method. After some consideration, and the suggestion of a colleague who tracks downloads using Google Analytics himself, I’ve decided not to use that method.

The reasoning behind it, is Goal tracking in Google Analytics lets me see what traffic sources(sites and keywords) are converting best. I lose this very important marketing feature if I use the web log tracking method. Being able to track my marketing methods for Overseer Network Monitor and Employee Scheduling Pro is far more important than seeking 100% accuracy for this number.

As an alternative, I’m using a download redirect option. Now on my software websites, a user will go to the ‘download’ page to view the links to download, and click the appropriate link to download the file. This takes them to a “your download will start now” page, at which point it uses a meta http-refresh to start the download. This should work with GA better to track the downloads. I have a funnel setup to require the end user to go to the download page before the downloading page, and set a noindex meta tag on the downloading page to try to prevent Google traffic being sent directly to this page.

Google Analytics Tracking of Downloads DOES NOT WORK RELIABLY

About a month ago I switched to using Google Analytics. I was previously using Urchin for web analytics, and had accepted that it simply didn’t work for tracking goals, etc.(I reported this to Urchin and they refused to acknowledge it). When I switched to Google Analytics, I setup goals for tracking downloads of my Network and System Monitoring Software. This seemed to work, and replaced my weblog analysis that counted the downloads for conversion tracking.

This past Friday, I launched my Employee Scheduling Software and setup goal/download tracking the same exact way. I downloaded it a few times, and it never showed up in Google Analytics as a conversion– or as content. I analyzed what could be wrong, and found that everything was setup perfectly.

So, being a software developer, I loaded my download page up in Chrome and turned on the Javascript console. I found that when clicking the download links, it would come up with an “undefined” error, yet still allow the download to take place. With some experimentation, I found that the tracking code always fails when linking to a binary/downloadable file, but works for linking to pages… Of course, that doesn’t work for me, as I need to track downloading of files… I couldn’t find any solutions online, and I tried multiple different ways to track the downloads with GA… It appears to be browser specific(with Chrome), which is why the problem was masked with Overseer downloads… But this  just makes it clear to me that I can’t trust Google’s numbers…

So, it looks like I’ll be switching back to tracking downloads from my logs… The plus side of this, is I can go back historically and won’t be limited by GA’s lack of data, lack of Javascript support on some browsers, etc… The problem is I won’t be able to see ‘goals’ inside GA’s interface… I suppose there’s worse things.

How to Email a cell phone

For many reasons, many people may want to Email a text message to their cell phone. This might be used to notify themselves when their servers or websites go down– or simply to notify them of backup completion or a new sale. If you’re interested in receiving Emails when your servers or websites go down, you may want to check out Overseer, which does exactly that– it is able to send an Email to your phone when your website goes down.

If you’d like to Email a cell phone directly from your Email client, from a script, or something else, you can still do so quite easily. This has the benefit of being free for the person sending the email, but the recipient may still pay to receive the email as a text message. To send a text message to someone’s cell phone via Email, you will need to know their phone number and what cell phone carrier they use. To send a text message to a cell phone, simply send an Email to the appropriate Email address:

AT&T phonenumber@txt.att.net
Cingular Wireless phonenumber@mobile.mycingular.com
Cricket phonenumber@sms.mycricket.com
Metro PCS phonenumber@mymetropcs.com
Nextel phonenumber@messaging.nextel.com
Sprint PCS phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com
T-Mobile phonenumber@tmomail.net
US Cellular phonenumber@email.uscc.net
Verizon phonenumber@vtext.com
Virgin Mobile phonenumber@vmobl.com

 

Remember to keep your EMails short, as the recipient will be receiving them on a small screen, and long Emails may be cut off or split between multiple text messages(and they’ll get charged for each one by their carrier). Also, if your carrier isn’t here, it may be here: Cell Phone Email Addresses.

Cell Phone Email Addresses

Most mobile phone and pager carriers provide Email gateways into their SMS/Text messaging networks, allowing for the free sending of text messages to these devices. These Email addresses sometimes change, so I’ve provided a list of SMS cell phone Email addresses here. Some of these may not work– it’s best to try sending an Email to each address for your provider and see if you get the message. If you know of a provider/Email address combination that’s not here that you know works, please contact me at dkalweit@sensiblesoftware.com so I can add it to the list. Note that messaging rates on the device may still apply. For more details, please see How to Email a Cell Phone. If you’re interested in monitoring your servers, websites, and network devices, and getting Emails to your cell phone when they go down, please check out Overseer Server Monitoring Software.

