Beyond

Yesterday I opened the post "Dwindling Economy Hits US Trade Shows" with the words:- "Steve Jobs has not had a heart-attack; indeed Steve Jobs [aka "Jobsweh"] is not in poor health, nor is he dying."

My timing was impeccable considering the announcement today by Jobs himself. My information sources may not be quite right though:

According to Scientific American website:

"Apple co-founder and chief executive Steve Jobs posted an open letter to customers on his company’s Web site today in which he says that he’s being treated for an unspecified "hormone imbalance" that has caused severe weight loss and kept him out of the public eye."  http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=apples-jobs-hormone-imbalance 

‘Maybe not quite as much  weight loss as suggested in the illustration left; but it is nevertheless apparent that Jobs is suffering from a bit too much lean-ness.

INTERLUDE

At this point during writing this article the power went out. Fortunately I have 2 UPS’s looking after my entire system; so I was able to finish the line I was on and shut down everything without data loss or damage of any kind to my systems. For further reading see http://www.pcmech.com/article/avert-disasters-with-a-ups/ .

Is that the way to lose weight without trying? Hormone imbalance? If so then perhaps I should find hormones to start taking at random? I’ll just have to be careful I don’t start speaking in a gruff voice, or grow wings, or something. - Not that I’m particularly overweight; but I could do with a little weight-loss nevertheless.

Perhaps the hormone imbalance explains Jobs’ overly aggressive marketing, combined with his control-freak style? Whatever the case; I didn’t get it quite right:

I stated the information that I’d heard from Robert Scoble on Twitter. - This was largely accurate; but not 100% so.

Anyway that’s cleared up the misunderstanding; so now onwards and upwards: I have another article which I’m intending to get written and published; hopefully today.

Do please comment on this article.

Last year, about this time of year approximately, during a lull in business, I was experimenting with designing screensavers. I was just venting some artistic talent possibly? Whatever the case I zipped them into self-extracting .exe files and stored them on disk.

A year later I’ve still got them, and the ones that I don’t install on customer’s computers when I build them; i.e. the arty-farty ones as opposed to the advertising ones that is, are wasted.

With that in mind; having just found the files whilst searching through my disk contents, I thought ‘Why not let my readers have one?’. - So here you are if you want it; a free 3D screensaver which I designed originally as a piece of art:

It’s supposed to be an artistic representation of a quad-core processor. I designed many variations on the theme, but this is one of my favourites.

I’ve just tested the file a few minutes ago. It was on the other computer; so I networked the file over to to this one and , after scanning to ensure it hadn’t picked up anything during storage, I installed it on this machine for the first time ever and without any problem. After checking everything was OK I FTP’ d it up to kustomkomputa.co.uk so you can download it.

As I say; it’s in a .exe file, which when you click it will install the .scr file straight to your C: drive. Quad Core.scr gives you a choice of 3 options, which you can see by right-clicking on the file: Test, configure, and install. Clicking "Test" will allow you to preview it only. Clicking "Configure" will give you an advertisment for the Xara software that I created it with, and clicking "Install" will install it fully as one of your screensaver options; configured as default.

If you don’t want it to be your default screensaver; just right-click a blank area of the desktop, click "Properties" in the dialogue box that appears, click the Screensaver tab, and configure something else as default.

I’ve been making some changes to the header and background of the posts and pages on this blog; which is one reason I didn’t get a chance to post anything within the last 24-hours. To make amends I thought, having rediscovered the screensaver folder, that I’d share one with you.

I apologise for the size of the download; nearly 7 megabytes. (It might as well come with its own service pack at that size.) It is animated and it is a 3D design. I hope you’ll enjoy it if you download it. It’s nothing fantastic; but it’s free anyway.

I’m declaring this screensaver as “open-source” (Even though I don’t have any source-code.); no copyright. - If you want to do anything at all with it then feel free. The download link is http://www.kustomkomputa.co.uk/Quad_Core.exe . Enjoy.

