Never believe anything in emails

You should never believe anything that is written in an email. The reason is that it is so easy for someone to create a fake message that appears to be from someone else that you simply can't trust them. What you think is a message from your bank, MySpace, Facebook or wherever, could in fact be from a malicious person that is out to steal your username, passwords and anything else they can get you to reveal.


For example, there have been a couple of messages going around the internet recently that appear to be from MySpace and Facebook. The Facebook message says "Because of the measures taken to provide safety to our clients, your password has been changed. You can find your new password in attached document." You can be that the attached document is a virus or something that directs you to a website that infects your PC with a virus or asks for your login details. Don't open it. Just delete the email.

It's obviously fake, even though the sender looks like it is facebook.com. For a start, the greeting is "Hey mail," instead of referring to me by name. Spam and phishing messages never contain your name and the best they can do is to include the first part of your email address before the @. No first name and no last name.

The MySpace message says "Dear MySpace user! Please be informed that you are required to update your MySpace account. Please update your MySpace account by clicking here: http://accounts.myspace.com.iuuuujek.co.uk/msp/index.php?fuseacti..." Dear MySpace User is a dead giveaway, but the URL you have to click on is obviously wrong too. People read from left to right and the URL starts off OK and might look fine, but computers read URLs backwards from right to left and if you do this you will see that it's definitely not MySpace. It's not how URLs start that's important, it's how they end.

So when you get these emails, just delete them. And do the same with any other emails of a similar nature.

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Chrome OS - will anyone use it?

It is amazing how much gets written about Google Chrome OS and I've just been reading another big article about it. The strange thing is that the product does not exist, at least not outside of Google's development labs. No-one has seen it, no-one has run it, no-one even knows its features. Yet there are comments and articles around the web and in print that predict the end of Microsoft and Windows.

That's going too far and there is absolutely no justification for saying things like that. For a start, Google Chrome OS is based on Linux and only a small number of people use Linux. It has something like a 2% share of the computer operating system market.

Even if Chrome OS is the best Linux in the world, it won't make much difference. The problem is that people aren't interested in operating systems. Instead, they are passionate about applications and so some people will ask "Does it run Microsoft Office?" It won't and therefore businesses won't use it. Others will ask "Will it run Dragon Age, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (or whatever the latest game is)?" The answer is no and therefore home users won't want it. A few will ask "Will it run Photoshop?" Again, it won't, and there's another group of users that won't want Chrome OS. The only way that it will be successful is if there is some killer application that people absolutely must have, and that isn't available on Windows.

Chrome OS's market share is unlikely to ever reach double figures, after all, look at the Chrome web browser. No matter how good Google claims it is, it still only has about a 3% market share. It is very hard to make people switch from their favourite application.

What is interesting though, is that Google Chrome web browser has been a lot more influential than you'd think by looking at the market share. It's speed and features have made rivals put extra effort into their own browsers and it has raised the standard of all web browsers. It will be the same with Chrome OS. It seems likely that only a few people will use it, but it will probably have a big influence on rival operating systems like Windows, OS X and Linux. Basically, competition is good for the market and is to be welcomed.

If you want to keep up with the latest developments with Chrome web browser and Chrome OS, take a look at The Chromium Blog, Google Chrome Releases, Google Chrome Blog, The Official Google Blog, Google Chrome Fans, and Chrome Story.

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Keep Windows 7 running at top speed

Windows runs quickly and seems the most responsive when it has just been installed or when you buy a new PC. Very slowly over a long period of time it seems to get slower and slower. Why is this?

There are several reasons and one is that as the disk drive fills up it becomes less efficient and files become fragmented. Fortunately, there are some good disk defragmenters that can solve this problem. Windows has it's own disk defragmenter, but if you are looking for a better freebie then try IObit Smart Defrag, it's compatible with Windows 7.

Another reason why Windows slows down is because of updates. Extra features, bug fixes, patches, and service packs are downloaded and installed by Windows update and they add code to the system. The more code there is, the slower Windows runs. Unfortunately, you can't really avoid this and it is a good idea to leave Windows Update turned on for security and stability reasons.

A third reason why Windows slows down is that you install lots of software. Even if you uninstall software you don't need, it's sometimes impossible to remove all traces. As the software builds up on your computer and dlls, registry settings, configuration files and other items are added to the system, Windows gets slower.

Sometimes you can avoid installing software. For example, a device like a digital camera will often work fine if you simply plug it into the USB port of the computer. Windows will detect it and offer to open a window to display the photos on it or download them to the computer. You might not need to install the software that is bundled with the camera. It's the same with other devices - see if they work just by plugging them in and only install software if you have to.

Some software is essential though, such as an office suite or a photo editing program, but even with these you can sometimes get away by not installing anything. Instead of a regular software program, look for what is called a portable app. These are programs that are designed to run from USB flash memory drives (which is why they are called portable), and they don't install anything into Windows. There is a portable version of OpenOffice, Firefox and GIMP, for example. You just unzip the programs to a folder on the disk and that's it. And if you ever decide you don't need a portable app you can just delete the folder. This removes everything and leaves nothing behind. You won't get any uninstall errors or other problems that you occasionally get when removing software.

Sometimes you will find a portable app on a website with the regular app and you just need to look for it. There are also websites that specialise in portable apps, like PortableApps. There are other places, like this article listing 100 portable apps, this Wikipedia article, and Pendriveapps.

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Which Windows 7 version is best?

There are three versions of Windows 7 to choose from (OK, there are more, but the choice is mainly between three), so which one should you go for? There is Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate, and you may be wondering what the difference is. Is is worth buying the top-of-the-range Ultimate edition?

The Professional and Ultimate editions allow you to run software designed for Windows XP in XP Mode. This is basically a virtual machine running Windows XP and there are alternatives to Microsoft Virtual PC that you can use instead, such as VirtualBox. The only difference is that you'll need an XP installation CD to install XP into VirtualBox.

