From the day it hit the shelves, Windows Vista has had a bad reputation, and for good reason. For the longest time, it didn’t work with a lot of hardware and software. I switched back to XP when some of my hardware wouldn’t work with Vista. Its release proved what consumers are willing to put up with in terms of software.

Microsoft tried to force people to upgrade their software and hardware to newer products if they wanted Vista to work well, and no one likes being forced to do anything.

One test, done by CNET.com last year, said “Vista, both with and without SP1, performed notably slower than XP with SP3 in the test, taking over 80 seconds to complete the test, compared to the beta SP3-enhanced XP’s 35 seconds.”

The test was run on a system with only 1GB of RAM. I use 4GB, and the speed is noticeable on everyday tasks.

Consumers rebelled, and it took nearly a year for Microsoft and manufacturers to get their act together. People didn’t want to wait, and no one could blame them, and all we could do was shake our heads in disbelief.

Most of us have been using Windows XP since it came out in 2001. We’re used to it, and we understand it. We don’t like change, or to be exact, we don’t like change that makes our lives more difficult.

One change in Vista that really irks people, and certainly irked me at first, is the User Account Control (UAC) prompts that pop up far too often. People are more annoyed then comforted by the security of UAC and the security of Vista in general.

The truth is, Microsoft built Vista with security in mind, not usability. This fact was made crystal clear to technology experts that Windows was created with big business in mind, and not the consumer.

People stuck with XP, since it was still widely available, and worked well. There was really no compelling reason to switch to Vista.

Since June of this year, Microsoft has stopped selling Windows XP, trying to force people to buy Windows Vista. Those who have purchased it discovered that manufacturers have caught up and are making products that now work well, for the most part.

That said, many problems have been reported all over the internet, and consumers have been convinced by word-of-mouth that Vista sucks, even though it has gotten better. Some have become so frustrated with it, they switched back to XP (I did for a year), or even to a “Mac”. Others seem to have very little trouble with Vista.

One good thing to come out of the Vista problems is that consumers have become more aware of their options, and have upped the market share of the Apple “Mac OS X” operating system, and although “Macs” are more expensive, they’re very easy to use.

So, hate it or love it, Windows Vista isn’t going anywhere, in fact, the next version of Windows will be based on it. Macs are here to stay as well. We are now more aware of our choices, which is a fantastic thing.
For more information, please visit http://thedigitaldistraction.com.

Originally posted 2008-10-09 17:18:16. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The internet has grown in use, and so have the tricks hackers and malicious websites use to steal personal information and put viruses and spyware computers. They might try and get you to download a file in order to see special content, or put hidden code in a website that can put itself on to the computer and use it for malicious purposes.

The latest example has been an issue on the website called “Twitter”, where users connect and exchange short messages with useful information and handy links with friends worldwide. Users receive a message from a friend, not knowing their friend’s account has been compromised, they click a link that brings them to a hacker’s website, which steals their twitter login and password, hoping they use the same combination on important websites, like banks.

It’s best to have a different login and password for each website you register for, but if that’s not realistic, have a different set for types of websites, one for banks, one for social networks, one for email, etc.

You’re a smart person, and in no way would I imply otherwise, but hackers and spammers out to make a buck off of your information, and can be very enticing and tricky in getting you to click that link or download that seemingly innocent browser plug-in, so be aware of what you’re doing online.

You may argue that you are running security or antivirus software and that you’re protected. True, but nothing is guaranteed. If you click “yes” or “ok” on something unwittingly, hopefully your software catches it if it’s bad, but it might not. User behaviour is the best defence, so please, pay attention.

A few extra seconds of paying attention to exactly what you are downloading and the websites you are visiting can mean the difference between a healthy computer and having to reinstall Windows and potentially lose your data.

Originally posted 2009-01-17 20:40:25. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

My first story of the semester will be on the difference between Adobe Creative Suite CS3 and CS4, and why the college upgraded so quickly. The second story is on what people can expect from Windows 7 (from the info I’ve been able to find).

My first column of the semester will likely be how people need to be more careful on who and what websites they trust online, particularly with direct messages they recieve on Twitter and Facebook.

You can look forward to those posts as of Jan 15.

Originally posted 2009-01-06 20:45:16. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

You may have seen it being talked about or used on CBC or CNN, or as a blue icon or bird logo on many popular websites or blogs. If you’re not tech-savvy, you likely just ignored it, thinking of it as just another tool on the internet, which it is, but it’s one of the more useful tools, and it’s seriously worth taking a look at.

The internet is no longer just about going to a website and reading articles. Users are leaving comments, and in a lot of cases, the comments on articles are more interesting and thought-provoking then the news stories themselves.

People are using tools such as Delicious.com, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Twitter, among others, to share their findings with friends and family, and the people they know online. It’s faster and far easier than simply e-mailing something of interest, and much less annoying, as we all hate sifting through email.

Most of us use Facebook on a regular basis, and we update our “status” as we check the latest news of what’s going on in the life of friends and family. Twitter uses a similar function, but eliminates the extra stuff, like applications, and focuses solely on those small status messages.

Facebook’s  status messages are among a mix of other news feed items, not a part of an ongoing conversation between “friends”. Facebook does not have a simple way to view status messages over time. Twitter, on the other hand, is an ongoing, easy to follow conversation between “friends”.

Twitter uses the same concept that text messages use, using a max of 140 characters to say what you want, and is completely free, unlike text messages. You can use your phone, too, but you must have a “smart phone”, like an iPhone or Blackberry (in Canada, anyway, they allow text messages in the U.S.).

One of the most loved components of Twitter is that it’s instant. Last month, when a plane crashed into the Hudson River in New  York City (no one died), people living in the area started “tweeting” about it a full half-hour before news organizations started talking about it.

The reason I enjoying using Twitter is because it’s like a hive mind, with knowledge, websites links, current events, and more being shared on a real-time basis within the online community. Such items may not be newsworthy, but it‘s of interest to me. Obviously, you’re not going share personal details about yourself, though you can talk to other users directly through private messages, if you wish to.
Unlike Facebook, Twitter can communicate with desktop programs designed to work with the service, such as Tweetdeck, or my personal favourite, Twhirl. So, as I’m working or playing on my computer, I can see what my friends (people I “follow”) are saying in real-time.

It’s also a great marketing tool.  Companies can monitor Twitter conversations through the search function, and respond to what is being said about their company or a product. Ever hear the saying, if people have a bad experience, they’ll tell 10 of their friends? If they have 1000 friends on Twitter, that could be a public relations nightmare.

It’s also an awesome tool to get mass-opinions and perspective on issues in real-time, whether it is thoughts on a new law, or a new trend.

Hash tags (i.e.: #lethbridgehurricanes) are often used to make searching for terms and topics easier. To send another user a message, type “@username” (without the quotes). For example, @kevinlcc (my username).

Barack Obama used Twitter (and Facebook) to communicate with those using the services and to reach the younger crowd who use the internet in their daily lives.
There’s no point in joining Twitter if you’re only going to post things like “I had soup for lunch”. That’s what Facebook’s status updates are for. Twitter is about creating conversation. Instead, say “I’m about to have lunch at Moxies. What the best thing on the menu?”

Its best not to start “following” everyone you can find. Use http://search.twitter.com to find a topic of interest, and ”follow” people who are talking about things you care about, and follow who they follow, and so forth. If you end up following thousands of people, and don’t have many people following you, your account can be deleted for abusing the service, so engage in conversations to avoid this.

Even though Twitter’s page asks “What are you doing?” think of it as asking, “What has your interest?”

Originally posted 2009-02-28 20:00:48. Republished by Blog Post Promoter