 

Provider Name Email Address
3 River Wireless phonenumber@sms.3rivers.net
ACS Wireless phonenumber@paging.acswireless.com
AT&T phonenumber@txt.att.net
AT&T Pocketnet PCS phonenumber@dpcs.mobile.att.net
Advantage Communications pagernumber@advantagepaging.com
Airtouch Pagers pagernumber@airtouch.net
Airtouch Pagers pagernumber@airtouchpaging.com
Airtouch Pagers pagernumber@alphapage.airtouch.com
Airtouch Pagers pagernumber@myairmail.com
Alltel phonenumber@message.alltel.com
AlphNow pin@alphanow.net
Ameritech Clearpath pagernumber@clearpath.acswireless.com
Ameritech Paging pagernumber@pageapi.com
Ameritech Paging pagernumber@paging.acswireless.com
Andhra Pradesh Airtel phonenumber@airtelap.com
Arch Pagers (PageNet) pagernumber@archwireless.net
Arch Pagers (PageNet) pagernumber@epage.arch.com
BPL mobile phonenumber@bplmobile.com
BeeLine GSM phonenumber@sms.beemail.ru
Beepwear pagernumber@beepwear.net
Bell Atlantic phonenumber@message.bam.com
Bell Canada phonenumber@bellmobility.ca
Bell Canada phonenumber@txt.bellmobility.ca
Bell Mobility number@txt.bellmobility.ca
Bell South (Blackberry) number@bellsouthtips.com
Bell South Mobility phonenumber@blsdcs.net
Bell South phonenumber@bellsouth.cl
Bell South phonenumber@blsdcs.net
Bell South phonenumber@sms.bellsouth.com
Bell South phonenumber@wireless.bellsouth.com
Bluegrass Cellular phonenumber@sms.bluecell.com
Boost Mobile phonenumber@myboostmobile.com
Carolina Mobile Communications pagernumber@cmcpaging.com
Cellular One East Coast phonenumber@phone.cellone.net
Cellular One PCS phonenumber@paging.cellone-sf.com
Cellular One South West phonenumber@swmsg.com
Cellular One phonenumber@mobile.celloneusa.com
Cellular One phonenumber@cell1.textmsg.com
Cellular One phonenumber@cellularone.textmsg.com
Cellular One phonenumber@cellularone.txtmsg.com
Cellular One phonenumber@message.cellone-sf.com
Cellular One phonenumber@sbcemail.com
Cellular South phonenumber@csouth1.com
Central Vermont Communications pagernumber@cvcpaging.com
CenturyTel phonenumber@messaging.centurytel.net
Chennai RPG Cellular phonenumber@rpgmail.net
Chennai Skycell / Airtel phonenumber@airtelchennai.com
Cincinnati Bell phonenumber@gocbw.com
Cingular Wireless phonenumber@mobile.mycingular.com
Clearnet phonenumber@msg.clearnet.com
Comcast phonenumber@comcastpcs.textmsg.com
Communication Specialist Companies pin@pager.comspeco.com
Communication Specialists 7digitpin@pageme.comspeco.net
Comviq number@sms.comviq.se
Cook Paging pagernumber@cookmail.com
Corr Wireless Communications phonenumber@corrwireless.net
Cricket phonenumber@sms.mycricket.com
DT T-Mobile phonenumber@t-mobile-sms.de
Delhi Aritel phonenumber@airtelmail.com
Delhi Hutch phonenumber@delhi.hutch.co.in
Digi-Page / Page Kansas pagernumber@page.hit.net
Dobson Cellular Systems phonenumber@mobile.dobson.net
Dobson-Alex Wireless / Dobson-Cellular One phonenumber@mobile.cellularone.com
EMT phonenumber@sms.emt.ee
Edge Wireless phonenumber@sms.edgewireless.com
Escotel phonenumber@escotelmobile.com
Fido phonenumber@fido.ca
GCS Paging pagernumber@webpager.us
GTE phonenumber@messagealert.com
GTE number@airmessage.net
GTE number@gte.pagegate.net
Goa BPLMobil phonenumber@bplmobile.com
Golden Telecom phonenumber@sms.goldentele.com