Another feature in Professional and Ultimate, but not Home Premium, is the ability to join a domain on a network. A large company with many networked PCs will split up the computers into small groups called domains. It's a handy feature, but home users won't ever use it and won't miss it if it's not there.

The Professional and Ultimate editions allow you to back up to a network, but it's another feature that few home users are interested in. It's much easier to plug in a USB drive and back up your files to it than to fiddle around with network servers. Besides, there are dozens of backup tools, some of which are free, that can back up to any device or network location.

BitLocker is only available in the Ultimate edition and it encrypts the contents of the disk to prevent thieves from stealing the data that is on it. It's useful for everyone, but it is not the only option for preventing data theft and Home Premium and Professional users could employ third party tools, some of which are free.

Finally, the Ultimate edition enables you to easily switch between 35 different languages. Do you really need to do this?

The obvious choice for most people is Windows 7 Home Premium. It has all the features you need and those that are missing are easily added using free software you can download from the internet in a few minutes.

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Apple iTablet - where will you use it?

The rumours around Apple's tablet computer/hand-held device still persist and it seems like there is a news item somewhere on the web almost every day. Is Apple working on a tablet or not? The answer is definitely yes. Do I have any inside information then? No.

The thing is that many computer manufacturers have been working on tablet computers for years. They have been around a long time and if you want one a quick search at Google will turn up a supplier and you can order one today. With big companies like HP already having tablet PCs on the market and no doubt new models under development, it would be surprising if Apple didn't also have a tablet computer, at least in prototype form. I bet there's one at Apple's headquarters or development labs right now.

Many computer manufacturers have experimented with tablet computers and no doubt they would love to create a new market sector, but none has been successful so far. Netbooks have grabbed a large slice of the market and their success has been rapid and surprising.

Tablets have been around much longer than netbooks and they can be found in niche markets, but the wider general public just isn't interested and sales are poor. The question is not whether Apple is working on a tablet, but whether it can make one a compelling purchase. The problem facing Apple is how to coming up with a product that appeals to more than just a tiny market niche. This is probably the reason why it hasn't yet launched the iTablet.

No matter how good the hardware and software, you have to ask where people would use an iTablet. If you are at home then you'll have access to a desktop or laptop computer. If you are at work then you'll have a desktop or laptop computer. So an iTablet would only be useful when you are out of the home and office. However, an iTablet would not be as portable as a smartphone and you wouldn't want to carry a large device around. And if you need more than a smartphone offers, it makes sense to take a netbook or laptop.

It would be very difficult to sell the idea of an iTablet. Microsoft and Intel tried the UMPC and even produced ads showing people walking down the street with them in their hands as they shopped or went to work, but people don't want a device that won't fit their pocket. It's too much of a hassle. Putting a touch screen on a Mac and enabling it to swivel round and sit flat on the keyboard as current tablet PCs do, just won't sell any more than MacBooks or current tablets from HP and others.

It's easy to see why smartphones, netbooks and laptops sell, but it is hard to see a market for a tablet no matter who produces it.

Current rumours suggest it is more like an ebook reader that also has web access to allow newspapers and magazines to be read. That's interesting, but at current prices ebook readers are just an expensive toy for rich people. Prices need to fall by at least 50% before they'll take off in any numbers and Apple really wants to sell high price quality kit, not cheap stuff. Predictions of the end of newspapers and current ebooks readers are wrong. They aren't going to go away even if Apple's iTablet is the best thing since sliced bread. MP3 players haven't been killed off by the iPod and there are plenty of alternatives.

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Should you upgrade to Windows 7?

The release of Windows 7 is just a few days away as I write this and inevitably the question of whether to upgrade the current version of Windows on their PC will occupy many PC users’ thoughts. Is it worth upgrading?

The advice for most people has to be No. It’s not that Windows 7 isn’t worth it, it is actually a great version of Windows and it’s one of Microsoft’s best. The problem is that a lot of people have old and/or cheap PCs that may not be suitable for Windows 7. An old PC running XP should not be upgraded to Vista. Firstly, it’s probably running XP just fine and there is an old saying that goes, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” Even PC’s running might be best left alone too.

The only Windows users that should consider upgrading are those that have recently bought a new PC. If it is only a few months old then by all means upgrade Windows, but anything more than a couple of years old is best running the operating system that came with it.

Don’t rush to get Windows 7. When you buy a new PC it will come with Microsoft’s new OS and that’s the cheapest way to buy it and it avoids any compatibility problems. All new PCs from October this year will come with Windows 7 and will be designed to run Windows 7.

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Install software properly in Windows 7

Isn't installing software easy? It is certainly supposed to be, but occasionally you can run into strange problems. It can start when you get a new PC or install a brand new operating system like Windows 7. With Windows 7's launch not far away now, here is a simple technique to avoid problems later.

What you might do is to boot up your brand new computer or install Windows 7 and then set about installing all the software you need. Later on you might then create user accounts for the other members of the household. However, this is the wrong way to do things.

What you should do is to create all the user accounts you will need as soon as you boot up. When they have all been created, log off and log back on with each account. Just logging on with an account and going to the desktop will create all the default settings for it.

Once this is done, you can install the software you want to use. During installation it can see the other accounts and set itself up for them. After each program you should log off and log on with each account. Start the new program and then close it and log off. What this does is to initialise the program settings for each account.

During installation the software might need to apply settings for each account, so by installing it after creating the accounts it can then see them if it needs to. And by logging on with each account and running the software once, it can create default settings and you can answer any setup questions it might display. You don't want other users of the computer to be faced with technical configuration questions when they first run the program.

You may do this anyway, but it's just something to remember when you get your hands on Windows 7 and it can avoid problems.

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Decoding a website URL

It is easy to get caught out by phishing scams if you don't know how website addresses work. The URL of a web page has several components and understanding them is important to your security. It's easy to spot fake ones and to avoid phishing if you know how to decode them.

URLs like http://paypal.verification-processing.com/index.htm look complicated, but it isn't. Chop off the http:// because that is unimportant, at least to us reading the URL. (To a computer it actually specifies the communication protocol.)

