Intuit has caused more than its share of problems in the last few years. Its products were not designed correctly for security; it did a poor job of preparing for Vista; and there have been some nasty bugs and poor design decisions.

Now a new bug has been reported when an update for Quickbooks 2008 is installed. An error message is displayed that might be resolved if you click on the correct button. Reportedly other people won't have the button to click that might help get by the error - and in the worst case, Quickbooks will have to be reinstalled.

Here's a description of the issue, and here's Intuit's technical notes about it. I don't know whether this will affect a small number of people or whether it's an issue for everyone running Quickbooks 2008. Computing in 2008 really is a pain in the neck, isn't it?

Labels: software

posted by bruceb at 2/28/2008 10:38:00 AM | permalink

Here's a little something that's just perfect for those of you on prescription medication for your compulsive tendencies.

We're all running more programs simultaneously than ever before. The items on the task bar at the bottom of the screen are arranged more or less in the order that programs were started, which means they're not always consistent. That bothers some people. You know who you are.

Here's a small free utility named Taskbar Shuffle that lets taskbar buttons be rearranged freely. When Taskbar Shuffle is running, taskbar items can be dragged and dropped into order. It doesn't remember your preferred order after the computer restarts but it's easy enough to put things back into place. It's small and simple and runs on Windows XP and Vista.

No more excuses for sloppy task bars! Let's get those buttons into alphabetical order!

While you're staring at your task bar, think about whether you can benefit from one of my favorite tweaks. The task bar can be two or three rows high, which gives more room for Quick Launch buttons, more room for taskbar buttons, and a clock display that includes the day and date.

It only takes a second (but be careful, it's possible to drag the task bar into terrible positions).

• Right-click on an empty part of the task bar and uncheck Lock the taskbar.
• Drag the top border up one row.
• Drag the divider between the Quick Launch buttons and the task bar buttons into a position that uses the extra space effectively.
• Then lock the taskbar again.

(Taskbar Shuffle spotted by friend and colleague Brian Dent/CompuDent Systems!)

Labels: software, Vista, WinXP

posted by bruceb at 2/27/2008 12:59:00 AM | permalink

Not to be missed - a demonstration of great technology used to present a huge amount of information in an enlightening way. The New York Times has an interactive chart titled "The Ebb and Flow of Movies: Box Office Receipts 1986 - 2007," a graphical look at box office receipts for two decades. The visual display conveys a huge amount of information and you can click into surprisingly deep information about each movie. Very cool!

Labels: Internet

posted by bruceb at 2/27/2008 12:05:00 AM | permalink

Microsoft has upgraded Windows Live Skydrive, its service offering free online file storage. You now can store up to 5Gb of documents, pictures and other files, using an intuitive interface - even a convenient tool for dragging and dropping files from your computer into the online folders. Here's the announcement of increased storage space in the new release.

At the moment there's no option to get still more storage space but everyone expects a "premium" service soon offering more space for a subscription fee. There are three other minor issues:

1. The maximum size of each uploaded file is 50Mb. No videos!
2. You can't drag and drop an entire folder with a single click. You can drop a group of individual files, but not folders and subfolders.
3. Skydrive does not integrate with your mail program. You can send an e-mail link to files in your Skydrive folders but your mail program won't automatically store a file attachment in an outgoing message on Skydrive like the YouSendIt plugin for Outlook does.

Like most of the new Microsoft services, Microsoft has built Skydrive on its Windows LiveID authentication system. Don't be intimidated! It's just an e-mail address and a password! You'll need to sign in with a free Windows Live ID, and other people will need a Windows Live ID to retrieve a file that you share with them.

• If you're using Windows Live OneCare, you have a Windows Live ID! It's the e-mail address and password you used to purchase OneCare.
• Here's the best place to check your existing Windows Live ID credentials or set up new credentials.

Here's what I wrote about Skydrive when it started beta testing. The design is really compelling in its simplicity - I've come to prefer Skydrive over some of the other services I've tested.

