PC Annoyances 505
| PC Annoyances | |
| author | Steve Bass |
| pages | 175 |
| publisher | O'Reilly Publishing |
| rating | 8 |
| reviewer | hawkeegn |
| ISBN | 0596005938 |
| summary | How to deal with common PC annoyances, like Windows, Email, Microsoft Office, sound & video and hardware issues. |
How often do you sit down for a relaxing session at your PC, only to discover you can't find that file you saved six months ago but forgot the name of it. Or to go into Word and realize several dreary tasks could mre easily be put into macros if only you knew how? Or you decide to browse the Web only to be "attacked" by pop-ups and extra windows? AAUGHH!
This book deals with the folk who use Windows and PC's. I realize there are those who loathe Windows ("Linux rools d00d!") and point to the chapter on Windows annoyances as an example of an OS gone terribly wrong. However, until the day comes that everyone uses Linux (or finds a way around Billy Boy's "evil empire"), we're stuck with it. But I digress.
The book's several chapters are divided into specific topics, like E-mail, Windows, the Internet, MS Office, Windows Explorer. Music, Video & CDs, and last but not least Hardware. And yes there's a few suggestions and software for dealing with spam. Spam spam, spam, spam, wonderful spammmmm...not! Also mentioned are items like turning off return receipt (who cares whether or not your sender received your message, it got sent didn't it?), embedded images in email, and so on. There are also sections on dealing specifically with flaws in Outlook Express, Eudora, AOL, and Hotmail.
One thing that bummed me a little personally was that the chapter on Windows annoyances for the most part are for Windows XP. In fact, the author strongly recommends, in fact almost implores you, gentle reader, to switch from Win 98 to XP. In spite of my system running slowly and sometimes crashing (and the fact that I'm rather broke these days), I'll stick with my 98 for now. Of course, one could point out if previous versions of Windows had been created "right" or "ran correctly," there wouldn't be need for a whole chapter (or even reams of books) on Microsoft fixes or how to get it to run properly.
The Internet chapter deals with getting rid of pop-ups while browsing, and introduces a nifty tool for checking dead links on your bookmarks. It's quite annoying to save a page on your favorite band or obscure sport and then discover three months later it's disappeared. Also mentioned are a few "tricks" with using Google and even AOL IMs, like making AOL IM an "ad-free" zone. In fact, several tricks in this book are centered on cutting down the amount of on-line advertising we all seem to be bombarded with.
MS Office ... ah yes, Office. What would we ever do without it? What can we do with it? Among other tips, the author describes ways of "outfoxing" Word's Auto Correct feature (but gee, Mr Word officer, I swear that's the way rutabaga is spelled!) and my personal favorite: getting rid of Clippy -- Yeah! Also mentioned are some nifty tricks for using Excel and Power Point.
Windows Explorer ... ah yes, Windows Explorer. Not bad, but it could be better. And the author points us to two alternatives to Explorer: Power Desk and Total Commander, two inexpensive utilities that do everything WE does and more. However, if you insist on staying loyal to WE, there are some nice tips here about dealing with it.
The last two chapters discuss ways of making it easier to listen to tunes on your PC, watching video streams, and recording audio from any source. But most importantly, the author advises that if you share CDs with others to use 74-minute CDs because not all CD ROMs are created equal. The 80-minute CDs may get cranky if they're put in an old CD ROM that won't read them.
Last but not least, the Hardware chapter touches upon such wondrous things as "The Wonders of a Modem Reset," "tuning up your monitor," and also a way to keep that color ink printing cartridge you just bought to last more than two weeks, just by switching your prints to the lowest quality for most of your work. When you're broke like myself, those $50 printer cartridges add up fast!
I've just touched upon a few tips here ... the book has many more, all designed to be very helpful to the PC user.
The back inside cover has a place where the CD with all these nifty utilities should be, except O'Reilly decided to save a few bucks on the book's cost by pointing to a URL and telling we gentle readers to go there to get the utilities. Alas, I'm lazy and impatient (not to mention being too damn cheap to get a DSL line) so I haven't gotten around to getting most of the utilities yet. My bad. I've gotten used over the years to books that had the CD that I could just slide into my drive and install away. I have however so far gotten SpyBot, AMDeadLink, and MailWasher. Great stuff, and I do plan to download at least a few more of these utilities. Of course, the web site where you download all this stuff is a great plug for PC World.