GrayLink / Porta-Phone pagernumber@epage.porta-phone.com
Gujarat Celforce phonenumber@celforce.com
Helio phonenumber@myhelio.com
Houston Cellular number@text.houstoncellular.net
Idea Cellular phonenumber@ideacellular.net
Infopage Systems pinnumber@page.infopagesystems.com
Inland Cellular Telephone phonenumber@inlandlink.com
JSM Tele-Page pinnumber@jsmtel.com
Kerala Escotel phonenumber@escotelmobile.com
Kolkata Airtel phonenumber@airtelkol.com
Kyivstar number@smsmail.lmt.lv
LMT phonenumber@smsmail.lmt.lv
Lauttamus Communication pagernumber@e-page.net
MCI Phone phonenumber@mci.com
MCI phonenumber@pagemci.com
Maharashtra BPL Mobile phonenumber@bplmobile.com
Maharashtra Idea Cellular phonenumber@ideacellular.net
Manitoba Telecom Systems phonenumber@text.mtsmobility.com
Meteor phonenumber@sms.mymeteor.ie
Metro PCS phonenumber@mymetropcs.com
Metrocall 2-way pagernumber@my2way.com
Metrocall pagernumber@page.metrocall.com
MiWorld phonenumber@m1.com.sg
Microcell phonenumber@fido.ca
Midwest Wireless phonenumber@clearlydigital.com
Mobilecom PA pagernumber@page.mobilcom.net
Mobilecomm number@mobilecomm.net
Mobileone phonenumber@m1.com.sg
Mobilfone phonenumber@page.mobilfone.com
Mobility Bermuda phonenumber@ml.bm
Mobistar Belgium phonenumber@mobistar.be
Mobitel Tanzania phonenumber@sms.co.tz
Mobtel Srbija phonenumber@mobtel.co.yu
Morris Wireless pagernumber@beepone.net
Motient number@isp.com
Movistar number@correo.movistar.net
Mumbai BPL Mobile phonenumber@bplmobile.com
Mumbai Orange phonenumber@orangemail.co.in
NBTel number@wirefree.informe.ca
NPI Wireless phonenumber@npiwireless.com
Netcom phonenumber@sms.netcom.no
Nextel phonenumber@messaging.nextel.com
Nextel(Brazil) phonenumber@nextel.com.br
Ntelos number@pcs.ntelos.com
O2 phonenumber@o2.co.uk
Omnipoint phonenumber@omnipointpcs.com
Omnipoint number@omnipoint.com
One Connect Austria phonenumber@onemail.at
OnlineBeep phonenumber@onlinebeep.net
Optus Mobile phonenumber@optusmobile.com.au
Orange – NL / Dutchtone phonenumber@sms.orange.nl
Orange Mumbai phonenumber@orangemail.co.in
Orange phonenumber@orange.net
Oskar phonenumber@mujoskar.cz
P&T Luxembourg phonenumber@sms.luxgsm.lu
PCS One phonenumber@pcsone.net
Pacific Bell phonenumber@pacbellpcs.net
PageMart Advanced /2way pagernumber@airmessage.net
PageMart Canada pagernumber@pmcl.net
PageMart 7digitpinnumber@pagemart.net
PageNet Canada phonenumber@pagegate.pagenet.ca
PageOne NorthWest 10digitnumber@page1nw.com
Pioneer / Enid Cellular phonenumber@msg.pioneerenidcellular.com
PlusGSM phonenumber@text.plusgsm.pl
Pocket Wireless phonenumber@sms.pocket.com
Pondicherry BPL Mobile phonenumber@bplmobile.com
Powertel phonenumber@ptel.net
Price Communications phonenumber@mobilecell1se.com
Primco number@primeco.textmsg.com
Primtel phonenumber@sms.primtel.ru
ProPage 7digitpagernumber@page.propage.net
Public Service Cellular phonenumber@sms.pscel.com
Qwest phonenumber@qwestmp.com
RAM Page number@ram-page.com
Rogers AT&T Wireless phonenumber@pcs.rogers.com
Rogers Canada phonenumber@pcs.rogers.com
SBC Ameritech Paging pagernumber@paging.acswireless.com
SCS-900 phonenumber@scs-900.ru
SFR France phonenumber@sfr.fr
ST Paging pin@page.stpaging.com
Safaricom phonenumber@safaricomsms.com
Satelindo GSM phonenumber@satelindogsm.com