In particular, I've spent a fair amount of time testing AOL's XDrive service, which also offers 5Gb of free storage space. (Here's some comments about XDrive.) Uploads and downloads have frequently been absurdly slow and the interface is clunky.

Today XDrive introduced a new bit of software based on technology from Adobe that was rolled out Monday morning with great fanfare. Adobe AIR allows programs to run on your computer that are completely linked to online services without being confined to the borders of Internet Explorer. That sounds trivial but developers are happy to get more flexibility in program design. The XDrive software looks pretty good but that won't matter if they haven't improved the transfer speeds.

Labels: file_sharing, Microsoft, web_services

posted by bruceb at 2/26/2008 12:25:00 AM | permalink

Skype is wonderful free software for making online phone calls. With a headset and a fast Internet connection, you can be talking to another Skype user anywhere in the world for free. Here are some notes about how it works and what's involved to make calls to conventional phones.

By default, Skype loads an add-on for Internet Explorer that ought to be simple and useful. The add-on scans each web page to identify phone numbers and highlight them, so a Skype call can be placed to the number with a single click.

I've now run into several cases where Internet Explorer appeared to freeze or time out - and the Skype add-on was the culprit. Disabling it allowed the computers to resume normal operation. It doesn't always happen but I'm on the alert for it now after two or three experiences.

Remember, Internet Explorer 7 has easy tools to deal with add-ons - look under Tools / Manage Add-Ons. I'm cautious about add-ons now after too many poor experiences.

Labels: IE, phone, software

posted by bruceb at 2/25/2008 01:32:00 AM | permalink

Here's a five minute film demonstrating Android, Google's new operating system for mobile phones. Very impressive!

Labels: Google, mobile

posted by bruceb at 2/22/2008 11:23:00 AM | permalink

Walt Mossberg, influential tech columnist for the Wall Street Journal, wrote this article about Windows Vista Service Pack 1. I can't make any sense out of what's in people's heads these days. Here's his overview:

"Based on my tests of Vista SP1, I believe that for most average consumers, it will likely be a nonevent, and for others it will be disappointing. Many of its benefits are aimed at corporations and power users, or are under-the-hood fixes that are hard to discern. For mainstream users, it adds no significant, visible features to Vista, and changes little or nothing about the way the operating system looks and works.

"Also, SP1 doesn't resolve some of the most annoying flaws in Vista, including slow start-ups and reboots, and a security system that nags you too much and requires add-on anti-virus software. I guess these problems will either never be fixed fully or will have to wait for SP2. . . .

"I wouldn't rush to grab it and I wouldn't expect much from it."

After that putdown, he goes on to acknowledge that Service Pack 1 includes "hundreds of small fixes and improvements, including some performance gains," he installs it without any issues on three computers, and he describes improved startup times and wildly improved file copying speeds. This is "little or nothing"?

His complaint is that Microsoft doesn't include antivirus software? Mossberg is a smart guy who probably stayed awake during the last ten years of Microsoft's antitrust battles. What is he thinking? His other complaint is that his five-year-old HP printer still doesn't work right. That's HP's fault, for god's sake! It has nothing to do with Service Pack 1.

As Susan Bradley, SBS Diva, points out, it's like seeing a movie and wondering if a critic saw a different movie, because that's the only way to explain how different your reaction is.

So let me speak up from the trenches: I've only installed Vista Service Pack 1 on two computers so far, but I see immediate, significant improvements in performance and reliability. I'm not the only one. The feedback is all positive.

Here's a more reliable overview of the changes in Vista Service Pack 1, and here's the detailed description from Microsoft.

Labels: computers, Microsoft, software, Vista

posted by bruceb at 2/22/2008 12:23:00 AM | permalink

I work with small businesses - typically with 1-25 workstations, 1-2 servers, and no onsite IT staff. The business owners know it's important to stay safe and up-to-date, but there's little desire to have me hanging around doing routine audits.

Theoretically a business with a server can manage all the workstations centrally but the reality is a little more complicated. Centrally-managed antivirus/malware products are aimed at companies with hundreds or thousands of computers and full-time IT support employees. They're complicated and demanding and quirky.

