Month: August 2005

Tip of the day: Change your default browser

Internet Explorer is the default browser included with Windows XP. If you’ve chosen to use another browser – Firefox or Maxthon or Opera or Avant, for example – for everyday use, you can tell Windows that you want to use that browser as your default instead. To make the switch, follow these steps after installing the alternative browser:

  1. Click Start and choose Set Program Access and Defaults. (If this option is not available, go to Control Panel, click Add or Remove Programs, and look for the icon in the left column.)
  2. Click the Custom option and click the arrow to its right to display the list of options.
  3. Choose your newly installed browser from the list of available browsers. Leave the Enable access to this program option selected for Internet Explorer.
  4. Make any other changes you want to make (for your default e-mail program, media player, etc.) and click OK to save your changes.

From now on, your alternative browser should open whenever you click a link or enter a Web address manually. You’ll probably notice that IE continues to open in some instances. I’ll explain why, and how you can change this, in tomorrow’s tip.

Satellite TV growing fast

Lost Remote passes along details from a study reporting that satellite TV now reaches 27 percent of households. That’s up from 19 percent just a year ago, according to J. D. Power & Associates. Some of the growth came from people like me, who switched from cable. But most, according to Steve Kirkeby, senior director of telecommunication research at J. D. Power, represents new subscribers: “It is satellite that is picking up new subscribers, folks who’ve never had pay TV before. Their growth isn’t necessarily coming from cable.”

Another early Windows Vista review

Bill Husted of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is another clever writer, and at least he spends most of his early review of Windows Vista Beta 1 poking fun at his own mistakes. He buried the lede, though. This graf is near the very end:

The problems may involve one of two things: my own incompetence, or the fact that I’m working with a beta copy. In fact, Microsoft discouraged me from even loading this copy and asked that I wait for the next, more polished, beta release. This first beta is intended for software developers and technicians more interested in the inner workings of Vista than in fine-tuned features that will be part of the finished product.

But since Windows is used by so many people, it made sense to take an early look.

The review starts with his description of trying to install the software on three different PCs and failing each time. Horrors! What a terrible beta! Oh, wait:

When I finally tried it on a fourth computer at work, I realized that the disc was a DVD, not a CD. Have I mentioned I can be a bit dim-witted? None of the machines I used had a DVD drive.

The mainstream media is doing an excellent job of setting low expectations for Windows Vista.

Why do a review if you’re not going to fact-check it?

Hiawatha Bray reviews Windows Vista Beta 1 in today’s Boston Globe online. His snarky opener (with matching headline) praises Windows Vista for being pretty but lacking substance:

The new software sure is pretty. Maybe that’s why Microsoft recently dropped its rough-and-tumble working title of Longhorn. The new product will be called Windows Vista, a handle that calls to mind a ski lodge in the Rockies, instead of a bedroll on the Chisholm Trail.

Vista uses a new graphics engine called Avalon for drawing windows and icons on the screen. Windows feature translucent edges and hurl themselves onto the screen with a zoomy animated effect.

The toolbar with its familiar Start button is now black with glowing green accents, and the Programs listing has been revised in a way that keeps it from running all over the screen as you install more applications.

Still, after a few days’ use of Vista, it’s hard not to feel disappointed. Dolled up though it is, Vista still resembles good old Windows XP, only with a lot more bugs.

That’s funny. I could say the same thing about this review. The writing sure is clever and witty – too bad the review manages to make at least three major errors in the first page. Let’s review the list:

  • “Vista connected easily to the Internet, but wouldn’t link with other machines on a local network.” You have to open the Windows Firewall and enable Printer and File Sharing manually. This process will be automated in later betas. (And it’s the first place that a knowledgeable technical beta tester would look.)
  • “[I]t would not make friends with a Serial ATA hard drive — the kind found in most new computers. Good thing the test machine had an extra drive that uses the older parallel ATA interface, or you might not be reading this.” My copy of Windows Vista, on the PC I’m using to write this post, is installed on a SATA drive. Not every SATA controller is supported initially. If you’re doing the installation from scratch, you have to provide a storage driver disk (Windows XP drivers will work) during the first phase of the installation process. This procedure is documented in the readme file. To be fair, that document doesn’t mention SATA disks, but a Google search for “Windows Vista” install SATA turned up thousands of pages that describe the necessary steps.
  • “[In the new Internet Explorer] you can’t drag its toolbars around to rearrange them, a pleasant feature of today’s Internet Explorer.” Unless you right-click on the toolbar (or choose View, Toolbars) and clear the Lock the Taskbars option. Once you do that, you can move and resize any toolbar any way you like. This feature is in Internet Explorer 6, in fact.

It doesn’t get any better on page 2.

  • “Windows is notoriously easy to infect with rogue programs. Just ask Massachusetts workers who had to fend off last week’s attack of computer worms.” Yes, in a review of Windows Vista it’s important to mention problems that occurred with people running Windows 2000 who did not have a software firewall configured and who had failed to install a critical update.
  • “Such things rarely happen to Apple Macintosh computers, or machines running Linux, because their operating systems block unauthorized programs. Microsoft says its new security features will do the same, and make Vista machines as secure as a Macintosh. Not a moment too soon. An effective security upgrade might help Microsoft overcome its toughest business rival: Microsoft.” Ahem. Had they been running Windows XP Service Pack 1, which was released in 2002, they would have been immune to this worm. The additional protections in SP2 would have prevented even more of the problems Bray ticks off. The baseline work on security has already been done and is available today. Bray doesn’t mention the actual security features in Windows Vista, like the much greater support for limited user accounts and a two-way firewall planned for later betas.

