Stategies for using CD/DVD as backup media

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Dan

In my previous article I conducted a test to see how durable CD’s and DVD’s are. This is a crucial consideration if you are thinking about using such media for backup purposes. This article contains tips and recommendations for using optical media as backup media. Conclusions are based on 15 years of computing experience and the previously mentioned test I did.

Choosing a backup media

Ever since the CD recorder made its appearance, later to be replaced by DVD burners, they have played a major role in backing up our data, especially for home users that could not afford “real” backup solutions. For a long time I thought that BluRay would take over as the backup media of choice, but the recent developments in storage technology have made optical media less interesting for backup purposes. Hard drives have now become so large that they out-compete optical discs as storage media in terms of cost per megabyte, as well as agility and speed(!) They are however more sensitive to shocks and other harsh conditions. USB memory sticks and online backup services offer a simple solution if you don’t require wast amounts of storage capacity. My first recommendation is thus to think about your needs and calculate the cost of various options.

Making your backups

If you still choose to use CD/DVD for backuping important data, remember that optical media degrade with time. The tricky part is that you can never really tell the condition of a disc until you try to read it. You need to be aware of this and take precautions to prevent data loss. For example you could burn multiple discs with the same content, or re-burn the collection from time to time, depending on your individual need.

Brand name discs are no guarantee for high quality, but usually better than less known and no-name brands. And don’t forget to store your discs properly. They prefer dark and dry places. Direct sunlight and humidity will damage them!

Reading back the data

Different drives are differently good at reading, especially when it comes to troublesome data. This is probably both a case of the hardware and firmware (internal software) in the reader. My advice is to try several different readers before you discard a disc if the content is valuable to you. If a the reader does not seem to find the disc, try to eject it and put it back in again a few times, as the drive may have better luck locating the tracks this time. Also make sure you to polish the disc just in case there’s some smudge on it.

You should avoid copying files from problematic CD’s using Windows Explorer. When read errors occur it usually cancel the entire copy operation, which is very frustrating. I can recommend two programs for reading. First there is Unstoppable Copier, which is specifically built to handle discs with read errors. Another favorite is classic file manager Total Commander, which works fine in most cases, although it does not have the same level of logging and retry management as Unstoppable Copier.

Performance tip

If you have an older computer and copying CD’s is slow, you may want to check the DMA settings to make sure it is turned on. If not, try to uninstall the IDE channel using the Device Manager and restart your computer. Windows should find the hardware again, and hopefully the DMA will be correctly setup this time. This trick worked for me at least, giving me four times the reading speed and also reduced the CPU load to a minimum!

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How long do writable CD/DVD last? 400 discs put to the test!

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Dan

It is a well known fact that the CD-R’s and DVD-R’s that you burn at home won’t last forever (neither does factory made media, for that matter, but that’s another story). Exactly how long is impossible to answer. It depends on the quality of the disc and how it has been stored. But the CD-burner and (as we shall see) the CD-reader matters as well. The tricky part is that you can never really tell the condition of a disc until you try to read it. And by then, it might be too late.

This article details my experience of copying more than 400 discs, ages varying from 3 up to 14 years old. First a bit of background. Over the years I’ve managed to collect a rather large amount of music, video clips, pictures, games and other “fun stuff” that I’ve come across. Back in the days, hard drive storage was expensive and online services such as Spotify and YouTube did not yet exists. Burning CDs was the only reasonable way to have a large media library. It was always my dream to one day be able to “return” these files to my computer. The developments in storage technology have been incredible, and today optical discs are no longer viable as archive media (in fact, they are more expensive than hard drives per megabyte!). So a while ago I decided it was time to do it. This meant that I had to copy more than 350 CD’s and about 70 DVD’s. The oldest CD’s in my collection were from 1997, and the oldest DVD’s from 2005. In total there were roughly 375,000 files weighing in at over 550 gigabytes!

I’ve always been aware of the inherent problems with degrading optical media. To be safe I mainly used brand name CD-R’s, preferably the “blue” ones as they were rumored to be of higher quality. Of the various brands I used, Verbatim stands out as my favorite brand, but I also used discs from TDK, Kodak, Sony, Samsung and BASF. In addition to these I also had a few odd brands and some “no-name” disks. For a long time I kept the discs stapled at my desk in their jewel cases, but 6 years ago I consolidated them all into CD-spindles, which I then kept in a dark locker.