Last week I installed AVG's "Anti-Malware SBS Edition," with "reduced administrator workload and security costs" for small businesses running Small Business Server 2003. The first installation manual has 212 pages of mindbending details about how to roll out the program to clients and maintain the database showing their status. There were more manuals after that. Worse, I found questions I couldn't answer within the first couple of hours, when everything was supposed to be going well. I don't have the luxury of endless time to experiment! I can't spend dozens of unbillable hours testing programs to locate something that I might roll out once, especially when it's all too likely that each one will be quirky or buggy or difficult in unforeseen ways.

Perhaps I was soured by experiences a few years ago with Symantec Antivirus, the enterprise version of its antivirus program. It started as a complicated but usable program, but later versions turned into a nightmare of licensing bugs and increasing instability. The wasted time on the phone with tech support was intolerable for me, much less for the clients footing the bills.

I've tested other enterprise antivirus products. Avast has a nice suite for SBS that installs with a minimum of fuss to protect the server and integrate with Exchange Server, but it also requires rocket science before the workstations can be centrally managed. (And the workstation software featured not one but two stupid icons by the clock, and one of them was constantly spinning around for no reason. Think that doesn't matter? Answer my phone for a while. It matters.)

I feel stupid and slow. I can't find any centrally-managed anti-malware protection for my clients that makes me feel confident that I understand it and can support it.

It's also important to get security updates installed on workstations in small businesses. Microsoft has developed Windows Server Update Services to meet that need; it's included with recent releases of Small Business Server. I've deployed it several times - and so far I've regretted it. It's yet another big, complex service that requires enough attention to outweigh any value I've gotten from it. It adds complexity to service pack installations, it has its own demands for updates and new versions, and all things considered it's a heckuva lot easier for me to walk around to 7 or 8 computers and see if they need updates.

That's why most of my clients are set up with Windows Live OneCare on their workstations. Most people can maintain it themselves; I keep track of who is likely to overlook a yellow icon and check in on them every once in a while. I've had to fix a few failed OneCare upgrades lately, but on balance it works better than the more complicated solutions.

Today Microsoft announced "Windows Live OneCare for Server." There has been no prior notice of any such product and the information so far is sketchy. It may only run on Windows Server 2008; it may not include any workstation management. But it's possible that it will bring centralized management onto my small business servers without unnecessary complexity. I'm hoping for the best!

Labels: computers, OneCare, SBS, security, software, Vista, WinXP

posted by bruceb at 2/21/2008 01:05:00 AM | permalink

Windows Live OneCare is the only software that takes responsibility for all four of the important housekeeping functions. When its icon is green, I'm confident that a computer is protected against viruses and adware/spyware and all security updates are installed for Windows and for other Microsoft products. Regular disk maintenance - defragging and temporary file cleanup - is a nice bonus.

Each step away from OneCare exposes another icon down by the clock that requires attention. For example, no other vendor tries to take over the Windows Update process. It's not hard to be alert for the gold shield when updates need to be installed manually - but each additional icon demanding attention makes it easier for people to look away from all of them.

OneCare has had bugs and annoyances in the last year. Sadly, as near as I can tell, it has had fewer problems than any of its competitors. Norton 360 and McAfee Total Protection are similar products - subscription services for virus and adware/spyware protection, plus backups and miscellaneous other features. Norton 360 is praised highly in reviews - Editor's Choice!

There's an odd disconnect between the reviewers and the real world. Let me give you a screen shot that tells you everything you need to know about Norton 360 (left) and McAfee Total Protection (right), from CNet's review pages this evening:

(It's worth it to click on the pictures and go read some of the user comments - almost all contributed by viciously angry people. I wear a badge on my shirt. When I approach a computer with a Norton product installed, the badge turns black. If I had a canary, it would die as I got close. Stores can't stock Norton products because toxic waste oozes from the boxes and eats through the shelves. Norton products make computers smell bad. Look, just don't buy Norton stuff, okay?)

If you are an attentive computer user, you have a wealth of options!

