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Vol. 7, No. 14
4-6-07
1 My laptop becomes my Vista victim
2 Sleep mode?
3 Google Maps, Octa-core Apple, Microsoft may have “lied” (GASP!), Second FBI
4 USB Firefox
5 Vista Office app
My job requires me to be familiar will all versions of Windows and, given that Vista is out there, I had to break down and install it on something at home. I chose to do it on my laptop since that’s the machine I use the least and won’t suffer if it gets trashed and has to be reloaded.
Knowing the extreme system requirements of Vista I upgraded the original 512 MB of RAM in the machine to 1 GB, otherwise I left it alone and ran Vista as an upgrade over XP. During the upgrade process Vista coughed up a long list of incompatible programs that needed to be removed, including printer drivers, my antivirus program (Panda Platinum 2007) and Nero Burning ROM.
I exited the upgrade program and uninstalled nearly everything in sight, then started again and the upgrade ran flawlessly after that.
When I first got to the desktop there was a ¾ screen window showing all kinds of stuff that I just turned off. Booting to the desktop should go to the desktop.
Once I actually got to the working environment I was both impressed and befuddled.
The desktop was populated instead of that Spartan XP default with nothing but a Recycle Bin in the corner, but there were a bunch of things on the right side that looked like a waste of space. An RSS screen for streaming news feeds (no thanks, heavy on the bandwidth), a very small screen doing a slideshow of the My Pictures folder (too small to enjoy and a needless distraction) and an analog clock (the System Tray still shows the time, day and date, why do we need two clocks? I don’t wear a digital watch on one wrist and an analog on the other).
These are the Windows Gadgets, which I promptly turned off.
My next step was to open My Computer, now simply Computer, to see how things were laid out. Pretty much as expected there was an icon for the hard drive, which conveniently showed the amount of free space as well as the total size of the drive, followed by an icon for the CD-RW/DVD combo drive.
A toolbar had links to the Control Panel, System Properties, Add/Remove Programs and the map network drive wizard, which I found pretty cool. What was uncool was the fact that there was no text menu at the top of the window. The familiar File, Edit, View etc. links were nowhere to be found.
Closing the Computer window and opening Documents showed that the lack of the text menu was common system wide. Tapping the Alt key brought it back, but why remove a core interface that’s been a part of Windows since it’s inception? Annoying, but you can turn it back on from Tools (after you tap the Alt button).
Next step for me on a new PC or new OS is to see what all that junk is in the System Tray. In the past it’s always been Start/Run/Msconfig but the new nameless Start menu didn’t have a Run option…
It seems the new Search field serves as both Search and Run, which also annoyed me. I can’t imagine how the word Search would in any way indicate that you could start a program in that field.
At this point I decided to give up and go to bed so I clicked Start and the button that normally represents Power. Ummm… Hibernating? Thinking I looked at it wrong I pulled the battery and power plug to insure the thing was actually off, then put it back together and powered back up and started looking for the Shutdown or Turn Off option.
The icon that represents power puts the computer in a low power state and keeps your session in memory, so yup, it’s basically Hibernate. To the right of that icon is a Lock, which oddly enough in Vista represents locking the PC, followed by a right arrow that normally represents Play in most applications. Clicked the arrow and voila, a menu with Log Off, Switch User and Shut Down popped up. Sorry, that’s just stupid.
So far I’m underwhelmed. Next week I’ll load some software and get on the Internet. I can’t wait ;)
Kevin Mefford, Editor
Editor’s Note: Sorry for the late issue this week. I had a little virus issue coupled with a cooling failure that derailed me early this week and I got a late start.
Kevin
Terry Wise
Tech News of the Week
In an attempt to improve its
online map index, Google released a new
API that will hopefully turn every Internet citizen into a
cartographer:
http://www.playfuls.com/news_06866_Google_Wants_You_to_Become_a_Cartographer.html
Apple has introduced an 8-processor core machine that will smoke the
competition and leave a huge, burning hole in your wallet:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=9448C41C&nclm=MacPro
Microsoft has been hit with a proposed class-action suit that claims
the company misled consumers by affixing "Windows Vista Capable"
labels to marginal PCs:
http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/04/lawsuits_target.html
The virtual online PC life simulator, Second Life, which is often
compared to Sony's upcoming PS3 Home network, is under investigation
by the FBI on the legality of its virtual gambling features. The
virtual Joe Pesci is out in the desert digging holes right now:
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=161527
Copy us on the good stuff---but leave the Feds at home, please. ;-)
Matthew Dattilo
thepcgurus@gmail.com
http://mattstodayinhistory.podshow.com
Download of the Week
If you work in multiple offices, dual-boot,
or just can't figure out which system on your desk is your main computer--you
undoubtedly miss having all of your bookmarks, saved passwords, and history
everywhere you go.
One slick way to bring your browsing
environment with you everywhere you go is to use a portable version of Firefox
that runs from a USB drive. Thanks to the determined efforts of developer John
Haller you can download and install a free, customized version of Firefox 2.0,
and install it on your thumb drive with a couple of clicks. Some limitations
apply however, since not every extension or plugin will install or work
correctly with Firefox Portable, and Java not at all.
It's all on this website, with a whole suite
of portable applications and installation instructions:
http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable
Art Maley
Email Question of the Week
Q: I am about to bite the bullet and replace my
desktop and old laptop with
a new laptop that will be my primary computer. I was wondering about
this new Windows Vista system. It will be a big enough headache
getting
everything transferred / reinstalled on a new computer, how difficult
will it be to learn to use the Vista system? I will be keeping an
old
Windows with XP as a backup and for the grandchildren. How difficult
will it be to be working back and forth between these 2 systems.
Also, in an effort to save
money, I am considering using OpenOffice rather
than purchasing Word and Excel. What are your thoughts on that?
Finally, in the newletter archives, is there a way to search to see if
you have written helps for someone trying to decide what to get on a new
computer (memory, hard drive, etc.) I am not a gamer and will only
be
using it for personal use at home.
At the moment I am looking at Dell 1505 but am trying to decided
whether to purchase on online or locally since I will need help on
installing and switching to the new laptop. Thanks for any help.
A: You shouldn't have any problems adapting to Vista on a
new computer but you may not be able to install your old software
on the machine running Vista.
Open Office is a good program and you should like it.
I doubt we have anything in the archives regarding recommendations for Vista at this point. I can recommend that you get at least 1GB of memory in the new machine and a hard drive with at least 80 gigabytes of storage.
Art Maley
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