Favorite Files

1. Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
2. Mozilla Firefox for Windows (v3)
3. Norton Removal Tool for Windows 2000/XP/Vista
4. Picasa for Windows
5. Pidgin for Windows
6. The GIMP
7. Ubuntu

Recent Posts

1. 
   Review - AOL for Windows

   9.5 Refresh Beta 17ab (0.4337.125.1) (Sep 27, 2009)

   beta17 isn't bad, for what it is. I have it working on Windows7 RTM satisfactorily, although it's the first AOL software I've used in a long time.
   Folks like me, who can't stand moving ads, generally dislike this software, and use either Thunderbird or Firefox and webmail with something like adblock plus and noscript.

2. 
   Review - Mozilla Firefox (v3.5) for Windows

   3.5 Beta 99 (Jun 9, 2009)

   b99 feels a little faster than beta 4. (although that might be due to some 3rd party extensions not being updated yet.) Adblock+ and NoScript goth working, which are the most important ones for me.

3. 
   Review - CCleaner

   2.19.900 (May 1, 2009)

   I put this on every Windows machine I work on. (That would be in the hundreds.) I have yet to find it cause any problems at all. The latest version has a selective System Restore point removal tool...very nice!
   I do un-installs from within this program, then run the registry cleaner to remove remnants the uninstalled program's uninstaller didn't remove.
   I'm addicted to this wonderful utility!

4. 
   Review - Stellarium for Windows

   0.10.1 (Feb 3, 2009)

   Nice program for star gazers! I like the ability to change locations and to choose what I want displayed.

5. 
   Review - Mozilla Thunderbird (v2)

   2.0.0.19 (Dec 30, 2008)

   I use .18 currently, can't find the .19 build on the Mozilla site. The only beta I see there is the nightly build, 3.0beta2. That seems to work OK here.

6. Comment - New York: Intel's agreements to lower CPU prices led to overcharges

   2.0.0.19 (Nov 6, 2009 - 1:05 PM)

   You hit the nail on the head. The complaint is that they were not competing fairly.
   
   If anyone bought computers from people who did not have exclusive Intel deals, and had an Intel cpu in it, they got overcharged. And AMD, the real victim in this, lost the ability to sell volume at a time when they had some faster and better cpu's than Intel. (Remember, the Opterons were a big hit, yet were unavailable through Intel only manufacturers. At the time, Intel only kept a positive cash flow from those exclusive deals.) Come to think of it, wonder if he'll also tag Microsoft for doing the same type of deals, not allowing any other OS to be sold, or else the per machine Windows fee went up.

7. Comment - Flashback 1990: The debut of Windows 3.0

   2.0.0.19 (Nov 4, 2009 - 2:06 PM)

   Then, like me, you remember with great joy when CRT monitors started being used with computers, speeding up output dramatically from the formerly slow teletype!

8. Comment - Can Linux manage updates and upgrades more easily than Windows?

   2.0.0.19 (Jul 23, 2009 - 8:56 PM)

   Nicely written. But the Apt process might sound a little scary for someone who has never seen it. In Ubuntu, adding a program can be as simple as this: (For those who don't wish to type ANYTHING, not even a portion of a program name.)
   Click on Applications
   Click on Add/Remove
   Click on the desired program Category
   Scroll down and select the program(s) you wish to install
   Click on Apply changes.
   
   I've found installing and maintaining a Linux system is generally faster and easier than a Windows system. (Especially if you don't have a bunch of driver disks!) Being able to do all the updates from one place in Linux is so much easier than having to go out to each and every programmer's site for updates in Windows. I've heard others ask Microsoft programmers why Windows can't offer the same convenience to users, but the ones I've spoken with just didn't seem to understand.
   
   I hope Microsoft will eventually emulate the ease of Linux maintenance.

9. Comment - Media goes crazy over Amazon deleting '1984' from Kindle, but 99-cent ebook was illegal copy

   2.0.0.19 (Jul 18, 2009 - 9:16 AM)

   The "editors note" link at the top of blog takes you to the NY Times article from the 17th, which describes the fact that Amazon was selling these and other books which apparently were illegal to sell, and removed those others previously.

10. Comment - Chrome, Firefox, IE8 accelerate 12% or more in Windows 7 over Vista

    2.0.0.19 (May 29, 2009 - 10:35 AM)

    I'd also be interested in the XP numbers.