All the features, fixes and improvements that will make it into yaTimer 2.3 are finished, as always I had to delay a lot of features to the next version to keep something even remotely like a schedule. If there are no serious bugs yaTimer 2.3 will be released this month. yaTimer 2.3 will be a free upgrade to all yaTimer customers, you can download the current version on the download page.

The next version of yaTimer is almost done, I expect it will be finished in another week or so. When it’s finished there is still a lot of testing to do, but based on my experience and the fact that this version is about making the existing features better and not introducing new features I expect the testing phase to be relatively short. I estimate yaTimer 2.3 will be released sometime near the beginning of December, the actual release date will be when the version is ready. yaTimer 2.3 will be a free upgrade to all yaTimer customers.

The first page, describing the task list - yaTimer’s main window, went on-line today. The current plan is to finish the rest of the on-line help at the rate of roughly one page a week. As always, comments are extremely welcome.

There are a lot of small user interface improvements in my to-do list, each one, taken separately, is not worth doing – it will just not have the impact on user experience to justify the time investment. But all of them together – that’s another thing entirely. So, for the next version of yaTimer I’m going to put all the big features I’ve been planning on hold and add all the small user interface improvements instead. If you have any suggestions about UI improvements to yaTimer there’s still them to add them to the next version, leave them in the comments for this...

As I mentioned before yaTimer 2.2.1 adds just one small feature – and this feature is screen saver detection. If you turn this feature on (from the options window) yaTimer will automatically stop all running timers when the screen saver starts, if you use yaTimer to track time spent on the computer you can turn this on and if you forget to stop the timer when you finish your work it will stop automatically in a few minutes when the screen saver kicks in.

After a lot of hard work yaTimer 2.2.1 is finally released. This is a service update, with just one tiny feature and a lot of bug fixes. As always you can upgrade you older version for free here. With this version I also updated my release process and automated some things that I did manually before, this set me back about a week or two for this release but it will speed up future releases. The plan is to add this new version to the automatic updates system sometime next week.

Today the next version of yaTimer went into the final testing phase, a few more days of intensive testing and the new version will be released. Version 2.2.1 is a minor service release, it contains a few bug fixes and only one new feature.

Here is the list of all user-visible changes between yaTimer version 2.1 and 2.2: NEW - Add create from template to toolbar NEW - Grouping in task list NEW - Un-pause tasks FIXED - Comment text truncated on reports NEW - Weekly project timesheet report NEW - Weekly client timesheet report NEW - A new version of all task reports with full comments NEW - Reset all tasks FIXED - Time event text unreadable when using XP classic theme FIXED - Time event show up in wrong order when resetting a running task NEW - Automatically start yaTimer on login option FIXED - Bug when manually entering time in the past FIXED -...

yaTimer 2.2 is officially released - late last night I updated the web site and uploaded the new installer. All yaTimer customers get the new version for free from the upgrade page. Now it’s time to start working on the next version, so if you have any suggestions or requests leave a comment or use the contact page.

Blogging has been very light the last few weeks – this is usually a sign I’m working on something big, in this case it’s the next version of yaTimer – my time tracking tool. First, the standard disclaimer, this post is about an unreleased version of yaTimer, nothing is final until the software is actually released. yaTimer 2.2 will be a free upgrade for all current customers. yaTimer version 2.2 is almost ready – and it’s a big update: Billing <>In this version I’m introducing the first set of billing related features, you can set a fixed task cost or an hourly rate and yaTimer...

Running from an external drive is not supported in the trial version of yaTimer, it is enabled when you enter your activation code after buying a license. yaTimer - my time tracking application, can run from a portable drive, it can run from anything with a drive-like interface, a USB flash drive, a memory card, a digital camera, an iPod or an external hard disk. All of the application’s features work when running from a portable drive except for auto-update. To run from a portable drive: Run yaTimer. Open the main menu. ...

I’m working on updating the yaTimer documentation, the first part of the documentation is scheduled to be available on the second week of April. You can find the page with short descriptions of the buttons on the main yaTimer window here I'll be happy to answer any questions you have about yaTimer you can contact me using the contact form or by leaving a comment on this blog. If you have any suggestions for the documentation or areas of the software that need clarifications please contact me or leave a comment on this post. UPDATE: I will release a new version of yaTimer late...