I always kind of dreaded this moment, because I knew that many of the discs might turn out to be unreadable. In retrospect, I can only conclude that everything went better than expected. Here are my results:

  • Of the 420 discs, a total of about 20 discs had read errors or other major problems that stopped me from copying them. Many other discs were difficult to read, but made it through in the end.
  • Many (not all though) of the unreadable discs were no-name discs (i.e. cheap discs without labels, usually with a more or less unprotected “mirror” surface on top). I’ve always been suspicious of them, none the least since the data layer is so thin that you can often see through it if you hold the disc in front of a light! In other words, it’s no surprise these would be among the problematic discs.
  • More surprisingly though, four of the BASF discs had read errors. Given that I only had 10 of these in total, it’s not a good result.
  • An entire “batch” of discs from Verbatim had such severe problems I had to abort reading them since I feared the drive would break or overheat. Additionally 2 Verbatim discs from other packages failed on a few individual files.
  • Now, all optical drives have built-in firmware that determine how it operates. This leads to differences in between readers depending on the manufacturer and firmware used, especially in more extreme situations such as when the error correction must kick in. Thus, having attempted to copy all disks using my ordinary drive as outlined above, I took the erroneous discs and tried to copy them on another computer (with a different CD-rom drive). This reader worked much better and actually managed to retrieve most of the problematic data! A few faulty discs remained though. I decided to give it a try on yet another computer, with additional success!
  • In the end, less than 10 discs, all of them no-name brands, were unreadable to some extent. Most of them did not contain any important data, so I did not bother to test them in yet more computers. Thus it is fully possible that some of them were actually readable given the right circumstances.

In summary, everything went better than expected. The number of problems were quite small given the amount of data. I was able to retrieve almost all the data, although I had to try three different CD-readers before success with all discs. Brand names and quality discs do matter, but is not a guarantee for error free operation. About 2% of the discs were unreadable in the end. This may or may not be acceptable, depending on the purpose. I am certainly impressed though, that the very first CD-rom I burned could still be read without problems after 14 years!

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The easy way to clean your computer of dust

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Dan

It’s no secret that computers have a tendency to attract dust. You should clean your computer now and then to avoid problems. The biggest threat of dust is buildup in the fans, causing them to spin slower, erratically, or even stop completely. Heat sinks also tend to get stuffed with dust, making them less efficient in removing heat from the components underneath. This typically causes overheating, leading to fans having to spin faster (and thus louder) or CPU might slow down to protect it from the heat. Worst case scenario is that components are damaged or have their life span reduced.

The best way to clean your computer is if you have access to an air compressor, but most people don’t. Cans with compressed air are excellent, but they are fairly expensive and don’t last very long. Often I simply blown the dust away with my mouth. This is however not very effective and quite tiresome for larger objects. But now I have found a new method! My tip is to get your bicycle pump, or better yet a bigger pump like in the picture, with more power and a hose so you can direct the airflow. Take your computer outside and start pumping! Don’t forget to blow inside the power supply, behind panels and other places that also tend to collect dust. It’s hard to get it all out, but you should be able to get most of it in no time!

If you want to avoid dust all together you should start by putting the computer in a place where dust does not gather in the first place. Many computers sit in a corner under the table, which is possibly one of the worst places in regards to this! Furthermore you can add filters in front of the air intakes (usually at the front of the computer). However, these filters must be cleaned regularly or else they might clog up and block the airflow.

Posted in Tips | Tagged , | 3 Comments

How much do you dare putting in the cloud?