This leaves paypal.verification-processing.com/index.htm. Now chop off everything after the first forward slash. That refers to a page or program on the website.

We are now left with paypal.verification-processing.com from the original URL. Now read from right to left. The item on the right in this case is .com, but it could be .org, .gov, or any one of a number of two or three letter country codes. Let's skip this for a minute.

What remains is paypal.verification-processing and the right-most item is the important bit. In this case it is verification-processing and that is the website we would visit if we typed in the original URL or clicked a link with the URL. So what looked like a PayPal website URL at first glance is actually a website called verification-processing. This is obviously not PayPal. It's a fake website that is designed to look like it and to steal your login details.

This recent news story tells of a new Twitter scam that steals your login username and password. The URL that you are sent to is http://videos.twitter.secure-logins01.com/ and it's an obvious fake. Strip out the unnecessary bits and you get the name of the site, secure-logins01, and it's clearly not Twitter, so don't enter your login details!

Going back to the .com that we skipped earlier, it's worth noting that not all companies register all possible URLs. For example, www.apple.com is the Apple website where you'll find Macs, but www.apple.co.uk is The Apple Agency, which is a completely different company that deals with artwork and illustrations. In theory it would be possible to create a look-alike website with a different top level domain name, such as www.paypal.ru so it pays to know what it should be - .com in this case.

One final point, it is easy to disguise URLs. Click http://www.google.com/ and you'll get Bing and not Google.

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Call me, even when I'm out

For anyone that has a website, blog or some other online page that your friends, work colleagues or customers visit, you need to think about how they can get in touch with you. One way is to use Skype, the free PC-to-PC internet telephone. The best part is that you can include a Call me! button on your website or blog that enables people to call you through Skype without having to load the program, find you among their contacts and then call you. One click and they are chatting with you.

There's a useful Call me! button generator at the Skype website and you enter your Skype username and then select one of four different styles. The code to paste into your web page is shown at the bottom of the page.

Click the cursor inside the box then press Ctrl+A to select all the code and then Ctrl+C to copy it to the clipboard. Now you need to go to your web page editor or blog editor. Place the cursor where you want the button to appear and look among the menus and tools for an option to insert some HTML code (don't paste it in wysiwyg mode or it won't work). When you've switched to HTML code view, press Ctrl+V to paste in the button code.

The Call me! button can be inserted into emails too and it's great to include it with your signature at the end of a message. Once again you need to paste it into code view and not the normal view. In Outlook Express, for example, choose Source Edit on the Edit menu and then select the Source tab at the bottom of the New Message window before pasting in the code.

What if you are out when someone calls? With a normal call you would have an answerphone that enables the caller to leave a voice message. Skype doesn't have any built in facilities to record calls, but Pamela can. Pamela is a great utility and there are four versions. The free Basic one is good enough for home use. Download it and install it. When you run it with Skype, Skype will ask if you want to allow Pamela access to its features and you must say yes. Now whenever you make a call a window will pop up asking if you want to record the conversation. There are also facilities for automatically answering calls when you aren't around. Of course, you'll need to leave your PC switched on and connected to the internet with a broadband connection, but that's OK.

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Windows vs Snow Leopard

The latest version of Apple's operating system, Snow Leopard, OS X version 10.6, has just been released. There is no shortage of reviews and articles on the web praising it or criticising it. Apple users say it is the world's best operating system and that it is much better than Windows 7. They call Windows 7 just a Vista Service Pack that Microsoft has quickly thrown together to try and make up for the disasterous current operating system. Snow Leopard is the ultimate operating system, of course.

You will also find reviews of Windows 7 on the web that praise Microsoft's next operating system and they say that it is the best yet. It is full of brand new features and Windows has been completely redesigned. Windows fans also occasionally criticise Apple's Snow Leopard, although not as much as the other way around, claiming that it offers very little that is new and that it is merely a service pack. After all, it's just a 0.1 version number increase and it's still called Leopard.

Each operating system is very different and each one has its fans. Snow Leopard has some good features, but also some drawbacks and the same is true of Windows 7. Some people will prefer one while others will prefer the other. Can't we respect each other's preferences?

There isn't a winner in this contest. In fact, there isn't even a contest. In October when Windows 7 goes on sale you will be able to buy it and install it on your PC, but you won't be able to buy Snow Leopard and install it on your PC because it only works on a Mac. Windows 7 and Linux are direct competitors because you can choose to put either of them on your PC, but you can't choose to put Snow Leopard on it. This means that Apple and Microsoft aren't true competitors because Microsoft sells operating systems and Apple sells computers. Apple competes with the likes of Dell, HP and Acer - when buying a new PC you have a choice, but when it comes to upgrading the OS, there's no choice at all.

If you have a Windows PC then you'll love Windows 7, but if you have a Mac then Snow Leopard is a great upgrade.

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New slimmer PlayStation 3

Sony has reworked its popular PlayStation and the new version looks a treat. It is 32% smaller than the old one that it replaces and it is 36% lighter. It uses 34% less power consumption too, so that means we can claim we're helping to save the planet when we're playing games!

The updated machine will feature a 120Gb hard disk drive and this is in response to demand for more space and more downloadable content from current users. System Software version 3.00 is said to be an improvement over the old version and it has been optimised for access to websites providing TV content, such as the BBC iPlayer (other countries will follow). There are dynamic wallpapers, better navigation, and a shortcut to the PlayStation Store from Game. There is a What's New section that shows shortcuts to the previous three games you played.

Network Video Store for PS3 and PSP (coming November) will offer lots of Hollywood blockbuster movies and also local content for rent or purchase. Standard or High Definition formats will be available. A Digital Reader service will be available in December and at launch it will include digital comics like marvel's SpiderMan, X-Men, and Fantastic Four, plus other titles. With a wireless connection you'll be able to access the store to download the digital reader. No need for credit cards - you'll be able to purchase PlayStation Network Cards with £20 or £50 credit on them.

