This is a heads up for any one that is used to auto link static libraries using project dependencies.

VS 2010 changed the game by adding a new step that is necessary in order to auto link static libraries.

It is not enough to specify project dependencies as we used to do in older versions of Visual Studio.

To setup auto linking go to Project/Properties/Common Properties/Framework and References/Add new reference.

By default when developing native C/C++ apps using VS 2010 beware that your executables will not run on Win 2K and older targets.

That is true even if you remove any external dependencies and adhere to Win32 API compatible with older Windows versions.

One possible solution to the problem is Native Multi Targeting - using the VS 2008 compiler while working with the VS 2010 IDE. Assuming you can afford to have VS 2008 installed on the same machine.

If you installed the SQL server 2008 express and you are missing the ability to manage full text indexes inside SQL server 2008 management studio. I.e. you are missing the storage folder inside management studio.

First make sure you installed SQL Server 2008 Express with Advanced Services (the version without advanced services does not support free text search functionality).

Second Try to Install SQL Server 2008 Express Edition Service Pack 1. Besides fixing some bugs it added the ability to manage full text indexes on my machine.

Hope this helps!

This is the second time I had to find the solution to install self assigned SSL certificates on IIS so I am writing this down for posterity.

In many cases it is desirable to create your own SSL certificate when working with IIS.

For example when developing/testing SSL secure web sites, when using a custom web application in a local intranet or for a closed  group of users to name a few.

It should have been easy to create your own SSL cert and instruct IIS to use it.

Microsoft delivered a tool to do just that. It was a part of the IIS 6.0 Resource Kit and it was called SelfSSL. But alas because of a bug in the SelfSSL tool you will run into problems if you try to use multiple certificates on a server.

Apparently Microsoft decided not to release a patch for the resource kit but instead released another tool that can be used to create self SSL certificates called SSL Diagnostics.

The tool is very easy to use. There is a nice tutorial on how to use the SSL Diagnostics tool to create an SSL certificate by Revindex.

Another option you might want to explore is using the open source alternative called OpenSSL. There is a nice tutorial on how to use OpenSSL with IIS by Dylan Beattie.

Best of luck!