MuvEnum Blog

MuvEnum Address Bar v5.0.3.0 is now available for download.

After months of work on this new version of the MuvEnum Address Bar, we are proud to announce the first non-beta release.  For all the details about the version 5 release including what’s been added, fixed, and improved, why there is now a free and pro version, and more, please see the v5 beta change log posts:

• MuvEnum Address Bar v5.0.0.0 Beta Released
• MuvEnum Address Bar v5.0.1.0 Beta Released
• MuvEnum Address Bar v5.0.2.0 Beta Released

Version History:

• Added http://www.wolframalpha.com (computational knowledge engine) to default keywords list (wa).
• Modified all file open and save dialogs to use the Windows Vista/2008/7 style dialogs on supported operating systems.
• Modified update checking to work in cases where the user never or rarely restarts their computer.
• Modified options form to no longer be topmost when an update is available to avoid having the installer hidden behind the options form.
• Modified options form to watch in KeyDown event for ESC instead of KeyUp to help reduce the probability of the ESC key closing the options form when closing other forms shown from the options form.
• Fixed Import/Export buttons not working on systems w/ .NET 2.0 (w/o SP1) installed.
• Fixed Delete/Import buttons being switched places on Windows 7 due to sizing issue.
• Fixed bottom of keyword 3rd row buttons being cutoff on Windows 7.
• Fixed “clear keyword” and “clear url” buttonspecs not being connected to the clear click events.

MuvEnum Address Bar v5.0.2.0 Beta is now available for download.

If you find any issues with this version, please report them as quickly as possible as we’re looking for an official release near the beginning of next week.

Version History:

• Added “Freeware Version” to first run prompt to make sure upgrading users still know it is the freeware version like before but with added Pro features.
• Modified Tooltip for History List Items option text for better readability.
• Modified description at the bottom of the Keywords tab to let users know that keywords can contain any combination of folders, files, programs, and/or web addresses.
• Modified some reading of filestreams to only request the exact permissions needed to perform the task to help reduce conflicts with multi-user systems.
• Modified “start pro trial” prompt to show when upgrading to new versions for freeware users.
• Modified activation to remove “Go Pro” text from the address bar, if it is showing, after activating the Pro Version.
• Fixed issue with the toolbar not loading for limited user accounts when it had been registered as the Pro Version.
• Fixed “Close” button on the update dialog so it would actually close it.
• Fixed calculator decimal combobox drop-down scrolling and not being the correct height for the number of items.

MuvEnum Address Bar v5.0.1.0 Beta is now available for download.

We’re nearing the final release of v5 due to the awesome feedback we’ve received which has helped us fix the final remaining known issues.  Thanks to everyone for reporting your issues.  If you find any issues with this version, please report them as quickly as possible as we’re looking for an official release near the beginning of next week.

Version History:

• Added the ability to drag and drop text to address bar, which it then navigates to (copy and paste still works without navigating).
• Added RunMRU list (run prompt) to be displayed under the MuvEnum Address Bar History (regression from v3.8.0.0).
• PRO: Added sorting and highlighting of new and merged keywords after import for easy recognition of what was imported.
• Modified Start Menu Links to not be a Pro feature as it was in v3.8.0.0 and previous versions.
• PRO: Fixed exporting of keywords not working correctly.
• Fixed userprofile path names shown as first.last to now show as First Last.
• Fixed environment variables not working correctly (%systemdrive%, etc.) (regression from v3.8.0.0).
• Fixed some issues with paths with arguments and environment variables.
• Fixed issue regarding paths to executables with spaces that have arguments not working.
• Fixed issue where unchecking MuvEnum Address Bar as a history source would still show the history.
• PRO: Fixed “refresh history” not taking into account newly checked or unchecked browsers in the options dialog.

To celebrate the release of the MuvEnum Address Bar v5 Beta, we’re going to be giving away a Pro license, randomly selected from every “multiple of 10” (20, 30, 40, 50, etc.) twitter followers we get before the official release.  Example: when we reach 240 followers, we’ll randomly select one follower from #231-#240 to receive a Pro license.