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Dan

A story I found on r/technology highlights the dangers of tying up your life in “the cloud”; more specifically to trust a company with your personal data. Google, without explanation, shut down a user’s account and all associated services. The person had collected all of his digital life in Google’s various services and the amount of lost data, images, conversations, contacts, documents, etc. was wast:

“You have cut off my communication, disrupted my personal and professional life, effectively stolen vast amounts of my personal and professional data, accused me of something without telling me that I am accused, accused me of something without telling me what it is that you have accused me of, blocked any direct communication with my accuser, and given me no ability to appeal this decision or to speak with someone on the facts of the case.” (source, no longer available)

The person tried every possible way to get in touch with Google for an explanation, but true to being a large company, only replies with standard non-specific answers came back. In frustration, he wrote the long article quoted from above to warn others about Google. This article became widely spread, soon after which a senior Google employee personally engaged himself in the matter, sorting out the problems. He also received an explanation of why it all occurred, posted in a follow up:

“Google employs an automated system to scan user storage for violations of their ToS and in the process erroneously flagged one of the images in the folder as child pornography, it’s as simple as that. (source, also no longer available)”

This time the ending was somewhat happy, but only after gaining publicity and with the luck of getting help by a senior officer.

It’s not the first time Google closed an account without warning though. AdWords is a well-known example of a service where lots of people have had their accounts closed. Many have also been suspended from the new Google+ network.

Other large companies tend to treat their customers in similar ways. PayPal locks accounts without warning. Dropbox security has been flawed. A common problem is that the customer support is often distant from the problem, and not really interested in helping out, just to get rid of the customer as soon as possible. A good example of this is when I wrote to a company  asking for help. Being a computer literate I included a detailed technical description of the problem. I got an answer back that was intended to look like a personal written response, but the content clearly indicated that they probably never even read the letter. Likely they skimmed the letter looking for keywords (or worse, a machine did it), and then replied with a template answer…

***

I want to highlight another problem with cloud services as well. Lately Google has introduced a new, more unified look across its services. Far from everyone likes it though. In addition to the effort needed to navigate the new systems, a number of changes have also been implemented, perceived by some as a downgrade.

Not being able to control when system updates occur can be a big problem for those dependent on the system. At worst, essential functionality been removed. But also consider the amount of time and resources Google is forcing on companies using their products, with confused user trying to navigate among the innovations introduced and needing to call the support instead of doing their work. This is a big a uncertanty that seriously needs to be considered by companies before choosing a system.

***

When you use Google services, you also agree to the company’s terms. What does it say anyway?

When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works, communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content. […] This license continues even if you stop using our Services

We may add or remove functionalities or features, and we may suspend or stop a Service altogether. […]  Google may also stop providing Services to you, or add or create new limits to our Services at any time.

Other companies usually have similar agreements. Facebook for example (last time I heard) claims to own all pictures you upload to their servers. As more and more of our lives intertwine with the Internet, this becomes increasingly important to pay attention to. Are you really prepared to go along with the above conditions?

***

Is the future in the cloud? The Cloud (or Internet as I prefer to call it :-) ) is a wide concept, and it is true that more and more of daily life is making its way online. With this, issues of privacy and security surfaces. Do we trust big business enough to be willing to hand over our lives in their hands?

The story at the top illustrates the importance of spreading your digital habits across different services and to be keeping multiple backups of all your data. Using a single supplier for all services and data is certainly convenient. But when things go bad, you’re screwed.

Both companies and individual users can create their own cloud services. Mail and blogging is easy to set up your own server. Server space can be rented cheaply, and it’s easy to change provider if there is a problem. Setting up your own NAS at home gives you your own “cloud” where you can store all your documents and media, and access it from any computer, both at home and online. Open formats and standards are also worth investing in to make sure you can read your documents in the future. These solutions provide good protection against the problems I talked about earlier. A certain level of technical knowledge and commitment is required though, but probably less than most people probably would think. Just make sure to do regular (automated) backups of all your materials at home and on your servers!

Posted in Opinion & Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The fantastic Google

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Dan

Most of us use Google to find things online. The reason is simple: Google delivers the best search result. Or do they? How do you know? Because honestly, when was the last time you tried another search engine?

Each search you do is saved by Google, who use the data to deliver even better results, customized tailored for you. No surprise then that you find the results are good, since it already matches your interests. But this also means that you get stuck in your own little search bubble. So if you are looking to broaden your horizons, Google might not be that helpful after all…

I am not necessarily arguing that Google is evil or deliver poor results. But I do believe it’s a good exercise to every now and then critically reflect upon these things and services that we use every day without questioning.