Today, multi-core processors are quite the norm. In fact you’ll not see any new desktop computers, and very few laptops, on sale that have only single-core processors any longer. Why? Well multi-cored processors have just so many performance advantages over their single-cored counterparts that it would take far too much space to list them all here.

There are still quite a few computers out there, however, that are still running a single-core processor. If you own one of them you may have considered upgrading; but are a little unsure or hesitant about it.

Unless you’re fairly experienced and know what’s what you’re right to be such. In most cases there’ll be more work involved than simply removing the old processor and fitting a new one.

I’m not intending to do a "where is the processor located" paragraph. If you don’t know where your processor is located then I advise you to allow someone who knows what they’re doing to do the upgrade for you. I won’t be held responsible for someone pretending to know what they’re doing messing it up either: Get someone that you know is experienced with computer construction to help. Joe Bloggs from down the road may say they’re experienced with computers simply because they talk to their friends on Instant Messenger; but in reality they don’t have any more idea of what they’re doing than a seamstress has of rocket science. I’ll include some of the basics as a reminder, though.

There are a number of things you’ll need to do in preparation. The main thing is to find out all about your existing hardware first. The reason for that will become clear further on.

If you have an older computer with a single-core processor then you’ll probably need to upgrade the motherboard as well as the CPU to go multi-core. If it’s a particularly old computer then I’d suggest simply buying a new one with a multi-cored processor fitted from the word go.

What about upgrading your existing processor on your existing motherboard? It’s a possibility; but you’d have to take into account things such as motherboard’s capability, as well as its processor socket:

For instance; an AMD socket AM2 CPU will fit into a socket AM2+ motherboard; but not vice-versa: Therefore if your existing processor is, for example, a socket AM2 Athlon 64 single-cored device, which you want to upgrade; then, providing that your motherboard is capable of running a dual-cored CPU, (CPU=processor.) you’ll have no problems in replacing your existing CPU with a socket AM2 Athlon 64×2 dual-cored processor, providing that the motherboard’s chipset is capable of supporting the operating frequency of the new component. You’ll probably need to run a maintenance-reinstall of your operating system though; as a system configured for a single-cored processor probably won’t instantly recognize that the new processor has 2 cores, and will only run 1 of the cores unless it’s reconfigured.

Further to the above; if you want to upgrade from a single-core Athlon 64 to a quad-core Phenom, which is socket AM2+, you’ll need to upgrade the motherboard as well as the CPU, as a socket AM2+ CPU simply won’t fit into an AM2 socket. Also the motherboard with an AM2 socket probably won’t be capable of supporting more than a dual-core CPU.

That’s just one example. There will be many more similar situations cropping up, not only with AMD processors, where you’ll need to do some planning and forward thinking before even embarking upon your project.

Like I said; there’s a lot to consider; in addition to simply swapping the processor. If in doubt I suggest a motherboard and processor upgrade would be the best option, and do remember that certain motherboards go with certain processors: You can’t run an Intel socket 774 CPU on an AMD socket AM2 motherboard, for instance. (Also, don’t forget to install, and upgrade after getting the thing running, if possible, the new motherboard’s drivers.)

In my opinion, the best thing to do would be a total-rebuild (Strip everything out of the case and renew it with new and compatible parts, or ditch your old machine and build a new one.); after which you can install any really important files that you want to keep to your new hard-drive from a backup you took of your old system.

I can’t tell you exactly how to do it in every situation without writing a large and detailed e-book on the subject: That’s not something I intend doing at this moment in time. This guide simply informs you of some of the pitfalls and of some of the things you should consider first, before embarking on the project.

For your further convenience I’ll make a checklist of a number of the things you should take into account before attempting to upgrade a processor on an existing motherboard:

———————————————————————————————

CHECKLIST

Should you Upgrade the Processor on your Existing Motherboard?

If your motherboard is 5 years old or more then no.

