The Logitech Hero G502 is the only mouse I'll use at this point. I have the same wired necessity, the weights are nice, but more love it because of the weighted, free-spinning scroll wheel. Ripping up and down huge pages is simple now. I can't live without it and will always have a secondary, just in case this one dies, or traveling or ???, etc. (it's about a year old and no problems). I learned about it from The Tech Lead on youtube. He did a mouse shootout a while back, in case you need more food for thought. If anyone else knows of a different free-spinning scroll wheel mouse, I'm all ears. I look every once in a while and so far haven't found any more (other than the wireless cousins of the Hero G502).

Bat/cmd files are and always will be the easiest way to automate the command line. Many times, it's even easier to use a bat file in task scheduler than it is to try and get the commands working with task scheduler, especially if there are multiple commands or maybe other considerations. The right tool for the job, as always. As far as in depth scripting, everyone knows the best tool is vbscript. :cool: When that fails, bust out the Visual Studio...or sometimes powershell once in a blue moon.

In theory, everyone would be better off being a freelancer. In reality, thing long and hard before you do it! It's a dog eat dog world out here... I find there is even more shortsighted incompetence in the freelance world than in the corp world. Time and skills taken for granted time and time again and if you're not part of the full time team, you're the first to be thrown under the bus (especially when they don't have to look you in the face). If you're considering one of the many freelance sites, everyone is working for bottom dollar and no one is considering your correspondence, proposal, research, any learning curve, etc time. All those things are work. It's rarely a good pay day when you add all the time up. If you're one of the lucky few to get a good find, then make sure you have that before you sever the tie with your full time gig. I would suggest you ask your current company if you can work from home. Working from home at a full time gig is where it's at (unless you are so in demand you can write your own ticket with very little effort). Freelance is a lot about marketing yourself correctly and lip service. Unless you can hustle yourself, I wouldn't do it. However, if you do manage to pull it off, it's rewarding not having to answer to anyone. Good luck.

How can it hurt? It's worth it. They've always had value for as long as they've been around. It doesn't mean you know anything or that the testing procedures and questions are not flawed or easy. However, for those who are not technical (Managers, HR, etc), sometimes it's the only thing they understand or can grasp onto. I have three MCSEs and two MCDBAs (which come with a load of MCPs and MCSA, etc) and while I feel that some of my real world MS skillsets are second to none, I know for sure, that my certifications in several cases played a part in getting my foot in the door or tipping the scale in my favor. It's kind of a pshhh to those of us in the know. However, to the rest, it can seem like a real accomplishment and discipline. Most people don't know how much time, effort and brain power go into it. It's all about perception, just like anything else. I used to shun certifications that expired too. However, I realize now, that even if it expires, it's still listed on my resume and given weight (I list my certs similar to how I list my education...i.e. by year...and I spell them out, I don't just put the acronym) and most people aren't thinking about them ever expiring. All the certs seem to expire these days anyway (as well as being granulated) as it's the new scam to milk more money out of people. I wouldn't waste my time on a renewal for an older technology (unless necessary), but I would on a nice new shiny certification which looks like one more thing that might sway the vote in my favor. For those that never bothered for this reason or that reason, it's certainly not based on certifications having a negative impact. I think they are just not motivated enough, or have test anxiety, etc. It's hard to psyche yourself up enough to read a bunch of boring test material and then put a chunk of money on the line with a chance of gaining nothing (i.e. failing). But, it does pay off for maybe a weeks worth of studying and a couple hours of test taking. Chances are, you won't fail. However, if you do, schedule the same test for the next day while the info is still fresh in your head. It certainly can't hurt to have certs on your resume and I feel (in my situation and job market) the difference of a 30%+ increase in salary straight out the gate and getting jobs I wasn't 100% confident about. Later on in your career, as you have more experience, assuming you're where you want to be, they might not play as much of an integral part, as thorough experience speaks much louder than certifications.

I second that. I'm running it right now on Windows 10. Works same as always. However, Microsoft this year disable the full download link for Windows Live Essentials 2012. Therefore, you have to do some creative google searches to find it. The file name is "wlsetup-all.exe." Watch out, because it comes in many different languages. So, you might have to download a few to find the language you want. The English version I have is 134,112KB.