Posted in Opinion & Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

How to enable (or improve) two finger scrolling on your Windows laptop

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Dan

This is a small guide on to how to get two finger scrolling and other multi touch gestures on your Windows laptop. Even if your laptop is already capable of scrolling using two fingers, this guide can still be worth reading, since according to my experience the “feeling” can likely be significantly improved!

Introduction

With a brand new Win7 laptop in front of me I expected the touchpad to deliver a modern multi touch gesture experience. If you have used an Apple laptop and scrolled webpages by dragging two fingers on the touchpad instead of fiddling with a scrollbar, you know what I mean. Unfortunately my hopes faded rather quickly when I discovered that the trackpad seemed to lack support for multi touch gestures. But I refused to accept this, and after some diligent searching and testing I have finally found a solution that works for me.

Step 1: Update the drivers

The first thing I did was to dig through the driver settings. Imagine my surprise when I couldn’t find any settings for two finger scrolling. However, there were a few other options, indicating that the touchpad was actually capable of detecting more than one finger at a time. Having investiged this it turns out that the drivers shipped with the computer simply did not contain support for two finger scrolling even though the hardware itself supported it!

The dominant producer of touchpads for portable computers and other devices is called Synaptics. This corporation delivers touchpads to several major computer manufacturers. But as I understand it, patent issues causes many computer manufacturers to not ship the “full” drivers. Instead you get a crippled version where functionality has been removed. There is an easy solution to this though. You can get the full drivers by simply downloading them directly from Synaptics support page.

So I got the real drivers and a number of new options appeared in the driver settings, including the desired option to use two finger scrolling (enabled by default). Nice, I thought to myself, until I tried to use it. It turned out that the responsiveness was really bad. The touchpad did not seem to properly detect when I used more than one finger. Sometimes I had to swipe my fingers ten times before the drivers detected this and initiated the scroll feature. Most of the time nothing happened, which you probably can tell is extremely annoying. In addition to this, when it actually did scroll, the mouse pointer would change into an ugly picture to indicate this, which I find totally useless and quite distracting.

(I have tested several computers with default drivers since I got my computer. Many of them already had multi touch functionality enable by default. My experience with these drivers are that the responsiveness  varies between different computer models. I probably got one of worst available (a fully equipped and quite expensive Asus U36SD). But even on laptops that work much better than mine, my opinion is that the feeling still leaves much to be desired when compared to, for example, the silky smooth scrolling experience on Macs.)

Step 2: Switch to open source

While searching around for a solution to the problem of poor responsiveness I stumbled upon a blog post that had a comment, mentioning a little program named TwoFingerScroll. This program replaces some of the built in functionality of the drivers to give you better multi touch scrolling. The result is excellent responsiveness and feeling! It simply works as you’d expect it to!

Before installing TwoFingerScroll, I recommend turning off most features of the Synaptics drivers (but don’t uninstall the drivers as they are still required). First disable the build in two finger scroll as this will interfere with TwoFingerScroll’s implementation. You may also want to disable other features in the drivers, since most of them are more or less worthless if you ask me. I do like the momentum feature though, so my suggestion is to experiment until you find a solution that suits you!

Update: The original TwoFingerScroll has not been updated in 3 years, but thanks to being free software a brave new soul has taken upon himself to update the program and add new features! You can find these updates at the TabletPCReview forums.

Step 3: Enhance Windows

Multi touch scrolling does not seem to be natively supported by Windows. The implementations apparently work by emulating the scroll wheel function on the mouse. This kind of implementation (basically hacking the system) tends to open up for more or less good solutions. The most obvious problem I found is that the fact that the “control” currently having focus always receives the scroll wheel input. This means that if your mouse hover above a scrollable list or page of some kind, but this list is currently not selected, nothing will happen when you try to scroll, since the selected control in the currently active window is getting the input signals instead of what is underneath the mouse. This is how Windows works by design, but when using the touchpad I found that it become more obvious and forces a non-intuitive way to use the touchpad because you constantly have to precision-click to select the active control before you could scroll it.