If your motherboard was manufactured in the last 3 years than maybe; depending upon the following:

Is your motherboard’s processor socket the same as the socket designation of the processor that you want to replace your existing one with?

OR, in some rare circumstances:

Will the new part fit into and be fully accommodated by the existing motherboard’s processor socket?

If NO to both of the above you’ll need to replace the motherboard.

IF YES to either of the above:

Is your existing motherboard capable of running a multi-cored processor with the number of cores which the intended replacement has?

If NO to the above you’ll need to replace the motherboard.

If YES:

Is your existing motherboard capable of handling any increased power consumption due to the upgrade?

If NO to the above you’ll need to replace the motherboard.

If YES:

Are you aware that you’ll probably need to run a maintenance reinstall of the operating system? Are you able and clued up with doing this? Do you realise that there may be further problems associated with this operation that require a detailed knowledge of computer hardware, operation, and techniques?

If NO; I suggest seeking further expert advice before anything else.

IF YES, and you are satisfied that you’d be able to handle any ensuing situation, or are willing to take that risk, then proceed.

End of Checklist.

———————————————————————————————

*If you’re a geek then rebuilding a computer, even if it’s your first time, will be a great learning curve for you. Try not to mess it up. (I have ruined a computer before whilst learning, years ago,; so it does happen.)

If you do upgrade your processor from a single to a multi-core component, if it’s possible, you’ll notice a marked performance improvement. I suggest adding some more memory at the same time to make that improvement even greater.

Maybe you’ve already upgraded your processor from a single-core to a multi-cored component? What’s your experience of this? Don’t be afraid to comment. I know comments appear to be a bit sparse at present; but it would be good to break the mould.

Have you ever wondered what route your internet activities are taking?

You’ve just visited kkomp.com from wherever you’re logging onto your computer or handheld device; but your download of the page you requested didn’t come straight from the server to you: Instead it went through a number of other servers, acting as relays, to get to you. You may be surprised how many of these it passed through en-route.

You can find out the identities of these servers with the Windows command "tracert". ("traceroute" on a Mac.)

- For instance; if I wanted to see which servers my communication passes through to kkomp.com’s server; I first open a command prompt in XP. (Start>Run, and type "cmd" in the dialogue-box. ¬) I get a DOS window with the following in it: -

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Sharron>_

The _ is the command-prompt. At the command-prompt I type "tracert kkomp.com"; thus: -

C:\Documents and Settings\Sharron>tracert kkomp.com

The computer responds by pinging all the servers en-route and asking them to identify themselves: -

Tracing route to kkomp.com [213.171.218.145]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

The first stop is my BT Home Hub router: -

  1    19 ms   100 ms    99 ms  BThomehub.home [192.168.1.254]

Then the separate BT internet network switches. (Because I use BT internet in the UK, and BT have their own mini-web which connects to the real internet at various nodes. You’ll probably get something different, unless you’re a BT customer in the UK.):-

  2    25 ms    25 ms    24 ms  217.47.206.250
  3    23 ms    23 ms   104 ms  217.47.206.161
  4   197 ms   103 ms    31 ms  213.123.109.6
  5    25 ms    26 ms   192 ms  217.41.169.17
  6   144 ms    64 ms    24 ms  217.41.169.66
  7   109 ms   193 ms    97 ms  217.41.169.126
  8   217 ms    69 ms   103 ms  217.41.169.38
  9   158 ms    24 ms    94 ms  217.47.144.50
10   229 ms    25 ms    26 ms  core2-pos12-1.reading.ukcore.bt.net [194.72.0.213]

It’s made it to the big switch at Reading…

11   161 ms   102 ms    27 ms  core2-pos0-0-0-13.ilford.ukcore.bt.net [62.6.201.201]

Which passed it on to another big BT switch at Ilford… 

12   127 ms   123 ms   179 ms  core2-pos9-1.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [194.74.65.118]

Which sent it to the real internet…

13   125 ms   245 ms    40 ms  linx.bb-c.the.lon.gb.oneandone.net [195.66.224.98]
14   116 ms   248 ms   144 ms  88.208.255.61

It’s just about to hit Fasthosts’ main server…

15   222 ms    82 ms    64 ms  pc2.prt0.fhdis.fasthosts.net.uk [88.208.255.1]

Followed by one of their internal web-servers…

16    53 ms    32 ms    32 ms  213.171.217.3

…And to the individual hosting server.