The "enlightened ones," as I mention, won't need to bother with this book, as they have Linux, or a Mac. But the rest of us, who do battle with our PCs daily, will get a lot of useful information out of this book.
You can purchase PC Annoyances from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to submit a review for consideration, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
There's A Solution (Score:4, Funny)
Try Linux!
and if you do... (Score:4, Insightful)
- not being able to open that complex word attachment that your coworker mailed you
- not being able to browse every site online (some are definitely IE specific, others require plugins not available on linux)
- figure out how users, accounts, software installations etc. work (click on a link and the program installs automatically? yeah, right), not to mention the joys of the command line
- become confused by some desktop environments where settings are spread around 3 different menus and where sometimes they inexplicably don't stick etc. etc. in general using software developed by developers with sometimes not much thought given to user friendliness and good UI guidelines.
- not being able to play commercial games (unless you shell out for winex and even then some things don't work)
I could go on and on, I've been using linux on my desktop primarily for more than 10 years now and there's no way that I'd give it to somebody not extremely computer literate...
Stick with Windows and if you do... (Score:5, Interesting)
- being able to enjoy those cute "I love you" and "Anna Kurovina" messages automatically forwarded from your best friends, co-workers, and total strangers.
- The ability to browse every site online, at least every one selling X10 cameras and pictures you wouldn't want your boss to see.
- Software so advanced it installs automatically while you browse, no user intervention required. Uninstalling is as simple as wiping your main partition and re-installing Windows.
- Enjoy desktop environments where settings are spread around 3 different menus and where sometimes they inexplicably don't stick etc. etc. in general using software developed by investors free from the limiting boundaries of friendliness and caring about your users.
- A wide swath of available content, all provided to your trusted platform ensuring that your purchased programs will run forever... Until you lose the disk, upgrade your system, ban the program from spying on your browsing habits, or the producer decides to turn the software off remotely.
Linux is no longer hard. Once you have a modern Debian, Red Hat, or Mandrake installed, everything runs easy-peasy. I've been using it on and off for 6 years, and in that time frame it's gone from nothing but command line editing of
We have a woman in the office who had never used a computer before in her life. We plunked her down in front of a Windows box and a Linux box. While Covad required Internet Explorer, she was always using Linux. She likes the multiple desktops (Microsoft has a power tool multidesktop, BTW), changes her wallpaper every few days, and prefers browsing around in Konqueror. To her, editing the registry is as baffling as editing a shell script, but she doesn't need to do that anyway. If she wants something installed on Debian, it is an apt-get away (whereas in windows she has to look for it). I'd feel comfortable putting newbies in front of a Linux install. In fact, I've done it, many times, and with success.
I respect the opinions of my Linux elders, but I fear your perceptions of the OS may be a little out of date.
Re:Stick with Windows and if you do... (Score:4, Insightful)
- being the customer of a giant corporation intent on locking you onto their platform while extracting every penny from your pockets.
Re:Stick with Windows and if you do... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Stick with Windows and if you do... (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyone with half a brain and/or access to someone that can take the time to teach them a bit will be perfectly safe from such things.
- The ability to browse every site online, at least every one selling X10 cameras and pictures you wouldn't want your boss to see.
Funny, I don't see any ad pop-ups at all while i'm browsing with Firebird's blocking on, and everyone I know that's still using IE (even my computer-cluelesss grandma) has a pop-up blocker installed. I'll let you in on a little secret, too - those ads and porn pop-ups aren't limited to only Windows.
- Software so advanced it installs automatically while you browse, no user intervention required. Uninstalling is as simple as wiping your main partition and re-installing Windows.
This is a legitimate gripe. Again, however, anyone with half a brain or access to a help desk minion/techie friend or family member will be able to remove such software through programs like Ad-Aware or Spybot. I'm sorry, but if someone thinks the only way to get rid of ad/spyware is a complete wipe of the drive, then they're an idiot. Even for the stuff that can't be auto-removed somehow, there's almost always a fairly easy way to fix it in the registry, found through Google.
- Enjoy desktop environments where settings are spread around 3 different menus and where sometimes they inexplicably don't stick etc. etc. in general using software developed by investors free from the limiting boundaries of friendliness and caring about your users.
Way to generalize. And settings spread out in Windows? I think not. 99.9% of anything you need to change can be accessed through the Control Panels or a simple file search for something to edit.
- A wide swath of available content, all provided to your trusted platform ensuring that your purchased programs will run forever... Until you lose the disk, upgrade your system, ban the program from spying on your browsing habits, or the producer decides to turn the software off remotely.
