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Vol. 7, No. 15
4-12-07
1 My laptop becomes my Vista victim: The Program Install Adventure
2 Vista inhales
3 Google Darfur, MGM on iTunes, Gates in orbit, Opera pre-fetch
4 Freeware aplenty
5 Dial-up line sharing
Before I get into the “banging head against wall” experience of trying to install pre-existing programs I must point out a really annoying oddity with Vista. I just checked for critical updates and found four so naturally I installed them. After install I was prompted to restart, just as was common in XP, ME and 98. I clicked Yes and the laptop started shutting down, then abruptly stopped to ask if it could close the Task Scheduler, which was in the process of advising program components to shutdown. Ummm, yeah, isn’t that the point of Task Scheduler starting the shutdown process?
I was also asked if Windows Update could close. IT TOLD ME TO SHUT DOWN IN THE FIRST PLACE! If nothing else, Vista is bad for the blood pressure.
Regardless, installing software was anything but enjoyable, hence the point of this diatribe.
Since I first wanted to protect the computer I went for my antivirus program, Panda Platinum 2007. Like with every install, I was prompted that some unknown program was attempting to access the computer. I can see how this increases security since many programs install secretly from the Internet (think rogue spyware tools) and even from CD (Sony rootkits) so I’ll not complain, I’ll just click Allow.
One thing I will complain about is that this dialog box didn’t open on the screen. I noticed after a couple of minutes of waiting for Panda to actually do something that there was a new entry on the Taskbar, so I had to actually look for and open the prompt rather than it popping up where it was easily seen.
So after choosing Allow I was prompted that the program was blocked due to compatibility issues. Neither Platinum nor Titanium currently work with Vista so I installed straight Panda Antivirus, which went on fine.
Next up, Spybot and Ad-Aware. Surprisingly both installed without a hitch. After updating all three security apps I moved on to other software I use frequently.
For Office I just went straight for 2007. Since it was written for Vista I figured it best to get it out of the way and move on.
The latest versions of Adobe Acrobat Reader and Adobe Flash Player loaded without issues, as did an older Adobe Photoshop 6.0, but Nero products proved much more difficult.
Since I need a lot of flexibility when making CDs and DVDs I have to have a good program and the old Nero 5 has been my favorite for years. I was surprised and pleased when I started the install and it actually seemed to be going well, but at the end I got a message that it didn’t install properly.
Oh well, the latest Nero 7 Essentials should work fine. Uhuh. As a matter of fact, this proved to be the most frustrating load so far, since the program installed but gave the same improper installation message as 5, but I couldn’t uninstall it. I actually had to download a universal uninstaller from Nero in order to get rid of it, and Vista had to be chained and padlocked to get through the process.
$80 and a severe headache later I successfully installed Nero 7 Ultra Edition Enhanced (odd how only the most expensive product worked with Vista ;)) so I can now burn bootable and mixed mode CDs and DVDs.
I won’t continue to beat a dead horse with every little glitch but let me say this. I’m lucky and already have access to multiple versions of a ton of software and still I had to buy one to get any use out of Microsoft’s latest offering.
Home users with older programs should avoid Vista like the plague. That year-old DVD burner or scanner likely wouldn’t function properly, if at all, after an upgrade. Even software pre-installed on new Vista PCs from some major manufacturers doesn’t always work. I’ve already seen this on Dells with the Sonic burning program.
Business users should exercise even more caution. Proprietary programs like Pro-Law, Abacus, Atrex, Wintotal, Orthotrac, Dentrix etc. will doubtless have serious problem with Vista.
If you’ve never touched a PC in your life you may like Vista, since getting used to any new piece of equipment has a learning curve. If you’re used to XP or even 2000 or 98 at home or at work, already own a printer or camera or have some software that you really need to work, stay far away from Vista.
Hopefully a year from now Microsoft and hardware manufacturers will have worked out most of the bugs.
And pigs will fly, but that’s another story…
Kevin Mefford, Editor
Terry Wise
Tech News of the Week
Satellite pictures of razed
villages and squalid refugee camps
scattered across Darfur can now be viewed by a global audience after
Google Earth put the images online:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/12/wdarfur12.xml
MGM has become the latest major film studio to offer downloadable
movies on Apple's iTunes Store:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/technology/12itunes.html
Is Bill Gates hankering to leave planet earth? The Web is rife with
speculation to that effect, but it's so shaky at the moment that it's
not even clear whether the notion should be dignified by being called
a rumor, let alone a possibility:
http://blogs.pcworld.com/techlog/archives/004076.html
Opera today released Speed Dial, a feature that allows a user to see
functional "snapshots" of up to nine different sites:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2113075,00.asp
Copy us on the good stuff---stuffed inside a Soyuz capsule ;-)
Matthew Dattilo
thepcgurus@gmail.com
http://mattstodayinhistory.podshow.com
Download of the Week
It is our custom to offer a free download in
this newsletter each week and we fully intended to do that this week, but when
we began to play with “Hidden Utilities XP” we realized that it was best suited
for the more advanced users amongst our readers. So, we looked around the website and found a
veritable cornucopia of utilities, applications, screensavers and useful
articles.
This site, http://camtech2000.net/index.htm ,
should have something for everyone. We
recommend spending some time at Camtech to read the two articles featured on
the home page. Be sure to bookmark the
page. Then, take a look at the downloads
that are offered. Everything is free
except the third party 3-D Aquarium screensaver. While it is a gorgeous screensaver, be
advised that it will eat resources like a 90-pound Rottweiler eats an
unprotected London Broil.
Art Maley
Email Question of the Week
Q: Do you know of something that can be
purchased to connect to
telephone around 60.00 dollars to be able to talk to someone on
telephone and have computer on same time. I have dial up and just one
line. A dell rep told me I have the kind of insurance on my pc that
a dell tech could correct problems in my pc if I ever have any, giving
them control over the telephone.
Although with all of your help for years, I don't have many
problems anymore.
A: There's no hardware that I know of that will
anything close to
what you want. It's basically a limitation of the phone line, since
it can only maintain one connection at a time.
There's some software called Modem on Hold that works with certain
V.92 modems to basically "flash" the phone line using call waiting,
if
you have that service, so you can use the phone for a voice call
without having to disconnect the modem but you won't be able to surf
or check email while the connection is "on hold".
Sorry to be the bearer of bad
news but it's basically impossible
to use the Internet and the telephone over one phone line
simultaneously :(
Kevin Mefford
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