The solution I found was to get a utility that automatically redirects the scroll wheel signals to the control located directly underneath the mouse pointer. There are several to choose from. I settled on one named KatMouse. Whether or not this is the best program I don’t know, but it works well enough for me.

Step 4: Configuration

Almost done! But to make the touchpad more intuitive to use it may be worthwhile to configure TwoFingerScroll a bit to handle right and middle mouse button clicks without having to use the physical buttons on the touchpad. I’ve configured it so that if I “tap” with two fingers simultaneously it corresponds to doing a right click. If I keep a finger on the plate and tap with a second finger, this is equivalent to clicking with the middle mouse button (usually button on the scroll wheel). There is a small problem with the mouse pointer jumping away when “middle clicking”, but I can accept this. There is a small problem with the mouse pointer jumping away when doing the middle click, but I can live with it since I feel this is the most natural way to use the touchpad I’ve found so far.

Summary

The bottom line is that using these utilities and settings, I now have a laptop that I can control using the touchpad in a way that I enjoy. It’s not perfect, but compared to the way it was when I first got the computer, it’s a minor revolution. I hope anyone reading this gets the same results. I find it fascinating that a large corporation like Synaptics is unable to make sensible drivers, instead requiring an open source program by a hobby developer to give Windows PCs some feeling!

Posted in Tutorials | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 28 Comments

Where is Microsoft heading with Windows 8?

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Dan

Having tested Windows 8 for a while raised some questions in my mind about Microsoft’s strategy for the future. It’s fairly obvious that the focus in Windows 8 has been on making an OS for touch screen devices. And only that. The desktop environment is something that had to come along since it is still required by most users. But if they could they would probably have wanted to removed it. Because full screen metro apps are so amazingly awesome! Well, right now, anyway. But if you ask me this is a mistake.

Microsoft’s stronghold and cash cow is the business environment. Businesses use the desktop environment, and there is no real advantage for them to switch to metro apps as far as I can see. But now Microsoft is basically forcing Metro onto businesses, because it is so tightly integrated into the new system. I don’t see any big gains in switching from Windows 7 to 8 from a business point of view. The cost of training is probably substantial though, yet corporations will continue to use desktop environment and their office applications, which basically works the same in Windows 8. I see a risk of a repeating the XP vs Vista situations. Nobody wanted Vista, so people and companies continued to use XP and even demanded that new computers come with XP even though Vista has been out for long time.

My impression is that Microsoft feels a pressure to be innovative. In the quest to be perceived as a hip company, always at the cutting edge, they regularly make major changes in their applications and systems. Have you noticed that MS Office never seems to look like a standard Windows application? They always re-invent the interface. Yet the Windows interface, also designed by Microsoft and supposedly grounded in scientific studies on usability, is what Microsoft expects everyone else to use when making software… Microsoft simply do not allow their applications to look like the previous version, even if there are non-visible areas improved. The changes must be visible, and Microsoft apparently feels a need to be the first to launch a new graphics style every now and then and “lead” the rest of the world. But if it ain’t broken, why try to fix it? In my opinion they make a lot of changes that do not work well at all, all in the name of innovation. Appearance before usability.

I think Microsoft is scared. Their monopoly is no longer as strong and self-evident. Apple dominate the premium mobile market and steadily grow on the desktop market. Google and Facebook dominate online. Microsoft wants to play with them. But do consumers and companies want to play with Microsoft?

Posted in Opinion & Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

First impressions of Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Dan

Having played with Windows 8 Consumer Preview in VirtualBox for a few hours, I wanted to write down some thoughts on my experience. I’m assuming that anyone reading this text is reasonably up-to-date on what’s new in Win8.