• Many vendors make good antivirus programs - TrendMicro, AVG, Panda, Avast, and more. (AVG's free antivirus program is particularly highly regarded.) Watch the program icon for a change in shape or color.
• You can either get integrated adware/spyware protection with the antivirus coverage, or depend on Windows Defender (included in Windows Vista, or free for Windows XP). A little castle icon appears when Windows Defender needs attention.
• The gold shield for Windows security updates is obvious and easy to deal with.
• Backups can be done in a hundred ways. Online backup services are becoming ubiquitous. Vista's built-in backup options are top notch. Storagecraft ShadowProtect Desktop Edition does some extraordinary things. Some backup programs require manual intervention, others work automatically; some notify you when backups are missed or don't finish correctly, others make it a fun surprise.

If you cover those four tasks - virus protection, adware/spyware protection, security updates, and backups - you will be happy and my phone will not ring. I don't care how you do it!

If you want that to be done in the simplest, least intrusive way, then Windows Live OneCare is still the program that does the most with the least intervention.

Now be careful out there!

Tomorrow: some additional considerations for small businesses.

Labels: computers, OneCare, security, software, Vista, WinXP

posted by bruceb at 2/20/2008 12:44:00 AM | permalink

There are four housekeeping functions that require attention on every computer.

1. Antivirus protection

2. Adware/spyware protection

3. Installation of security-related updates

4. Backups

If those functions are performed, you can use a computer to accomplish wonderful creative things. If they are neglected, you will likely end up disgraced and humiliated, possibly bankrupt, maybe the tragic victim of a violent crime.

Some people would add other items to that list. Firewall protection - I consider the built-in firewall in Windows XP/Vista to be adequate. Spam filtering, defragging, parental controls - all potentially useful but you can keep a computer running without them.

There is no solution that fits everyone. There doesn't need to be. If you have any product from any major vendor in any of those categories and you give it whatever attention it needs, you are adequately covered in that category.

Each of you has acquired different levels of technical expertise and different abilities to maintain programs running on your computers. Each of you has a different tolerance for popup bubbles and update warnings. If there is any generalization, though, based on long experience I assume that most people do not want to pay attention to computer housekeeping chores.

My job is to help match my clients with products that will do those jobs reliably with the least need for me to intervene. Over the next couple of days, I'll tell you what that means for individuals and small businesses.

Labels: computers, OneCare, security, software, Vista, WinXP

posted by bruceb at 2/19/2008 12:06:00 AM | permalink

I wanted to copy a DVD. The copy would go on the airplane and I wouldn't have to worry about damaging or losing the Netflix copy. Simple, eh?

DVDs can't be copied without running software to defeat their copy protection, but programs like Slysoft AnyDVD are readily available. Apparently SlySoft is based somewhere exotic that the movie industry can't reach - Slovenia or Detroit or Mars or something like that. I have AnyDVD running on my computer - the icon down by the clock looks like an animal with a horrible head wound and it's fond of popping up reminders every 48 hours or so that there's an upgrade available (the latest one adds "support for a new type of structural protection as found on "Beste Zeit", R2, Germany," I kid you not). But AnyDVD does its job - when it's running, DVDs can be copied.

I popped in the movie and started Nero 8 Ultra Edition. Like Roxio Easy Media Creator, it's a wildly overstuffed lumbering monster of a suite of badly integrated programs. Some pieces are valuable and work beautifully; some are half-baked and a few are absurdly out of place. ("Nero Scout - Database Technology"? You don't want to know.) I had studied the list of programs for an hour to figure out which pieces should be left out before I pressed "Install."

Can't copy the disc directly. It's a dual-layer disc, more than 7Gb of data. Blank dual-layer discs are expensive and I've never been sure if my DVD recorder can record on them anyway. I've got the more typical 4.7Gb blanks.

Nero Recode lives for these moments. It can take a DVD and recode it so it fits a 4.7Gb disc, with virtually no loss of video quality. Beauty! Let's go!