17   176 ms   158 ms    61 ms  server213-171-218-145.livedns.org.uk [213.171.218.145]

Trace complete.

C:\Documents and Settings\Sharron>

Target neutralised.

Here’s the actual window’s content without my comments: -

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Sharron>tracert kkomp.com

Tracing route to kkomp.com [213.171.218.145]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    19 ms   100 ms    99 ms  BThomehub.home [192.168.1.254]
  2    25 ms    25 ms    24 ms  217.47.206.250
  3    23 ms    23 ms   104 ms  217.47.206.161
  4   197 ms   103 ms    31 ms  213.123.109.6
  5    25 ms    26 ms   192 ms  217.41.169.17
  6   144 ms    64 ms    24 ms  217.41.169.66
  7   109 ms   193 ms    97 ms  217.41.169.126
  8   217 ms    69 ms   103 ms  217.41.169.38
  9   158 ms    24 ms    94 ms  217.47.144.50
10   229 ms    25 ms    26 ms  core2-pos12-1.reading.ukcore.bt.net [194.72.0.21
3]
11   161 ms   102 ms    27 ms  core2-pos0-0-0-13.ilford.ukcore.bt.net [62.6.201
.201]
12   127 ms   123 ms   179 ms  core2-pos9-1.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [194.74.65.
118]
13   125 ms   245 ms    40 ms  linx.bb-c.the.lon.gb.oneandone.net [195.66.224.9
8]
14   116 ms   248 ms   144 ms  88.208.255.61
15   222 ms    82 ms    64 ms  pc2.prt0.fhdis.fasthosts.net.uk [88.208.255.1]
16    53 ms    32 ms    32 ms  213.171.217.3
17   176 ms   158 ms    61 ms  server213-171-218-145.livedns.org.uk [213.171.21
8.145]

Trace complete.

C:\Documents and Settings\Sharron>

Try it for yourself: You can use any domain or IP address in place of kkomp.com .

Here you learn something new every day; even New Year’s Day. Happy New Year. May 2009 bring you much enlightenment.

Time for me to go all "Smashie & Nicey" on you in a pop-tastic kinda way; I’ve just found some super-sensational seasonal software from Sound Spectrum, for Windows or Mac, that’ll ensure that your computer sees in the New Year to the music in a fantastical funk-a-delic style with all the top trimmings-mungous taste of seasonal serene cyber-generated scenery.

From spinning glitter-clouds, sparkling Christmas-tree bulbs, scintillating snowflakes, popping bubbly-corks, boogy-ing snowmen, Canadian country scenes of winter with falling realistic-looking snowflakes… You have just got to experience it for yourself. The pictures just don’t do it justice:

Still-pictures alone simply cannot express this tune-tastic piece of software that gyrates and pulsates, changes colour and design-shape to tunes playing on your Media Player…Oh it’s all too much!

I have it running right now on my new-build comp running Windows XP with an AMD Athlon 64 x 2 2.2GHz CPU and 2GB of 667Mhz DDR2 RAM while the Windows Media Player 11 plays a compilation of tracks from the Ministry of Sound Funky House Sessions and also of course You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet by Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

This software is awesomely mega-tastic great mate. It’s a must to have on your PC or Mac this New Year’s Eve. The best thing is that you can download a free trial - less than a couple of megs in size -with a few features disabled before or if you buy the software. - Now that’s cha-a-a-ridee!

That’s what I’m running now and it is simply awesome in itself.