Things are getting a little hectic around here as we near the release of the MuvEnum Address Bar v5.  We’ve spent the last couple of months cranking out features, improvements, and bugfixes that we think every user of the MuvEnum Address Bar will love.  Heck, I’m proud to say that we love them.  That’s one of the faults of being the “Creator”; you fall in love with your creations.  Take Dr. Frankenstein for example…acutally, we take that back.  The Frankenstein monster was hideous on the outside (which, btw, if you think the MuvEnum Address Bar is hideous on the outside, in  MAB Pro v5 you can change that with “Custom Themes“) and we like to think our creation looks nothing like the Frankenstein monster.

That sure was a strange tangent.  Alright then, back to the point.  We think we created a very useful tool with the MuvEnum Address Bar v3.  With v5 (yes, we skipped v4 because we experienced “feature creep” and just couldn’t help ourselves when it came to adding features) we’ve added/fixed everything that was reported and made some fundamental improvements to the usability of the address bar.  We think you’ll love the features and just want to say (yes, it took almost two paragraphs to get to this point) that we greatly appreciate everyone that has supported MuvEnum over the last 4 years.

I know some of you probably read the “Pro” word and gasped.  We’ve kept the original features of the v3 address bar and added a whole bunch of new features to the “free” v5 and then we went ahead and added a whole bunch of additional features to the “free” v5 and made it the “Pro” v5.  For a glance at what the “Pro” version gives you, head on over to our (work-in-progress) version comparison page.  It goes into greater detail about the Themes, Keywords, Advanced Calculator, and History Management.

For all of you donaters that donated before this point in time and are probably upset right now, don’t worry.  You’ll be receiving an email soon with your free “Pro” license(s).  If you don’t get the email by Monday, let us know and we’ll take care of you.

Another fine example of “Software in Motion“. Enjoy!

-The MuvEnum Development Team

We’re proud to announce the first beta release of the MuvEnum Address Bar v5. We’ve made some major improvements in this version and we’re very excited to share them with the world.

One of the first things you may notice from looking at the change log is that we now have a “Pro Version” of the address bar. The MuvEnum Address Bar is now freeware/proware (one installer “to rule them all”) and the freeware version includes all of the features from the previous version along with a bunch of new features and fixes. We’ve created some “Pro Features” that go beyond the idea of just a Windows Taskbar Toolbar Address Bar replacement. We’ve received a great number of donations for previous versions of our address bar and have given all donaters the ability to receive free copies of the Pro Version (if you didn’t get the email, just submit a support request and let us know).

For a glance at what the “Pro” version gives you, head on over to our version comparison page.  It goes into greater detail about the new Free features as well as the Pro features including Themes, Keywords, Advanced Calculator, and History Management.

We made the decision to create a Pro Version for a few reasons:

1. The donations are appreciated but we want to give more to those that are helping fund our efforts.  With the “Pro Version”, in addition to the extra features, users now get priority support via email as well as early access to betas and all of the other benefits of being a paid user. We’ve since removed the “Donate” button from the program and we will be removing it from the MuvEnum Address Bar sections of the website upon the final v5 release.
2. MuvEnum is a business and as a business it cannot survive without a revenue stream.  For those that believe these additional features are worth the cost, they will help us to survive and hopefully thrive. On a side note, we’re coming up on year 5 at the end of June and we hope to celebrate many more years!
3. We’re curious to see how the whole Free/Lite/Pro version of a software program works for a business as a revenue stream.
4. To reiterate, we didn’t take any features from earlier versions of the software and turn them into “Pro Features”.  “What once you had, you shall always have.” – John Rennemeyer (I googled it and it hasn’t seem to have been said by anyone else so I’m going to claim it as my quote unless I’m told otherwise.)  We don’t believe in the old bait and switch method and hopefully we’ve proven this.

We hope you enjoy this new version whether you stick with the “Freeware Version” or support us by upgrading to the “Pro Version”.  Keep an eye out for the final release coming in the next week or two and make sure to spread the word.  We’ll be discounting the “Pro Version” down from $16.99 to $12.99 as an introductory pricing special.  We’re also running an additional “pre-release” promo on twitter.  Until the final release, we’ll randomly select one twitter follower from every 10 new twitter followers to receive a free MuvEnum Address Bar Pro license. You can start following us at http://www.twitter.com/muvenumjohn to keep up-to-date on everything MuvEnum.

MuvEnum Address Bar v5.0.0.0 Beta is now available for download.