True for some software, not true for the vast majority. I won't claim to know exactly what you do for a living, but you sound like the type that uses only (in Windows) MS Office, and maybe some development apps, along some small utilities - and you draw your opinions on Windows software behavior soley from that base. Please, feel free to respond and prove me wrong, though.
Don't get me wrong, i'm not saying Windows is perfect, i'm just saying that your perceptions seem to be a bit off as well.
Re:Stick with Windows and if you do... (Score:3, Insightful)
Again, however, anyone with half a brain or access to a help desk minion/techie friend or family member will be able to remove such software through programs like Ad-Aware or Spybot.
While both of these arguments may be true, they seem to run counter to reality. Most people are blissfully unaware of just how much garbage their machine is collecting - and spewing. I always
Re:Stick with Windows and if you do... (Score:3, Insightful)
Sounds like you expect the user to know something. And there certainly is a lot of people who do not seem to fit that bill.
Funny, I don't see any ad pop-ups at all while i'm browsing with Firebird's blocking on, and everyone I know that's still using IE (even my computer-cluelesss grandma) has a pop-up blocker installed. I'll let you in on a little secret, too - those ads
Re:Stick with Windows and if you do... (Score:3, Interesting)
Windows thrives on people who know nothing about computers.
And so Linux is going to fix this? It won't. Most of the worms and trojans that have come out in the past year or so have exploited the idiocy of users; not holes in the OS. If these same idiots were running Linux then they'd have the same problems (and n
Re:Stick with Windows and if you do... (Score:5, Insightful)
Read your post!
The same person with half a brain or someone to teach them can use Linux.
Never been bit by the Windows Messenger Popups? You must have a firewall or you know enough to disable the Messenger service. Starting to look like a Linux candidate to me.
Again, anybody with the brains and energy to go through this ritual could easily handle the "fun" of installing Linux.
Let's see, in Windows, settings can be changed by using the control panel, customizing the start menu, using the registry editor or searching for files to edit. In modern Linux distributions, settings can be changed by using the desktop manager's control panel, using the DM menu builder or searching for config files to edit. Guess which one sounds easier.
Not yet, but it's becoming more and more prevalent. When the OS manufacturer starts heading down this path, others follow.
Nor am I a Linux zealot. But I wanted you to see that your post does a much better job of arguing in favor of Linux than you might have thought.Re:Stick with Windows and if you do... (Score:3, Insightful)
What you say may very well be true, that for a newbie it isn't all that more complicated to start with Linux instead of Windows. However, if we are talking about reasonably experienced computer users, then I think the situation is different. I believe that the single most important factor that is holding back the spread of Open Source programs is the fact that Open Source developers are too proud to adopt a user interface that makes it ea
Re:Stick with Windows and if you do... (Score:3, Interesting)
I haven't used linux in years, and even then not much. You just might be the perfect person to give me an update (answers from anyone are most welcome), as I've been thinking about running Debian at home, maybe as dual boot with XP, but going cold turkey on Windows would be nice.
So if you or anyone has the time to answer, here's my list of possible concerns:
Re:and if you do... (Score:3, Insightful)
- not being able to open that complex word attachment that your coworker mailed you
Shame on them for using proprietary formats! They don't enhance communication, they limit it!
- not being able to browse every site online (some are definitely IE specific, others require plugins not available on linux)
Shame on them for not adhering to published web standards. Their website it broken, not my browser, dammit!
- figure out how users, accounts, software installations e
Re:and if you do... (Score:5, Interesting)
if everyone at the company is using Linux, not likly to happen. owever, I have not seen I word document that I couldn't open under Linux in over a year.
"- not being able to browse every site online (some are definitely IE specific, others require plugins not available on linux)"
is that really an issue? The few sites that are IE only, have alternatives.
The only site I had an issue with was my bank. I sent them an email explaing to them my problem, and that a large portion of there customers have dial-up, and thus, they should be complient for those users. They made it more towards standards, and now I can use it, easy peasy.
"- figure out how users, accounts, software installations etc. work (click on a link and the program installs automatically? yeah, right), not to mention the joys of the command line
"
That would be a boon in the corporate enviromaent, make it difficult for user to install that 'harmless' app.
However, this is changing,m and a lot of installs are becoming point and click.
all the major issue you note are becoming a moot point. And if enough people start using Linux, MS will release a Linux version of office. It makes to much money not to.