It takes a long time to work with video. Nero Recode took an hour or so to chew through the movie, then spit open the drawer and asked me to insert a dual layer blank DVD.

Hmm. That kind of missed the point.

I spent a while making arbitrary changes to the manual settings for the size of the disc and the subtitles and the like, then tried it again. Same result an hour later.

Nero releases updates for its suites as often as everybody else but I already had the latest version - heck, it's been an eternity, almost two months since version 8.2.8.0, and by the way, when did software version numbering morph into three decimal places?

Okay, try the option to encode only the main movie, not the menus or special features. An hour later, Nero asks for a plain old DVD+R. Joy! Twenty minutes later the drawer opens and spits out my perfect copy, right up until I read the error message that says the whole operation was a failure because it could not close the disc due to a "PMA update failure." Google google google. Either defective media or outdated firmware in the DVD recorder or bad software, but maybe not any of those things.

Try it again at a slower burn speed. An hour and twenty minutes later, another error message.

If I had spent this much time watching the movie, I wouldn't have needed the copy because I'd have been able to act it out for the kids.

Instead of recording the movie directly, let's park it on the hard drive, one of the options in Nero Recode. An hour later, a lovely VIDEO_TS folder is waiting for me and it's the work of a moment - well, thirty moments or so - to start up Nero Express, add the VIDEO_TS folder, and successfully burn a copy of the movie onto a 4.7Gb disc.

Magic! Grab some art from the web and print the label on the disc. Many of Epson's inkjet printers have a special tray to print on the top of blank CDs and DVDs, as long as you use the "Epson Print CD" software, which is just as quirky as everything else. Printable blank CDs and DVDs are reasonably easy to find if you look for them but of course there are ways for them to be inconsistent. Grab the nearest CD or DVD - is the inner circle around the hole clear or printed? You can buy the blanks either way, and of course you'll have to track down a setting in the software to make that adjustment. I don't know why I always forget that conventional CD/DVDs are 12cm with a 43mm opening, while the ones that allow printing in close to the hole have a 20mm opening. Where is my head some days?

Was it worth it? Sure, it was a lot of effort, but I'm sure parents will appreciate the happiness that filled my heart when my 15-year old took off the headphones on the plane so he could lean over and say, "Dad? The voices in the movie? They're not coming out when the people move their mouths. It's like a badly dubbed Japanese movie. Wow, that's weird - it just skipped a scene. Look, dad, it did it again." It was a special moment.

Labels: video

posted by bruceb at 2/18/2008 12:56:00 AM | permalink

Labels: bruceb, humor

posted by bruceb at 2/17/2008 12:57:00 PM | permalink

Windows Home Server includes Windows Desktop Search 3.1 - connecting remotely to the WHS shows it sitting down on the toolbar. It's not obvious why it's there - you'd never do a search directly on the WHS console, right?

It turns out to be yet another smart bit of technology built into Windows Home Server. Copy all your home or office documents, all your music, all your photos to shared folders on the server. They'll automatically be indexed by the copy of Windows Desktop Search on the server.

Now connect to a share on WHS from your Vista computer, and do a search in the upper right corner. Your Vista computer will do a search of the WDS index on the server, delivering results in a fraction of a second. Nice!

Labels: Home_Server, search, Vista

posted by bruceb at 2/13/2008 12:01:00 AM | permalink

If you are using Microsoft Office 2007 and Windows Desktop Search 3.1, then you should install a small update to the search program. The "2007 Office System Converter: Microsoft Filter Pack" will allow Windows Desktop Search to index the new file formats in Office 2007 - .DOCX, .XLSX, .PPTX and the rest.

You're using Office 2007 if the programs have the new ribbon toolbar across the top.

Windows Vista includes Windows Desktop Search 3.1 - you should install the update.

If you have Windows XP, then you're running Windows Desktop Search 3.1 if you have this toolbar down next to the icons in the lower right corner of the screen.

Download the filter pack from this page. Most of you will download and install "FilterPack86.exe".