The first version of yaTimer had just one button in the toolbar, the version after that had 4, the latest version has five and the next version will add two or three more for a total of seven or eight. While eight toolbar buttons are still much less then what you’ll find in most applications yaTimer is designed to be able to run in a very small window – and there is just not enough space for 8 buttons in a small window. I can think of four simple ways to deal with this problem: The first is to never add toolbar buttons,...

You can view the new screenshots, download the trial, upgrade from previous versions and buy it on the website. If you have an older version installed you can follow this link to upgrade now or wait for the new version to be available as an automatic update (in about one week).

This post talks about yaTimer 2.1 that will be officially released on February 1st and will be a free upgrade to all customers, with the release I'm also raising the price – so if you buy now you'll get the new version and save 20$. yaTimer 2.1 got a new look, one reason for the new look is the graphic redesign I'm doing company-wide, (I published the new yaTimer logo a while back, the blog changed and the rest of the site will follow in a few days. But the real reason behind the change is compatibility, I switched the technology I...

yaTimer started as a very simple timer and is priced accordingly at just about the minimum price I can still make a profit. Since then I released several versions of yaTimer and it has become a very capable time tracking solution, I did a short competitor search on-line and I think yaTimer is one of the cheapest alternatives available. On the other hand the US dollar has dropped and left me with less money per sale then I planned for. So, I decided to raise my price, on February 1st version 2.1 of yaTimer will be released at the new price of 49$...

I originally planned to release yaTimer 2.1 in early December, but December came and it was obvious there's still much work to do, so I rescheduled it to late December – I almost released it on time but I have been delayed by some bugs that were discovered late in the development process. Now yaTimer 2.1 is finally ready and I'm starting my release process: Today the new version will be sent to family and friends In a few days, if there are no show-stoppers I'll also send it to customers that were promised...

This post talks about a version 2.1 of yaTimer, version 2.1 is not released yet but will be a free update to all customers, you can get the current version here and you will be notified when the new version is available. There are four new reports in yaTimer 2.1, three of them are "daily timesheets" they show details of what you did divided into days. The daily timesheet report shows what tasks you spent time on, the daily client timesheet and daily project timesheet shows the daily total for the client or project. A weekly and monthly variation of those reports will...

As part of the next version yaTimer is getting a new logo. yaTimer version 2.1 is getting closer to release, there are no major (known) problems left and its all about testing, testing, testing and more testing. Version 2.1 isn’t available yet, but it will be a free upgrade to all customers, you can download the current version here.

This post describes a future version of yaTimer, this version will be a free upgrade to all yaTimer customers. Version 2.1 is not available yet, but you can download the current version or buy the current version (and get the new version for free when it's released). This is the most requested feature for this version, it was planned for version 2.2 and moved forward to version 2.1 because of those requests. Clicking the "Completed Tasks" button on the main menu (this button replaces the "Undo Complete" button from previous versions) opens this window: You can see the list of completed tasks, filtered by...

The next version of yaTimer (2.1) is scheduled to be released this month (December 2007). yaTimer is now in the first stage of preparation for release – only features I already added to yaTimer will make it for this release, no new features will be added only bug will be fixed, that coupled with extensive testing should produce a high quality release. Over the next few days I'll publish some of the new features of yaTimer 2.1 here.

I've uploaded yaTimer 2.0 into the automatic update server, If you click the “Check for Updates” button on the main menu you'll be prompted to upgrade. And I messed up the auto-update installation again, so most of my customers wouldn’t be able to update from within yaTimer. As always, updates are free from the web site at: http://www.yatimer.com/Upgrade.htm I've fixed the auto-update bug and I hope that the auto update service will work for the next version. Now that version 2.0 that I worked so long and hard on is finally done its time to think about what to do next. I have my to-do list...

I am very happy to announce that yaTimer version 2.0 has been released today. You can now download a trial of the new version or upgrade for free from any previous version. The new version will be available using yaTimer’s automatic update (by clicking “Check for Updates” on the right side of the main menu) sometime later this week.

I haven't posted much in the previous few weeks, this is because I was too busy working, several projects I'm involved with are getting close to finished (and to deadlines). yaTimer is one of those projects I've been working like crazy getting all the little details right and now finally all the features planned for this version are finished. yaTimer now has to go through several days of rigorous testing, and then, if I don't find some huge bug I'm going to finally release version 2. As with all previous versions I had to make painful decisions about which features are going to...