Sound Spectrum do some quite amazing software in that line, other than that described here. Their website is well worth checking out. Right now browse on down by clicking here and see what you think of this piece of software.

Perhaps I should have tried to find an affiliate program first? I have a feeling that this will boost sales. (?) Anyway - maybe unfortunately for me - I make nothing from it as yet if you buy this software.

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With all the economic prophecies of doom and gloom, plus talk of a deep worldwide recession; enhanced of course by the news media, who are making money from doom-mongering, you’d imagine that all industries were having a bad year during 2008. - But you’d be wrong: The computer industry’s retail sector, although having unexpected results, appears to be doing rather well:

The US figures for November 2008, released by the research firm, NPD Group, indicate that, while Apple made no progress but no losses either in this area, sales of PCs were up 7%.

-This despite the fact that sales of desktop PCs dropped by 20% overall. The fact seems to be that people are going for notebooks these days.

According to NPD analyst Stephen Barker: "For notebooks, there is a little extra value to consumers [to buy Apple], for desktops I’m not so sure. To me the real story is the iMacs need a refresh."

The forecast for this sector from IDC , which tracks sales of technology products, appears to nonetheless be rather gloomy: IDC said earlier this month that it expects global PC sales to fall 5.3% next year to $267 billion (£174.7 billion).

Would anyone care to speculate an opinion on their own thought regarding this? There is a comments section below, and you are allowed to use it. Who knows; people might just enjoy reading your comments too?

Do Macs require security-enhancing software? Apple appear to think not; that their osX is invulnerable and only PCs get viruses, at least seemingly from their advertising. Symantec, however, beg to differ; and have released Norton Internet Security 4.0 for the Mac.

As has been noted in recent articles on this blog; there is indeed Mac malware, and yes some Mac users have been subjected to the Macattack. - Maybe not many up until this time of writing, but even one is too many: Macs do need anti-malware then: If they didn’t then nobody who uses a Mac would ever have been infected.

Could the Macattack it become a more serious problem? Yes it could, and it probably will; despite anything that Apple have to say to the contrary. Prevention being better than cure; it’s a good thing that anti-malware companies are taking action:-

In addition to Symantec’s efforts there are others such as Intego VirusBarrier, to name but one other that specialises in anti-malware for the Mac. Quite obviously Mac users are already protecting themselves: If there weren’t a market then the companies wouldn’t be catering for it.

Symantec claim to have the best firewall for the Mac as a part of NIS4Mac. There are location-based network rules which set different rules based on where you are connecting from, and logged preferences can be set as to which apps access the internet. There’s also blacklist data gathered from their DeepSight network to block access from known malware-bearing sites. NIS4Mac also includes phishing protection based on blacklists and heuristic analyses.

There are also a number of other features that are too numerous and in-depth to mention here.

The question is; is Norton as crappy and resource-hogging on a Mac as it is on a PC? I haven’t tested the software so I can’t say for definite; but knowing Norton; I’d bet that it’s almost certainly some form of bloatware. Norton’s effectiveness on a PC is commonly ranked within the lower echelons of results; so will the Norton software for the Mac be similar for all its bloat? At a guess I’d say ‘probably’.

Are you a Mac user who runs Norton Internet Security for the Mac? What is your opinion of it? It would be interesting to gain insight from a first-hand user.

It would appear that the image of invulnerability that Apple attempt to portray in their advertising is becoming threatened. This is now concurrent with a Firefox trojan which tarnishes the open-source community’s similar portrayal, as well as another security vulnerability discovered in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. The malware writers must be ready for a field-day!

On December 15th 2008, Apple released security updates for Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5, client and server, bringing the products up to versions 10.4.11 and 10.5.5. The updates address 21 individual vulnerabilities. 7 of the vulnerabilities are in the Adobe Flash plug-in.

If Apple dared to use severity ratings then a number of these updates would have been termed "critical": However the pretence continues, and no doubt Steve Jobs will manage to sweep this unfortunate necessity under the carpet in the usual style.

