windows

No quick fix for Windows Home Server bug

Back in December, Microsoft dutifully notified the (few) people using its Windows Home Server software that a bug in the product could corrupt files.

Typically, when Microsoft posts a bulletin outlining specific problems in its products, as it did in this case, a fix is usually right around the corner.

Not so for Windows Home Server. According to a bulletin posted this week, the bug will not be fixed until June, when the company posts a patch. That means, in essence, Windows Home Server will be on the market for a year before the fix comes.

When certain programs such … Read more

Bug yourself with fancy phone notes

Sure, the iPhone and all those whiz-bang Nokia crowd-pleasers have users in their thrall, but that doesn't mean you should feel bad with the something else you've got. While searching for cool software for a Palm Treo 650, I discovered a productivity oldie that has yet to crumble into the dust of antiquity.

For Palm, and Windows Mobile 5 and 2003, BugMe Notepad is a handy, feature-rich note-taking app that comes with a companion for annotating screenshots pretty much how you like. For some, that means typing text in various colors. For others, importing a photo and scrawling … Read more

Firefox 3 beta, memory usage, and overlooked extensions

The big news today in the software world is a new beta version for Mozilla Firefox. The world has been sitting on Version 2 for almost a year and a half now, but the open-source foundation is making sure that Version 3 is fully baked before releasing a final version.

The latest beta release promises "more than 900 enhancements from the previous beta," but a large number of those improvements are back end and mostly invisible. Two significant features in the fourth beta that I appreciate are: an improved password manager toolbar that replaces the old semifunctional dialog; … Read more

Survey says! Mac users happy, Windows users sad

In a January 2008 survey by Changewave Research the obvious became even more obvious: Mac users are very happy with their Macs, while Windows users live in the doldrums of computing Hell.

Surprising? Nah. The percentage of new home computer buyers who reported being "Very Satisfied" with their chosen operating system was as follows:

Mac OS X "Leopard" - 81 percent; Windows XP Home - 53 percent; Windows XP Pro - 51 percent; Vista Home Premium - 27 percent; Vista Home Basic - 15 percent

Perhaps this is just a reflection of choice. Meaning, those who … Read more

First Look: Viigo for Windows Mobile, BlackBerry

If you think of your typical RSS reader or widget as a stream, Viigo is a river delta.

Unlike many services that feed headline news from a from a preselected widget or manually-entered URL, Viigo--available for BlackBerry and Windows Mobile--gathers news channels into a dedicated client that looks great on your phone. With some saving and functions similar to e-mail, and an extensive library of additional news sources, the free application is the most complete RSS-reading environment for smartphones I've seen so far. Tune in to the video below to get a taste of how Viigo can simplify … Read more

Windows 98 and XP make sweet music

I thought I would start Tuesday off with some lighter fare. Some of you may have seen this, but there is a YouTube video of music composed using the start-up sounds from Windows XP and Windows 98.

I'm sure it's not the biggest challenge facing Vista, but it is a small example of people finding utility from and an affinity for Microsoft's older Windows versions. What do you think, is it an anthem for XP's enduring quality or a swan song for an operating system on the precipice of extinction? I've included the video below. … Read more

Yes, my grandma can run Ubuntu Linux

Last week Lenovo lent me one of its X61 ThinkPad laptops so that I could give Ubuntu Linux a try. Having had a bad experience with Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop a few years ago, I had sworn off desktop Linux and determined not to return.

A week into a new trial with Ubuntu Linux, however, it's clear that desktop Linux has come a long way. I found it extremely easy to use, including when I had to install a program (Skype) that wasn't included in the supported applications list. This is an operating system that my grandma could (and, in fact, did) use.

This isn't to say that my week with Ubuntu Linux was uneventful. I had a few struggles, which I'll detail below. These struggles, however, were almost entirely due to running Ubuntu on unsupported hardware, and not any fault of Ubuntu (or Linux) itself.… Read more

Sprint releases EV-DO Rev. A upgrade for HTC Mogul

The HTC Mogul is about to get fast...real fast. Today, Sprint released a software upgrade that brings an EV-DO Rev. A upgrade to the Windows Mobile smartphone, making it the first such handset in the United States. EV-DO Rev. A is an evolution of EV-DO which boosts download speeds from the 400Kbps-to-700Kbps range to 600Kbps-to-1.4Mbps range, while upload speeds will average about 350Kpbs to 500Kpbs (compared with EV-DO's 50Kpbs to 70Kbps). In short, you're going to get faster Web browsing, e-mail, and downloads--that is, if you're lucky enough to live in a coverage area.

According … Read more

A better way to defrag your hard disk

In the long list of odious chores, defragmenting your hard drive is right up there with flossing your teeth and washing your dog--or flossing your dog's teeth, for that matter.

There is little agreement on how much--or even whether--defragmenting improves your PC's performance, but having files closer together on the disk reduces the amount of movement required by the drive's mechanical parts. This should make it last longer, though such factors as operating environment and the quality of its components probably have a greater impact on its life span.

Regardless of whether it will actually improve your … Read more