Windows Tips and Tricks

Download Firefox 1.5 here.

Walt Mossberg is a respected writer about consumer electronics for the Wall Street Journal. Unlike so many people that write about computers, his livelihood does not depend on staying on the right side of Microsoft. His point of view comes from what is best for the consumer. As a result, I take his opinions quite seriouisly. In his column today titled, “A New Gold Standard for PCs”, he says

We’ve been testing this new iMac, and our verdict is that it’s the gold standard of desktop PCs. To put it simply: No desktop offered by Dell or Hewlett-Packard or Sony or Gateway can match the new iMac G5’s combination of power, elegance, simplicity, ease of use, built-in software, stability and security. From setup to performing the most intense tasks, it’s a pleasure to use. And, contrary to common misconceptions, this Mac is competitively priced, when compared with comparably equipped midrange Windows PCs; and it handles all common Windows files, as well as the Internet and email, with aplomb.

In the past when I was asked about what computer an average person should buy, I have stuck with Windows PC models but now I am going to have to consider the iMac as a top contender. If I didn’t have so much software that will only run on Windows I would buy one myself.

One of the most useful developments in the last couple of years is the availability of flash memory drives at ever lower prices for ever bigger capacity. These handy little gadgets let you carry around large amounts of data and computer programs in your pocket (or around your neck , if that’s your desire). Recently, Staples had a 1 GB version for only $30. That was a special deal but still the prices are becoming amazingly low. I hate to tell you what I paid for a 16 MB thumb drive two years ago. For a review go to an article USB Key Superguide at PC Magazine. They review all the latest developments in the area. Here is an excerpt:

There was a time when USB keys—aka thumb drives, flash tokens, or keychain drives—were simple storage devices that helped you carry a file or two. The size was cool, but they weren’t really much better than a high-tech floppy disk. My, how things change. In this roundup, we cover all of the major types of USB keys that are now available: conventional flash drives, U3 flash drives, and small hard drives, all of which use USB 2.0 for fast data transfers.

The “sober” worm infestation first mentioned here with regard to phony emails purporting to be from the FBI or CIA has become a major problem. The Desktop Pipeline reports

The Sober worm outbreak that began in earnest Tuesday has been dubbed the world’s largest mass-mailed malware attack of 2005 by a Finnish security firm.

“The numbers we’re seeing [with Sober] are just huge. This is the largest e-mail worm outbreak of the year so far,” wrote Miko Hyppönen, chief research officer of F-Secure, in an online alert.

Meanwhile, Denver-based MX Logic said that Sober was accounting for one in every eight e-mails.

If only people would be careful of what they open, these big outbreaks would not happen. Here are some of the fake attachments:

Many of the messages arrive with fake From: addresses of the FBI, CIA, and overseas police agencies such as Germany’s Bundeskriminalamt, for example, to trick users into opening the attachment. Others pose as video clips of pseudo-celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie.

There is quite a lot going on right now in the area of Internet browsers. After running Netscape out of business (AOL bought what was left) and making Internet Explorer virtually the only browser on the PC (even AOL was using IE under its proprietary interface) , Microsoft sat on its laurels. With a monopoly and little threat of competition, Microsoft did little to upgrade IE except patch some security holes after the release of IE6 in 2001. Opera was a good alternative but you had to pay or accept ads and it was no threat to IE. Neither was what remained of Netscape after AOL abandoned it. Then Firefox came along and made IE look stodgy. After Firefox took around a 10% share of browsers in use, Microsoft finally stirred and is developing IE 7. Also, Opera changed its business model and is now free. Firefox is not waiting around, however, and version 1.5 will be released any day. Some results of all the activity in browsers can be read about in PC World, which reviews Internet Explorer 7 Beta 1, Firefox 1.5 Release Candidate 1, and Opera 9 Preview 1. They conclude

With version 7 of Internet Explorer, Microsoft’s developers have seriously overhauled the browser, giving it popular features such as tabbed browsing, as well as improved security, thus closing the gap between it and its rivals. But even though the new iterations of both Firefox and Opera bring mostly incremental changes, that’s still enough to keep them ahead of IE.

PC Magazine has reviewed the latest version of Firefox and they say

In the space of a roughly a year, Firefox has gone from relative obscurity to being the second most popular browser in the world. It’s got only about 9 percent of the Internet browsing market, but that’s incredible for a version 1.0 product, especially since the top browser, Microsoft Internet Explorer, comes bundled with new PCs. The release of Firefox 1.5, the first major upgrade since Firefox 1.0 came out in November 2004, is almost certain to drive adoption rates even higher.

Just as a car needs regular maintenance so does a PC. A series of articles on the subject can be found here. Fred Langa has also written a number of articles on the subject and his checklist for regular maintenance is here.

I try out a lot of system tweaks and new software and that means that I am frequently creating new System Restore points. Opening System Restore from the All Programs menu or from Control Panel is a bit tedious. So I prefer a shortcut. (I discuss the details of how to make shortcuts to programs on another page.) To make a shortcut to System Restore use the command:

%SYSTEMROOT%\System32\restore\rstrui.exe

Previously I discussed finding out what’s on your computer by using the Windows system tool System Information. However. some PC users find the application to be somewhat cumbersome and prefer a third-party program. One that is often used is the free program Belarc Advisor. This program creates an HTML file with all your system information collected and organized. One thing that I like about it is that it gives a comprehensive list of the software installed on your system together with licence numbers, product keys, and updates. It lists all the Windows hotfixes as well so it helps keep track of what updates have been applied.

Another program that is commonly mentioned is SiSoft Sandra. This is a diagnostic shareware program that exists in several versions. It contains benchmarking and testing features and is a much more extensive tool. It is aimed more at tweaking enthusiasts and is probably more than the average PC user wants.

You may have noticed on your phone bill a tax item for something called the Federal Universal Service Fund Surcharge. This money funds Internet access discounts to schools, libraries, and rural health care providers. If you ever wondered if the money was being usefully spent, an Internet Week article with the title given above says no. Here is an excerpt:

Backed by lots of lobbying by the high-tech industry, the federal government has spent billions of dollars over the last half-dozen years bringing Internet access to schools. Unfortunately, no one bothered to find out first whether the Web would make kids any smarter. Well, now we know. It doesn’t.

I wil resist the temptation to give a long discourse on how I think the American public school system has gone down the tubes in the last 50 years and just say that I don’t think it’s the Internet that flunks teaching.

I often help people with computer problems and very frequently it turns out that they know very little about what is actually on their computer. If you want to know things such as how much RAM you have, what hardware and software are installed, and many other interesting details about your PC, you can use a Windows accessory called System Information. On most XP systems it can be found in Start-All Programs-Accessories-System Tools. Another way to open System Information is to enter “msinfo32″ in Start-Run. This also works in Windows 98/Me computers.

When System Information opens, it will show you a system summary with a number of useful entries. It will also have detailed information about these major categories:

• Hardware Resources
• Components
• Software environment
• Internet Settings
• Office Applications (if installed)

There are also third-party applications for getting system information and I will mention some in a forthcoming blog.