Satellink pagernumber.pageme@satellink.net
Simple Freedom phonenumber@text.simplefreedom.net
Skytel Pagers 7digitpinnumber@skytel.com
Skytel Pagers number@email.skytel.com
Smart Telecom phonenumber@mysmart.mymobile.ph
Southern LINC phonenumber@page.southernlinc.com
Southwestern Bell number@email.swbw.com
Sprint PCS phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com
SunCom number@tms.suncom.com
Sunrise Mobile phonenumber@freesurf.ch
Sunrise Mobile phonenumber@mysunrise.ch
Surewest Communicaitons phonenumber@mobile.surewest.com
Swisscom phonenumber@bluewin.ch
T-Mobile phonenumber@tmomail.net
T-Mobile(UK) phonenumber@t-mobile.uk.net
T-Mobile(Austria) Austria phonenumber@sms.t-mobile.at
T-Mobile(Germany) Germany phonenumber@t-d1-sms.de
TIM phonenumber@timnet.com
TSR Wireless pagernumber@alphame.com
TSR Wireless pagernumber@beep.com
Tamil Nadu BPL Mobile phonenumber@bplmobile.com
Tele2 Latvia phonenumber@sms.tele2.lv
Telefonica Movistar phonenumber@movistar.net
Telenor phonenumber@mobilpost.no
Teletouch pagernumber@pageme.teletouch.com
Telia Denmark phonenumber@gsm1800.telia.dk
Telus phonenumber@msg.telus.com
The Indiana Paging Co last4digits@pager.tdspager.com
Triton phonenumber@tms.suncom.com
US Cellular phonenumber@email.uscc.net
US West number@uswestdatamail.com
Unicel phonenumber@utext.com
Uraltel phonenumber@sms.uraltel.ru
Uttar Pradesh Escotel phonenumber@escotelmobile.com
Verizon phonenumber@vtext.com
Vessotel phonenumber@pager.irkutsk.ru
Virgin Mobile phonenumber@vmobl.com
Virgin Mobile Canada phonenumber@vmobile.ca
Vodafone phonenumber@vodafone.net
Vodafone Italy number@sms.vodafone.it
Vodafone Japan phonenumber@c.vodafone.ne.jp
Vodafone Japan phonenumber@h.vodafone.ne.jp
Vodafone Japan phonenumber@t.vodafone.ne.jp
Vodafone Spain phonenumber@vodafone.es
Vodafone UK phonenumber@vodafone.net
VoiceStream / T-Mobile phonenumber@voicestream.net
WebLink Wiereless pagernumber@airmessage.net
WebLink Wiereless pagernumber@pagemart.net
West Central Wireless phonenumber@sms.wcc.net
Western Wireless phonenumber@cellularonewest.com
Wyndtell number@wyndtell.com

WordPress Integration

I’ve known I should be blogging on my sites for years. Recently a friend of mine finally motivated me to just do it. I really wanted to integrate the blog into my websites instead of having some disconnected look. This was difficult, as most blogging software is PHP based, and my websites are generally ASP.NET based. I looked into some .NET solutions such as BlogEngine.NET, but based on some forum posts, it didn’t appear it would integrate with my master pages very well anyways.

What I ended up doing, was creating a simple master-page based ASP.NET file in my ASP.NET project with the appropriate pieces needed for a basic WP Theme. Then, on application startup in the global.asax file, I retrieve it and write it out as index.php in the appropriate theme directory for WP. This means as I change my website’s master file, the theme will automatically be updated… The only bad part of this, is any dynamic portions of my master page will be ‘burned in’ at application startup… The master pages for my product pages aren’t generally too dynamic, so this wasn’t a significant limiting factor for me, but it may be for some.