Archive for the ‘Software Reviews’ Category

Browser Wars

Saturday, January 3rd, 2009

Which is the best browser out there? Here are some of our opinions and thoughts…

Adam: Mozila Firefox

My preferred browser is Mozilla Firefox, although I admit I haven’t had much experience with Opera or Chrome.

Internet Explorer, in my opinion, is the worst of the lot. In my experience, it has been the slowest in terms of the time web pages take to load. It has also been the most pop-up prone and the user interface is exceptionally poor – for example the way the new versions have the menu bar hidden by default and how even simple tasks like changing your homepage have been made as confusing as possible. And you can forget about features like searching your history, which I would have thought were pretty much standard by now.

Safari, Apple’s own browser which they have recently released for Windows, is definitely the best looking of them (as you might expect if you’re familiar with Apple products), however porting Apple’s “Aqua” visual style to Windows has, as we have seen with iTunes, come at the cost of taking up a completely ridiculous amount of memory while running. However, having said this, if you have the RAM, it is definitely a usable alternative to IE. The UI is beautifully designed and works as well as it looks, however there is limited support for plug-ins additional to the Flash, Java and QuickTime it comes with.

Mozilla Firefox, I feel, is good browser which, although it takes a pretty long time to start up on my PC, runs quickly and smoothly on every OS I’ve used and loads pages faster than IE most of the time. Its best feature, in my opinion, is the huge library of extensions available to download for free from the Firefox website. Extensions are little add-ons which, yes, extend the browser in some way. For example, “Google Preview” gives you a thumbnail image of each site next to your search results. “Resizer” lets you resize text boxes on web pages, and InterClue can be used to find out whether a link is worth clicking or not by popping up a little window with a summary of the page’s contents. If you’re that kind of person, there is also a similarly varied library of themes which can completely change the appearance of the browser, including everything up to the window’s border and titlebar (which is decided by your operating system). And if what you find in the libraries isn’t enough, there is a tutorial on the website which demonstrates how to make your own Firefox extensions and themes. It is this almost unlimited extra functionality that in my opinion sets Firefox apart from other browsers.

My favourite:

AJ: Undecided – Can I design my Own?

I currently use Opera on my Desktop at work, Google Chrome on my Laptop, and Firefox (from Mozilla) on my Media Centre at home, they all have plus points, and unfortunately negative ones. Internet Explorer has the burden of being the “brand leader” and this means it is subject to the most virus and malware attacks making it the least “safe” browser to use. I find however it views websites better than the others (webdesigners will check what their site looks like in IE, but not necessarily in the rest), I find fonts frequently look different and inevitably worse in Firefox, than IE.

Opera: I like the speed dial feature, where you can have a page that views mini pages of your top nine sites, for some weird reason Google’s version of this selects your “most visited” sites (so if you have a problem with say Microsoft and have to keep visiting them they feature in your “favourite” page), how annoying and Big Brother Tendency is this?

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Windows Vista Preview

Tuesday, September 26th, 2006

The King’s New Clothes?

Popular folklore says that it is not until the third version that Microsoft gets a program “right”, and certainly those of us who remember Version 1 of Windows would agree with this. By Windows 3.11 for Workgroups they had something that was both useful and understandable.

Since then we have had 95, 98 and the dire ME, again becoming a good(ish) product in the various forms of XP.

Soon (although actual dates keep receding) we are due to get a “new” Windows, to be called Vista. It has taken a record time to get to this point and Microsoft needs to get some income coming in. We have been reading reviews of Vista that have been very favourable, and have been asking Microsoft for some time when we could get our hands on the software to trial.

Finally last Friday we received a package from Microsoft, including lots of new software, and I decided to try Vista and the new version 12 of Office Suite. We installed onto an Acer Ferrari laptop with an AMD Athlon XP-M2500+ CPU, 60GB Hard Drive, 512MB DDR RAM, and an ATI Radeon 128MB Graphics card. This comfortably met the minimum system requirements, though we do find problems as we go along.

My feelings are probably influenced by an installation of Mandriva Linux that I did along with a customer recently. The software went on easily, formatted the drive (including several options for partitioning) and installed itself along with a couple of Graphical Interfaces and some Office type applications in around 30mins.

Vista however popped up a Graphical Drive formatting gizmo, which, whilst it capably formatted and partitioned the drive, really gave no idea about the how or why. The whole installation took over an hour (and it needed an internet connection to do so). When complete it seemed it had correctly recognised the hardware and located drivers so, heigh ho away we go.

