Recent Posts

2101

General Software Discussion / Re: Any XP users switching to Windows 7 yet?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 13, 2009, 10:38 AM »

VMWare Workstation is now supposed to be Windows 7 compatible. I am using the latest build on XP but haven't yet tried it on Win7.

2102

Living Room / Help for Heroes - Christmas CD

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 13, 2009, 07:45 AM »

The UK charity Help for Heroes has just released a Christmas fund raising CD.

They have enlisted the help of John Tams (a brilliant folk singer who came to international fame via the TV series Sharpe) to record two of his songs with the Band of the Rifles and Bugles.

The two songs are new arrangements or Love Farewall and Over the Hills and Far Away. Both tunes originate from the period of the Napoleonic wars but the words are just as relevant today.

They are fantastic songs, brilliantly played and sung and a very worthy charity.

The download MP3 version is only £1 and all proceeds go to the charity.

Go to http://www.helpforhe...k/love-farewell.html to hear Love Farwell and to purchase the MP3s. Or you can buy the CD for £4.99 at the bottom of the page. Not sure about international shipping options.

Try to help if you can - the songs are well worth hearing.

The music was also shown on a BBC news item (though not sung by John Tams). See http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=sMrtKJS4iRI

Be warned which ever version you listen to you need tissues at the ready.

2103

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 — first impressions

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 12, 2009, 10:43 AM »

Yes you can do that but what I am suggesting is that it beo=come mandatory and that only applications with such a certificate be allowed to install if they require admin access level. Either that or a massive warning pops up warning users that they are installing or running something that requires admin rights but it comes from an untrusted source.

Anything really to force the hand of developers to sort out the issues people are encountering and to stop everyone blaming the operating system for developers poor coding practices.

2104

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 — first impressions

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 12, 2009, 09:51 AM »

How about having a system similar to secure layer certificates for website so that any application requiring elevated privileges has to have a certificate (not necessarily from MS) so that you can clearly identify the source of the software. If SSL cert providers broadened their scope to include this kind of cert then it wouldn't cost developers much to certify their apps and it would be a real incentive to get the apps correct in the first place. Multiple certs for different applications from the same developer could be very cheap because the initial identification would go through with the first registration.

-Carol Haynes (December 12, 2009, 05:37 AM)

Interesting idea, and applications have had AuthentiCode signing for quite a while now (though usually you only see it for installers and ActiveX objects). I'm not a super big fan of whitelisting in this context, though... it would definitely have some good uses, but there'd be the risk of opening up backdoors, and crappy software vendors would just require an UAC exception to be added, rather than fixing their software.

-f0dder (December 12, 2009, 06:14 AM)

I wasn't thinking white listing so much but rather accountability. If something similar to SSL certs were required it would force developers to identify who they are and how to contact them. If they are identifiable then it will cut down on the crapware and malware that  wants admin access level to be malicious. The good thing about SSL certs is that they are only issued when you provide concrete proof of who you are and where you are - that way if any problems arrive the license can be revoked and for malware pedlars they can be prosecuted.

2105

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 — first impressions

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 12, 2009, 05:37 AM »

I find UAC to be a pretty nice system, though - the alternative would be having to run applications in admin mode and always supplying an admin password in order to be able to do so...

-f0dder (December 12, 2009, 12:46 AM)

UAC is just a poorly designed fix - it is slightly less poorly designed in 7 than Vista but nevertheless it is and always will be an excuse for not doing the right thing.

Few, if any, user level applications NEED admin rights to run and if they do they can be written properly so that the relevant parts can be elevated to admin status during setup.

How about having a system similar to secure layer certificates for website so that any application requiring elevated privileges has to have a certificate (not necessarily from MS) so that you can clearly identify the source of the software. If SSL cert providers broadened their scope to include this kind of cert then it wouldn't cost developers much to certify their apps and it would be a real incentive to get the apps correct in the first place. Multiple certs for different applications from the same developer could be very cheap because the initial identification would go through with the first registration.

There could be an exception (UAC style) just for installation so you don't have to log out and login as an admin user to do that. But then the installers would need to be certified to run at that level.

2106

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 — first impressions

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 11, 2009, 07:40 PM »

All a developer has to say to a customer is 'cheange the permission in the shortcut that starts the app'. You can easily set any app to avoid UAC if you need to.

