IIS7 and basic authentication

I needed to use basic HTTP authentication to secure a site instance as it required pulic access for a demo.

However, in IIS7, the only authentication modes listed are the default Forms, Anonymous and ASP.NET Impersonation.

To solve this, I had to install the basic authentication module for IIS.

For Server 2008:

• Server Manager -> Roles -> Web Server -> Add Role Services

For Vista and Windows 7:

• Control Panel -> Programs -> Turn Windows features on or off

Then navigate to: Internet Information Services -> World Wide Web Services -> Security
Enable the Basic Authentication option

Debug prompt in VS 2008

When trying to debug an application using VS2008 on Windows 7 64 bit, I keep getting the following prompt, which is quite annoying.


To disable the prompt, you need to edit the following registry key. Ensure that Visual Studio is not running whilst you change the registry.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\Debugger
Set DisableAttachSecurityWarning attribute value to 1.

Open command window here...

Windows XP came with a nice little powertoy “Open Command Prompt Here”, which enabled you to use the navigate around the file system and then were able to open a command prompt at the current location.

In Windows 7, you can now simply hold the Shift key down while right clicking on a folder and you'll see the option to "Open command window here".