Well no not exactly…

  • Our first shock was the dire, dreary interface, featuring Dark Grey and large chunks of Black (one of my pet hates is those websites that have a black background, now my “Computer menu” has a black background with no obvious way of changing it).
  • Next is the red X on the top right of a window, which is sometimes there and sometimes not – now if like us you have spent the last few years trying to re-assure users that the best “safe” way to close unwanted windows was not to touch any “close” or “no thanks” buttons; simply hit the red X on the top right, you are mystified as to why this standard has been dropped.
  • In the evening I took the laptop to a local hostelry which offers (free) wireless access intending to install the office software. Now I like to think I am something of a wiz at wireless, however Vista has certainly managed to get my number – it can hide wireless connections better than the Scarlet Pimpernel could French Royalists. It features a plethora of windows with no obvious way forward or back (and no red X). What has happened to the “View Wireless networks” in XP? By the time I had managed to discover the Access Point and connect to it the laptop battery was flat, and I discovered that Microsoft had not provided Activation Codes for the Office Software.
  • The rest of the weekend was spent e-mailing Microsoft asking why we had no activation for the office suite, trying to recharge the laptop via the car charger (I had forgotten that we had used it to recharge a customers laptop and had it set to the wrong voltage for the Acer hence it didn’t recharge). In the end I went out and bought a PC Magazine which had a “free” copy of the Office Beta software, as an easier way than trying to get an answer from Microsoft.

Well things are moving along (don’t they always?) and we have spent a long period playing with wireless network access – we now have two wireless hotspots based at the ComputerBits store as well as our own wireless network. These are Free-Hotspot.com and Zonerider – we would welcome you to come along and try wireless access from the Market Place, or one of our local pubs or cafes, and you can add your comments to this article.

Yesterday evening a crisis arose – we got home and number one daughter (actually the only one thank goodness) decided to push the speakers of the Media System onto the floor in her enthusiasm to connect it up and become square eyed. This meant we had no sound AND the cordless mouse stopped working (dead battery). Attaching the mouse I use with the Acer Ferrari worked but the amplifying USB speakers I use with it didn’t!

No matter, we set up the Laptop in place of the Media Centre, loaded in a “Back to the Future II” DVD and off we went. First I realised we had not installed DVD software onto the Vista system, but to my delight Vista Media Player said “Do you want me to play this DVD?” , Oh Boy, Oh Great , you can do that?, you’re good, oh Yes please!.

Copyright problem?

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What do you mean, “copyright problem”? I paid good money to buy these DVDs from Blockbuster; Vista you are wrong!

A night without TV…..

Further reseach today suggests this problem is a bug and has been encountered by others, nonetheless this O/S is proving an embarrasment

BUT – frankly the Acer is needed to check out the functioning of Wireless signals and with the Vista O/S it simply cannot cope. This is not a bug within Vista; it is to do with the thinking behind it. Microsoft is making the bits of XP we found useful either unavailable or hidden so deep within the system that we cannot find them. We think this is their idea of making it simple – “the system does it itself” – so the user does not need to know about connection details. However, the fact is we want a simple “view available networks” and this is not there!

So… Terry has spent most of this morning uninstalling the hapless VISTA, and re-installing XP onto the Ferrari.

That means that until we get another PC – preferably with a 64bit CPU – we do not have a Vista system running. I have installed “Office 2007″ onto my Desktop PC and will be saying something about this, but for the short term Vista remains..

To Be continued…

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Windows Millenium

Saturday, July 22nd, 2000

Windows ME logo

Windows ME logo

Well, its September 14th and another release of the Microsoft’s world dominant operating system is upon us. Available in your shops today is Microsoft’s latest release. The OEM version has been out for about a month now, but the upgrade is now available for you to purchase for around £80. Why does any serious gamer care about an operating system I hear you cry? Well I will stake my life on it that 95% of you play all your PC games on some form of Windows operating system. This article will tell you whether or not it is worth the £40 you’ll end up paying for it.