Personally I think it is a good idea that MS have put an obstacle in the way of sloppy software writers. At least the user knows that poorly coded software needs elevated privileges to run properly and have the choice of saying 'yes I trust them' or 'no I don't' on older systems the user is blissfully unaware.

Having said that I presume MS certified that ACDSee was Win 7 compatible because ACDSystems are big enough to cough up for the certification. I don't know how much test MS do on software to get into their list but I bet it isn't much more than run the installer and see if it works.

What I don't understand is why MS didn't simply make the choice of making all new user accounts default to user level security (and they could have done that back from Windows XP). Most of these issues would have been ironed out long ago. Seems to me that they are too lily livered to do the write thing so they introduce UAC as a kludge to fix something that isn't basically broken - just a bad choice.

2107

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 — first impressions

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 11, 2009, 03:23 PM »

I use Everything on all my computers (XP, Vista, 7) and never see a UAC prompt (and yes it is enabled).

You just have to setup how the app starts via the task manager (as already mentioned). ANd yes the only reason you have to do this is becuase Everything uses none standard methods to access the filing system and MS quite rightly wanrs you of this if you aren't running in purley admin mode.

At the end of the day the choice is there - if you don't like UAC turn it off. Going back to Windows XP because it is isritating is plain stupid - there is no UAC in XP, so you may as well have no UAC in Vista/7 - at least then you get a better firewall.

2108

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 — first impressions

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 11, 2009, 11:23 AM »

You might be on to something there - I usually install to D:\Program Files when an installer gives the option and I am not plagued by UAC prompts either.

2109

General Software Discussion / Re: LogMeIn

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 11, 2009, 06:39 AM »

TeamViewer free is identical to TeamViewer commerical as far as I can see apart from the fact that you get a non-commercial use warning at the end of the session in the free version if the person connecting to your system is using a free version.

Provided the machine that you want to access is switched on an has TeamViewer installed (and the appropriate options selected) you can access remotely even from the login screen. You can also reboot the machine and get access back when it has restarted.

When the software is installed (or even just run as the QS version) a unique 9 digit id is allocated to that machine. You can set up an optional account atthe TeamViewer website where you can store thse IDs (with a meaningul name). On each PC you can specify a password that can be used to access the machine remotely. You can either store that password in your account with the machine ID or you can type it manually as required. You can then access those machines either via the website (like LogMeIn) or you can use the TeamViewer Application.

Once the account is set up you can manage machine connect details (add new ones, edit exisiting ones, add/remove/change passwords etc.) from the "Partner List" popout side window.

The only thing I see in the very expensive LogMeIn Rescue edition that isn't in TeamViewer is BIOS level access.

2110

General Software Discussion / Re: Any XP users switching to Windows 7 yet?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 10, 2009, 12:56 PM »

Could be a duff driver or a driver conflict with another device. If you are still using the beta version why not do an image backup and install the RTM version to see if the problem was cured in the final release.

2111

General Software Discussion / Re: LogMeIn

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 09, 2009, 07:29 AM »

TeamViewer is available in different versions. Free for non-commercial use but if you are using it commercially the outlay is quite high.

Having said that the license for a single user like myself is a lifetime license for the version you purchase. Compared to other providers with similar products (eg. LogMeIn Rescue, the nearest equivalent to TeamViewer, costs $1,188.00 per license per year on a subscription basis) the cost (499 Euros)  is not high and at least there are no ongoing susbcriptions to pay out.

I queried this when I purchased it and what it boils down to is that the license for the version you purchase (and any updates within that version number) are available as long as TeamViewer exists (you are using the company servers so presumably if TeamViewer go out of business that's it). Obviously the servers will be updated to cope with new features as new are added in new versions. Users have the option of buying an update (which is 25% of the full price currently) or sticking with the version they have got.  They have assured me that if the version becomes incompatible with the servers in the future they will wither provide an upgrade or a version that is compatible for free to licensed users.

The only drawback to this system are that old versions cannot talk to new versions (so if I am running a life time license of version 4 then I can't talk to clients using version 5+). The home page of TeamViewer has quick links to allow clients to access the service and they are always the latest version so it isn't very convenient for an earlier version user. Having said that there is nothing to stop you hosting a suitable version on you home page for cleints to access the right version and older versions are availablbe on the TeamViewer website via the download page - so you could either host the correct version or provide a link to it.

By the way the other good point about TeamViewer is that if you are using it for free it is identical to the commercial version and all features are available (unlike LogMeIn free which has somewhat restricted functionality).

