The PC Informant » Software

Easy way to disable the keyboard

Vic Laurie — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:09:30 +0000

Do you have a cat that likes to jump on your computer keyboard? Or maybe there’s a three-year old in your house that loves to pound the keys when you’re not looking. Here is a little free application to turn the keyboard on and off. It’s called Keyboard Locker and it’s from the How-to Geek. It’ll let you leave your PC unattended for a few minutes without having to fear that strange things may be entered into your keyboard while you’re gone. Of course, assuming you use a USB connection, you can also just unplug the keyboard.

Another review of tax software

Vic Laurie — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:31:50 +0000

A previous post mentioned a review of tax preparation software. Another review can be seen at CNET’s Webware. This review also finds that the somewhat pricier TurboTax from Intuit is probably the best program overall.

Software that does its job in a small package

Vic Laurie — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:28:56 +0000

In the early days of computing, memory was very precious and every byte had to count. So programmers had to make their software lean, tight, and efficient. As hardware became much cheaper and RAM was measured in GB instead of KB, programmers got sloppier and sloppier. Software grew and grew without actually doing all that much more. However, there are still a few programmers who know how to write code with economy.

gHacks has come up with a list of 50 programs that run in 100 KB or less and still do useful things. They even run in Windows 7. That’s pretty impressive when you realize that there are a lot of programs that take 2, 3 or even 10 or more MB to do simple things.

The taxman cometh

Vic Laurie — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:31:21 +0000

In the US, April 15 is the income tax filing deadline and it’s not too soon to think about starting the onerous chore of putting together your return. Computer programs are almost a necessity for any but the simplest returns and the software reviews are beginning to appear. A new wrinkle in recent years is filing online and many people are starting to take advantage of this facility. The New York Times looks at the two most common programs, Intuit TurboTax and H&R Block At Home.

I have used tax preparation software for years and I wouldn’t be without it. I have tried both TurboTax and the H&R Block program (formerly known as Tax Cut). There is much I dislike about Intuit software practices in general but I have to say that I find TurboTax to be the best program.

IBM Lotus Symphony alternative to Microsoft Office

Vic Laurie — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 10:51:08 +0000

I have often mentioned Open Office as a free alternative to Microsoft Office but there is another good alternative from IBM. It is called Lotus Symphony and is now in version 3. It is in fact built on the Open Office code but has an IBM look. Larry Dignan discusses the new release of Lotus Symphony at ZDNet.

Adobe patches issued

Vic Laurie — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 04:06:01 +0000

Don’t forget to update Adobe Reader and Acrobat. Link is here.

Updated version of OpenOffice

Vic Laurie — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:40:04 +0000

If you want an office suite but don’t want to pay Microsoft prices, OpenOffice is a free alternative that I have mentioned before. It is more than adequate for most home PC users. The main complaint against it is that it can be slow. A new version 3.2 is out that is supposed to load faster. TechCrunch says:

Improvements in the latest version of OpenOffice are speed tweaks, new features, enhanced compatibility with other office software programs, bug fixes and the addressing of potential security vulnerabilities.

The download link is here.

For some discussion of using OpenOffice, here is a How-to Geek post.

The illusion of progress

Vic Laurie — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 10:25:03 +0000

PCs keep getting faster but how much improvement do you notice in the speed of what you actually do on the PC? Software keeps getting bigger and more complex. Programmers get less careful in writing software. So all the added hardware speed often doesn’t result in actual better performance. When all is said and done, how much faster is your computing experience? For example, I find that creating a Word document in Word 2000 on an eight-year-old Windows XP PC is at least as fast as doing the same with Word 2007 on a beefed up Vista machine. And Word 2007 is more confusing to use with lots of features that I never use. In fact, a lot of programs never get better with each upgrade; they just get bulkier with unused features and become more unstable. At ZDNet, Ed Burnette comments:

As computers got faster, some would argue that programmers got sloppier. For example, Excel running on today’s hardware is not really faster than Visicalc on MS-DOS even though the computers are 100 times faster. Like a gas, software expands to fill all available space and use all available CPU and disk speed. Users get more functions, but not better performance.