Microsoft cannot make non-Windows x86 software (Score:3, Insightful)
A while ago, Microsoft released IE for Solaris. Sparc solaris. Not x86 Solaris. It wouldn't have cost them anything but typing 'make' on a Solaris x86 box, but they would not do it.
If Microsoft were to release software for non-Microsoft x86 operating systems, then they'd be helping to validate the proposition that Microsoft is not the only game in town. They simply cannot afford to do that (there are a couple cases where they have done so - the
Re:and if you do... (Score:3, Insightful)
- not being able to open that complex word attachment that your coworker mailed you
- not being able to browse every site online (some are definitely IE specific, others require plugins not available on linux)
I fail to see how these have anyting to do with linux. If you publish something in a proprietary format, then by definition only those with the proprietary application will be able to use it.
Doesn't matter whether it is linux or any other operating system (or even windows without the proper applic
Re:and if you do... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:and if you do... (Score:2, Funny)
I need a life more like yours.
Re:and if you do... (Score:2)
not being able to open that complex word attachment that your coworker mailed you
Great! Now you can have all the latest viruses How very productive. If someone sends me a Word file I just politely ask them to make a PDF or RTF, and they always do. No problem there. The truth is, 95% of the time I get a Word file it's just a wrapper for a bunch of graphics. When I tell the sender that it's possible
Linux annoyances (Score:4, Insightful)
*Missing packages and circular dependencies - a wont install without b, b wont install without c, c wont install without a.
*Maybe no
*Plug and play works ok during the initial setup but not very well after that. Try changing your video card after already doing the initial install.
*Cut and paste doesnt work most of the time.
*Crappy fonts - most web pages look like crap, even slashdot. I dont consider stealing fonts from windows a fix to this problem.
*X and Gnome and Kde are just as bloated as XP.
*Everything is a beta. Wheres all the version 1.0+ software?
more reviews (Score:3, Informative)
whoa boy! (Score:5, Funny)
Opening up the can of worms I see.
Pardon me while I put on the 'ol asbestos suit and run for my life.
Ummmm. (Score:3, Insightful)
Its here and its called OS X [apple.com]
Re:Ummmm. (Score:2, Insightful)
It's here and it's called Debian GNU/Linux [debian.org]
There. Can I get moderated "Insightful" too now?
steveha
Re:Ummmm. (Score:3, Insightful)
I wanna be insightful too!
Re:Ummmm. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Ummmm. (Score:3, Insightful)
Windows 95 and 98 (Score:5, Funny)
> from the Annoyances books about those OSes
Windows? Annoyances? Isn't that redundant?
Even the enlightened ones... (Score:5, Insightful)
Or if they're really unlucky, they get the support the Win32 users.
[Or if they're really unlucky, they lose their job right before the holidays and don't even do that any longer. But I digress.]
To be fair, it's not like non-MS software is annoyance-free. =) One nice difference with Linux, Evolution, and all of the other OS software I use is that I can learn about the annoyances before I pony up my increasingly scarce cash for it....
Program Not Responding (Score:5, Insightful)
One of my favorite dialogs from Windows is the one saying "This program is not responding". Excuse me but wouldn't it be nice to tell me which one that is? Obviously Windows knows which one it is. Arrrr!
Re:Program Not Responding (Score:4, Funny)
1) the file yaddayadda.dll is not being used by any other programs and can be safely removed. Remove? (yes/no)
Then when you click 'OK'...
2) Another program may be using that DLL!!! Dear god! Are you sure?!!! (no/no)
friggin CYA programmers
Re:Program Not Responding (Score:3, Interesting)
Also exciting are the local Access Denied messages you sometimes get when logged in as Administrator, which can get in your way when trying to close a misbehaving process.
Re:Program Not Responding (Score:4, Informative)
Also exciting are the local Access Denied messages you sometimes get when logged in as Administrator, which can get in your way when trying to close a misbehaving process.
I can't stress enough how badly you want to download PStools [sysinternals.com]
This will allow you to view hidden processes that Windows does not normally expose to the task manager, and kill just about anything, even the normal "access denied" processes.
Every windows admin needs this.
Re:Program Not Responding (Score:3, Informative)
Actually it's true that people simply do not read dialog boxes - one of our support guys was called out yesterday after a user complained that her computer kept giving an error every time she shut down this new program she has.
The "error" was a dialog box that said "Are you sure you want to quit?"
