SharpStyle Labs

• See my previous posts on choosing OS and backing up your current machine
• Gather drivers for your machine (if wiping current machine, take a screenshot of all devices in Device Manager and save it)
• Ideally you will have at least 2 physical drives, if that is not possible create at least 2 logical ones. I prefer to create 3:
  • C — OS, program files, MSDN Library, etc. It should have at least 25GB to make sure you don’t run into space issues
  • D — All your data that needs to be backed up. I’ll explain later
  • E — All the data that you are ok loosing in case of a crash
• For best performance 2 physical drives are preferred: OS files should be on one and swap file should be on the other
• Install OS
• Install drivers
• Open Windows Components Wizard (Add/Remove programs) and install IIS:

• If installing 2003 Server, uncheck IE Enhanced Security Configuration

• Run Windows Update (probably a few times as it will install IE7 and Service Packs)
• Create Documents directory on D:\
• In Windows Explorer right-click on “My Documents” and choose properties. Click on “Move” button and point to D:\Documents

• Restore the data you backed up. See this post for items you should backup.

Disclaimer: make sure you have valid licenses for all the software you install. If you are reading this blog, you are most likely in software development business — show respect to your fellow developers by paying for their work

Software you need to be effective:

• Figure out which Personal Firewall software you want to use and install it right away.
• Anti-virus software
• Microsoft Office 2003/2007, most likely Enterprise Edition to make sure that integration with SharePoint is included
  • If you install 2003, install Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack to read Office 2007 files
  • Make sure to visit Office Update site to get the latest Service/Security Packs
• Acrobat Reader
• Zip/unzip utility (Ex: Winzip, Winrar)
• Image viewing/editing (Ex: Irfanview)
• Notepad replacement (Ex: Notepad++)
• SlickRun — excellent replacement for Run. Will have another post on this utility
• FolderShare — free service from Microsoft allows synchronization of folders. There are limitations around size and number of files, but should work well for many cases
• RoboForm – I will have a separate post about this tool, but I strongly recommend it to everyone.
• Screen capture program

You should also take a look at this resource: Hanselman Ultimate Tools List – I agree with most of Scott’s choices

Development Tools:

• MS SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition
  • Latest Service Pack
• Visual Studio 2005
  • Visual Studio 2005 SP1
  • Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista
  • If you installed SQL Server, you can skip SQL Server Express
• Web Application Project — according to this page, SP1 should include support for Web Application Projects, but very often it doesn’t install correctly. Here is what you need to install to enable it
  • Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 – Update to Support Web Application Projects
  • http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/0/6/906064ce-0bd1-4328-af40-49dca1aef87c/WebApplicationProjectSetup.msi
• MSDN Library — download the latest version of it to make sure it is up to date
• Source Control System: for us it is Team Explorer as we are working with Team Foundation System
• Consider Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2005 Team Edition for Database Professionals to manage your database projects
  • Database Professionals Power Tools
• “ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions 1.0″ and “ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit”
  • http://www.asp.net/ajax/downloads/default.aspx
  • Videos:

    ASP.NET AJAX Extensions: Installation and setup:
    Take your first steps toward learning Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX, from downloading and installing the framework to creating your first AJAX-style application. Duration: 7 minutes, 51 seconds.
    Watch the video

    ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit: Installation and getting started:
    Learn how to extend your ASP.NET AJAX applications using the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit. This video starts with the very basics, including downloading and installing the toolkit. Duration: 11 minutes, 15 seconds.
    Watch the video

• Firefox — if you are doing web development, you should be testing in at least Firefox and IE 6/7
  • Firebug — see my previous post about this excellent tool
• IE Settings:
  • Uncheck “Disable script debugging (Internet Explorer)”
  • Uncheck “Disable script debugging (Other)”
  • Check “Display a notification about every script error”

Development Productivity Tools:

• GhostDoc – free add-in for Visual Studio that automatically generates XML documentation comments for C#.
• ReSharper or Refactor!

Optional, but useful:

• Screen recording software (Ex: Captivate, Camtasia) if planning to record screencasts

See Part 4 (coming soon) for tips on:

• Creating an image of your setup so you can easily restore it
• Setting up backups

Mike Grushin
Partner, CTO