The new PlayStation 3 will be available from the first week in September and you can pre-order it from Amazon. The recommended retail price is £249. See the photos here.

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Google Chrome races ahead in Windows, lags behind on Mac and Linux

Google introduced its Chrome web browser around a year ago, so it's worth taking a quick look at what is happening with the browser. It hasn't been as successful as Google probably hoped and its share of the web browser market has only just risen above 2% according to sources like Wikipedia. The logs for this web site actually put it slightly under 2%, but the figures are so small it's hardly worth arguing about. It's pretty poor for such a giant of a company with the resources that Google has.

Chrome was very fast at executing JavaScript, which is important these days because it's so frequently used, but otherwise had a poor feature set when it was launched. It is steadily improving though and maybe this time next year it will be an OK web browser. It certainly needs more features and not just extra speed.

The latest beta version was released on 5th August and it is claimed to be 30% faster than the current stable release. Fortunately, the improvements aren't all about the speed and some new features have been added and old ones tweaked too. It's not worth listing them all here, but to find out what's new in the latest beta of Chrome you should read the Google Chrome Blog.

So development of the Windows version of Chrome is racing ahead, but the linux and Apple Mac versions haven't even been released yet. It seems like development is taking place at a snail's pace. Why? Is it really so difficult to write software for the Mac and linux?

For those that are interested though, you can get betas of the linux and Apple Mac OS X versions here. (Most Google stuff is beta, but these are even more unfinished/unstable than usual.)

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Sign up for special offers

We are all struggling financially in the current economic climate and we have to watch our money and spend it wisely. That doesn't mean that you have to cut back on your puchases though. You can easily get software at half price or even up to 90% off the RRP. How? Just sign up for email notifications.

Many shareware programs and trial versions of commercial software either prompt you to enter your email address before you can download the software or when you install it. It's not always compulsory and sometimes it is optional. You might decline to enter your email address because you're afraid of getting junk mail, but actually this rarely happens. What you do get though are cut price offers in your inbox.

What you do is download and install a shareware program or trial version. Make sure you register for newsletters and update notifications either at the website or in the software. The program will work for 30 days and then will time out and stop working. Not long after this you will get an email offering the software at a substantial discount, saving you lots of money. Sometimes it pays not to respond to the first offer and if you ognore it you might get a second one with even lower prices!

This doesn't always work and it does take time to get the offers in. Sometimes you want or need a program right now and can't afford to wait, but if you can, you'll get some fantastic discounts, like £30 programs for £10 or even £3 and so on.

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Apple tablet and netbook speculation

The web is awash with rumours and speculation about something Apple may or may not be working on - a netbook/tablet/multimedia gadget. This device is said to have a 10in touch screen, will sync with iTunes, have Wi-Fi and will enable you to play music and movies.

Rumours about what Apple will do next or often completely wrong and it sometimes doesn't launch products that were expected. It certainly hasn't come up with anything radically new for some time and most new products are just enhancements and tweaks of existing ones, like the recent iPhone 3G S.

What should Apple do next? Well, if it was up to me I would produce an iPod Touch with a 10in screen. Just think about it. An iPod Touch/iPhone is actually a powerful computer that has a zillion apps for it, can play music and movies, has Wi-Fi, web browsing, email, and more. A 10in iPod would make a unique and radically different netbook. By using the same OS as the iPod Touch/iPhone, it would be backwardly compatible with all existing apps in the iTunes app store, and the larger screen would enable a new generation of more powerful and feature-rich applications to be created.

An iPod/iPhone turns on instantly, so there's no waiting for your netbook to start its operating system before you can check your emails. It's exactly what netbook owners want. A keyboard isn't necessary because the iPod/iPhone's onscreen keyboard works just fine, and with a 10in screen it'll be even easier to use. You'll be able to view full web pages because a 10in screen will give you at least an 800 x 600 resolution or better. It makes a lot of sense.

Anyone remember the UMPC? The Ultra Mobile PC concept was created by Microsoft (see Origami) and Intel and it fell flat on its face. Hardware manufacturers were unable to come up with a workable design that anyone wanted and Windows was an unsuitable operating system for a small hand-held device. An iPod with a 10in screen is exactly what a UMPC should be - small, portable, internet enabled, touch sensitive screen, able to access your email and the web, play music, movies, games, and run cool apps.

Apple could create a whole new market with the device and there aren't any competitors. After all, no-one wants a UMPC.

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Should Palm have access to iTunes?

When the Palm Pre was launched it instantly became a competitor to the iPhone with its clever design and impressive software. It could even access your iTunes music library and transfer your favourite tracks to the device so that you can listen on the move.

Apple clearly didn't want a competitor using its iTunes software and it recently updated it so that it no longer worked with unauthorised non-Apple devices - the Palm Pre specifically. Palm has updated its software and users once again have access to iTunes on their mobile. It would not be surprising if Apple changed iTunes again and for Palm to respond with another update. An irritating side effect of this is that you will be nagged into updating iTunes with an 80Mb download or whatever it is these days every time Apple changes it. It's bad enough when it adds features for the iPhone when you don't even have one and you're bugged to update without this Palm vs Apple battle.

Apple is clearly annoyed that Palm is using its iTunes software. After all, Apple spent a lot of time and effort developing iTunes for iPod owners (PC and Mac). If iTunes was specifically created for owners of Apple iPods/iPhones and was bundled with it and it didn't work if you didn't have one, it would be an understandable position, but Apple makes iTunes available for free for anyone that wants it. You don't have to own any Apple device or computer.

If a program is free for everyone and anyone to use in whatever way they want, as iTunes is, you can't then complain if people use it in ways that you don't like. Apple can't make iTunes free for everyone except Palm Pre owners. Instead of trying to block Palm devices it should enhance the features for iPod/iPhone users so they have a better experience.