Finally yaTimer get a reporting feature that's as good as the rest of the software (In case you're new here, yaTimer is my time tracking software). This is still a work in progress and many things will change until the final release, but here are is a picture of two of the new reports from the latest development version. I'll write about printing and documents in WPF after I finish my current WPF tutorial series

I've already started working on the next version of yaTimer, and for the first time I'm going to reveal my plan for the future of yaTimer but everything written here is just my plan, plans can change, I'm not promising anything. As a lesson from version 1.2 I've split my plan into smaller versions, this will allow me to release more frequent updates and get the improvements to my customers faster. I'm not publishing the target release dates for future versions but all the versions listed here are supposed to be released in less than a year, this combined with my 1 year...

yaTimer version 1.2 has been released on July 27 (3 days ago) and I've been so busy catching up on other projects I haven't had the time to blog about it yet. yaTimer 1.2 is a free upgrade for all yaTimer customers, To upgrade your installation visit http://www.nbdtech.com/yaTimer/Upgrade.htm. I haven't released the auto-update for 1.2 yet because of a bug in the setup program of version 1.1, I forgot to include one dll that is used by the auto-update service, as a result the auto-update just doesn't work (it does work for anyone who originally had version 1.0.1). Version 1.2 does include the...

yaTimer 1.2 is now at the final testing phase and I will delay the release only for critical bugs. If you leave a comment in this post I'll e-mail you the moment the new version is available for download.

With version 1.2 of yaTimer – my task timer application, I'm extending the free update period from 6 month to a year, and I'm also retroactively extending the free upgrade period to all existing customers. If you buy a yaTimer license you get any new version released within one year, no matter how big or small the upgrade is.

Disclaimer: this post talks about a new unreleased version of yaTimer – my task timer application, the software can, and will, change before the actual release – so there is no guarantee the new features I write about here will be in the release version. Details about the latest released version can always be found here. yaTimer 1.2 will be a free update to all current customers. This is the most requested feature for this version – and one that I actually wanted to add a long time ago, the reason it took so long is that at first I wanted...

Disclaimer: this post talks about a new unreleased version of yaTimer – my task timer software, the software can, and will, change before the actual release – so there is no guarantee the new features I write about here will be in the release version. Details about the latest released version can always be found here. yaTimer 1.2 will be a free update to all current customers. Quick-Task is a very simple but powerful feature. Before yaTimer 1.2 to time a task you had to fill in the task details and only then you could start timing, this is perfectly fine...

yaTimer - my time tracking software, currently has a 45 days free trial. My original reason was that if someone uses it for this long they would be unlikely to stop, I still think this is true, but a 45 days "sales cycle" is way too long for me (at lease for now). I'm going to do a little experiment and drastically change the trial period, with version 1.2 (that will be released soon) I'm going to shorten the trial to 14 days. I hope this will make people evaluate yaTimer a little more seriously (because they have a more immediate deadline) and...

Disclaimer: this post talks about a new unreleased version of yaTimer – my task timer software, the software can, and will, change before the actual release – so there is no guarantee the new features I write about here will be in the release version. Details about the latest released version can always be found here. yaTimer 1.2 will be a free update to all current customers. Sometimes you want your timer to be always visible, sometimes you don't really care – that is why yaTimer 1.2 not only let you set the task list window as always-on-top it also let...

I haven't wrote about yaTimer in a while, that's mostly because I spend so much time working on it I didn't have time to write about it. I've just decided to freeze development and release the new version, version 1.2 was not supposed to be a major upgrade but it does have a huge number of tiny improvements – and work on all those tiny improvements adds up, it has taken me more time then I originally planed. So, everything that isn't already done is going to be postponed to the next version. It will take me some more time to release yaTimer...

I actually changed the licensing options a long time ago, but I've just found out the latest blog post about it wasn't updated. I simplified the licensing options, there is just one option now, for every yaTimer license you buy you can install yaTimer on up to 3 computers, I did this because I have multiple computers myself (that only me and my wife use) and having to buy multiple copies of software is extremely annoying to me. The next version of yaTimer is planned to have support for running off an external drive (such as a USB stick), for each license...