Before I settled on TeamViewer I had a play with UltraVNC but IMHO it was not practical for clients who need to set it up remotely before you can connect - it was a bit too geeky for most clueless people. It is probably fine if you are visiting family and friends and can set it up for them.

2112

General Software Discussion / Re: LogMeIn

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 09, 2009, 05:55 AM »

Further comment about Team Viewer - the new version 5 (currently in beta) also allows you to use a webcam/microphone to talk to clients whilst providing support. I haven't tried ti yet but it could make life a lot easier than having to be on the phone with one hand!

-Carol Haynes (November 24, 2009, 06:58 AM)

I have now upgraded to TeamViewer 5 now and it is really nice. Not only can you provide remote support, give presentations or connect to systems via VPN connections you can use a simple file transfer to send and receive files over the internet but now you can also use webcams and VOIP to provide face to face support sessions without having to hang on a phone at the same time.

If you can't use VOIP TeamViewer even provides a telephone based conferences for in country telephone prices (both people in the conference call in to the local telephone service and are connected via TeamViewer). It isn't especially cheap to use but is probably cheaper than a lot of telephone services in some countries.

TeamViewer has three connection methods:

• best - download and install the software so that it can be used whenever needed
• for occasional support clients can download and run a slim client app (TeamViewerQS) without installing the software
• access client computers (or your own computers) via a browser

all this is free for non-commercial use.

If you want to use it commercially you can customise the TeamViewerQS module with your business name, logo etc.

2113

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Office 2007 Home & Student Edition (Dec 2009 deal)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 09, 2009, 05:10 AM »

The Ulitmate Steal version requires proof that you are a student whereas anyone can by the Home & Student Edition.

FWIW the H&S Office has been available in the UK for ages at well under retail price (and even much less than $100US). You can get it even cheaper by combining the purchase with some hardware devices (Amazon has a special offer voucher displayed on on my products).

2114

Adventures of Baby Cody / Re: United Kingdom

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 09, 2009, 04:50 AM »

Baby Cody has now left the UK and arrived in the USA so he won't be visitng the UK again now until has has been everywhere else

This thread is now locked until he is on his second world tour.

2115

Living Room / Re: Good TV series. What do you watch? I used to watch Lost to unwind need successor

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 08, 2009, 07:15 PM »

... now SyFy ...

-Innuendo (December 08, 2009, 10:32 AM)

Oh grief no ... it sounds like some sort of STD !

2116

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 Family Pack Upgrade

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 07, 2009, 03:23 AM »

Two issues I am aware of:

1) Finding a US seller that will ship outside the US as it violates the distribution license (I presume you have achieved this bit)

2) Support from MS may be limited if installation codes are serialised by market - is it an issue though since MS support is pretty poor at the best of time?

2117

General Software Discussion / Re: help needed: IE7 won't go online!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 06, 2009, 10:03 AM »

Looks like a dialup connection box (but I don't speak Danish).

Check your network connections and make sure you haven't got an unexplained dial up connection set up. If you have, and you didn't set it up, you may want to run a complete AV and AS scan.

2118

Living Room / Re: Good TV series. What do you watch? I used to watch Lost to unwind need successor

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 05, 2009, 08:43 PM »

Unfortunately UK TV has become a joke in itself. The BBC & ITV were once the envy of the world for drama etc. now both are completely hooked on pointless reality TV, dumbed down drama and boring comedy.

I have to say that as a UK citizen (oops sorry 'subject' - no such things as citizens in the UK unless you are taking citizenship lessons in school, so much for democracy) I now watch far more American programmes than UK programmes simply because they are more intelligently written and have better production values. OK you need to weed out the good stuff from the dross but there are some cracking US shows and very little on UK TV that I want to watch.

