This post has been over 6 years in the making but im glad I can finally write it.



Way back in [March of 2010](https://www.mikecann.blog/myprojects/windows-7-taskbar-monitor/) I wrote about a new tool I had developed with the snappy name "Windows 7 Taskbar Monitor". It was a little tool that used Windows' Performance Counter to show you what the current CPU, Memory and Network usage is:

[![taskbar-monitor-sceenshot01](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/taskbar-monitor-sceenshot01.gif)](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/taskbar-monitor-sceenshot01.gif)

The cunning thing however is that I piggybacked on the new (at the time) "progress" value that you could get which would give you a nice visual indication of the current value for each monitor:

[![taskbar-monitor-screenshot02](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/taskbar-monitor-screenshot02.gif)](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/taskbar-monitor-screenshot02.gif)

To my surprise this little tool has more than justified its effort to create. I have used it every day for the past 6 years and has been an invaluable tool in working out "what the hell is my computer doing?" sort of problems.

Over the years I haven't really changed it much and 4 years ago I even open-sourced it: [https://github.com/mikecann/Windows7-Taskbar-Monitor](https://github.com/mikecann/Windows7-Taskbar-Monitor)

With the advent of Windows 8 and the App Store I thought it would bring greater visibility to my little tool if I could publish it to the store. Unfortunately however Microsoft imposed some pretty strict rules with their store which meant that I couldnt use the progress-tasbar APIs that were central to the app.

Fast-forward a few more years to Windows 10 anniversary edition and Microsoft release something called "Desktop App Converter" (formally Project Centennial). This project would allow you to take just about any existing windows app, then wrap it and convert it so that it was safe to use on the store.

Perfect, this was just what I needed to bring Taskbar Monitor to the store. Well (after a number of lengthy hurdles) I finally achieved it. I totally rewrote the tool to use a more modern Microsoft framework and gave it a new name, Glancer:

[![taskbar-feature2-compressor](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/taskbar-feature2-compressor-1024x638.gif)](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/taskbar-feature2-compressor.gif)

[![storescreenshot01](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/StoreScreenshot01-300x169.png)](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/StoreScreenshot01.png)[![storescreenshot03](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/StoreScreenshot03-300x169.png)](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/StoreScreenshot03.png)[![storescreenshot02](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/StoreScreenshot02-300x169.png)](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/StoreScreenshot02.png)

The basic functionality is the same, its just wrapped up in a prettier package and has a few more options.

At this stage its just an MVP. I have plans to add a whole bunch more cool functionality and monitors but I just wanted to get it out there first and see what people thought and then hopefully iterate on it as I go.

Ill be using it daily now so very much have an incentive to improve it :)

Currently its totally free but im thinking at some point in the future ill monetize it, probably with a free-trial but perhaps with a "freemium" model.

I also built a website for the project here: [https://www.glancer.co/](https://www.glancer.co/) its a bit basic at the moment but I plan on iterating that as I go.

Anyways, give it a download, let me know what you think!

[https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/p/glancer-your-pc-vitals-at-a-glance/9nblggh43gvm](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/p/glancer-your-pc-vitals-at-a-glance/9nblggh43gvm)

Until next time.

[![screenshot_06](/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/screenshot_06.png)](/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/screenshot_06.png)

For ages now I have been plagued with missing disk space. No matter how much space I freed up it always seemed to disappear but finally I have managed to solve it!



I have 120gig SSD drive which should be enough for me to run Windows and a few key apps no problem however it seemed to fill up all the time without me installing anything.

[![screenshot_02](/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/screenshot_02.png)](/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/screenshot_02.png)

This lack of space was having a big problem on my machine, I couldn't open more than a couple of programs at once, things were crashing oddly.

[![photoshop-scratch-disk-is-full](/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/photoshop-scratch-disk-is-full.jpg)](/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/photoshop-scratch-disk-is-full.jpg)

I tried everything to make more space, deleting the few apps I had installed on the drive, running disk cleanup, even disabling the hibernation and pagefile systems (really not a good idea). Still to no avail.

Thats when I noticed something odd was going on. I only have 8 root folders on the drive:

[![screenshot_07](/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/screenshot_07.png)](/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/screenshot_07.png)

So I right-clicked and inspected the properties of each:

[![screenshot_01](/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/screenshot_01-1024x603.png)](/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/screenshot_01.png)

Hang on... Those sizes dont total up to be 106gig.. Infact they are only 43.04gig, what's going on here? Because im an old-school windows user I thought it may be fragmentation issue so I ran defrag, nope no where near enough space freed up there.

