Archive: Windows
Microsoft's New Message: I'm A PC
Perhaps Microsoft has finally gotten a little fed up with Apple's "Hello, I'm a Mac/And I'm a PC" ads (admit it, just reading that phrase has started that piano theme playing in your head). Only weeks after starting a rather puzzling series of ads featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld...
By Rob Pegoraro | September 19, 2008; 11:19 AM ET | Comments (218)
Microsoft Previews Internet Explorer 8
Earlier today, Microsoft shipped the Beta 2 release of Internet Explorer 8 -- the first new version since 2006's Internet Explorer 7, which itself marked the first major update to IE since Internet Explorer 6 shipped back in 2001. IE 8 -- available for Windows XP and Vista -- doesn't...
By Rob Pegoraro | August 27, 2008; 06:13 PM ET | Comments (55)
Looking For A Lightweight Laptop?
August is supposed to be a slow news month in the tech business, but that doesn't apply to me until I get my annual "how to buy a laptop" column out of the way. The get-the-column-over-with phrasing may sound cynical, but for a few years in a row I've found...
By Rob Pegoraro | August 14, 2008; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (36)
Last Call For Windows XP (More or Less)
It's finally here: Windows XP's last day in the retail market. After repeated delays--most caused by the belated arrival of its successor Windows Vista, the last due to Vista's hesitant reception by the market--Microsoft will stop selling that nearly seven-year-old operating system to stores and large computer vendors today. That...
By Rob Pegoraro | June 30, 2008; 09:58 AM ET | Comments (28)
Microsoft Offers a Peek at "Windows 7"
Microsoft's Windows Vista is barely a year and a half and many of you seem in no rush to adopt it, but the company is already starting to reveal some features of Vista's successor. Yesterday, at the Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference in Carlsbad, Calif., company representatives...
By Rob Pegoraro | May 28, 2008; 12:02 PM ET | Comments (60)
Windows XP's Afterlife
When Windows Vista shipped more than 15 months ago, I really thought I was through writing about Windows XP. Having written dozens of stories about XP by then, I had no problem with waving goodbye to the topic. And yet here I am, writing yet again about an operating system...
By Rob Pegoraro | May 15, 2008; 11:11 AM ET | Comments (30)
Windows XP Service Pack 3
Tuesday, Microsoft released its last big update to Windows XP--Service Pack 3. Like Microsoft's two earlier Service Packs for XP, "SP3" packs earlier bug fixes and some new features into a single download. But unlike Service Pack 2, a must-have update that added numerous, badly needed security upgrades to XP's...
By Rob Pegoraro | May 9, 2008; 06:45 PM ET | Comments (0)
Insecurity Over Security Software
It's time for a confession: I can't remember the last time a security program stopped me from accidentally opening a virus on any Windows machine--even though my public, widely published e-mail address has to be on half the spam databases in the world. That's because if you know what to...
By Rob Pegoraro | April 17, 2008; 12:32 PM ET | Comments (0)
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Arrives
Microsoft shipped the first big update to Windows Vista today, Windows Vista Service Pack 1. This is a certifiably big deal. In the Windows food chain, "service packs" are the most important releases outside of entirely new versions of Windows. They both fix existing bugs and add significant new features....
By Rob Pegoraro | March 18, 2008; 02:11 PM ET | Comments (25)
Windows Vista Turns 1
The six-word summary of today's column: "Windows Vista after one year: meh." My opinion of Vista has soured a bit since my review a year ago--thanks in large part to the reports I've received from readers about their own experiences with Vista. My own interactions with Vista's anti-piracy features haven't...
By Rob Pegoraro | January 24, 2008; 10:40 AM ET | Comments (0)
Good and Bad Betas
The meaning of "beta"--a term meant to describe a largely completed software release ready for the stress of real-world testing--has gotten awfully muddy in practice. Some applications, such as Google's Gmail, can spend years in beta status but feel as polished and stable as any 1.0, 2.0 or 3.0 release....
By Rob Pegoraro | December 19, 2007; 12:36 PM ET | Comments (8)
Confusing, For Sure
Why can't Microsoft make up its mind about its brand names? This company, more than almost any other tech operation, can't seem to resist the temptation to blur the identity of a product by fracturing it into different editions or "rebranding" it altogether. For instance, after years of asking people...
By Rob Pegoraro | December 14, 2007; 08:08 AM ET | Comments (14)
Microsoft Relents on Vista's "Reduced Functionality"
Microsoft announced this morning that one of the least popular features of Windows Vista--its "Reduced Functionality Mode"--will go away when the company ships the Service Pack 1 update to this operating system next year. This egregiously misnamed feature will lock you out of all but the most minimal use of...
By Rob Pegoraro | December 4, 2007; 10:24 AM ET | Comments (127)
A Poor Outlook For Outlook Alternatives
A friend of mine -- who has had almost as much bad luck with computers as Gene Weingarten -- recently e-mailed to ask about cryptic error messages that had begun to pop up in his copy of Microsoft Outlook 2002. On further examination, he traced the problem to the fact...