Version History:

• PRO: Added support for keywords/aliases which allows opening single or multiple folders, files, and web addresses (Safari only supports single web addresses) with a single keyword (50+ keywords included which can be removed and/or modified).
• PRO: Added support for exporting and importing keywords between computers (warns if importing with same keys and give the option to merge or skip).
• PRO: Added support for importing from IE Aliases into keywords.
• PRO: Added support for printing out a keywords list to help memorize and/or have an easy reference.
• PRO: Added the ability to Theme the address bar including changing the “Go” and “Options” button (includes 16 themes ootb).
• PRO: Added a theme designer program to help with the creation of themes (accessible from the start menu). Tutorial will be posted at a later date.
• PRO: Added an advanced calculator. Allows typing in full equations (9+2+3+2*(2^3)) or entering similar to the Windows calculator 9, enter +9, enter. Includes grouping support (thousands separator), displaying of equation and answer or just the answer, and decimal precision (round to x number of decimals).
• PRO: Added support for deleting individual history list items. This can be done from the options dialog or by holding the “Delete” key and clicking on an item you want deleted in the history list drop-down.
• PRO: Added the ability to show “Bookmarks and History”, “Bookmarks Only”, or “History Only”.
• PRO: Added support for showing the full address of history items in the history list on mouseover in a tooltip and only for those items have the ellipsis (…).
• PRO: Modified update dialog to allow automatic download and install of a newer version (freeware version users can click to visit our website where they can download the new version through download.com).
• Added icons to now display like the original Windows Taskbar Toolbar Address Bar.
• Added support for Windows 7. The MuvEnum Address Bar now supports Windows XP, Vista, 7, 2000, 2003, and 2008.
• Added support for Windows Aero taskbar transparency (a pain to get working with a combobox due to bleeding colors, but we figured it out…woohoo!).
• Added support for making the address bar even smaller after the first initial load (setting in options). This was due to the minimum size being the default size (Windows implementation) and we don’t want to the default size to be so small as to be confusing to first time users.
• Added button to automatically select the current default browser on your system as the only browse to pull bookmarks and history from.
• Added support for full auto-expansion of files and folders in environment variable paths.
• Added support for pulling bookmarks and history from Safari and Opera.
• Added ability to alt-click the drop-down arrow and icon button to show the auto-completion list instead of the history list.
• Added right-click on drop-down arrow to show a MuvEnum Address Bar context menu; options, refresh history (force), check for updates, and “disable/enable global hotkey” (we created this quick disable/enable feature for when we play Left 4 Dead, Ctrl-Shift-A gets hit a lot when playing FPSs which would kick us out of the game).
• Added some logging for troubleshooting purposes which can now be accessed easily from the “Help” tab in options under the “Support” drop-down button.
• Fixed issue where history list would show partial items and cause automatic scrolling when the mouse was moved over these items.
• Fixed issue with auto-completion list and history list showing duplicate addresses.
• Fixed issues with some address missing ending causing the process start to hang for 10+ seconds.
• Fixed scrolling of drop-down history list on Windows XP with Smooth Scrolling enabled causing it to scroll in an insane an unreadable manner.
• Fixed uninstaller not removing the start menu folder and links on Windows Vista, 2008, and 7 due to UAC.
• Fixed deeplinking to unc paths saying not found; it now should prompt for credentials.
• Fixed \ making auto-completion list disappear.
• Fixed possible thread/memory leak when using the address bar for extended periods of time.
• Modified retrieving of history list and auto-completion list to no longer freeze the address bar and the start menu temporarily.
• Modified messageboxes to now use the same theme as the options dialog.
• Modified the “not found prompt” to now place the cursor back in the address bar with all of the text selected for retyping of the command if “No” is chosen.
• Modified storing of MuvEnum Address Bar History to use it’s own history separate from Internet Explorer along with the ability to disable displaying it.
• Modified default theme for better font rendering and overall better look.
• Modified the “Clear History” to clear the MuvEnum Address Bar and RunMRU List history. The buttons next to each browser option take you to the FAQ with directions for clearing each browsers history.
• Modified address bar to display “Go Pro” instead of “http://www.muvenum.com/” on initial load (doesn’t display for PRO users).
• Update the Options GUI to make room for all of these awesome new features. 🙂
• And more…