February 2008 - Posts
.. even if you were not a computer user back in 1993/4. It was the first browser to incorporate pictures into a browser view.
The picture above shows the 'Windows' version which did not come available until 1994, being released for the Mac and Amiga at the same time.
By today's standards, modems were incredibly slow way back then, but the concept of being able to use a computer to find out about stuff which you didn't know that you didn't want to know overcame the speed issue, not that you would have known anything faster, of course.
Mosaic was a brilliant browser, and I was sorely disappointed when my ISP of the day dumped it in favour of Netscape Navigator, a browser I never particularly liked.
Internet Explorer appeared during the 'Windows 95' era, and became top dog eventually. It would store more bookmarks than anything else, the search was wide, and it was and remains free to all. I have used Internet Explorer ever since.
Now, IE is being challenged by Mozilla for top browser, but a browser is a browser at the end of the day, personal choice dictating which browser is used. The picture above shows IE7 displaying the Yahoo home page of 2008 for comparison.
As you can see, it is way more stylish than Mosaic, more color, more pictures and animations. The modems in use today are considerably faster and this new page will display in seconds if you have a high speed DSL or cable modem.
The only trouble is..
.. that 'everybody' does not have or can use a DSL or cable modem. While the technology behind the web page has marched on, Internet access for many people is still firmly set in the 'stone age'. The dial up service and modem is alive and well (the word 'well' is used advisedly here) for people who live in outlying areas where the cable companies will not venture and the consumer is beyond the 3.5 mile distance limit from their 'local' telephone exchange. Satellite is not overly reliable or cheap, and like the new breed of wireless distribution, requires line of sight which may require the erection of a tower costing around $4000 to set up.
Cable distribution is affected if there are too many users active on any one cable 'run', and users of DSL who are close to the distance limit get anything but high speed, regardless of claims made by the ISP. The answer to slowness according to the ISPs is to upgrade to their new 'supadupa' high speed service which will get over any slowness.. NOT..
Also, it does not follow that 'where there is cable TV, there is cable Internet'. Some cable companies flatly refuse to supply both, citing that the cable presently installed is not the right type, or that there are not enough potential users to make it worthwhile, or that they will 'have to ask the supervisor, could we please hold the line'.
You may think that an OEM is being 'cheap' by putting a recovery partition on a computer and NOT giving you original Microsoft CD/DVDs. They take up valuable hard drive real estate, but the content of a recovery partition is maybe more valuable than the space it occupies.
The recovery partition contains all of the data required to rebuild the operating system, maybe a few utilities like personal organizers and calendars (which you may have become accustomed to using), manufacturer support programs and, most importantly, the device drivers specific to your system which may or may not be included in an original Microsoft CD/DVD.
Some history..
In the past, recovery partitions have been accessed via a Recovery CD. Invariably, a driver CD would be supplied as well. Some users made the mistake of deleting the recovery partition, believing that the two CDs would replace everything on the computer as per when it was bought. More often that not, they didn't and couldn't, so users lost the the ability to do a factory refresh and the use of programs which were included on a 'value added' basis.
Older laptops were often supplied with a full CD recovery set of anything up to seven CDs because technology at the time was not up to making large capacity 2.5" hard drives, and a recovery partition was out of the question.
It was the responsibility of the owner to ensure safe keeping of whatever was supplied, and many simply didn't do this. The manufacturers, because hardware was changing and improving constantly, didn't want to manufacture hundreds, maybe thousands of 'spare' recovery sets for any one model, because they would go beyond the 'sell by' date way too quickly.
Present day..
Computers users are much more 'Internet aware' these days, so owners of older machines can surf to the half decent manufacturer web sites and appropriate drivers and, in some cases, software as originally supplied.
For new machines, full recovery partitions are the order of the day, accessed by pressing a function key at boot up. Dependant upon make, the user may be able to repair an installation, re-install drivers, re-install 'value added' software, or in worst cases only be able to institute a destructive restore. The onus on the manufacturer is to supply a means to restore the machine to working order by whatever means, so one can't assume that the manufacturer has given all of the repair or re-install options mentioned in the lines above.
Some more history..
Upgrade versions of an operating system have traditionally required proof of ownership of an earlier installation. Proof could be an incumbent operating system or a facility whereby one would place the earlier OS CD in the drive during the installation process of the new OS. The OS CD required for proof of ownership had to be an original or OEM Windows 9x/ME or 2000/XP CD. A recovery CD did not cut it, and just when you thought that it couldn't get any worse..
Back to present day..
.. it just did!! Vista upgrades require that the operating system being upgraded is installed and fully functioning. For sure, you can create a set of DVDs from which you can re-install your operating system and other stuff, but unless you know that it definitely did create a 'working' set, and/or that you will keep the recovery set safe and in pristine condition, removal of the recovery partition could lead you to the most far flung creek and not a paddle for miles.
My parting shot..
So how do you feel now about deleting the only reliable and fast form of recovery available to you? Is it worth deleting just for the sake of a few gigabytes of hard drive real estate? Bear in mind that you can buy additional hard drives for not a whole lot these days. For an outlay of $60, you can buy 80gb of brand new real estate (mounting kit and cables not included).
The SP1 64bit update found its way onto some systems after being released in Windows Update. It was meant for TechNet subscribers only, and has now been withdrawn.
The wait for public release goes on and is scheduled for sometime in March or maybe even April as demand will be high high high, and will make it onto your system as long as there is no conflicting driver issue.
I noticed that there were two 'optional' nVidia drivers (not the video kind) on WU recently which may be part of the driver incompatibility fix. I did install them and without issue.