By Rob Pegoraro | November 30, 2007; 02:30 PM ET | Comments (0)
Microsoft's "Advantage" Malfunctions
The machinery behind Microsoft's "Windows Genuine Advantage" anti-piracy system had a meltdown over the weekend. Some customers found that their paid-for, legitimate copies of Windows failed this test, which Microsoft requires before downloads of many non-security updates. In Windows XP, an incorrect validation failure doesn't have to cause an immediate...
By Rob Pegoraro | August 27, 2007; 09:53 AM ET | Comments (28)
Windows Vista at Six Months
Today is a notable day in the tech business. Six months ago, Windows Vista arrived in stores after years of development. From here, it doesn't look like it's been a great half-year for Microsoft. Vista hasn't provided any serious boost to the PC market, the Gartner Group reported in late...
By Rob Pegoraro | July 30, 2007; 09:08 AM ET | Comments (0)
The Start Menu Mess
Here's a fun exercise that can shed some light on just how broken the Windows experience has become. 1: Read Microsoft's instructions to developers on how they're supposed to use the Start menu. (To summarize briefly: Only provide shortcuts to actual programs, not their their readme or help files, settings...
By Rob Pegoraro | July 17, 2007; 09:52 AM ET | Comments (17)
Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0
I use Mozilla Thunderbird--the free, open-source mail program developed for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux by the folks behind the Firefox browser--everyday at work. But I can't justify devoting a column to Thunderbird 2.0. This release has some valuable upgrades from Tbird 1.5, but it feels like a missed...
By Rob Pegoraro | June 8, 2007; 08:05 AM ET | Comments (0)
Google Desktop Turns 5.0
The first two versions of Google Desktop were enough of a big deal to earn prominent spots in my column, but the pace of innovation has slowed down with recent releases. Version 5, released in beta-test form in March, provides a convincing recreation of Windows Vista's Sidebar, but otherwise doesn't...
By Rob Pegoraro | June 6, 2007; 09:13 AM ET | Comments (7)
Vexatious Voice Recognition
One of my colleagues recently sent me a link to this YouTube clip --one programmer's attempt to write a brief segment of computer code using Windows Vista's speech recognition. As you might expect, things don't go well. Vista keeps interpreting his editing commands as text that he wants to "type,"...
By Rob Pegoraro | May 1, 2007; 02:21 PM ET | Comments (7)
Windows Snapping Shut
You made me write this morning's column. Maybe not you in person, but you The Readers, who have sent in some disturbing e-mails, Web-chat posts and blog comments about being held up by their own legally purchased copy of Windows. Things didn't seem too bad with Microsoft's first anti-piracy effort,...
By Rob Pegoraro | April 5, 2007; 10:06 AM ET | Comments (30)
Google Preps a New Pack
Yesterday, Google updated its free, quick-installing set of add-ons to Windows, Google Pack (which I reviewed favorably shortly after its arrival in early 2006). The latest revisions, however, don't add any significant new capabilities, and, in one case amount to a bit of a downgrade: * The six-month trial copy...
By Rob Pegoraro | March 28, 2007; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
"My" Windows Bug
In my review last week of HP's TouchSmart desktop, I complained about a malfunction that kept me from using this computer's FM radio: I couldn't use the FM radio: The Vista software kept saying I first had to set up the TV tuner, even though I already had. An HP...
By Rob Pegoraro | March 6, 2007; 03:32 PM ET | Comments (0)
Vista Vistas
Earlier today, the Ars Technica tech-news site pointed to a fascinating photo gallery of pictures taken for use as desktop backgrounds in Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system. Photographer Hamad Darwish's shots are worth spending some time to look over, both because they're beautiful and because they show how much work...
By Rob Pegoraro | February 22, 2007; 03:48 PM ET | Comments (3)
Windows Vista Compatibility Watch
It's now been two weeks since Windows Vista arrived in stores and on new PCs--and several months since Microsoft wrapped up development of this new operating system--but that doesn't mean that developers of Windows programs have updated all their software to function correctly in Vista. Some programs--not just the obvious...
By Rob Pegoraro | February 13, 2007; 02:27 PM ET | Comments (0)
Vista's "Reduced Functionality"
Vista to user: No computer for you!!! One of the machines I used to test Windows Vista, a Gateway laptop, booted into this screen several days ago. Vista had determined that it hadn't been installed legitimately and locked the computer into what Microsoft calls "reduced functionality" mode--in which you...
By Rob Pegoraro | February 9, 2007; 12:00 PM ET | Comments (43)
This Looks Bad
What's the one thing anti-virus software should never, ever do? Ship with a security flaw that makes it easier for your computer to get nailed by a virus. The notice at Trend Micro's site says it all: Trend Micro has become aware of a vulnerability in its Scan Engine, wherein...
By Rob Pegoraro | February 8, 2007; 03:51 PM ET | Comments (8)
