DEV Community: Aung Ko Ko

Built for Myself, Free for You — CineLibrary, Open Source

Aung Ko Ko — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 05:10:58 +0000

CineLibrary

A fast, native Windows movie catalog for MediaElch-scraped collections. Browse, search and play your movies across multiple external drives.

Stop letting your movies gather dust in forgotten directories.

Treat them with CineLibrary — making your collection visible, searchable, and alive again.

CineLibrary: where your movies stop hiding and start shining.

(This is constantly evolving my personal passion project, so always be sure to check latest releases)

Stay tuned, Next Release is planned for next week!

Built with C# + WinUI 3.

Features

Multi-drive library — index movies across external drives; knows which are currently online
MediaElch-compatible — reads movie.nfo, posters, fanart; caches artwork locally so offline drives still show thumbnails
Grid + list views — with S/M/L/XL thumbnail sizes (like Windows Explorer)
Full-text search — title, actor, director, plot
Filters — by drive, genre, collection, favorites, watched/unwatched
Collapsible sidebar with drives, collections, top genres
Resizable movie detail window — hero fanart, poster, chips, plot, cast
Export — CSV or HTML
Keyboard shortcuts — Ctrl+F search, Ctrl+B toggle sidebar, Esc clear search
Light / Dark / System themes with Mica backdrop

Download

Grab the latest portable build from Releases. Unzip anywhere and run CineLibrary.exe — no install required.

Build from source

Requirements:

Windows 10 20H1+ (19041) or Windows 11
Visual Studio 2022+ with .NET desktop development and Windows App SDK workloads
.NET 8 SDK

git clone https://github.com/aungkokomm/CineLibraryCS.git
cd CineLibrary
msbuild CineLibraryCS.csproj -t:Build -p:Configuration=Debug -p:Platform=x64

To produce a self-contained portable build:

msbuild CineLibraryCS.csproj -t:Publish -p:Configuration=Release -p:Platform=x64 -p:PublishDir=publish\

How it works

Use MediaElch (or any tool that produces Kodi-style movie.nfo + poster.jpg / fanart.jpg) to scrape each movie folder on your drives.
Launch CineLibrary → Drives → Scan (or pick a folder on that drive).
CineLibrary reads the nfo files, caches the posters, and writes everything to a local SQLite index.
Disconnect the drive — the movies still appear (marked OFFLINE) with posters and metadata intact.

Data location

Dev build: CineLibrary-Data/ next to the .csproj
Portable build: CineLibrary-Data/ next to CineLibrary.exe SQLite DB + cached artwork live there. Back it up to keep your favorites/watched state across machines.

In next release

Will fix UI inconsistencies

License

MIT

Missed DU Meter So Hard I Built My Own — Free, Open-Source

Aung Ko Ko — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 05:08:15 +0000

NetMon

Lightweight Network Bandwidth Monitor for Windows — inspired by DU Meter.

NetMon is a minimalist, high-performance network monitoring widget designed for Windows. Inspired by the classic DU Meter, it provides real-time insights into your upload and download speeds through a sleek, unobtrusive interface. Built with C# and WinForms on .NET 8, NetMon is optimized for users who need precise data tracking without the resource overhead of traditional monitoring suites.

Features

Live speed graph — scrolling dual-channel area chart (green = download, red = upload)
Badge arrows — DU Meter-style coloured badges with ↓↑ indicators and live bps readout
Compact / pill mode — collapse to a tiny speed-only strip when screen space matters
Usage stats — double-click to expand a Today / Month breakdown panel
Monthly data cap — set a GB limit and watch a colour-coded progress bar (green → amber → red)
Start with Windows — optional HKCU Run key, toggleable from the tray menu
Transparency — slide window opacity from 20 % to 100 %
Background colour — pick any colour; border and separators adapt automatically
System tray — right-click for the full menu; double-click to show/hide the widget
Window memory — position and size are restored exactly where you left them

Installation

Download Latest Release from the Releases page
Run it — no administrator rights required (installs to %LocalAppData%\Programs\NetMon)
Optional: tick Start NetMon automatically when Windows starts during setup

The installer is built with Inno Setup 6 and targets Windows 10 x64 or later.

Diagnostics 101: The Art of Systematic Troubleshooting

Aung Ko Ko — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 13:14:46 +0000

A good troubleshooter is only as effective as the tools they use. Windows comes with powerful diagnostic utilities that most people overlook, and a few well‑chosen external tools can make the difference between guessing and knowing. In this post, I’ll walk through the essential toolkit for systematic diagnostics.

🖥️ Built‑in Windows Tools

Event Viewer
Logs system and application events.
Look for recurring warnings or errors around the time of a crash.
Tip: Filter by “Critical” to spot serious issues quickly.
Reliability Monitor
Visual timeline of system stability.
Shows when updates, drivers, or apps caused failures.
Great for spotting patterns over weeks or months.
Task Manager
Real‑time view of CPU, memory, disk, and network usage.
Identify resource hogs or runaway processes.
Tip: Use the “Startup” tab to disable unnecessary boot programs.
Resource Monitor
More detailed than Task Manager.
Breaks down disk and network activity per process.
Perfect for tracking bottlenecks.
Windows Memory Diagnostic
Tests RAM for errors.
Run when you suspect hardware instability.

⚡ Command‑Line & PowerShell

sfc /scannow → Scans and repairs system files.
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth → Repairs Windows image corruption.
Get-EventLog (PowerShell) → Pulls logs programmatically for deeper analysis. These commands are lifesavers when the GUI tools don’t reveal enough.

🛠️ Trusted External Tools

CrystalDiskInfo → Monitors hard drive health (SMART data).
HWMonitor → Tracks temperatures and voltages.
Process Explorer (Sysinternals) → Advanced process analysis beyond Task Manager.
BlueScreenView → Decodes crash dump files for BSOD analysis.

📒 How to Use Them Together

Start with Event Viewer or Reliability Monitor to spot the timeline.
Use Task Manager/Resource Monitor to check real‑time behavior.
Run command‑line scans to repair system integrity.
Confirm hardware health with external tools.

🎯 Key Takeaway
Diagnostics isn’t about having one magic tool. It’s about knowing which tool to use at the right stage of investigation. Master these, and you’ll move from guessing to evidence‑based troubleshooting.