Stuck with Windows? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Stuck with Windows? (Score:5, Insightful)
How about: I don't *like* other operating systems? That's the one concept that you Mac and Linux fanatics don't seem to get. In my experience, WinXP just *works*. I've used both Linux and OSX extensively, and WinXP is the only one I keep on coming back to. -1, Micro$oft Lover
Re:Stuck with Windows? (Score:4, Interesting)
Windows works. For the most part, I can do what I want to do in Windows.
GLX mostly works. I just downloaded and installed kde-3.1.94 on my slackware box at home. One cool thing new to this version of kde: You can adjust your screen resolution in REAL TIME--no restarting of X required! (I know, this really a new "X" feature, and you could do it with the keyboard from kde...But I digress).
Wow--that was cool! Just like...that other OS. Except you can't change the color depth without editing XF86Config.
But I still use GLX. Why? Because it's FUN. I like farting around with my OS. I like installing new stuff, learning about how it works, and getting it running. I like dealing with the community of users and developers and learning new stuff from folks. And, ever so infrequently, teaching somebody how to do something I learned last week.
It feels more like it's "my" computer.
The GNU OS, on top of Linux and under X functions. I can do what I want with it. But that's not why I use it.
I use it because it's fun.
I can stumble around in Windows. I can hack the registry and get what I want. I have book marked ntfaq.com. I have set up exotic hardware in Windows. I have used weird proprietary software in Windows.
But in the end, Windows is not fun. Windows is frustrating. It's sneaky. It's secretive. Windows tells me what I can and can't do. It's truly easier to use. But it's not fun.
Re:Stuck with Windows? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Stuck with Windows? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Stuck with Windows? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Stuck with Windows? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Stuck with Windows? (Score:2)
Of course my Myth box only has linux on it
Re:Stuck with Windows? (Score:5, Funny)
Hmm... after you repeat these words:
"I am afraid to move out of my parent's basement, get a job, and stop posting dumbass comments on Slashdot all day"
Say it! Say it!
Some of us work for "companies" with "IT Departments" who have "rules" and tell us what to "do" to get "money".
Also, some of us like playing video games, or having a home theatre PC, both of which are a giant pain/impossible on Linux.
Home theater pc... Knoppmyth. (Score:3, Informative)
Can you spell your name and remember a password? If so you can install Knoppmyth, a fully installable Knoppix(debian) distro with mythtv. Knoppmyth is a pvr, has tv with a guide to your local cable/sat provider, weather, news, a dvd playing, an mp3 player (and indexing, by group and album, with visualizations), cd ripper with artist and title lookup, emulator frontend, and vcd playe
Annoyances? (Score:5, Funny)
Oy.
Re:Annoyances? (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd love to have him log on on a non-previleged account, but then he'd call me every time he wants to install stuff, that's even less practical than re-installign him once in a while.
Re:Annoyances? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is how I learned, I messed up my PC many o'time but I learned something each time I did it.
Be thankful at least your father isn't afraid of the computer.
Re:Annoyances? (Score:2)
I don't know what this is, so that must mean I don't use it, so I'll just delete it. Hey, my computer isn't working. I'll wait until Dave comes over to fix it.
Both of 'em learned after a doing this 2 or 3 times to not do that. Or they just quit asking me about it.
gotcha beat (Score:4, Funny)
Did I mention that he's practically deaf?
"FORMAT C:/ \s"
"E?"
"No, C"
"G?"
Re:gotcha beat (Score:2, Funny)
"Format Charlie :/ \Sierra"
"Echo?"
"Echo off."
"Golf?"
"Sure - it's better than fixing your computer!"
Or you could just hope it never happens again.
Re:Annoyances? (Score:5, Funny)
Each time I look at his laptop he's got like twenty things running in the taskbar, including three anti-virus programs.
Me: Dad, why do you have three anti-virus programs running in your taskbar?
Dad: Can't be too careful, you know. That darn internet is full of viruses these days. I figure you can't have enough anti-virus programs, am I right?
Me: No, Dad, you're not right.
Re:Annoyances? (Score:2)
Re:Annoyances? (Score:5, Funny)
Even worse are the 'inspiriational', totally-irrational Christian-themed stories via e-mail. Ugh. Jesus, ole pal, your followers are both tacky and stupid. Please bring them on the Rapture ASAP! *sigh*
sweet! (Score:3, Funny)
"Click here if your mother sends you e-mail." hehe
Re:Annoyances? (Score:2)
Apparently you are not the only one.....
