Windows – Page 2 – Technobabbles

Microsoft Archive by category "Windows" (Page 2)

Q4 2007 Site Stats Review

dgw 2008-01-02 - 17:10 2009-11-11Apple, Firefox, internet, Internet Explorer, Leopard, Linux, Microsoft, Vista, w00t, Windows, XP 0

As , I’m reviewing the browser and operating system statistics for this site again. All data is from the period 2007-10-04/2007-12-31. So, on to business. First up is the overall browser chart. Firefox leads with 57%, followed by Internet Explorer at 29% and Safari at 10%. I also got some negligible visits (less than 2%) from Mozilla, Opera, Camino, Netscape, and Konqueror, plus a very few hits from what appear to have been mobile browsers, such as HTC_TyTN_II Mozilla and Palm680. Drilling into per-browser version information, Firefox had a pretty good spread of versions, even getting about 80 hits from…

Silverlight vs. Flash Battle to Heat Up Next Year

dgw 2007-12-30 - 16:23 2015-10-29Adobe, internet, Linux, Macintosh, Microsoft, opinion, Windows 1

It’s been a while since I last blogged about . So long, I had to search for the post in my blog dashboard (it’s no longer on the first page of results for the tag “Microsoft”). But the news media is covering it again, this time as part of New Year’s stuff (predictions for 2008, duh). PC World’s article from a couple hours ago suggests, using mostly quotes and its tagline, that the battle between Adobe and Microsoft will get hotter next year, as Silverlight battles Flash, Flex, and AIR for supremacy in the rich Internet application (RIA) arena. Microsoft’s…

Internet Explorer Patch Fix Released

dgw 2007-12-20 - 23:04 2015-10-29Internet Explorer, Microsoft, Windows, XP 0

Microsoft has released instructions for fixing the Internet Explorer installations by an update. The fix entails editing the Windows Registry, that hulking configuration database that is the bane of all consumers (due to how often it gets corrupted). Apparently, the problem affects certain customized installations of IE6 on WinXP SP2. While Microsoft didn’t say what customizations caused the problem, users of some newsgroups speculate that the problem was related to antivirus software, seeing as how users of Norton (Symantec) and McAfee users who experienced the problem were able to solve it by uninstalling the patch, uninstalling the antivirus software, reinstalling…

Opera Files Antitrust Suit Against Microsoft

dgw 2007-12-14 - 00:05 2015-10-29Firefox, internet, Internet Explorer, Microsoft, opinion, w00t, Windows 0

OK, I swear I won’t take anything else verbatim from my source article other than the title. Kudos to James Niccolai for coming up with such a hot headline! That said, I’ll get down to business. Opera Software, the Norwegian maker of the alternative Opera browser, has filed an antitrust suit against Microsoft in the European Union. The suit accuses Microsoft of stifling competition by bundling Internet Explorer with Windows and not following accepted industry standards within that browser. As my friend i80and pointed out earlier today, something similar happened with Netscape about five years ago. Microsoft ended up paying…

IE7’s Blocking of prompt()

dgw 2007-12-12 - 01:03 2009-11-11complaints, internet, Internet Explorer, Microsoft, Vista, Windows, XP 0

I haven’t experienced the supposed goodness that is IE7 first-hand as of yet, but I have heard plenty about its shortcomings and annoyances. Another I just read about today is the default settings that blocks websites from using the built-in prompt() method in JavaScript. It wouldn’t be super annoying if Microsoft handled user permission intelligently, though. As it is, IE7 displays the by-now familiar Information Bar (introduced in IE6 with Windows XP’s Service Pack 2) and the user can allow “scripted windows” on the page. Unfortunately, the scripting engine simply ignores the prompt and moves on through the rest of…

XKCD Roundup: My Favorite XKCD Comics

dgw 2007-12-09 - 00:57 2009-11-11humor, internet, Linux, Microsoft, MySQL, science, technology, Windows 1

I’ve selected a few exceptionally good xkcd comic strips and embedded them here. I find them all particularly amusing, over and above the normal strips. The tooltips have been preserved as well. I advise you to read them; the comics sometimes don’t make sense without. If the pics are too small for you, just click them (Ctrl+click or Shift+click would be better, actually; new tab, new window) to get the full-size version. And you can fix the annoying title truncation in Firefox using this nice extension. Centrifugal Force This is one of those things that just hits my funny bone…

Cool Stuff: XsX Alpha-Blended Cursors for Windows XP and Vista

dgw 2007-12-05 - 22:25 2009-11-11Vista, w00t, Windows, XP 0

A little idea got to me through Google Reader today. About an hour ago, I installed the XsX alpha-blended cursors on my computer and already I’m loving them. It’s neat because almost all the cursors are the same shape, just with different colors. They’re bigger than the default Windows set, and they look almost Mac-like, which is generally a plus. I suggest you try them, if you’re on a PC. There’s an “untested” pre-XP instruction set for those willing to experiment. I highly recommend them. You can find instructions and the self-extracting download at Tiensivu.com.

Acquisition Practices: Microsoft vs. Google

dgw 2007-12-04 - 15:04 2015-10-29Google, internet, Microsoft, opinion, tools, Windows 0

Another day, another acquisition, but this time it’s not Google. Microsoft has acquired a service called WebFives, which provides file-sharing for mobile video, photos, audio, and blogs via a Web-based service. The technologies, trademarks, patents (including pending patents), and all other intellectual property of the company, named Vizrea when it was started, will be integrated into Microsoft’s Windows Live offerings. This is no different from what Google does when they acquire a company, except there’s one niggling little difference. Microsoft has granted WebFives a “license” to continue their services through the end of the month. After December 31, 2007, the…

Times Square Display Crashes

dgw 2007-12-02 - 21:47 2015-10-31Adobe, humor, Windows, XP 0

For some reason, I really like putting equations in my titles… Anyway, by way of Zoli Erdos, here’s a nice high-profile crash for you: Yep, that’s Adobe Flash on Windows XP, just after it “encountered a problem and needs to close.” I love it when stuff like this happens. Here’s a nice closeup of the error dialog: Who knew Windows was so funny? I know I’m linking to Zoli a lot lately, but seriously, where else would I get these amusing little gems now that This Is Broken has gone the way of the Dodo Bird? [Photos taken by Andrew…

Apple Discontinuing Boot Camp

dgw 2007-11-29 - 15:02 2015-10-29Apple, complaints, Leopard, Macintosh, Microsoft, technology, Windows 0

If you use Apple Mac OS X Tiger (10.4) with or without Boot Camp, be warned. Apple will be discontinuing support, updates, and new downloads of the dual-boot software on December 31. The installation software will no longer function, though existing users will continue to be able to use their Windows partitions. Apple made the announcement yesterday, saying that they “hope you’ve enjoyed the opportunity to preview an exciting new feature of Mac OS X Leopard.” The announcement comes as an apparent marketing move to push users to the OS X 10.5 upgrade, which offers built-in Boot Camp. I call…

Category: Windows