Archive for March, 2008
What to do when you can’t open an email attachment
(Because of rampant “borrowing” of posts by spam blogs, I am including the following: this post is originally from Vic Laurie at tips.vlaurie.com.)
Certain questions about using computers keep coming up. One of the recurring problems that home PC users seem to have is being unable to open certain email attachments. Now I could go [...]
How many Microsoft employees does it take to change a lightbulb?
In the previous post, I complained about the fact that Microsoft and other software companies keep adding features that aren’t used by most people. Actually, adding features to software at a big company is an involved process. Several years ago Microsoft programmer Eric Lippert described who’s involved in implementing even a simple feature:
One dev to [...]
Instead of “featuritis” let’s have simplicity
In order to keep selling more and more stuff, the computer industry keeps adding features. Microsoft piles them into Windows and Office and the rest of the industry does likewise. Most of these are never used by most consumers but everything continues to get more and more bloated in the effort to make you buy [...]
Karen Kenworthy updates for Vista
I’ve often mentioned Karen Kenworthy’s collection of free utilities for doing many useful things. She has now updated her collection for Vista. Whether you use Vista or XP, her utilities are worth looking at. Go to this link.
Possible version of Microsoft Office for the home user
Having said in my previous post that Microsoft Office is unnecessary for most home purposes, I should point out that Mary Jo Foley reported today that Microsoft may be developing a product aimed at the consumer market:
Microsoft has begun inviting selected testers to be part of a beta of a new, consumer-focused Office-family product, codenamed [...]
Most home PC users don’t need Microsoft Office
One of the mysteries of life is why so many people waste their money buying expensive software that they don’t understand and barely use. A case in point is Microsoft Office. There is no question that it has a lot of features and is a versatile and powerful program. But I doubt that most ordinary [...]
AMD looking shakier
I have commented before that consumers should hope for AMD to continue as a going concern so that Intel will have some competition. Unfortunately, AMD’s future is looking gloomier. Adrian Kingsley-Hughes writes:
So that leaves me worried about AMD’s future, and the effect that will have to the entire chip industry. Not because I have [...]
Apple analysis
There’s an interesting article at Wired Magazine about Apple and Steve Jobs. Actually, it’s mostly about Jobs, but as the article makes clear, Apple is Steve Jobs. Even confirmed Windows fans might want to read it.
Check the speed of your Internet connection
There are a number of sites that will check how fast your Internet connection is by downloading and uploading files but I like the one at Speedtest.net. They have a lot of available servers at different geographical locations.
Via Tweakhound.
Online help with buying a car
Consumers who are shopping for a car can be armed with a lot more information than they used to be. Thanks to the Internet, the bargaining battle between buyer and dealer is now more of an even match. At the Mossberg Solution, Katherine Boehret gives an overview of Web sites that will help you find [...]
You never know what you’ll find on Google Earth
In its fairly short lifetime, Google Earth has been used for many purposes. Among other things, features of the earth’s surface that were previously unknown are being discovered. For example, a new meteor crater in Australia has been found:
Geologist Arthur Hickman now has a meteor crater named after himself. He discovered Hickman Crater while looking [...]