Windows

I finally got to try Windows Vista

April 4, 2008

I scored a refurbished Gateway computer from Woot last week, which I intend to use as a server. I was kind of excited, because although I intended to wipe the drive and install Ubuntu (Windows Vista is nowhere near stable enough to be a good server), it came with Windows Vista Home Premium. Since I [...]

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Back up your computer only when you are not using it

April 3, 2008

A fair amount of the people I talk to about backup say they forget to do it, or they can’t figure out–or never get around to setting up–the built-in backup options. If that sounds like you, check out IdleBackup, a utility for backing up your computer when it is sitting idle.
I still recommend making a [...]

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Linux beats Windows and Mac OSX in hacking context

March 29, 2008

From PC World:
Vista, MacBook Out–Only Linux Left in Hacking Contest
. . .
The MacBook Air went first; a tiny Fujitsu laptop running Vista was hacked on the last day of the contest; but it was Linux, running on a Sony Vaio, that remained undefeated as conference organizers ended a three-way computer hacking challenge Friday at the [...]

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Back to Windows for a while

March 26, 2008

After just over two weeks using only Ubuntu Linux for all my day-to-day computing needs, I am back to Windows. I don’t know what happened for sure, only that ATI does a terrible job of writing Linux drivers for their graphics cards. As I mentioned before, there is only one thing that does not work [...]

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Linux-only experiment, day 2

March 8, 2008

AMD/ATI just released an updated driver, v8.3. And they put out a Linux version, which enabled me (finally!) to use my dual-monitor setup in Ubuntu Linux. And so, today I began an experiment in seeing how long I can go without booting into Windows.

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Ouch! Microsoft fined $1.35 BILLION by the European Union for anticompetitive practices

February 27, 2008

The fine of 899 million euros is for Microsoft’s failure to comply with a 2004 ruling and the “unreasonable” prices Microsoft charged developers for the information they needed to make software compatible with Microsoft products. Now the question: will Microsoft just pay up and go on with business as usual, or will it open up?

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Oh, you thought you owned your copy of Windows Vista?

December 9, 2007

The Windows Vista end-user license agreement (EULA) is a 14-page PDF document. (The EULA for Windows XP Pro SP2, by contrast, looks to be only a couple of pages.)
This is probably the most concerning part of the EULA:

The software is licensed, not sold. This agreement only gives you some rights to use the software.

Oh, you [...]

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Two great tools for speeding up your system

December 6, 2007

Once you have checked for spyware and run the PC Decrapifier, and your computer is still running slow, it is time to take a good look at the programs you have running all the time. Some you can see in your system tray. Others run invisibly in the background, hogging system resources and slowing down [...]

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Virtual desktops in Windows

October 29, 2007

Users of Linux and now Mac OS X (with the new Spaces feature) will be familiar with virtual desktops. I find them to be invaluable an productivity aid. In short, virtual desktops allow the user to spread open windows across two or more “virtual” desktops. For example, I usually have my personal windows (browser with [...]

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How to switch from Windows to Linux

October 24, 2007

From PC World, detailed instructions on making the switch (and for keeping Windows on your computer, just in case), along with some compelling reasons to give it a try. (Of course, there is no reason not to throw the LiveCD in your disc drive just to see what Linux is like.)

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