The view through 'Mikes Window' has not changed, but look at the nice new frame.
I have been messing with different themes for this blog, looking for something more modern than the 70's 'dumb terminal' appearance, and of the choices available to me, I find this one more stylish.
The body text has a softer appearance than I would like when viewed on my LCD panel, but when viewed on a CRT type monitor, the text is better defined. If I adjust the text appearance, it starts to look quite 'bold' on a CRT.
Susan Bradley, SBS Diva and fellow Microsoft MVP, has also recently changed to this look too, and she sees it as moving the furniture around.
We guys don't move furniture around, do we, preferring to mindlessly head for and slump onto the couch after a hard day at the game in the knowledge that the couch was where we left it just hours before.
Anyway, the ITR window and ClustrMap survived the change, and I have managed to fix the MVP Official Logo to the wall. Beyond that, I know less than nothing about dressing up a Community Server Blog, so the minimalist look will have to do for now.
A judge has ok'ed the class action lawsuit against Microsoft regarding the 'marketing' stickers applied to the front of XP machines in the months leading up to the release of Vista.
We hear that some 'big noises' within the Microsoft empire had misgivings about rather vague 'meaning' of the sticker. One has to admit that it is a little vague, bearing in mind that there is more that just one Vista version.
Your Choice
OK. You are in the market to buy a PC during the last quarter of 2007 and you see the sticker on the front of a variety of machines. You also see a sticker which proclaims 'Vista Premium Ready' on the more expensive machines.
What does this tell you?
Do you not hear alarm bells? Do you not feel the desire to ask about the difference? Does the wording of the stickers not scream to you that the more expensive machines will run Vista better, and with more features evident?
What has happened to the concept of personal responsibility/accountability?
C'mon!!! What did you expect for $600 plus free keyboard, mouse, speakers and nasty, flimsy, re-badged, bottom of the line Lexmark printer!! That wasn't a deal. You gotten exactly what you paid to get, a collection of the cheapest parts and peripherals at a price you couldn't turn down, and now you complain?
It is the job of any marketing department to make the product look as good as it ever can, and you know that some of the claims will be a little wild. It is your job to cut through the marketing hype and see the actual reality of what you are getting.
A cheap lunch is a cheap lunch no matter how you dress it up. You put in decent ingredients and it isn't a cheap lunch anymore. This is NOT rocket science. It is common sense.
The only time you ever get a good deal is when being sold yesterdays model, and unless you get top of the line yesterdays model, it is not going to stand up to the rigours of today or tomorrow.
You know something has worked well when newsgroup 'nay sayers' fall silent or suddenly change sides.
Windows XP had problems when first released. Make no mistake, it was a quantum leap forwards especially for Windows 9x/ME users, but it was dogged by incompatibility issues. Anybody who can't remember this either has a short memory or wasn't around at the time. Windows XP really came of age after the SP2 update which, it has to be said, was a whole lot more than just an update roll-up.
The first thing you may notice is that the SP1 update has eaten up a great deal of hard drive real estate. It is quite a large file in itself but when it runs, it backs up data which is replaced with new stuff, and it doesn't clean up automatically after installation.
Fortunately, there is a small file called 'Vsp1cln.exe' included in SP1 which can be manually run. Do an advanced search for the file, remembering to check the box to include non-indexed and hidden files. When found, double click on it and a small 'command' window will appear. It will ask you if you want to continue, and will warn you that SP1 will be a permanent fixture if you answer 'Y'.
Go on.. Press Y. See, that didn't hurt at all, did it? When it has finished, and you can tell when it has because the command window will just disappear, run Disk Cleanup.
You should now see an end to reports where Vista is telling you that it will take 10 years to move a few megabytes of data from one place to another. In fact, your computer will seem more sprightly across the board. If it isn't, you still have other issues, maybe bad drivers or less than optimum hardware and software kicking around, or there just aren't the physical resources available.
Vista works better with 2gb RAM, just as XP worked better with 512mb and more. Also ensure that the partition size is ample for Vista to move around. Look to setting aside 60gb. This will give space enough for page files, games, Office suites, and future updates etc. Forget the resource requirements of earlier versions of Windows. This is Vista, and Vista should have what Vista needs.
From what I have experienced on my own system, coming out of sleep can still sometimes be slow. To be honest, it isn't really an issue, and I put it down to the queue of processes waiting to execute. I feel sure that, after hours of sleep, my IMAP mail account in Outlook 2007, endeavouring to sort junk mail from good mail, is a prime contributor to the hold up. You may well have a process similar which holds your system up too.
Windows Explorer still presents windows which do not hold 'view' settings, but there is a way to overcome this. Take a look here..
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/70819-windows-explorer-folder-view-settings.html
OK. For me, its business as usual, running Vista full time. Apologies XP, my old friend, I am glad to have known you but you look tired and old these days.
For those of you who are suffering withdrawal since the Vista backroom boys took away the visual part of defragmentation, you can come out now.
The nice people at Diskeeper Corporation have just what you need, and prices start from only $29.95 for the Home version.
http://www.diskeeper.com/defrag.asp
I know what you are thinking. The nice people at Diskeeper Corporation are bound to extol the virtues of their own offering but is it all that they claim?
Well, I have been running Diskeeper 2008 since it was first released. It is a breeze to install, and once on the system, you will not even notice it working. Hang on. I will just check that it actually is still there.
Yes, here it is. Diskeeper 2008 really does work very quietly in the background, and you will not even notice the HDD LED flashing away like mad when the computer is at idle. If you do not believe me, download a trial version and see for yourself.