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Windows 7 features that didn't make it

Windows 7 has been undergoing beta testing and Microsoft has made it available for download so that anyone can try it. It is interesting to look at Microsoft's new operating system, but none of the features that are in it are guaranteed to be in the final version and apparently it can still change.

There was an interesting feature in a beta last year called PC Safeguard. It could be enabled for any of the standard user accounts that were set up in Windows 7 and it prevented the user from making permanent changes to the computer. It didn't stop them making changes and they could do anything they liked, but when they logged off or shut down, Windows 7 undid all their actions and put everything back exactly as it was. It's a great idea when you have kids that mess around with the wallpaper, colour schemes, icons and other stuff.

A feature of PC Safeguard was the ability to lock a hard disk drive and prevent it from being written to by a user. It could be very useful for preventing youngsters from deleting important files that you had saved, whether they were work documents or simply digital camera photos.

In the next beta that followed Microsoft renamed the feature and called it Guest Mode, but surely this would confuse people because there is a Guest account that anyone can use to log into Windows 7.

In the latest beta - the release candidate - the feature has gone. You used to be able to access PC Safeguard or Guest Mode or whatever it was called by going to the Control Panel and opening User Accounts. Click Manage another account and then click the account. Click the Set up PC Safeguard or Guest Mode link and then select the option to turn it on.

Will this feature make a comeback in the final version of Windows 7 that ships? Who knows? It's easier to hide the link in the User Accounts window than to remove all the code, so maybe it's still there and it's just hidden. And maybe a registry hack will turn it back on!

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Windows 7 UK pricing

An email offer arrived in my inbox this morning and it's worth sharing...

"You've been using Windows® 7 for a while now, and we hope you've been enjoying a simpler PC. Because you've been a loyal customer, we're offering you Windows 7 at a great introductory price* - save up to 38% with Windows 7 Home Premium E, only £49.99 ERP, or save up to 47% with Windows 7 Professional E at £99.99 ERP. To take advantage of this deal, pre-order your copy while supplies last.

* Discount based on estimated initial retail price offer at launch of Windows 7 Professional E at £189.99. The offer is available through participating retailers and actual prices may vary. Each retailer will tell you how to get your copy when Windows 7 is released."

Wasn't Windows 7 supposed to be cheap? Firstly, it needs to convince everyone that shunned Vista that Windows 7 is different and is worth upgrading to, and Apple is virtually giving away its next version of OS X ($29 in the US, probably £29 in the UK). The discounted prices look fine, but if you aren't lucky enough to get one of these offers in your inbox, Windows 7 looks expensive. Upgrade versions are often half the price of the full install disc, so you won't have to pay £189.99 for Win 7 Pro if that's all you need.

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Windows 7's XP Mode - can your CPU handle it?

Whenever a new operating system is launched it is packed with great new features and it is a step forward in terms of technology. However, it is also inevitable that some old software won't work with it. It might only be a handful of programs that have problems with the new OS, but if there is one that you rely on then it can prevent you from upgrading.

In an effort to get around the problem of incompatible software when Windows 7 launches Microsoft will include Windows XP with it. (It won't be in all versions, so don't expect to see it in the most basic one. It might even be a download rather than on the DVD too.) This will not be a standard version of XP and instead it will be a virtual machine. Windows Virtual PC enables you to run other operating systems on your PC in a similar way to running emulators of retro computers like the Commodore 64 and Sinclair Spectrum. It doesn't affect your current operating system and you effectively run one inside the other. It sounds weird, but it works quite well.

The only snag is that Windows Virtual PC requires the processor to support hardware virtualisation. Some chips have it and some don't. Will you be able to run Windows XP in Windows 7? Here's how to find out.

Go and get the Intel Processor Identification Utility. Then go to the Intel Processor Spec Finder and select your processor. Suppose you have a Core 2 Quad. In the Supported Features list, select Intel Virtualisation Technology and then click the Filter On Selections button. The processors that are left are the ones that are OK. If your CPU isn't there then you can't run XP in 7, at least not using Windows Virtual PC.

If you have an AMD processor then go and download the AMD Virtualization Technology and Microsoft Hyper-V System Compatibility Check Utility.

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Internet Explorer is past its use-by date

Are you still using Internet Explorer to browse the web? If you are, you are in the majority, but Microsoft's market share is steadily shrinking because people are slowly drifting away from the browser that is bundled with Windows and are choosing an alternative like Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Opera. Why?

One reason is the speed difference between IE and Chrome and Safari. If you have IE, go to one of the JavaScript speed tests like SunSpider and run the benchmark. IE8, which is faster than IE7, has a score of 8500ms, but if you try this with Safari you'll get a score of about 775ms. Chrome has a similar score to Safari. They aren't just slightly faster, they are increadibly fast and code that takes Internet Explorer several seconds to execute takes Safari and Chrome milliseconds. Don't take my word for it, run the test yourself.

There are other speed tests, but the results are the same - IE is dog slow. This is one reason why people are switching browsers. Unfortunately, the internet is very congested and the amount of traffic in the pipes and people on popular websites nullifies the effect of the enormous speed advantage of Safari and Chrome. With a dodgy internet connection, ISP throttling and overburdened web surver IE can almost keep up with Safari and Chrome. This means that people stick with IE even though it's so slow - they don't notice because the internet's slow anyway.

Another reason why you should switch from IE to another browser is that sometimes it just doesn't work. seriously, it cannot display some web pages. For example, go and check out Norton Utilitiesat the Symantec website. Internet Explorer 8 makes a complete mess of it and fails to display it. It's perfect in every other web browser. This page isn't a one-off and when you've had a few of these you'll probably think that there's something wrong with your PC, Windows, your internet connection, or the website. It's none of those, it's IE8 that just can't work with the latest web standards.

If you are still using IE, go and get Safari. Chrome is fast, but doesn't have as many features.)

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Apple Mac OS X Snow Leopard for $29

At the recent developers converence Apple revealed that the next version of its OS X operating system will be released in September and it will cost $29. (No matter what the exchange rate, it'll probably be £29 here in the UK.) The reason for the September release is probably to beat Microsoft Windows 7 and it's hardly surprising, but why is it so cheap? It is normally more like $129.