There is the occasional recent UK gem:

Criminal Justice (two recent mini series both good)
Documentaries - Life, History of Scotland, Last Chance to See
Music - BBC Proms (though I wish the TV presenters were knowledgeable rather than 'personalities' who show their ignorance most of the time)

Favourites US TV in recent months:

Sopranos (I missed it when it was on TV and bought DVDs)
Deadwood (ditto)
West Wing (ditto - actually anything by Aaron Sorkin I think his writing is brilliant)
Boston Legal (as well as almost anything I can get by David E Kelley The Practice, Ally McBeal - his humour hits the right spot and I like his politics)
Weeds (didn't like it to start with but it grew on me)
Grey's Anatomy (yes I know it is girly but it makes me laugh)
House (well its Hugh Laurie and I can watch him in anything)
Monk & Psych (yes they are both light entertainment but done with a bit of style)
Burn Notice (found this by accident and have watched online)

2119

Living Room / Re: Good TV series. What do you watch? I used to watch Lost to unwind need successor

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 05, 2009, 09:00 AM »

That's because 90% of people outside the UK don't have a sense of humour

2120

General Software Discussion / Re: The DonationCoder "Superior Antivirus" Award/Certification

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 04, 2009, 07:57 AM »

Clear Speaking (or Info) Security Award

Then it could be broadened to suites, firewalls etc. You could have subclasses for the different app classes

How about a Crystal mark  (Crystal clear security) - see http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/

The Plain English campaign really came alive when they started issuing Crystal marks. The whole point is to remove legalese and obfuscation especially in official documents.

2121

General Software Discussion / Re: Converting DRM protected music files: software recommendations

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 04, 2009, 05:28 AM »

Sorry don't use converters anymore - don't buy DRMed music as a matter of principle any more.

I know people don't buying CDs but I still find that CDs are better quality and often cheaper than downloading music (at least for the kinds of music I like). Plus you get a shiny box/disk and artwork. I can then rip it to MP3 if I want to listen on my MP3 player.

The other advantage of CDs/DVDs over downloads is that when you are sick of them you can flog them or give them away which reduces the cost even more. Something you can't do legally with downloads.

If you don't like the clutter and old computer CD box (or in my case 5.25" floppy box) can store hundreds of CDs - just chuck the cases and slide the CD into the notes booklet.

2122

General Software Discussion / Re: Drupal is f*cked

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 04, 2009, 05:18 AM »

Joomla functionality seems to be designed to be entirely based on add on modules and components. Even Joomla as installed  is based on replaceable modules and components.

I understand what you are saying about core hacking but it has been my experience in looking for 3rd party modules and components that you don't have to hack the core. There are lots of core hacks out there but many of the problems being solved are cracked by other coders without touching the core so the core hacking brigade are only really doing from laziness, bravado or incompetence. There are loads of coding books on Joomla too and it has the largest 3rd party add on library of any of the CMSes which are mostly free or inexpensive.

2123

Living Room / Re: Good TV series. What do you watch? I used to watch Lost to unwind need successor

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 04, 2009, 04:48 AM »

The Wire - Hoping Season 5 will be as good as the earlier ones
Mad Men - Hoping that there will be a season 2. A show where there's not one likeable character.

Have you been to your public library lately?  You might be surprised. That's where I get all my DVDs.

-Clive (July 07, 2009, 01:41 AM)

Mad Men is in Season 3 now (currently showing in the US).

2124

General Software Discussion / Re: Drupal is f*cked

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 04, 2009, 04:47 AM »

Have you tried Joomla? The back end is simple but the API is apparently comprehensive for producing new modules and components (I haven't used it myself but it seems to be liked by the people who use it). Version 1.6 is looking to be a big step forward when it is released as it will streamline some of the code, remove all the legacy issues and introduce a proper user access rights module.

Personally I found the multiple layers and vocabulary in Drupal very confusing and poorly explained in the 'documentation' - maybe it is just me but I fimd Joomla to be well thought out and pretty straightforward to use.

2125

General Software Discussion / Re: The DonationCoder "Superior Antivirus" Award/Certification

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 02, 2009, 08:24 PM »

Oooo err ... its all my fault mother. A few hours after I posted the message above AVAST updated automatically (free and Pro versions) and promptly went into meltdown.

Since VPS/091203-0/3.12.2009 was automatically installed this evening apparently every user of Avast is now manically fighting false positives on their computers. So much so that the suipport section on Avast's website is impossible to get onto because of massive traffic.

The symptoms are that just about everything is classed as Win32:Delf-MZG [Trj] and the prompts come so thick and fast that you can't get to the icon to turn the AV off. The only solution I have found is to disable the software as soon as the icon appears in the system tray (not easy if it is usually hidden!).

I'm sure there will be a fix in the morning but it is a bit ironic that I had only just waxed lyrical about the reliability of Avast.

I suspect my phone will be ringing off the hook in the morning with customers complaining they have a mass of viruses - if I was unscrupulous I could make my fortune