Metro & Interface

  • The new home screen replaces the classic start menu. Why, nobody seems to understand, me neither. My first impression is that it is cluttered and harder to find what you are looking for. Things seem more hidden and you need further steps to find what you are looking for. But I will not rule it out completely, since I have not used it enough yet. Since it runs in full screen, there is a potential to display a lot of content simultaneously, which is a strong point when you search among lots of things. But it is cluttered and not as structured as the classical start menu. My biggest gripe, however, is that when you want to open a program on the “start menu” or search for something you will be transported from the desktop to a full screen mode. I think it is distracting that the whole desktop is replaced, compared with a classic start menu that just sits on top of the desktop.
  • Metro is an interface designed for relatively small screen and meant to be controlled with your fingers. To “force” to this onto many parts of the system, even if you are sitting in front of a 24’’ screen and use the mouse as input, does not seem ideal. I feel kind of confused by all the large things that fly across the screen all the time.
  • On a touch screen it is natural to scroll the screen by swiping your fingers. The traditional desktop way to scroll the screen is to use drag a scroll list using the mouse. In Windows 8 there are both. But scrolling by dragging does not seem to work when using a mouse. You are forced to use the scroll bar at the side or bottom of the screen or use the mouse wheel. Why limit this? I believe it would feel natural to be able to scroll the Metro interface with the mouse just like when using fingers. Interestingly, you use the mouse in just that way to unlock the new lock screen. Consistent design anyone?
  • In Metro-mode, the scroll bars mentioned above do not display until you move your mouse over the screen. This means that there is no visual indicator whether or not there is more content available. Several times I missed that there was more to do and see lower down the screen because of this.
  • “Metro” can change its color. There are a whopping 8 choices! But who has chosen the nuances? Depressing colors, to say the least …
  • “Hot corners” means that if you move the mouse into the corners of the desktop, control objects appear. It’s pretty clever, although it appears to not work properly with multiple screen setups from what I’ve heard. I have doubts about this however, since the implementation appears better suited for touch tablets that for normal desktop environments with mouse and keyboard. One problem I encountered is when your drag the mouse to the left lower corner to bring up a thumbnail of the home screen up. (This is the new “start button”). Instinctively, I then wanted to click on the actual thumbnail, but when I move the mouse a few pixels away from the corner the thumbnail disappears before I can click on it…
  • Using “desktop mode” you will recognize yourself. The appearance (“aero”) is much the same as in Windows 7, just with a slightly “flatter” look. It looks ok if you ask me, but I find it pretty dull and I don’t like the low contrast of the scheme. The “basic” theme is still there as well, but this time it is terribly ugly! Previously high contrast schemes used the “classic” theme as base, but these are now based on the basic theme instead. I suspect that basic themes are only there to support the high-contrast schemes, not to be used for anything else, thus the ugliness. It is also worth noting that the classic theme has been removed altogether! This sucks if you ask me, since I really prefer this theme :-(

More on the interface

  • Why must everything look flat and boring today? It’s a current trend in interface design, in particular with Google applications and now with the Metro UI. I think it is vague and boring. Already Vista lacked contrast in the color scheme, making it difficult to see for example what was chosen in a menu. I think it is obvious that looks all too often take precedence over usability.
  • All of Windows 8 is single colored and flat, so too the icons. Designing an icon is not easy. On a very limited area you want to draw an image that people intuitively understand the meaning of. If you limit the number of colors to 2, the designers loose much of the ability to express themselves. Take for example the save icon. It is usually a blue disk. That particular combination, a box that is blue, is very easy to identify and almost everyone knows what it means. If you remove the color, there is basically only a box left, and it is not nearly as easy to see what the icon means. There are a number of icons in Windows 8 that are not intuitively clear what it symbolizes. Icons are difficult to create, so I will not blame the designer of these icons too much. Definitely though, the plain 2 color scheme did not help them make better icons. Single color icons and interface are hot right now. I hope it will be a short-lived trend.

Metro applications

  • I tried the new mail client that is found on the home screen, but did not come far since it required me to login with my Microsoft ID. Have I missed something, or did they do a mail client that only works with Hotmail? It resembles the “good old days” when Microsoft tried to create their own Internet instead of following standards like everyone else.
  • I downloaded an mp3 file to test to the music player. I expected Windows Media Player to launch, but instead the new “Music” app started in full screen Metro mode. It took me a good while to find WMP, and for a long time I thought that “Music” was the new WMP. The old WMP one is still there if you dig in to it tohugh, and it does not seem to have changed from Windows 7. The question is why any desktop user would want to use the very limited full screen “Music” app instead of the more potent WMP?
  • Something that puzzled me is how to quit a Metro application. I haven’t found any way so far…