With all these circumstances which could lead to arbitrary code execution, Apple had no choice but to patch. I wonder how their advertising campaigns will be affected in the light of reality? :-

"I’m a Mac"

"…And I’m a PC."

"What’s up PC? Have you picked up another infection?"

"No Mac; my user stopped using Internet Explorer until Microsoft release a patch for a recently discovered vulnerability. - Just like Apple recently did for you. How many updates was that now..?"

"Oh a few…"

"- Twenty-something springs to mind: That’s rather a lot for an invulnerable system, wouldn’t you agree Mac?"

"OK, OK, But I’m patched now; so I’m still invulnerable. Your patch hasn’t been released yet."

"Now Mac; aren’t we getting a bit above ourselves? Invulnerable systems don’t need patches. - What’s that? We’re out of time? OK I’ll conclude this ad for you:-

Apple - Patching up the Future Invulnerability."

"Hey! Wait a darn minute PC…" (Sound fades out.)

Apple users should update their systems ASAP.

I wouldn’t describe building a PC as "easy"; but it’s not as difficult as one might imagine. Unlike constructing an electronic circuit, such as an amplifier, for example; there’s nothing extremely fiddly, such as soldering or quality engineering to worry about: That’s all been taken care of already by the component manufacturers.

It’s like putting a jigsaw together: Every piece fits in a certain configuration as a part of the whole. The pieces are already made, so you don’t have to make them yourself: you only need to fit them together in the correct fashion.

*At this point I’ll state that this article isn’t a comprehensive how-to: It’s just some notes from my recent rebuild experience.*

You may have heard that I recently had a computer die on me. I’d built it from scrap parts as a replacement for another one that went funny earlier. I have no idea exactly what caused the fault that killed it. It blue-screened and then just died a second later. Following on from that when I tried to restart it the BIOS couldn’t find the processor; so I assumed that the chipset had fried: ‘New motherboard required if this was the case.

There’s the old construction on the left. (Excuse the picture quality.) I’d already started taking it apart at that point, so it does look rather untidy. I’ve just rebuilt this machine; and I’m actually writing this article on it.

I stripped it down and started again; therefore I in essence built the machine from scratch. While doing so I took pics of a number of stages and of some of the parts, with a view to blogging the event. This blog has suffered from a lack of posts due to this project and other work, so I  thought it a good idea to use this project as subject matter.

First things first; a motherboard:

I purchased a fairly cheap Gigabyte motherboard for this project: It cost me about £38 at the time. I’d decided to use a socket AM2 AMD Athlon 64 x 2, 2.2GHz processor, as in my other working machine, for this one.

Some people have a low-opinion of AMD chips. Myself, I’ve always found them to be reliable and sturdy. Also they’re cheaper and the motherboards that run them cost less too. Since this was a rebuild that I didn’t want to spend too much on I was quite happy with my choice.

Of course I’d need a CPU cooler too, which consists of a heatsink and fan in order to prevent the processor from overheating. I had this one in stock and was going to use it. However I found that the original cooler was a better one, and surprisingly that it fitted onto a socket AM2 fitting perfectly; therefore having cleaned it up I used it instead.

I also invested in a new hard-drive. I could have used the old one; there was nothing wrong with it. - But I added the old one to my other machine and started this build with a brand new disk.

All-in-all the motherboard, processor, and hard-drive, cost me £108 Inc. VAT at 15%.

So to construction; and the pic on the right shows the case with the new motherboard fitted.

Always remember before starting out; earth thyself: Static electricity builds up in your body and on your clothes, and it kills computer components. personally I always wear an earthed wrist-strap when building computers, just to take any static safely to earth rather than letting it flow through the components I’m using and killing them.

After this point I got a buzz,  and I just ploughed on ahead with construction while not bothering to take any more pics of it.

