Anything Goes Discussions

News, Tips, Tricks

September 26, 2006 • 7:08 pm 0

Dell Laptop & Vista RC1 Review Tour

In my last blog I talked about the installation of Vista RC1 on my Dell E1505. As promised, this entry will be about the new My Computer, My Documents and the Start menu.

The interesting thing about Vista is that beyond all the talk about this being a break from Windows XP, it will look and act quite similar to XP. The major difference is the User Account Control which is the security pop ups that everyone is talking about. Now back to the Vista tour…

It has a taskbar, it has a desktop, it has icons and it has a start menu. Of course the Start menu is different, but similar, while it will take a day or two to get used to. The first thing you notice about the start menu is that it doesn’t say Start, it’s a picture of the Windows trademark Windows flag as I call it. You’ve seen it on the Windows screen saver for XP, and in the top right hand corner of Internet Explorer. Click on the thumbs to look at the Start menu along with the quick launch toolbar.

As you can see no Start, just the graphic. The menu itself is different and the same, with the great addition of a search at the bottom of the menu. It lets you type in a few letters and the start menu fills and sorts by program, files & folders and favorites. The quick launch toolbar has some new icons by default. What you see here are IE7, Computer, sans the “My”, my actual C: drive, email, Firefox, show desktop and the brand new Flip 3D. The Computer, C: drive, email and Firefox are my additions. The show desktop has a new icon, while the highlight is the Flip 3D which is a 3D graphical version of the ALT-Tab key combination to see running programs. It’s a cool feature that might get some use, but it’s just that a cool bell and whistle. Here is a picture:

As for My Computer it’s now just called Computer. Interesting that they did drop the “My”, maybe because it’s not always “My” computer that I’m working on. When you open Computer, see below, with Your Documents, Pictures, Music, Recently Changed and Searches (more on the Searches improvements) on the left side and better graphical information on the right.

My Documents had become the users name, like “Ray” above. Again better graphics, different names , but not a lot of change in how you are going to use them. I will say that what I’ve seen so far playing with the OS is that Vista is a good operating system that can be quickly learned by most people. The people in my field, IT, will love playing with all the new bells & whistles. More next time…..

That’s what I think….What about you?

Filed under: Computer Industry, Computer Software, Dell, Educational technology, In The News, Internet, Internet Explorer, Laptops and Accessories, Microsoft, Technology , About computer software, Computers, Computers & Internet, Dell Computers, General Computer Software, Internet/Browsers, laptops, Microsoft.com, Notebook Computers, Notebook/Laptops, PDAs and Laptops, Software, Technology and Software, Windows Vista, Windows/Microsoft

August 24, 2006 • 8:37 pm 1

So that’s 5.9 million batteries and counting

Apple Computers has announced a recall on 1.8 million batteries from Sony today. Let’s add that to the 4.1 million Dell batteries and we have the grand total of 5.9 million batteries recalled in the last two weeks. Add that to the 135,000 HP batteries recalled in October 2005 and the Apple recall of 128,000 in May 2005. Do I smell a fire burning somewhere?

It makes me think twice about sitting my laptop in my lap at home while I’m working. You would think that we would have a little better safety testing or I don’t know maybe some R & D on these batteries to see what can be done to make them safer. Of course all of the battery recalls above are from Asian companies, mainly Sony, while all have been made in Taiwan, China and South Korea. Cheap companies using cheap labor strikes again. Apple just this week admitted that one of the factories that it uses to make ipods in Asia wasn’t following proper labor guidelines. You have to figure that something is up with the quality at this point.

A statement needs to be made to these companies that they need to do a better job in quality control or someday someone is really going to get hurt. Then they will be paying millions more than they would have if they had just made a safe, quality product and charged a few dollars more for it in retail.

That’s what I think….What about you?

Filed under: Apple Computers, Computer Industry, Dell, Educational technology, Family, In The News, Internet, Laptops and Accessories, News and Current Affairs, Technology , Apple, Apple Computer, apple laptops, Computers, Computers & Internet, Dell Computers, K-12 Schools, laptops, Notebook Computers, Notebook/Laptops, PDAs and Laptops

August 21, 2006 • 9:40 pm 0

Are you going to upgrade to Microsoft Vista?

With the system requirements for Windows Vista, I don’t see many people rushing to upgrade when it comes out sometime next year. By the way, the term for software that’s promised and keeps being delayed is Vaporware, which is what Vista is currently. Even though it’s in beta, it’s still not a released product that should be used on a production machine.

