PowerPoint presentations are a popular way to pass around information. I know quite a few people who use PowerPoint to create amusing photo slide shows, for instance. How do you view a presentation if you don’t have a copy of PowerPoint installed? Use the free PowerPoint Viewer 2003.

This is a very simple, lightweight program that does an excellent job of displaying full-featured presentations. This update (just released today) is the first major update to the viewer in years, so if you’re using the older version you might want to consider replacing it with this one.

Brad DeLong is a wicked-smart economist. But when it comes to PCs, well… He thinks Microsoft Is Evil:

Memo to self: warn all family members that just because Microsoft Internet Explorer can *display* .pdf documents is no reason to expect that Microsoft Internet Explorer will be able to *print* them.

If his relatives can’t print PDF files, there is probably a good reason. My father-in-law routinely screws up his Mac and has to call on various family members to fix it. That doesn’t mean Macs suck, only that computers are inherently complicated.

I will extend the same offer to Prof. DeLong that I offer to Prof. Froomkin: free Windows help, any time.

In a comment to the previous post, Hellsbellboy (great name!) asks:

What’s the difference between Computer Administrator (which I run under) and just plain ol Administrator?

I have 1 account on my Windows XP Pro, which I name Hellsbellboy, but if i go say into Safe Mode I get a Hellsbellboy (which is set up as Computer Administrator in the User Accounts) and a Administrator account.. which is best to use? Should I bother with the Hellsbellboy and just always run as Administrator?

No difference. All versions of Windows XP include a built-in account called Administrator. In Windows XP Professional, you set a password for this account when you first set up your operating system, although the user name is only visible on the logon screen under certain specific circumstances. In Windows XP Home Edition, you cannot log on to this account interactively; you can only do so in Safe Mode or using Recovery Console. We discuss this subject in detail in Windows XP Inside Out Second Edition. In the Deluxe Edition, look on page 249 for the section, “What Happened to the Administrator Account?”

You can create additional accounts that are in the Local Administrators group. These accounts are identical in all respects to the built-in Administrator account. The only difference is that the built-in Administrator account cannot be deleted (although it can be renamed).

In the UK, Microsoft has launched a fascinating new program under the Genuine Product Verification label. If you purchased a computer that was pre-loaded with a counterfeit copy of Windows, you can send them the CD and a statement showing where you purchased the computer. Here’s what happens next:

If your copy of the Windows XP Home or Professional Operating System is genuine we will return it to you along with the documentation you submitted. If your copy of the Windows XP Home or Professional Operating System is not genuine we will retain it along with the documentation you submitted. If we retain your submission, we will replace your software with a genuine copy of Microsoft Windows XP Home or Professional Edition (as appropriate).

The goal, of course, is to gather evidence against counterfeiters without punishing their victims, who no doubt bought the computer in the good faith belief that the software on it was legal. I wonder if a similar program will be available in the USA anytime soon?

Tom Koch has forgotten more things about Outlook Express than most Windows experts ever learned. When I have to deal with an Outlook Express issue, I always turn to his superb Inside Outlook Express site first. So I was particularly excited to see a new article from Tom on Microsoft’s Expert Zone this week. The Other E-Mail Threat: File Corruption in Outlook Express does not disappoint.

It is a rare day on the Internet that we do not see some scary warning about the latest e-mail threat from viruses, worms, and Trojan Horses. But there is another e-mail threat that can be just as damaging as a virus and yet is rarely discussed in computer media. That threat is file corruption, a somewhat nerdy term for damage to a file that prevents a computer program from being able to use it. For Outlook Express users, file corruption can often mean the disappearance of entire folders of saved e-mail. In this article we’ll look at the common causes of corruption, how to avoid it, and how to recover messages if it occurs.

Well written and full of good advice. Excellent reading!

My RSS feed just passed along news of a Critical Update for Windows XP. When I clicked the link, it took me to this page: Download details: Critical Update for Windows XP (KB887822). So far, perfectly normal. But then I saw a yellow box in the center of the page, with this text:

This download is available to customers running genuine Microsoft Windows. Please click Continue to begin Windows validation.

Windows Validation? First I’ve heard of this. I clicked the link and found another link to a Why Validate? page that sorta kinda explains what’s going on.

This is separate and distinct from Windows Product Activation. So far, it’s not a required step. You have to go through the validation screen, where you are prompted to install an ActiveX control on your computer. You can choose not to validate and still get the download.

It looks like this is the next step in Microsoft’s anti-piracy program. The broader effort, called Windows Genuine Advantage, was very quietly announced last month. So quietly, in fact, that I missed this report from Microsoft Monitor:

Under the Windows Genuine program, Microsoft would require an extra step before users would be able to use the Download Center–that’s assuming the program evolves as conceived. At Download Center, Microsoft provides updates to all its software. Users with product-activated Windows would go through a fairly seamless process to the Download Center, since Microsoft had already collected anonymous information associated with the operating system and hardware. Apparently, both mechanisms, activation and validation, would deposit an ActiveX control on the PC. Microsoft hasn’t said whether Windows validation would be required to download its other products running on the operating system.

Users that had not activated–and that could be a whole bunch of people given that most PCs ship without need of the process–would have to go through an anonymous process to validate their copy of Windows, basically by the Certificate of Authenticity key. Once validated, users would have access to Download Center. If not validated, downloads would be restricted to critical updates.

Hmmm. I know a lot of people who are opposed to installing any ActiveX control, and it’s hard to convince them to trust this one, no matter how many assurances of safety and anonymity you provide. I sympathize with the goal of stopping piracy, but it cannot interfere in any way with the goal of making security patches readily available for all versions of Windows.

I’ll keep you posted as I learn more.

Update: I went through the validation process using Firefox. The validation routine required that I download and run a very small executable program – no ActiveX required. After the program ran, it popped up a small box with a seven-character alphanumeric code in it. I pasted that code into a matching box on the validation page and that was it.

I can’t wait to read all the protests about how intrusive and offensive this process is. Wanna take bets on how many of the people screaming the loudest never actually go through this process?