In short, though, it was just a matter from here of fitting the PSU, connecting the appropriate power leads to the motherboard, inserting the processor into the socket on the motherboard, pulling the little lever while pressing down on it to seal it in the socket, smearing some heat-conducting grease on the top of it, fitting and aligning the cooler, and pulling down the lever on it to tighten it to the surface after clipping the clips onto the processor surround.

Installing the RAM: I inserted 2 x 1GB 667MHz DDR2 sticks into the memory slots and pushed down until they clicked into place.

Following that I connected up the front panel to the appropriate pins. I had problems with the sound jacks on the front as the connections didn’t match with the new motherboard at all. In the end I left the two front sound jacks unconnected, and only connected the 2 front USB ports, the HD activity LED, and the power-indicator LED, to the appropriate pins.

I popped the new HDD into a drive-bay, screwed it in, and connected it up to a SATA power lead from the PSU and to the motherboard’s SATA controller via a SATA connector lead. The same with the DVD-RW drive. (I used the existing DVD-RW as there was no point getting a new one. - Same with the existing floppy-drive.

"Floppy-drive! Why bother with a floppy?" You ask.

I like floppy-drives. I find them useful. I also still like CRT monitors and Outlook Express too. That’s just me: I don’t expect anyone to do similar if they don’t want to.)

So having put the thing together it was time for the initial power-up: Fingers crossed. Bingo: POST. I did take a pic of it, but it was so crappy I deleted it.

After a few minor adjustments to the BIOS, it’s time to install Windows XP:

Pop the XP pro CD into the DVD-RW drive… Let’s get the HDD formatted: NTFS - A decent file-system.

Install Windows…

- Et voila mes amis.

That wasn’t exactly the hardest thing on earth to do; although the construction is the easy, quick, and interesting part for me: It’s the 12 or so hours afterwards installing, optimising, and configuring, all the software that really gets my goat: That’s one reason I don’t do upgrades as a rule for customers: Even after spending 12 hours on it; they still moan about something: That’s why I just build the comp and install and optimise Windows and the motherboard drivers after a new build only, professionally. People can add their own software afterwards and screw up the operating system any way they like once the comp is delivered and paid for.

So that’s the rebuild; and it is a rather excellent job although I do say so myself.

“Windows 7 basically takes Windows one step closer to the design aesthetic of the Mac, where form is valued over function. I’m not sure this is the right strategy. Simplicity, taken in isolation, may seem like a good idea. But I’m afraid that in Windows 7, Microsoft is sacrificing too much in its bid to be more like Apple. And it’s the users of Windows who will pay the price.”

- So says blogger Paul Thurrott in his article “Windows 7: Simple Vs. Easy” 

Me; I’m not really in the know: I haven’t even seen the pre-beta. - But I want to highlight this suggestion that Microsoft are trying to make Windows more like Mac osX.

ZDnet’s Mary Joe Foley commented in a part of her response to Thurrott’s article:

“If I wanted a Mac-like environment, I’d buy a Mac. I want an computing environment that helps me get my work done and doesn’t require a how-to manual to figure out which icon does what. Maybe Microsoft could introduce “Windows 7 Luddite Edition” for those of us who value function over form?”

I suggest that you read the two articles right through, and then, if you would be so kind, state your opinion by means of a comment below. What I’m asking is; do you think Microsoft are in danger of making Windows too like Mac osX? Also do you think that they are attempting to present Windows 7 as a simpler-to-use operating system by hiding the complexities; in other words sacrificing function to promote form?

I would imagine that, even in 7, it’s possible to access all the usual functions from the command line, even if those functions may be buried. Not all users are actually familiar with the command line though - After all this is Windows, not Linux.

I miss the point maybe; or is there some benefit to be gained by encouraging the stupid and lazy to become stupider and lazier by hiding things they can’t understand and can’t be bothered to learn about?

Open=Source takes one in the eye as Trojan.PWS.ChromeInject.B  secretly works as a Firefox plugin and steals bank login details on any of 103 domains belonging to mainly non-US banks. BitDefender identifies ChromeInject as “…the first malware that targets Firefox.”

