Living with Windows 7

So I finally took the plunge and installed Windows 7 RC as the operating system on my main computer. The verdict? Fantastic! Obviously there are a lot of things to get used to, but overall it is very good.

I imaged my drives and reformatted the C: drive, did a clean install and then set about re-installing drivers and software. Not too painful on the whole and it was the perfect opportunity to clear out the junk I never used.

Good Points
*Taskbar previews of running programs
*Aero snap-to when using 2 windows (brilliant!)
*Ultra quick startup and shutdown
*One click shutdown

Bad Points
*ATI Radeon graphics card only went to 1024 x 768 resolution. Swapped to a cheap NVidia model and immediately got 1280 x 1024
*A couple of programs (Terrapin FTP and Quicken accounts) play up under Windows 7 - Terrapin just won't work, Quicken doean't always behave. Not really surprising as they were both written around the time of Win 98. Alternatives are easy to come by so not a big deal
*Ctrl + Alt + Del brings up a menu to start Task Manager. There is probably a way to cause that key combination to start Task Manager immediately, I just haven't found it yet.
*Firefox uses too many resources (up to 90% CPU and 100,000MB+ memory. This is my only big niggle but I'm working on it.

So overall I'm really pleased with it - Microsoft certainly have a winner here!

Windows 7 RC is Coming!

Windows 7 RC (Release Candidate) is due out 5th May, according to Brandon LeBlanc on his blog. This is earlier than I expected (September would have been my guess) and is most welcome news.

I have been testing Windows 7 on a spare machine and have been very impressed. Enough to have decided to take the plunge and install it when it is released, replacing Windows XP. The massive Beta testing program has been hugely successful. At the busiest time, Microsoft were recieving a feedback report every 15 seconds - that's over 40,000 reports in that one week!

Looks like I'm going to be busy sooner than I thought.

Just Phill in the Phorm

Phorm seems to be stirring up a right controversy. Phorm is a way of serving up relevant advertisements to surfers. Not a bad thing, you may think. But consider how it does this.

How much privacy intrusion is needed to serve an advert tailored to someone? Certainly a history of surfing habits would be the minimum. And perhaps records of online purchases. And why not get the IP as well. Then store all that data for when it's needed.

I put this on a level with cold callers. If I want to buy stocks and shares, windows, conservatories, electricity and so on then I will research the subject myself. I would never buy from a stranger on the phone offering these sevices. The same with online purchases - I research the subject and decide where I want to buy from.

Recently, Amazon requested Phorm stay away from their sites. Now Wikipedia has done the same. Three thumbs up to these guys - it is not necessary and is probably against EU law anyway.

If the default option is to opt-in if it is wanted then it might just be bearable (and ignoreable). If we are all in by default then it is a gross intrusion of privacy and should be resisted.

The Conficker Awakes

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39640215,00.htm

It seems conficker is starting to reveal its true purpose - making money. One method is to display a fake warning that a system is infected and can be cleaned using Spyware Protect 2009. Needless to say, this is a scam. You pay up, your credit card details are logged and you end up paying a damn sight more than the £35 asking price

Check for signs of conficker infection here or here.

And practice safe surfing!

April 1st 2009

It is widely thought that the pain-in-the-arse Conficker worm will start doing it's stuff on April 1st. No one really knows what that stuff may be - anything from data theft to recruiting machines to a zombie farm. It may even be just a scam for publicity (though I doubt it).

Every machine that is infected represents a threat to eveyone else connected to the internet. Please make sure you run Windows Update this week.

Better safe than sorry!

IE8 Arrives

Internet Explorer 8 has finally been released. As expected, this latest version builds on previous versions and exhibits some useful features. And it is a more secure browser than IE7, though remember that no browser is completely secure.

New features include:

• Colour-coded tabs
• Option to reopen closed tabs (a la Firefox)
• Isolated tabs - if one tab crashes, the rest are not affected
• InPrivate browsing, where private data is dumped on exiting the session
• Protection against clickjacking (where a mouse click acts on an invisible layer above the intended target, intended to redirect the user to a malicious site)
• Compatibility mode to render IE7-optimised sites correctly (this feature should really be automatic)

Sadly, those using Windows 7 Beta will not be able to upgrade to the full version of IE8 as the IE8 Beta included with the Windows 7 download is optimised for that operating system. Still, if you run IE7 under Win 2K, XP or Vista then upgrading to IE8 is the only sensible choice.

Internet Explorer 8 is currently only available as a separate download. Let's hope it is soon included in Windows Update.

Download IE8 from here
Read more here

Windows 7 Marches On

I must say I'm liking Windows 7. I must also say that I don't use it on my main system and so don't give it the workout it should be getting. But I like it enough to have decided to migrate from XP when the final release comes out.

Microsoft have got far better press with Windows 7 than it did with Vista. Now MS are showing they react responsibly to beta tester's comments by publishing a whole string of suggestions that are to be incorporated in the final release.

Some improvements will be handy, some will not be applicable. Many come under the category of "Why didn't I think of that?"

Read the full list on Steven Sinofsky's blog