Now, most computers users at home do not go out and buy a computer every year or two. I know this because in my consulting business I see Windows 98 (Win98) systems that are 6 to 10 years old, and Windows XP (WinXP) systems that are from 5 to 6 years old on a daily basis. As we all know, Vista will not run on those machines, so there goes a sizable chunk of the market. Even my main system will not run Vista and it’s only 3 years old. New computers that are capable will come with it preinstalled and I believe that you will see the really low end $299 to $799 computers rise to $599 to $999 because of the hardware requirements of Vista. Plus, Microsoft will most likely pull the plug on OEM’s from selling WinXP when Vista arrives from vaporware.

As for Enterprise computers, they will definitely not upgrade to Vista for at least a year after it’s release. I know the school district I work for during the day won’t go near it for two years. I can see the headaches now….”My desktop is different”, “I can’t find my Word documents”, “where is My Documents?” If you’ve every went through a transition in OS, then you know what I mean.

I have one laptop at home that can take the Vista upgrade, but I won’t. The hassles of teaching my wife how to use Vista, and tweaking old applications to work is too much for me to think about. As a consultant, I will have to get a new system to use Vista on, so that I don’t lose out on the new business that a new OS creates. At the same time, I need to support any client that upgrades to Vista right away contrary to my advice.

So, reluctantly I will have to fork out at least $1000 for a system with Vista, but what are you going to do?

That’s what I think….What about you?

Filed under: Computer Industry, Dell, Educational technology, Internet, Laptops and Accessories, Microsoft, Technology , Computers, Computers & Internet, Dell Computers, K-12 Schools, laptops, Microsoft.com, Notebook Computers, Notebook/Laptops, Windows/Microsoft

July 26, 2006 • 10:31 pm 1

Trojan Exploits Firefox Extensions, Steals Passwords, Usernames

Today I read about a new Trojan that disguises itself as a Firefox extension. So much for that extra security that Firefox claims, but is it?

The trojan comes via the normal route in an attachment that you have to click to open. What it does is use another Firefox extension, Numberedlinks 0.9, to hide itself, bypassing the normal Firefox habit of asking for permission to install the trojan. The trojan then records keystrokes, mouse movement and sends the information to an IP address that is hardwired into the trojan. Another component of the Trojan sniffs out passwords from ICQ and FTP sessions, and IMAP and POP3 information. More information can be found in an interesting article on Information Week.

Now, while this is technically an exploit of Firefox, it’s really an exploit of the lax security in the Firefox extensions and how they are installed. Digital signatures would be one of the quickest fixes for this problem and would make Firefox even more secure. But in open source that’s not something that will probably happen soon. This exploit shows that you have to be very careful in what you do online, what you click on and what attachments you open.

As Elmer Fudd would say….Be careful, be verrrrry verrrrry careful.

That’s what I think….How about you?

Filed under: Educational technology, In The News, Internet, Internet Explorer, Microsoft, Mozilla Firefox, News and Current Affairs, Technology , Computers & Internet, Firefox, Internet/Browsers, Microsoft.com, Mozilla/Firefox, Mozilla/Firefox/Thunderbird, Windows/Microsoft

July 19, 2006 • 3:03 am 0

Sysinternals & Winternals Sold to Microsoft

Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell sold their company Winternals Software LP, and it’s sister site Sysinternals to Microsoft today. As a user of a lot of the great freeware utilities I wish Mark and Bryce well as they start their careers with Microsoft, but I’m sad in that from what we’ve seen of Microsoft buying companies and destroying their products.

In the News Release on the Winternals site it says:

Q. Why is Microsoft acquiring Winternals and Sysinternals?

A. This acquisition brings to Microsoft a significant talent infusion and technologies valued by customers. Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell, two highly regarded OS kernel experts, join Microsoft in technical leadership roles. Mark will be joining the Platforms and Services Division (PSD) in the role of Technical Fellow, and Bryce Cogswell will be joining the Core Operating Systems Division in the role of Software Architect.

Mark writes in his blog – On My Way to Microsoft:

There’s nothing more satisfying for me than to see our ideas and their implementation have a positive impact…..I remain committed to the Sysinternals and Windows IT pro communities and so I’ll continue to blog here, to write about Windows technologies, and to speak at conferences.

We can just hope that these great utilities get used, or incorporated properly into future versions of Windows as Mark says. You can bet that these utilities are going to be packed behind the WGA check, so if you want them as they are now I suggest you stop by their web site and download them.

Good Luck Mark & Bryce, don’t lose your clarity, vision and thirst for creating the best there is to offer.

That’s what I think…How about you?

Filed under: Educational technology, In The News, Microsoft, Technology , Microsoft.com, Windows/Microsoft