There's a tantalizing reference on the Microsoft page about the filter pack. There's a list of programs that work with the filter pack, including "Windows Desktop Search 3.1, Windows Search 4." A year ago there was some speculation about Windows Search 4 - even a screenshot - but nothing since then, until this passing reference. Hmmm . . .

Labels: Office, search, Vista, WinXP

posted by bruceb at 2/12/2008 12:18:00 AM | permalink

February 11-15

I'll be available by phone, probably only occasionally most days until late afternoon. I'll be checking e-mail and responding in the evenings.

In an emergency, give my trusted colleague Mikel Cook a call at (707) 827-1524.

I'll be back on Monday morning, February 18.

Please be gentle with your computers while I'm gone!

Labels: bruceb

posted by bruceb at 2/11/2008 12:18:00 AM | permalink

I've written before about Microsoft OneNote 2007 but it bears repeating: this is the best program you've never heard of.

OneNote collects your notes and lets you find them later. It keeps anything you want to put into it - scraps of information, web links, photos, videos, files, whatever. You can keep things organized or create a freeform jumble and search for things later (everything is immediately searchable). You can share notebooks easily. The more you use it, the more useful it becomes.

You can download a free trial! Use it for a month. Some of you will find that you're opening it in the morning along with Outlook and leaving it open all day.

Don't take my word for it. Here's a collection of links collected by a member of the OneNote team from blog entries and media coverage of OneNote in the last month. The people who use it tend to become evangelists. The world is full of cruddy software but OneNote is one of the programs that just works!

• OneNote is awesome - sharing documents with yourself and others
• Seeing the light about OneNote - Been in Paris at a Management Excellence course.  All of our group work was on OneNote.  Ick!  I really HATE OneNote.  I don't use a tablet PC so I just didn't "get" it about OneNote- how good it was...  But, in the spirit of the event, I started using the pre-populated workbook for the course.  Eureka!  I'm a convert.  Even the guide to OneNote now makes sense.
• So I've been talking to educators in my little frozen corner of the world and they've been telling me about educational hotness that they are using.  MS Onenote came up.
• I've noticed that people seem to either be fanatics about using OneNote, or they've never tried it.
• I know a few people who'd kill for onenote for os x
• Man, what a cool program this is. I discovered it when a customer of mine asked me about it. I did some research and realized that it was a program I?ve been wanting for a long time.
• Using OneNote is such a pleasure; I tell people about it all the time. It is so versatile and can contain anything I need in one spot.  Thanks for a great product. If you ever want an extra tester, please let me know.
• I love OneNote and I store all kinds of things in it...I decided to move all my OneNote notebooks to a 4 gig USB drive that's attached to my keys... all the notebooks will sync between each PC and the USB drive.
• I downloaded <OneNote>  to help my husband figure it out when he got it with MS office home edition for his new laptop. After about 15 minutes, I realized it was going to change my work habits profoundly.
• I added OneNote 2007 recently and it's really been improved -- lots of new features and integration with the other Office 2007 apps and IE to easily move information over to OneNote. OneNote's new indexing and search within images is utterly fantastic.
• WELL I AM IMPRESSED - MICROSOFT ONENOTE: Well I have been working in Microsoft's OneNote quite a bit today -- I am definitely and quickly becoming a convert. I am very impressed with it so far, OneNote is very sophisticated and usable!
• Fed up with the backs of envelopes? Try OneNote instead

Labels: Microsoft, Office, search, software

posted by bruceb at 2/07/2008 12:48:00 AM | permalink

Adobe Photoshop Elements is one of the best programs available for cataloging and editing photos. It's not the simplest - some people will prefer the simplicity and elegant design of Windows Live Photo Gallery, or one of the online photo services. But Photoshop Elements is the program to use if you care enough to spend some time keeping your photos organized, or you're confident enough at a computer to grow into powerful editing tools. Photoshop Elements has simple editing screens for red eye removal and lighting effects but also has almost all the tools found in the grownup version of Photoshop used by professionals.

The full set of tools is intimidating and famously difficult. I've got two resources for you.