The current version of yaTimer – version 1.1 – has just one report, a timesheet report. I plan to add some new reports over the next two versions, the current plan is to add at least one new report for the next version and 3-4 more in the version after that. If you are using yaTimer or any other time tracking tool please tell me what kind or reports you would like to see in yaTimer. Please post details about the reports you want to see in the comments, if you want to contact me privately you can use the contact link at...

Some time ago I got my daily Google alerts e-mail – and what do I see? yaTimer appears on two crack sites, I was sure that if yaTimer ever gets popular it will eventually be cracked, but I wasn't expecting it so soon, Those site even showed up in the first page of google search results for yaTimer. My panic was a bit premature, I went to those sites and searched for yaTimer, no results, a few days later the sites disappeared from the google search results. It looks like yaTimer wasn't cracked (probably because they didn't even try to crack it).

disclaimer: this post is about unreleased software, everything here can be changed until the final version. This new feature is only in version 1.2 that is not available yet, the latest version is 1.1 and can be downloaded from the yaTimer download page . Version 1.2 will be a free (and automatic) update for everyone. The idea is simple, just run yaTimer from an external drive (for example a USB thumb drive) so you can take it with you and transfer it (with your data) from computer to computer. This feature is very simple to implement, but difficult to implement well, this was actually...

Last week (I haven't been able to blog for most of the week) I had my first sale. I've given a free license of yaTimer in exchange for an ad once, but this is the first time someone actually paid real money for yaTimer. yaTimer has a 45 days trial period, this sale was 50 days after I've started selling yaTimer and 45 days after David St.Lawrence wrote about yaTimer is his blog, I assume my first paying customer came from his blog but I can't know for sure.

I’ve just uploaded the new setup program and update package to the website, the next time you run yaTimer while connected to the internet it will ask for permission to update itself.

The next version of yaTimer – version 1.1.0 – is finally done, I’ve just finished preparing the setup program and the auto-update package. Tomorrow I’m going to release the version to my very capable testers, this is going to be a very intensive day of testing on different computers, if they don’t find any show-stopping bug then yaTimer 1.1.0 will be released sometime over the weekend. The first time you run yaTimer after I publish the auto-update package it will tell you there is an update available and offer to update itself.

disclaimer: this post is about unreleased software, everything here can be changed until the final version. This new feature is only in version 1.1.0 that is not available yet (but will be released soon), the latest version is 1.0.1 and can be downloaded from the yaTimer download page . Version 1.1.0 will be a free (and automatic) update for everyone UPDATE: yaTimer 1.1 was released and it includes this feature. Sometimes you start working on something without timing it, sometimes you are away from your computer, sometimes you just need to set your timer to some predefined time - For all those situations we...

disclaimer: this post is about unreleased software, everything here can be changed until the final version. This new feature is only in version 1.1.0 that is not available yet (but will be released soon), the latest version is 1.0.1 and can be downloaded from the yaTimer download page. Version 1.1.0 will be a free (and automatic) update for everyone. UPDATE: yaTimer 1.1 was released and it includes this feature. If there is something that is obviously missing from yaTimer it’s the ability to rearrange tasks, so it was a high priority feature for the second version. As you see in the image there are...

disclaimer: this post is about unreleased software, everything here can be changed until the final version. This new feature is only in version 1.1.0 that is not available yet (but will be released soon), the latest version is 1.0.1 and can be downloaded from here. UPDATE: yaTimer 1.1 was released and it includes this feature. Version 1.1.0 will have countdown timers, using them is very simple, when you add a task you can choose to count up or down (you can change it later) and if you choose down you can specify you start time – and that’s it, the timer will count...

I have been spending a big part of my time working on the web-site and the AdWords campaign – but I'm still working on the next version of yaTimer, it's just taking a little bit longer then I would like. yaTimer is still very much under active development and I'll blog about some of the new features over the next few days.

UPDATE: yaTimer licensing options have changed, see this post for details For most software a single license gives you the right to install the software on one computer – and if you own multiple computer you are supposed to buy multiple licenses, I own several computers and I find this to be a real pain (and sometimes very expensive). I expect a lot of yaTimer's potential customers have the same problem, so I've decided to create two different license types for yaTimer: Single computer license:  You can install yaTimer on a single computer, anyone who can use this computer...