Macboy [macboy.com]
Re:Annoyances? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Annoyances? (Score:2)
Hmmm, I wonder what the word for killing any ole Luser is? Aw, probably 'suicide.'
Is this the right site? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Is this the right site? (Score:2)
Curiously, if you complain that some open-source word processor doesn't have autocorrection, the same Slashbots who can't turn it off in Word will tell you to "Write it yourself, you moron! Yo
I wanted a Linux Annoyances paperback book (Score:5, Funny)
But they said it only comes in a set of 32 hardbound volumes.
Re:I wanted a Linux Annoyances paperback book (Score:2)
Re:I wanted a Linux Annoyances paperback book (Score:5, Funny)
Not true. You can download it free, distributed among the many GNU/Linux source packages.
The title is README.
Re:I wanted a Linux Annoyances paperback book (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I wanted a Linux Annoyances paperback book (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe I can do a google search for this. Oh! Here we go, a mailing list where a guy had this same problem. Let's look at the solution... oh crap, does anybody speak French? Maybe I'll just go to my distro's ftp site and... uh-oh, too many users. Screw this, I'm just going to check my webmail.
Biggest PC annoyance... (Score:5, Funny)
Example comments:
You know, you don't have to double-click the webpage link...
You could just type the web address in the white box at the top instead of using a search engine...
Damn it! No! Just... Forget it, let me do it.
All last night. There were a few more I'm sure.
Re:Biggest PC annoyance... (Score:5, Funny)
Caps Lock...hit Caps Lock. It's not on the screen, it's on your keyboard. On top of 7. No, not F5!
You can't do research on antarctica by typing "www.antara.com" on the SEARCH ENGINE BOX. It also helps if you spell it right.
Just because we restrict right-clicking doesn't mean you can't paste. Click on edit, then paste...or hit ctrl+v -- on your keyboard. ON YOUR KEYBOARD. Dude, off the mouse!!!
Ah, users. Truly the biggest PC annoyance (and amusement) ever made.
Re:Biggest PC annoyance... (Score:2)
Happens all the time to me. Before I got PISSED, now I find it comical in a way...
Re:Biggest PC annoyance... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Biggest PC annoyance... (Score:5, Funny)
The most difficult thing in the world is to know
how to do a thing and to watch someone else doing
it wrong, without commenting.
-- T.H. White
Re:Biggest PC annoyance... (Score:4, Funny)
Get your grubby fingers off my screen! I know which button I'm supposed to click.
Yes, I know what I'm doing. I did it this way last time and it worked.
Fine, I give up. Have a seat, do it your way. I'm going to go make some coffee.
the CD is not missing (Score:2)
me too!! (Score:3, Insightful)
oh yeah its ANNOYING when i stupidly name files! here i was thinking it was my fault and not the inatimate object that just takes what i give it... duh!
dont get me started on how i can never remember my aol password! why doesnt the computer remember it for me? surely this would save people MILLIONS of hours of time!
come on. i mean, come on.
"They that can give up essential control of the PC to obtain a little temporary comfortability deserve neither control nor comfortability." -- Benjamin Franklin v.2.0
Re:me too!! (Score:2, Funny)
DWIMNWIT (lovingly pronounced as 'dimwit')
Do What I Mean Not What I Typed
So, it _was_ the computer's fault all along!
Um, never... (Score:5, Funny)
About as often has I have a heart-to-heart discussion with my cordless drill. Maybe slightly less frequently than I take my telephone on a nice vacation to the beach?
A computer is a tool, nothing more, nothing less. I've got no emotional attachment to it whatsoever.
Re:Um, never... (Score:2)
I play the occasional game at the PC. Because it relaxis me..except undying, that just creeps me out and winds me up.
Re:Um, never... (Score:3, Insightful)
I actually had a fondness for my old TRS-80. It was a tool, but it was a *FUN* tool.
Modern x86 Windows boxes arn't much fun - you just maintain them and if you're lucky, you can get some work done.
Linux and Mac useres tend to actaully *like* their tools - sort of how a good woodworker likes his hand-made chisels.
Re:Um, never... (Score:3, Funny)
Hi, you must be new around here, welcome to Slashdot!
--trb
the most annoying thing (Score:3, Insightful)
about windows are the themed 'schemes' that people can load.
i am doing an install at a clients PC today, and I absolutely hate wagging around the "reigndeer" pointer that goes with the X-mas scheme. This feature should be disable on "windows professional", and be relegated to home users.