“Regular” Programs

  • When running the legacy desktop environment and normal (“non-metro”) programs, Windows 8 feels almost like Windows 7. The exception is when you have to move into the new Metro UI to launch an application or do a search, which as I already said is quite distracting.
  • Windows Explorer has been equipped with the Ribbon interface. In my opinion, Ribbon works quite well in MS Office, but for a simple program like Windows Explorer it feels a bit unnecessary. It is logical laid out and easy to use though. Explorer is otherwise pretty much the same program as in Win7. Sadly, most (in my opinion) degradations introduced in Vista and Windows 7 are still there. But: There is now an “up” button to go one step back in the folder structure. It only took 6 years of complaining for Microsoft to finally pay attention to cries of the users. Hooray!
  • When you start Internet Explorer for the first time, you are transported it to MSN. This is not new to Windows 8, but I feel a need to ask how good this really is? Because: what is it you see when you load MSN? Ads. It’s basically all that is visible! The actual content is so far down the screen that it is not visible without scrolling. First impressions are said to be important. What does Microsoft want to tell us with this?
  • I tried to download one of my favorite programs using Internet Explorer 10. The first thing that happened was that Windows kindly “warned” me that this program was not downloaded very often, so I should probably not download it either. Thanks, but I have used this program forever and I think I’ll ignore the warning. The program was downloaded and I started the installation. What happened then was that Windows “protected” my PC. This program was not recognized (not signed I guess) so I was not allowed to start it. Accepting this was the only thing I could do apparently, since all I could do was to press an OK button it seemed. But wait, the “more information” text looked like a link, so I tried to click it, and all of a sudden new opportunities showed up, and I was permitted to run the program even though Windows did not recommend it! Does Microsoft protect its users, or are they trying to lead us into their new AppStore where only those who submit to Microsoft’s rules (and give M$ 30% of their income) are accepted?
  • I tried to run an old Visual Basic 6 program to see if it still works, and it does! Kudos to Microsoft, who, after all, has always been good at maintaining backwards compatibility, unlike Apple who regularly throws out old technologies in a way that effectively makes it impossible to use slightly older products. Companies that depend on a legacy application or people who want to play old games need not apply to Apple …

Comments

  • Windows 8 is tightly tied in to Microsoft’s Live services. Although still available, you should no longer create an account in your computer. Instead they want you to sign in on your local computer using your Live account. There may well be a point to this, as settings, files and other items can be automatically synchronized between different computers. But only for those who use Microsoft’s services. For everyone else, and for any third-party developer with its own products and ideas on how things should work, this feels mostly like an ugly way to tie customers to their own ecosystem and thought of mind. (Just like Apple and Google are working hard on, I might add.)
  • The fact that various things in the operating system become more and more hidden is not entirely surprising. I know that Microsoft wants us to stop manually looking for items and use the search functions more. And the search feature in Windows 7/8 does indeed work much better than before. However, I wonder how many users really do use the search function in Windows? I suspect it is still kind of a “power user” feature that few people actually know about. People simply want their documents on the desktop where they can easily see and open them.

These is just my first impressions after messing around for a short while with the new operating system. It will be interesting to see how me and others look at it when it’s released and we’ve become accustomed to it. Also exciting is to see how it works on a touch screen, something I haven’t had the opportunity to test yet. However, I am quite a bit reluctant to the idea of combining desktop and touch in a single interface. There is usually a compromise when combining thing like this. Apple, for example, maintains two different operating systems (OSX and iOS), which do what they are best at in different ways, while still having good integration with each other.

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RLV Blog says Hello World!

Posted on March 10, 2012 by Dan

So this is my new blog. My plan is to write about mostly technological oriented matters. I already have another blog with more general content, written in Swedish, and to begin with I will mainly be translating posts from there that I think deserve some attention.

The name RLV is short for “RL Vision” which is the name of my homepage. This blog is semi-separated from the homepage since I’m using WordPress as a blogging platform. I the future I might try to merge the two. Now, let the fun begin!

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