Pricing it at $29 is very unusual for Apple, a company this is not known for selling cheap products, so what are the reasons behind it? Basically, it wants to move everyone from a 32-bit operating system to a 64-bit one on Intel hardware. By supporting only one hardware architechture - Intel - instead of two - Intel and PowerPC - in the long term it will save time, effort and money, which is important in the current economic climate.

Apple has rewritten and recompiled OS X and the built in applications like Safari and Mail for 64-bit Intel processors. This is because they can handle data more efficiently, which means better performance. Removing the support for older Macs with PowerPC architechture means that there is less code. The end result is that Snow Leopard is half the size and twice as fast as Leopard. This is briliant news for everyone using newer Intel Macs, but bad news for everyone else.

The reason why it is only $29 is two fold. First Apple wants to encourage as many users as possible to a 64-bit operating system, and second, it's taken so much time and effort to rewrite the OS that there's not much that is actually new. There won't be a huge number of new features, so charging full price probably isn't an option, despite the speed boost and space saving.

Next year you can expect to see rewritten and recompiled 64-bit editions of Apple software like iLife and iWork.

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Why Windows starts so slowly

How long does your PC take to boot up? Two minutes, three, longer? Why can't Microsoft make it start faster? Actually, it isn't Windows that is at fault because if you format the hard disk drive and install a fresh copy of Windows on it, it will boot up very quickly indeed. The problem isn't the operating system, it's the software that is installed afterwards that makes it so slow. (Microsoft may be partially to blame because Windows allows or even encourages programming practices that slow down the boot up.)

It's amazing how much gets installed into memory when you switch on and half of it won't be used. For example, I run iTunes once a week to update my iPod, yet an iTunes Helper, an Apple Mobile Device driver and an iPod Service is loaded every time Windows starts up. They run 24/7 even though iTunes is run once a week. Why can't these things be loaded when they are needed instead of slowing down the boot process and consuming memory and processing power?
iTunes is just one example and it isn't the worst by any means. Looking at what's loaded on my computer it is clear that Roxio is a particularly bad offender. The company makes some useful software, but does it have to be loaded all the time? Surely it doesn't need to be loaded unless it is being used?

If you have a Blackberry mobile phone and have installed the software to sync it with your PC you'll have a Media Manager supplied by Roxio. This runs RoxWatchTray9, RoxMediaDB9, Roxio Hard Drive Watcher 9, Roxio UPnP Renderer 9, and Roxio Upnp Server 9 every time you start Windows. It doesn't matter whether you want to plug in your Blackberry or not, it all gets run every time Windows starts. Why can't these things be run when you want to plug in your Blackberry? They don't need to be running 24/7.

I have Roxio Creator Ultimate on another PC for burning CDs and DVDs, a task I perform perhaps once a week or once every couple of weeks. To use this software though, the following files are loaded automatically with Windows every time it starts whether I need it or not: CPMonitor, RoxTrayWatch, Roxio Upnp Server 11, RoxLiveShare11, RoxWatch11, PxHelp20, Sahdla32, Saibla32, saibsvc, and SaibVda32.

That's 10 programs just from one software application I installed. Now this is OK if you have just one a application on your PC, but who has just one? We have many applications, so when you multiple this by the number of apps you have the number of files loaded on startup can be quite large. And you probably won't need most of it. Not today. Maybe next week or whenever you run the associated application next, but it still gets loaded. It consumes memory, time, and processing power. Why?

Software developers: Stop loading all this crap into Windows every time it starts! When a program is run it can load all the files it needs, but don't run stuff when it's not being used.

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Want a cheap Mac? Visit the refurb store!

The intense competition between suppliers of Windows PCs drives the prices ever lower, and some people would also say that the quality suffers too. After all, you get what you pay for.

Apple doesn't sell cheap computers and it steers well clear of the bottom end of the market and instead it prefers to produce a small number of high quality premium priced products. Does this mean that there is no such thing as a cheap Mac? No it doesn't because you can get significant discounts on Apple hardware if you know where to look. You can save tens or even hundreds of pounds on new kit, but few people know how.

When Apple refreshes it's product line and launches new hardware, have you ever wondered what happens to all the stock of the current kit? One day the Apple stores are selling plastic cased MacBooks and the next day they have brand new all-aluminium bodied ones. Where have all the old models gone? And when the desktop iMacs were recently replaced, where did all the existing ones go? Of course, Apple will try to run down stocks in the run up to the launch of a new product, but you can't run stocks down to zero and there will always be some old models lying around in warehouses. What hapens to them? The answer might be that they are sold off at the Refurb Store, an online supplier of Mac kit at discounted prices.

According to the FAQ at the site, everything sold at the Refurb Store is pre-owned, in other words, second hand. However, some people that have bought from the store have reported that they have received items in their original packaging that has never been opened and never used. It's brand new. It seems likely that old stock is sold off at the Refurb Store. The pre-owned kit the store refers to might be the demo models that have been on display in Apple stores. Although the kit has been switched on all day every day and occasionally prodded by potential purchasers, it will have hardly been used. The Macs will have been idling in a mimimal usage power-saving mode most of the time.

When you buy from the Refurb Store you could be lucky and get new kit, but it could be an ex-demo model. Don't worry about ex-demo models because they have been wiped clean, the latest version of OS X has been installed, and it's been repackaged. Everything sold comes direct from Apple. It's just like new and it comes with the same warranty as new kit too.

You'll find more than just Macs at the Refurb Store and there are iPods too. The items on sale change quite frequently and if the Mac you want isn't available today it might be there tomorrow, but you have to be quick because there are often limited numbers available and you'll need to snap it up before anyone else. You should either subscribe to the RSS feed or install the widget and keep it on your desktop. You'll also need to select your country because the products and prices are specific to your location.