Gag - this is worse than Clippy.
Re:the most annoying thing (Score:3, Insightful)
You could turn it off while your using it, then turn it back on when your done.
Getting Rid Of Clippy... (Score:4, Informative)
Do you really need to buy a book to figure out how to uncheck the "Office Assistants" checkbox in the list of available modules during the install of Office?
Re:Getting Rid Of Clippy... (Score:2)
You need a book for this? (Score:3, Funny)
No no no (Score:4, Interesting)
I've been running XP for almost 6 months and it has *never* crashed.
Switch you fool! (Oh, and inquire your fellow nerds for a, um, *cough*, discount)
Re:No no no (Score:3, Interesting)
I was forced to switch OSs at work. I was one of the last holdouts on Win98. Yeah, I got the BSOD about every other day, but I didn't want to deal with the downtime of upgrading. (it isn't simple, because of corporate policy) I finally got a new machine with XP on it, and it took me a few days to configure it so I didn't think I was using a Fischer Price toy. (anyone know how to get rid of that damn animated dog when doing a file fin
Best Book for Dealing With Windows Problems Ever (Score:2)
Steven
I'd expect more from this book (Score:4, Interesting)
I wonder what versions of Windows the book refers to? I thought PowerDesk only worked for Windows 95-ME. And what software is it really addressing? If it's giving any advice about Internet Explorer, I hope that it's to remove all file associations and hide all links to it by deleting them or burying them deeply in Start Menu/Programs/Accessories/Unsupported Software/Mistakes/Don't Go Here/Did You Try Mozilla?/FireBird?/Opera?/You Can't Be Serious!/Are You Really Really Sure?/Okay But Don't Blame OReilly/.
Fluff, pure fluff! (Score:3, Insightful)
You are not alone... (Score:3, Interesting)
If Windows had been created "right"? (Score:3, Interesting)
What... right like Linux? Which version of the kernel? Or did you mean a specific distro? Which one?
Or are you talking about having the computer configured the correctly out of the box? Configured to whose preferences? Which hardware?
Remember the "P" in PC stands for "Personal". The whole idea is that you can whack it into submission, unlike servers run by us uptight, high-strung operators.
Go configure.
Alternative to 98 (Score:3, Interesting)
The original book was a compilation - kind of a blog. People submitted content to the site.
One scary piece was that, every now and then, Windows would delete a folder containing an MS competitor's product. Not a problem - since essentially all Windows users back up their systems on a regular basis...
Note that Windows XP is too large and slow to run on many machines that run Windoze 98. And, '98 is still a virus/worm nightmare. For these smaller and slower machines, the options are - get a firewall, antivirus, etc., or, load it with Linux.
I still prefer Win 2000 pro over XP, in a lesser of evils sort of way.
this isn't a book review (Score:3, Insightful)
Assuming Cancel Stupidity (Score:4, Insightful)
I still want all the other files that aren't locked to move. What idiot thought that up?
Linux annoyances. (Score:3, Interesting)
Book Reviews... (Score:3)
I just had to comment about the review itself. The reviewer gives a couple of specific examples from the book. And his own comments, like:
MS Office
Windows Explorer
And sentances like:
Of course, one could point out if previous versions of Windows had been created "right" or "ran correctly," there wouldn't be need for a whole chapter (or even reams of books) on Microsoft fixes or how to get it to run properly.
(emphasis mine)
There's not much of a teaser or compelling "cliff hanger" to make one want to go buy this book. I suspect
About the book itself, aside from the one chapter about hardware issues, it seems to be yet another Windows (and Windows software) annoyances book, though if you're targetting the mainstream I suppose PC == Windows. It just doesn't sound much like an O'Reilly title, though...
Re:How did they come up with these? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:does this strike anyone else as useless? (Score:2, Insightful)
Doesn't sound useless to me!
Re:does this strike anyone else as useless? (Score:2)
True enough, but we're not all capable of understanding this stuff even when we're looking directly at it. Ergo, this sort of book for the less well endowed mentally, when it comes to dealing with such childishly simple subject matter.
Re:How to get rid of clippy... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:How to get rid of clippy... (Score:4, Funny)
Finally I had to break down and buy a magnesium alloy case becuse computers are su much more expensive than tubes.
You can rename it to whatever you want! (Score:2)