Fortunately the infection rate thusfar is low; but there’s always a chance of this type of thing escalating. The false plugin works by running a JavaScript and a Windows executable file: Seemingly this trojan only affects Firefox running in Windows; Linux and Mac are most likely safe, at least from this version of this trojan. How long this will be the case is anyone’s guess.

Is this the start of a long-running malware campaign against Firefox. Will a plethora of variations of this trojan be targeted at Firefox by the malware writers? Judging by previous form I would expect that to be the case. What would you suggest? Do you agree with me, or do you think that this is just a one-off?

Apple may not want to admit it, but there is already Mac-malware going around. Security experts have long raised concerns about a Mac-attack suddenly arising from a particularly virulent piece of malware. Meanwhile Apple continue to stress that Macs are invulnerable and don’t require anti-malware protection in order to generate their better-than-a-PC image.

Apple employees at their stores deny any need for anti-malware and anti-virus for a Mac. Apple’s own ads imply that a mac is pretty invulnerable. Yet despite this, even the Apple.com website has links to anti-malware solutions for the Mac running osX. Why would that be if there was no threat?

I’m sorry to say it, Apple-lovers, but you are being conned by Jobsweh and his followers. When the malware-writers have waited long enough to lull you all into a false sense of security while the Apple movement grows, and many more people are conned into getting an "Invulnerable" Mac, they’ll release their malware into the wild.

It’s obvious that Apple know that this is going to happen someday. Windows needs antivirus solutions, despite the fact that many of them are inadequate. At least it’s some protection rather than none. Windows gets targeted a million times more than a Mac; true, but as the number of Mac users grows then so will the target on the Mac osX operating system, and malware writers will strike a totally unprepared and defenseless market sector.

I wonder how Apple will try to worm their way out of it when it finally happens? What do you think?

This year, Microsoft forced major retailers to stop supplying XP. In January 2009 even small system builders such as myself will be stopped from supplying XP. Will that be a death knell for XP?

Not immediately, no; but if the pre-beta code reports are anything to go by, then Windows Seven may well be the start of the end for this almost seven-year-old operating system.

Some reports I’ve heard indicate that Microsoft will be launching Seven in October 2009. According to PCWorld.com:

"The word on the blogosphere is that Windows 7 should be released to manufacturing in October 2009 with general availability by November".

Microsoft haven’t yet released anything concrete yet as far as I know - Other than declaring that the new OS will be launched in the latter half of 2009, however some bloggers may be privy to insider information that I have not yet received.

Windows Vista; the disaster of an operating system in many ways, and the major trigger of the minor popularity-loss for the Softies, which did more good for its predecessor XP and the Apple Mac with its osX Unix operating system than anything else, has kept most of those users who continue to use Microsoft’s operating systems (Including myself.) with XP for the time being. In fact this blog’s visitor count indicates that almost 5 times more visitors use XP than use Vista, with a third as many people as those using Vista on a Mac using osX.

Seven is coming; and in my opinion we’ll probably be seeing most of those who upgraded from XP to Vista upgrading to Seven in 2009; as well as probably at least two-thirds of the XP users. That will be probably just as much a death knell for Vista as it will be for XP, if not even more so.

Seven will work on the same hardware as Vista; so there’s really no reason for Vista users not to upgrade. XP users boxes will be starting to clap out in a lot of cases, so those affected will no doubt upgrade equipment and operating system too.

If you have a perfectly good computer that’s still running XP, and either you can’t afford to, don’t want to, or simply can’t move to Seven because of the hardware requirements, then don’t worry:

Currently, as stated in the Microsoft XP Product Support Lifecycle page, partially shown above; they will continue mainstream support for XP until April 2009 - As they are currently doing that is - after which they’ll only be continuing support regarding security issues from that date until the currently scheduled day in April 2014 when XP becomes obsolete.