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Windows 7's XP Mode

An interesting feature of the soon-to-be-released Windows 7 is the inclusion of Windows XP Mode. This is basically a virtual machine running Windows XP and it's provided to enable you to run applications in Windows 7 that cannot be run normally. There aren't actually that many XP programs that won't run in in Vista, but if you do have one and it's prevented you from upgrading, you can upgrade to Windows 7 safe in the knowledge that you can still run them using the Windows XP Mode feature.

Unfortunately, not everyone will be able to use XP Mode in Windows 7 because there are some specific system requirements. For a start it is only for Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, and Windows 7 Enterprise. (The most popular version, at least among consumers, is likely to be Windows 7 Home Premium.) In addition to this it requires a CPU with the Intel Virtualization Technology or AMD-V feature turned on and enabled in the system BIOS.

Some people (Apple Mac fanatics are the worst) have criticised Microsoft and are saying that they've shot themselves in the foot with this feature because no-one knows whether the processor in their PC has Intel Virtualization Technology or AMD-V. They say that many Windows 7 users won't be able to use it and therefore the feature is pointless. Of course, some people won't be able to use it, but there are good alternatives. XP Mode is actually Windows Virtual PC, which is a new version of the old Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 utility. Virtual PC 2007 has been given away free for ages by Microsoft. It runs Windows XP just fine and the hardware requirements are minimal - an x64-based or an x86-based computer with a 400 MHz or faster (1 GHz recommended) processor with L2 cache. So anyone can run XP using Virtual PC 2007, provided, of course, you have a Windows CD to install it from.

Windows Virtual PC is the 2009 edition of Virtual PC 2007 and naturally it makes use of the advanced virtualisation features of modern microprocessors. You can use it to run various versions of Windows in Windows 7 and it's not limited to just XP. However, for those people that don't have the right version of Windows 7 or the right hardware, there is always the older 2007 edition or VirtualBox. VirtualBox runs on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X and you can run any version of Windows on any operating system. XP in vista, Vista in XP, 7 in Vista, Vista in 7, and Windows 7 on an Apple Mac or Linux machine. It's a great program and it's free. So don't worry about XP Mode because there are lots of other options available.

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Download Windows 7

Windows 7 is almost here and it is in the final stages of beta testing. This can't last much more than a few months, so we are probably looking at an autumn release. Autumn and Christmas are traditionally peak times for computer sales and Microsoft would gain the most benefit from launching Windows 7 in the second half of the year.

Some people have said that Windows 7 has been rushed out because Vista was such a disaster. It has hardly been rushed and by the time is it released Vista will be three years old! Yes, it was released to businesses and OEMs in autumn 2006 and to consumers a couple of months later in January 2007. That's not rushing things and it seems pretty normal. Compare it to Windows 95, 98, ME release dates or Windows 2000 and XP. It only seems rushed because there was such a long break between XP and Vista. And Vista is hardly a disaster. It's actually very good now that PCs are bigger and faster and there have been service packs to fix bugs and enhance features.

Windows 7 is much better than Vista though and you can try it for yourself - for free. Anyone with a fast broadband connection, a DVD-writer and a couple of hours to spare can get Windows 7 up and running on their PC. You'll find the download link here.

If you don't want to wipe your hard disk drive and replace the contents with Windows 7, go and get either VirtualBox or Virtual PC. These are excellent tools and you can run Windows 7 in a window on the desktop using XP or Vista.

Actually, now that we mention VirtualBox and Virtual PC, it's interesting that Microft is supplying Windows XP as a virtual machine to run in Windows 7. This means that you can run all your XP applications in Windows 7. Most will work natively, of course, but problem programs can be run in the XP virtual machine.

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Apple should be more like Dell

Last week Apple updated its desktop computers and new iMacs were launched. Initial reactions were not good, at least here in the UK and the two main problems were the lack of innovation (same old box, just a few updated components) and the price. When Macworld reported on the new Macs it received a lot of negative comments.

The exchange rate has made products from overseas more expensive becase a year ago you could get $2 for each UK pound, but now it's around $1.40 and that's a big difference. Apple kit never was very cheap, but now it is even more expensive and the cheapest iMac is £949 ($1,317). The best part of £1,000 is a lot to pay for a computer in the current economic conditions and not many people have that sort of money to spend on a luxury. Yes, it's a luxury. A computer is a necessity, but a Mac is an up-market luxury item.

I have no objections to companies selling high priced kit, but when there is only one supplier, there is no alternative, and only a small range to choose from, then it does become irritating and off-putting. There are only four Mac desktops to choose from - the Mini, 20in and 24in iMacs, and a Mac Pro, all with some minor configuration options and none of which are very cheap. It's market share of desktop computers will surely shrink because the market for top-end kit is shrinking thanks to the recession, and that's a shame.

If only Apple was more like Dell. Go to the Dell site and you can find PCs that cost £3,500 ($4,800) and that's just for a base configuration. Add a few optional extras and the price is even more! But it doesn't matter because at the other end of the range are PCs that cost as little as £200 ($277). Go to Dell and no matter what hardware you want and no matter how much or little you have to spend, you'll find something you'll like. Go to Apple and you've a choice of four high priced desktops.

Imagine if Apple made shoes. It would make four sizes and expect everyone to squeeze their feet into one or other of them. A lot of people would find that they just don't fit.

You want a laptop with a 17in screen? Apple has just one and it's £2,000 (about $3,000). 

Apple needs to be more like Dell and provide a wide range of computers. There should be more computers at more price points, from small, cheap and portable netbooks to big desktops. There should also be more configuration options too. Squeezing the components into small cases as with the Mini and iMacs may produce attractive designs, but they limit the components you can use. With a Windows PC you can take out the video card and replace it with another faster model to boost the performance in a matter of minutes, an option that's not available with Minis and iMacs.

I do like Macs and the latest models are excellent, but they'll only be attractive to a small number of people - ones that can afford the high price tag and whose requirements exactly fit one of the small number of models that are on offer.