And what else didn’t Bray mention? How about the new Explorer, with a Virtual Folders feature that makes it possible to find documents very quickly and to save those searches for reuse? It’s the single most innovative aspect of the Windows Vista interface, but it doesn’t get a mention. The Quick Search bar at the top of every Explorer window? Windows Parental Controls? Might as well be invisible. A slick new preview tool for pictures and videos? Labels for digital pictures? Missed it completely.

A Beta 1 release of any operating system is, by definition, rough and incomplete. The reason this is available to developers and technical beta testers and not to the general public is precisely because of the issues that Bray raised here. I assume that a PR person for Microsoft sent Bray this version of Windows Vista. Even an hour on the phone with a support professional would have helped him work through every one of his issues. Instead, Bray paints a misleading picture based on fundamental misunderstandings.

It’s going to be a very, very long year.

Tip of the day: Build your own external hard drive

For comprehensive backups, every PC owner should have an external hard drive. You can find ready-made drives at high prices, but I find it’s much cheaper and easier to build your own. If you can handle a screwdriver, you do this DIY project. You need two pieces:

  1. Any hard drive. A standard 3.5-inch ATA (IDE) hard drive offers the best value. I recommend starting with a new drive rather than recycling an old drive, but if you have a big enough drive hanging around and you’re confident that it’s reliable, feel free to use it. These days, you can pick up a drive in the 80 – 200GB range for well under 50 cents a GB if you shop carefully. You can use 2.5-inch drives as well, but they’re more expensive.
  2. An external enclosure kit. You can find these at just about any online computer parts retailer. Look for an enclosure that has its own fan, an external power supply, and USB 2.0 or FireWire connections. Enclosures for a 3.5-inch drive typically cost $18 and up. (This search at Newegg.com is a great starting point.)

Assembling the drive is a snap. Open the enclosure and attach the included data and power connectors to the drive. Fasten the drive to the enclosure case with screws (which should be included). Snap the enclosure shut, turn on the power, and plug the drive into a spare USB 2.0 port. You’ll need to format the drive using Windows XP’s Disk Management console (diskmgmt.msc), after which you can use it just like any other drive.

A word of advice: Check the pictures and reviews for external enclosures separately. I’m willing to pay a little more to get quality construction instead of cheap plastic, and I also appreciate the low noise levels of a ball bearing fan. A few extra dollars now can pay dividends later.

This week’s 20 random songs

You know the rules: Shuffle your entire music collection, click Play, and report the first 20 tracks, no matter what [*]. This week’s list is formatted as song title, artist, and album (in italics):

  1. Riding with the King, B.B. King and Eric Clapton, Riding with the King
  2. Night Is Left Behind, Yonder Mountain String Band, Live in Cincinnati 10-31-2004
  3. Rattlesnake Shake, Fleetwood Mac[**], Live at the BBC
  4. Forgotten Years, Midnight Oil, Blue Sky Mining
  5. Love O’Love, The Subdudes, Primitive Streak
  6. Mother, Sinead O’Connor and Roger Waters, The Wall: Live in Berlin 1990
  7. A’ Chuthag (The Cuckoo), Natalie MacMaster, My Roots Are Showing
  8. Silvio, Bob Dylan, White Dove (bootleg)
  9. What Is This Thing Called Love?, Wynton Marsalis, Standard Time Vol. 2
  10. Back in the High Life, Warren Zevon, Live in Nashville 4-11-2000 (bootleg)
  11. Fly Like An Eagle, The Neville Brothers, Family Groove
  12. Alive, Pearl Jam, Ten
  13. Mother Pigogne and the Clowns, Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker
  14. Lady Cab Driver, Prince, 1999
  15. Concrete Jungle, Bob Marley and the Wailers, On Stage
  16. Why Walk When You Can Fly, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Stones in the Road
  17. The Big Room, Neil Young, Archives Be Damned Vol. 4 (bootleg)
  18. Casey Jones, David Lindley and Warren Zevon, Deadicated: A Tribute to the Grateful Dead
  19. Seguro Que Hell Yes, Flaco Jimenez, Flaco Jimenez
  20. Five Women, Joe Cocker, Night Calls

[*] My one exception is to limit each artist to one track per list. If the same artist appears a second time, I skip over that track. This week, Bob Dylan and Yonder Mountain String Band and Bob Marley would each have had an extra track on the list otherwise.

[**] The original Peter Green lineup, not the bogus Nicks-Buckingham gang.

I’ve been working…

… on a couple of new projects. Exciting stuff.

I haven’t been on vacation, even though I’m inspired by the example some people set.

Oh, and Carl and I have finished every last ever-lovin’ bit of Windows XP Networking and Security Inside Out. It should be in your favorite bookstore before the end of October. It’s available for pre-order here.

Memento mori

The esteemed Professor Froomkin regales us with an anecdote that is all too close for comfort:

Self, for it is he: Yes, lots of cultural references get lost in class. For example when I talk about Nixon, to a good chunk of the class it’s as much history as if I were talking of Ulysses S. Grant.

Youthful colleague: I wasn’t born yet at the time of the Nixon administration.

Self: Might as well shoot me now.

Youthful colleague (twisting the knife): I wasn’t even born in the Ford administration.

Next month, I reach one of those milestones. Well beyond 40, far short of 60, I’m sure you can figure it out. I marched in demonstrations against Nixon in 1969 and 1970 and 1971, and I danced for joy when he resigned in disgrace in 1974. To learn that an entire generation thinks of him as some abstract historical figure … well … please pass the tequila, someone.