Consumer electronics in general is subject to the rush to add more features (which most of us may never use). At MaximumPC, Loyd Case comments on what he saw at the recent Consumer Electronics Show:

The other downside to this is that no product becomes fully baked. Instead of fixing problems – through firmware updates or recalls – the CE companies just push new gear out the door. No product ever seems fully finished. Hey, it’s okay of Gmail is in perpetual beta, but I don’t want to spend $2,000 on an HDTV that’s still not a fully finished product.

So here’s my message to the CE industry: slow down already. I’m game to move to the next generation of stereoscopic 3D gear, but take the time to fully work out the kinks in the technology, develop universal standards and provide some actual long term value to your customers.

Now I’m not denying that real progress has been made in many ways. Broadband is a lot better than dial-up. A lot of people like the fancy graphics of fast machines and viewing videos and doing other things made possible by faster hardware. But, in general, software has not kept pace with the hardware. How many programs take full advantage of multiple core processors? How many 64-bit applications do you see?

How entrenched mediocrity can persist

Vic Laurie — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:38:48 +0000

As far as I can tell, a large majority of computer professionals believe that the Internet Explorer (IE) browser is inferior to Firefox or the up-and-coming Chrome. Nonetheless, IE still claims over 60% of worldwide usage. IE usage has been slipping but the majority of the world still uses what is generally considered an inferior product.

How does a product widely regarded as inferior maintain such a large edge? The advantage to Microsoft of having IE built in and already on the desktop of the vast majority of PCs in the world cannot be overestimated. The EC has tried to do something about this but I doubt that it will make much difference. Great numbers of PC users associate the Internet with IE; in fact, many people I encounter think the big E on their desktop is the Internet. They have no idea what a browser is or how the PC uses one to see sites on the Internet. And even when they are aware of the function of a browser, they are much too intimidated by the idea of downloading and installing a different browser to ever consider anything but IE. Technically adept types who insist that anyone can install another browser are on a different planet. Yes, in principle, almost anyone could. But almost anyone could change the spark plugs in a car engine also and how many drivers do that? The practical matter is that ordinary people are not only afraid of many “easy” things about PCs but are also totally uninterested in learning how to do these “easy” things. They don’t want to have to constantly configure, update, install stuff or maintain their PC. They just want it to do a job. They have other things to do with their life besides struggle with a PC. So they keep on using a mediocre browser.

The remarkable showing of Firefox in obtaining about one-quarter market share in the face of the IE hurdle indicates to me that most of those who are technically knowledgeable are using Firefox or one of the other non-Microsoft browsers. Those still using IE are either average PC users who don’t know any better or don’t want to be bothered with new browsers or enterprise networks that got themselves locked into Microsoft products. In fact, many enterprises are still using the awful IE6 because they got hooked by Microsoft proprietary practices.

When does “free” mean free?

Vic Laurie — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:03:03 +0000

One of my pet peeves is freeware that isn’t. All too often a major site or blog will review some application and say it is “free” software for downloading.The trouble is that they play a little loose with the term “free”. It turns out that there’s more than one kind of “free”. Here’s an explanation of some of the distinctions to watch out for:

Trialware: An application may be free for a set period of time but it then expires unless you pay for it. Or it may be usable for a set number of times only. This timed expiration is not always clearly explained in a review.
Crippleware (AKA Demoware): A lot of freeware is free because many functions are disabled. A common example is anti-malware that detects but does not clean infections. If you pay, all the functions are restored.
Nagware: This is software that is fully functional but frequently pops up messages asking if you would like to buy the software. Once you get a license, the popups stop.
Shareware: This is the original way for small developers to sell their work. It is an honor system where you are supposed to try out a program to see if you like it and then pay for it if you want to keep it. Otherwise you are supposed to uninstall it. In any event, the software is fully functional with no expiration limits. Because many people don’t observe the honor system, a lot of shareware developers turned to nagware or trialware.
Adware: These are programs that display advertising on your computer as a way to pay for the software. Although there are many bad actors in this category, there are also perfectly good programs, whose ads are unobtrusive and only run when you use the program.