Minimum Specifications

The first thing that struck me about Windows ME, are Microsoft’s minimum specifications for the operating system. The system requirements from the Microsoft web site are as follows:

  • VGA or higher resolution monitor
  • Pentium 150MHz processor or better
  • 32MB of RAM or better
  • 480MB to 645MB free hard-disk space
  • CD-ROM drive
  • 28.8 Kbs modem or faster with current Internet connection
  • Sound card
  • Speakers or headphones
  • Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

    • That is some serious hardware. You have got to question why you need a sound card, modem, and speakers just to run an operating system. Well, we tested the ‘minimum specifications’ and it turns out that Microsoft should have listed them, as ‘recommended’ specifications as Windows ME will run quite happily without a sound card, modem or speakers. Another thing that is striking about Microsoft’s specifications is the amount of disk space your installation will gobble up. If you still have an old system with a 1 or 2 gig disk then you’re going to need an upgrade as Windows ME will eat up a good 500MB of your hard disk. For comparison, Windows 98 took up 180MB on first installation and Windows 95 only 100MB. Microsoft will tell us all that the large amount of space required is needed to sustain all the new features which may be true but it also raises questions that if any of their other operating systems are anything to go by, more code means more bugs. I’ll get to those later though.

    Installation

    Well, you will be glad to know that Windows ME is the easiest operating system ever to set up and install onto you’re system. The mandatory questions are asked at the start, but after that you can sit back and relax while Windows ME installs and sets itself up on your system. Hardware drivers disks shouldn’t have to be inserted at any point in the installation, unless you have some brand spanking new hardware that it can’t find. It detects and sets up most systems with a correct set of drivers that seem to function correctly. While you install you can make yourself a cup of tea and then probably go for a quick jog down to the newsagents to get the morning paper as it takes almost an hour to copy all the files. Once its finished though, you should have all the hardware correctly detected and installed and Windows booting in much quicker time than Windows 98.

    New Features

    There are plenty of new features that come with Windows ME. Windows Media Player 7 adds new features such as an MP3 to your desktop. You can put yourself in the director’s chair with Windows Movie Maker. Import and edit video from your analogue or digital camcorder. Then splice scenes easily or add graphics, narration, and musical scores. When you’re done, you can share your creation with friends and family via e-mail or on a Web site. A handy new feature is the way in which you can browse through your pictures on Windows ME. You can view the entire contents of your picture folder viewing a preview of the image before you select the image you want. This can make finding that image you downloaded last night a cinch.

    Windows ME Image Browser

    Windows ME Image Browser

    Home networking has also been improved since Windows 98. If you have a network at home then sharing devices between two or more computers is simple with the home networking wizard that simply sets it up for you. You can even share the internet connection across the network, although this is harder to set up than Microsoft like to make you believe.

    Windows ME comes complete with the latest release of Internet Explorer 5.5 which makes browsing the web even easier. Outlook Express 5.5 is also included which is also extremely easy to set up your multiple e-mail accounts.

    Speed

    There is no doubt, that if you want an operating system that will run on a minimal PC (Pentium) then a release of Windows 95 or 98 is the system for you. Windows ME has a host of new features but they eat at your disk space, memory and CPU power like no other operating system before it. We tested it on a 450MHz AMD K6-2 with 128Mb of RAM and I can still catch Windows ME running off the swap file on the disk. It requires a good PC to run efficiently and if you don’t have one then your best off with Windows 98 or a hardware upgrade. I haven’t tried to run Windows ME on a 150MHz Pentium, but I wouldn’t want to either.

    Stability

    Does Windows ME crash? The simple answer is yes. It is about as stable as Windows 98. The dreaded blue screen appears now again when you try to run too many programs and explorer is still prone to the odd fatal error. If you want a system that will multitask properly and run more than about 5 applications at once then Windows has never been very good. For most purposes though, games and word processing run quickly and sturdily under Windows ME. As far as running games goes, the operating system is just as stable as Windows 98 and makes it easy to network computers together so having a LAN party is a breeze to set up under Windows ME.

    The Verdict

    To be honest the host of new features supplied by the latest Microsoft operating system are only needed for those people who want to stay up to date with the latest releases of operating systems. This isn’t, and was never intended to be a next generation operating system representing the kind of breakthrough that was made when Microsoft released Windows 95. It is a host of bug fixes and enhancements that Microsoft hopes will end the Win9x chain of operating systems. Everything that Windows ME does can be set up to run on Windows 98, if you know where to download a good MP3 player from, and understand how to set up a network. If you are a novice with a new computer that is fast, and want an easy to set up operating system then Windows ME is for you. However, if you are still running Windows 98 on an old Pentium then the upgrade will slow your computer down and, frankly, add only a host of gadgets and gimmicks, and still no system stability, to what is still Windows 98.

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