Thats when I decided to use a program I had used to years, TreeSize free. This app is supposed to show you where your drive is using its space. But no, it too was reporting that only 47gig of my drive was being used.. Weird!

In desperation I downloaded another app called SpaceSniffer which was supposed to be very similar to TreeSize. I ran it and encountered a whole load of access denied error messages, so I re-ran it as administrator (i'm not sure why you have to do this when you are on an Admin account anyways) and:

[![screenshot_03](/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/screenshot_03-1024x602.png)](/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/screenshot_03.png)

Whats this? 64.8 gig being taken up in my c:windowstemp directory? Specifically a load of 2meg MSI\*\*\*\*.LOG files! Here is my missing space! I opened the temp folder and sure enough here was the culprit

[![screenshot_04](/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/screenshot_04.png)](/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/screenshot_04.png)

But what on earth are these things? Opening one reveals:

[![screenshot_05](/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/screenshot_05.png)](/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/screenshot_05.png)

Hmm they looks like .NET log files, strange. I have no idea what is producing them and Googling has no clear answer. It seems safe to delete them and I have done so, so for now that solves my problem. If they come back ill have a deeper look into what is producing them.

I hope this helps other people that may be having similar issues!

Over the years I have had a great many projects, most of which have been chronicled on this blog. The majority of them I leave alone once I have finished with them and never return to.



Windows Taskbar Monitor however is one of the rare tools that I actually still use one a daily basis. So when it stopped working the other day due to a patch in Windows 8 I decided to spare an hour to patch it up.



While I was there I decided to removed the "MEM", "CPU" and "NET" prefixes from the title bars as they weren't needed really and just took up more bar space.

I have pushed the source as usual to GitHub, you can grab the release here: [https://github.com/mikecann/Windows7-Taskbar-Monitor/releases/tag/0.4](https://github.com/mikecann/Windows7-Taskbar-Monitor/releases/tag/0.4)

Final testing is under way here at mission control for the [Inputtie](https://www.inputtie.com) Beta.



[![](/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/photo1.jpg "photo")](/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/photo1.jpg)

1 Keyboard, 1 Mouse, 1 PC, 2 Laptops, 1 Netbook, 4 Operating Systems.

All systems are go! Almost ready for takeoff!

[![](/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/CropperCapture1.jpg "CropperCapture[1]")](/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/CropperCapture1.jpg)

Just got my new computer at work. First thing I did was chuck out the stock keyboard and replace with my favourite mac aluminium keyboard.



As usual when trying to get Apple hardware to play nice with Microsoft there is a little friction. In this case the keyboard doesn't come with any mapping drivers resulting in the fact that some of the keys are messed up and in wrong locations. So we get to the point of this post. As I have had to do this several times now I thought I would post my solution so I dont spend ages searching each time.

The solution is to use the Apple Pro Keyboard Layout from [parkernet.com](parkernet.com).

For convenience I have taken the details on how to use the file directly from the stite: [https://parkernet.com/applepro/](https://parkernet.com/applepro/)

**Download**

Download the installation package [Apple_Pro_KBD_v2](/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Apple_Pro_KBD_v2.zip) (250K)

**System requirements**

Windows XP or Windows Vista, 32-bit or 64-bit versions. Maybe Windows 7 RC but not tested. Apple Pro Keyboard or new aluminium Apple Keyboard. Untested with wireless keyboards but it should work okay.

**Installation**

After unZipping the Apple_Pro_KBD_v2.zip file, open the Apple Pro KBD v2 directory and run the Setup.exe installation file.

The installer will run and automatically install the keyboard layout .dll file into the correct location for your operating system.

To remove the keyboard layout simply run the installer again.

**Configuration**

Use the Windows XP Regional and Language Options control panel to select the new keyboard layout. Full details are included in the read me text file included in the ZIP download.

For those of you who want a step-by-step guide with pictures that you can print out, click [here](https://parkernet.com/applepro/installation.html).

Sorry there's no Vista step by step, but I have skillfully avoided Vista since it's release.

**Keystrokes**

All keys now operate as per the legends printed upon them.

Shift-2 = @

Ctrl-Alt-2 = €

Shift-3 = £

Ctrl-Alt-3 = #