A guy in Italy managed to get a refund from HP for Windows XP and Works 8 which were preinstalled on his system. Apparently, the license agreement states that if the customer doesn't accept the agreement, the vendor will refund the money.
This could be the start of a disturbing trend as far as computer retailers are concerned.
Tags: Microsoft, Windows, Your Rights
Vista apparently runs out of memory when copying over 13,000 files in one go without any warning. While that is a lot of files, this seems to be a fairly large bone-head mistake. First of all, why can't Microsoft figure out that file transfers should be pausable and resumable (same as when downloading from the Internet). Of course, even that was something they had to steal from Mozilla rather than figure out on their own.
Tags: Windows, Windows VistaVista has been a rough release for Windows. I would say that it's probably the first time since Windows 95 that a new system wasn't better than the previous (other than ME, but that didn't last long). Some people think Microsoft's mistakes with Vista are such that they should just abandon it and move on.
Much talk has been given to Service Pack 1 and how this update should address many of the issues users have with Vista, but I simply don't agree. Will SP1 eliminate the ridiculous Microsoft licensing schemes? Will SP1 drop the price on the higher-end versions? Will SP1 eliminate the need for users to buy a new computer just to use the faulty OS?
People who would normally be forced to have Vista because of buying a new computer are now being given the option to "downgrade" to XP.
The article also says that the unpopular Vista operating system cost 6 Billion dollars to create. Ouch.
Tags: Microsoft, Voluntarily Downgrade, Windows, Windows XPIn some slightly overblown reporting online, Microsoft has been caught downloading updates to its software without user knowledge or consent. In this case, they were just updating the Windows Updater, but the key complaint here is that the users didn't get to choose.
In the past many people delay updating (or avoid it altogether) because the updates can sometimes cause less security or add features that we don't want.
Tags: Microsoft, Windows
...if the Bureau could get the CIPAV installed on the user's machine, it would be able to collect the machine's IP address, MAC address, list of running programs, operating system, Internet browser used, language used, the registered computer name, the currently logged-in username, and more. All of this information would be relayed over the Internet back to an FBI computer in Virginia.Spyware: Any software that covertly gathers user information through the user's Internet connection without his or her knowledge, usually for advertising purposes. Spyware applications are typically bundled as a hidden component of freeware or shareware programs that can be downloaded from the Internet. Once installed, the spyware monitors user activity on the Internet and transmits that information in the background to someone else.Microsoft says that users have the possibility to disable or not use the features and services altogether. But at the same time Windows update is crucial to the security of Windows Vista, so turning it off is not really an option, is it?
Maybe this has been around a while, but it's the first time I've seen it. There are utilities to unlock files that Windows won't let you delete because they are "in use".
The main suggestion in the article is a free utility called "unlocker" which will probably work well for normal users and I might add it to my list of tools for that reason. However, a commenter said that the Process Explorer utility will let you find the exact program that's using that file so you can close just it instead of unlocking every process at once.
Once I've experimented with them, I'll have one or the other on my tools page. Until then, feel free to go to the article and check it out yourself.
Tags: Tools, Well Duh!, WindowsIf you want to learn more about my professional background, click here to learn more.
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| It's impossible to fully prevent credit card fraud, but there are several things you can do to help. |
| Social security numbers have become the gateway to all kinds of identity abuses so the less people you give it to, the better. |
| Your data is as valuable as money so protect it like money! |
| What do you do once your data is already out there? This. |
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Credit card fraud isn't ID Theft, but is closely relatedare often used fraudulently so do what you can to prevent it.
[Click for full description]Social security numbers have become the gateway to all kinds of identity abuses so the less people you give it to, the better.
[Click for full description]Learn to protect your personal information the way Scrooge did his money.
[Click for full description]Just because there are things out there about you that are out of your control and are unflattering or worse, doesn't mean you're powerless.
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