#user settings

Unless you’re using the ClickOnce deployment method for your applications, user settings are usually not transferred when updating to a new version of a C# desktop application. There’s in fact a quick and simple way to always keep the settings between versions.

The trick is to call the .upgrade() method your app settings object. The system will look for previous versions of your application in the App Data directory and copy the user settings to the new version automatically.

Properties.Settings.Default.Upgrade();

But now we have a problem. How do you know when the upgrade method should be called? As we don’t want to upgrade everytime the application is started, but only the first time after an upgrade. The solution is to create a new user settings variable that will be used to determine whether an upgrade is required. You can either make it a string and save the current application version, or make it a boolean and set it to True by default. I personally find the boolean method easier to use and this is the one I will explain below:

How to switch back to the Old Gmail: A quick & easy reference

To switch back to the old Gmail, click the gear in the top right corner, then select, "Revert to the old look temporarily." It's as easy as that!

Yeah, I know "temporarily" is a little passive-aggressive, but that's the reality! You need to know that while Google acknowledges your preference for the old Gmail, it's only going to respect it *temporarily*. You know, like when a bad short order cook says he'll stop sitting in your food "for a while." That's nice, but let's be realistic: he's eventually just going to go back to being a dick. (What, you guys don't talk to the short order cooks who spit in your food? I thought that was a great example.)

And wait, did you click the wrong gear in the top right corner and you still couldn't find the right link? Make sure you didn't click the gear with 8 teeth! That one's got options like "Mail settings." You want the one with 6 teeth. That's the one for Inbox settings. (For example, there's a link for "Settings" but that might not be the same settings as the Mail settings on the 8-teeth gear!)

When learning a new interface, it's important to figure out which gear icon goes with which settings, and you can do that by counting the teeth. More teeth = more important settings, probably.

How to stop the New Gmail from being so horrifically tall: A Bonus Guide

New Gmail's advertised as being "cleaner" and "more modern." That means they took out all the lines, made all the text bigger and bolder, and added way too much goddamn whitespace to everything. But what if you don't like too much goddamn whitespace?

It turns out, there's a neat way to dial down the fucking whitespace:

Click the gear in the top right corner (the gear with six teeth, not eight teeth!!!). Look under "Display density." It should be set to "Comfortable." You know, because your text needs some room to relax after a long day of you being able to read it. Isn't that why every book you've ever read was printed triple-spaced? Anyway, just click "Compact."