There must be hundreds of web sites devoted to Photoshop - tips, tutorials, formal and informal training, and more. Luxa is a good place to start - a deep collection of tutorials, articles, tips & tricks, and videos for beginners and experts alike. It's a little overwhelming, but heck, so is Photoshop. Unlike many Photoshop tutorial sites, Luxa is free.

Before you dive in, you might want to watch a couple of these short video tutorials, even if you don't own Photoshop. In addition to being informative, they're drop-dead hilarious. Not a secret - Boing Boing has been featuring these for the last few weeks. Well worth a look!

You Sucjk At Photoshop - Vol. 1: Distort, Warp & Layer Effects

You Suck At Photoshop - Vol. 2: Covering Your Mistakes

You Suck At Photardshop - Vol. 3: Clone Stamp & Manual Cloning

You Suck It Photoshop - Vol. 4: Paths & Masks

You Suck At Photoshops - Vol. 5: Select Color Range

Labels: photos, software

posted by bruceb at 2/06/2008 12:38:00 AM | permalink

Microsoft announced that Windows Vista Service Pack 1 has been released to manufacturing, causing a flurry of excitement in the online press and blogs. The service pack includes bug fixes, compatibility updates that provide better support for thousands of programs and devices, and performance improvements - increased battery life, reliability, and increased network speed. Here are some specifics about what is included in the service pack.

Microsoft also hopes that Vista Service Pack 1 will provide a psychological boost for Vista. You can expect lots of commentary - subtly prompted by Microsoft - explaining that enterprises will begin to adopt Vista now that the all-important first service pack has been delivered.

If you're wondering where to get Vista Service Pack 1 - well, you can't. This is one of those announcements that doesn't actually translate into anything that matters yet. Vista SP1 will become available online for tech support people . . . eventually. Early March? Nobody wanted to give a specific date. It will be added to the Windows Update system in March. Or April. It might be April. Here's more details about the timeline.

One of the reasons for the uncertain date is a lingering issue - the service pack mucks up computers with certain unspecified drivers. (The drivers are "problematic," in Microsoft-speak.) The service pack will be blocked if Windows Update finds one of those drivers until Microsoft figures out a way around the problem.

To me, that sounds a lot like Vista Service Pack 1 isn't done yet, but there's no way to judge whether that's fair because Microsoft isn't supplying any details about the problem. Perhaps this only affects twelve people but Microsoft feels obliged to mention it in the spirit of full disclosure. Or maybe Service Pack 1 can't be installed on any computer with an HP printer. Who knows?

I'm optimistic. Install Vista Service Pack 1 when it becomes available. You'll have a happy computer and you'll be more productive and Mac owners will look sheepish and avert their eyes when you enter the room. I'm just sure of it. Maybe.

Labels: Microsoft, Vista

posted by bruceb at 2/05/2008 12:27:00 AM | permalink

The Windows Live OneCare team continues to find new ways to shoot themselves in the foot. There have already been a number of bugs and annoyances that have been poorly handled. Better communication would have prevented some of the negative media coverage in the past, and now they're doing it again.

Over the last couple of months, a new version of OneCare was automatically installed on the computers of all OneCare users. There was no notice by e-mail and the random timing of the rollout made it impossible for me to advise people effectively. The upgrade made the program slightly more complex but the real problem was worse - the upgrade required decisions about the new features immediately without sufficient explanation or context. A wrong choice - designating a network connection as "Public" instead of "Home or Work" for example - left computers cut off from shared folders or printers with no obvious fix. I've had a frustrating few weeks cleaning that up.

On January 31, again with no notice (not even any notice to the online forum where OneCare is discussed), another minor update was automatically installed. Again, computers had to be restarted. Ignoring the notice to restart was perilous - if ignored for more than a few hours, the computer forced a restart. At no time was any explanation offered about the upgrade or the restart.

The January 31 update has created its own flap. With no notice - again, not even any notice to the dedicated advisors working the OneCare online forums - OneCare now goes scary Red if AdAware or McAfee Site Advisor are installed on the same computer.