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DIY software

In the early days of home computers we didn't have operating systems with easy to use menus, icons, and windows. It didn't come with useful software like a word processor, email, web browser, paint program, and so on. Home computers in the 1980s booted up into Basic (except the Jupiter Ace, which had the bizarre Forth language).

You could load software off a cassette tape, but there weren't many tapes around and what was available were mostly games. If you wanted software you mostly had to type it in and this usually meant using the Basic programming language. Typing in listings - and debugging them - is how many people learnt how to program computers.

Things are different now and if you want a program to do a job there is a good chance that you can track one down on the internet. It might even be free. However, you might find that it's not quite perfect for your needs and you might wish it had some feature or other, or it worked in a slightly different way. Why not write your own? Is programming really that difficult?

Writing a program because you can't find the right tool on the internet, or one that's affordable, is just one reason for learning how to program. You could also do it for money and you could either sell the software yourself or work for someone else and get paid to write software. You can also program for fun too.

Despite the complexity of modern computers and operating systems, programming isn't any harder today than it was 25 years ago. The reason is that programming languages have got smarter and provide lots of cool tools to help you with the task. For example, Microsoft Visual Studio enables you to draw applications on the screen using a form designer and then to write code to make the windows, menus, buttons and other objects work. The Visual Studio Express editions of Visual C, Visual Basic and Visual Web Developer are free.

Back in the early days of computers, Basic used to come with the computer and it was free and easy to use. This encouraged lots of people to have a go at programming. Computers don't come with Basic any more but the free Microsoft Visual Basic Express certainly encourages people to have a go. However, it's not that easy for a novice to learn. It's OK once you have gained some experience, but it's hard to get started. For this reason, Microsoft has produced Small Basic.

Small basic is designed to be used by novices and it aims to be simple and easy to use. It's interesting, but like all programming languages, using it isn't that straightforward and you really need to read the 62-page Getting Started Guide. In some ways it is quite interesting and it is quite easy to write simple games, but Visual Basic is much more powerful and the posibilities open to a programmer are so much greater. Anyway, it's worth a look if you have never written a program before and want to dip your toe in the water.

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Weird Mac file copy bug - or is it a feature?

I use both a Mac running OS X and a PC running Windows and sometimes the differences between the way they work can catch you out. It happened recently and I have only just realised what has been going on.

The Windows part of the website is created on a Windows PC and the Mac part is created on a Mac. Of course, I could simply use one or the other to do the whole website, but it's useful to experience both platforms because I write about both the PC and the Mac.

I keep a copy of the website in a folder on each computer. On the PC it's the htdocs folder in C:\Xamp (Xamp is a web server based on Apache and is handy for testing), on the Mac it is also the htdocs folder, but this time it's in Applications\Mamp (Mamp is a web server based on Apache and is handy for testing). The problem is how to keep them in sync.

One way is to drag the htdocs folder to a USB memory drive, take it to the other computer and drag it off. It can be done over the network too. The way Windows and OS X works when you do something like this has caught me out and files have been going missing on the Mac. Is it a feature or a bug?

If you drag a group of files and folders from one place and drop them on another place there is a conflict if the destination contains files or folders with the same names. Both Windows and OS X ask you if you want to replace the destination files and folders with the source, which is fine, but Windows and OS X work differently.

The problem is with subfolders. When the source and destination both contain a subfolder with the same name Windows asks if you want to replace the destination with the source. If you say yes, then the files in the source subfolder are copied to the destination subfolder and files with the same name are overwritten. Files with different names are kept. What you end up with is a folder that combines the files from the source and destination. This is exactly what I wanted.

Do this in OS X and you are asked if you want to replace the subfolder. If you say yes then the folder in the destination is deleted and replaced by the source folder. It really is deleted and it's not moved the the Trash. What you end up with is not a combined folder that contains files from both the source and destination, but just the source.

This isn't what I wanted. and it's how I have been losing files. I assumed OS X would only replace the files in the subfolder with the ones I'm copying from the PC, leaving the ones I'd created on the Mac, so I'd end up with a synced folder. Instead files I'd created for the Mac part of the website were being deleted because the subfolder was being deleted and replaced.

This is obviously something you need to be wary of when copying files and folders to update a destination folder.

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iPod repeats same song

I haven't had much luck with the iPod Touch. I bought one a few months after it was launched, mainly because I didn't want to pay the contract on an iPhone. The iPod Touch gives you 90% of the features of the iPhone and only the phone and GPS aren't available. Since I already had a good phone, the only thing I have't got is the GPS location facilities. I can live without them.

Anyway, first the earphones died after about six months use. Fortunately, I had a spare pair lying around and so I used those. Then four months later the screen developed dead spots and this meant that tracks and menu options couldn't be selected. I took it back to the Apple store and they replaced it. (It's incredibly irritating how you have to make an appointment and come back later, actually the next day in my case, even when the store is empty and there are staff standing around doing nothing. I could have demonstrated the dead spots in 30 seconds, but no, they said come back tomorrow - when it was actually twice as busy. How crazy is that?)

The latest problem is that it's stuck on the same song. Select any song in any album or playlist and it will play it and then repeat it. It won't go on to the next song. Every couple of minutes I have to turn it on, unlock it, move to the next track, and then turn it off. It's so annoying.

This time, however, it wasn't the iPod that was faulty. Somehow a setting was changed that told it to continuously repeat the same track. I suspected as much, but it's not very obvious where the setting is. I looked for it everywhere for it and couldn't find it and was beginning to think the iPod was faulty. Do a search at Google and you'll find other iPod owners experiencing the same problem. Google also came up with the solution to, at least a link to it anyway.

so if your iPod will only play one track, select a song and play it. With the album artwork on the screen, tap the screen to display the time bar. At the left hand side is an icon and if you tap it you'll find that it switches between three different states. One is to stay on the same track and repeat it indefinitely, another repeats the playlist or album when it gets to the end, and the third turns off the repeat function and it just plays the album tracks or playlist tracks from start to finish. Problem solved!

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