Those two programs have a long history and many people have had one or the other of them coexisting quite happily with OneCare. The imperious red icon leads to a message demanding that they be uninstalled, with no explanation.

People are irritated. If you want additional protection and believe it's necessary to supplement OneCare with another program, you should be able to do that, right?

The answer is, not necessarily. The problem isn't that the instructions aren't appropriate - they might be. The problem is that there was no warning ahead of time, and yet again the OneCare team isn't responding to people's questions in a timely way.

Here's the most active thread on the OneCare forum about AdAware, and here's the thread about McAfee Site Advisor. There has been no official response. There's reason to suspect that the OneCare team acted without researching these programs deeply. Naturally there is speculation that Microsoft is just trying to avoid competition, not reacting to any real problem at all. People are getting no answers but there's the OneCare icon glowing red - the color that should only be used when there is a grievous, system-threatening problem with security.

The worst thing is that there may be a plausible reason to heed the warning. It is well-known that only one antivirus program can run on a computer; they are built in a way that almost guarantees conflicts if two run simultaneously.

Adware/spyware scanning is starting to take on some of the same characteristics. OneCare and the paid 2007 version of AdAware both run as services - a deep level where conflicts may occur. The OneCare team may well believe that it is safer not to run AdAware and OneCare together; like all conflicts, not everyone will experience a problem but some people might.

McAfee Site Advisor does a different kind of work, but the OneCare advisor on the forum quite reasonably pointed out that McAfee also designates OneCare as a conflicting program for all McAfee programs, without exception.

Why not make an announcement ahead of time, in a clear way and with a warning that OneCare will begin to treat the programs as a sufficient threat to change the color of the OneCare icon? Why generate the press that will undoubtedly use this as an excuse to throw more bricks at OneCare?

I need a security suite to believe in - something that will make you safe, something that will take care of itself so you don't have to call me. OneCare has been so close that things like this are maddening.

Labels: computers, Microsoft, OneCare, security, software

posted by bruceb at 2/04/2008 02:16:00 AM | permalink

Microsoft has made an unsolicited bid to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion. Yahoo has been struggling to find a place in a world dominated by Google; it just spent a year analyzing its position and coming up without any particularly strong ideas to turn things around. In the past Yahoo has turned away from conversations about a Microsoft acquisition but desperation and a flagging stock price may drive this deal forward now.

Here's Microsoft's announcement and here's a New York Times article with more background. The media and blogosphere will be going nuts over this story - there will be lots of speculation and gossip and rumors to read.

Labels: business, Microsoft

posted by bruceb at 2/01/2008 11:58:00 AM | permalink

Windows needs to restart your computer to finish installing critical updates.

OneCare will restart your computer in 1 hour 56 minutes.

There is a new Adobe Flash update ready to install. Continue?

HP Software Update. Java version 6 update 3. Acrobat 8.1. Updates are available for QuickenQuickbooksGoogleToolbarAnyDVDMediaCenterLogitechSetpointWindowsMessengerWindowsMobileSkypeNeroUTorrent. And on and on and on and on.

You don't know what's safe to install. I can't keep up. Vista adds an extra click so it's obvious that a change is being made to the computer, but that doesn't help if these are coming too fast to understand. Instead people carry away the impression that Vista's "User Account Control" is intrusive because all they want to do is agree as quickly as possible with whatever comes up on screen.

Our best protection against the bad guys is our common sense. If we are so fed up with a barrage of updates that we click OK without understanding or thinking, we have lost our most important level of security.

And I'm fed up. I'll bet you are too.

There's no answer and no end in sight. The best we can do is slow down before clicking the OK button. In the end we have to trust these companies to have our best interests at heart and not use an update as an excuse to become more intrusive. If you're not completely positive about that, don't click OK.

And for those of you restarting your computer today after getting an update to OneCare - it's a bug fix, nothing more. Under some conditions OneCare was using up too many CPU cycles. Now it won't.

Sigh.

Labels: computers, security, software, Vista, WinXP

posted by bruceb at 2/01/2008 10:45:00 AM | permalink