justinmaccarthy

There has been a lot of stuff happening at Microsoft recently, as the software giant struggles to fight its stagnant appearence. One of the Microsoft products that is going to get a much needed facelift is Hotmail. The beta is called “Kahuna”. Over at channel nine they have posted a video with the developers talking about the technologies used and the overall goals of the new GUI, which basically means AJAX (not that you will hear that buzzword mentioned once)

However watching the video, a worrying fact come it light; the UI is targeted towards IE 5.5 and IE6. Thats mean NO browser on Apple or linux. No Firefox, no Opera, no Safari.

You would think that the users of Apple and Linux , Firefox etc. are the people microsoft should be trying to impress? They are the segment of the market they DON’T have. Makes you wonder.

Microsoft has launched a iPhoto/Picasa type application called Max. Max allows you to organise your digital photos, create slide shows etc.

Interesting Nerd note.. its built on WinFx

Location. Location. Location – its a retailers mantra.

Getting prime shelf space in high street shops is a big deal for a manufacturer. And if we use this a measure of the success, Apple are really on a roll.

Its seems every phone shop and digital Photo shop in Dublin are stocking the Mac-Mini, the iPod (and many accessories and even the full iMac.
Those lovely white machines are pride of place in these stores, not sitting on a back shelve somewhere.

To put this in context; they are not stocking PCs, just the Macs.

So Vodafone are selling linux and non wintel machines to Joe Bloggs.

Now that is a mini-revolution.

IrishBlogs

1) Install a firewall.

The good news is that WindowsXP comes with a firewall. Of course its disabled by default.

Step one is to install it.

Learn How to install the firewall

2) Install a virus checker and run it.

There are several good virus checkers. Unfortunatly I haven’t found a good free / open source virus checker. So you’ll have to add a yearly subscription to a Virus checker into your Cost of ownership for Windows.

Actually, Grisoft have a free virus checker for home users, www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php
I haven’t used it myself. Anyone got an opinion?

3) Turn off all those services you don’t need.

WindowsXP has a load of stuff running that 99% of home users do not need. Why? Well Microsoft like to be able to show customers that you can just plug your PC into a network and everything will just work. Of course the don’t demo how easy it makes things for people who want to get onto your system.

Some bloke called Blackviper has a complete list of the what you need and what you don’t
here.

4) Don’t use Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer is more full of security holes than swiss cheese. It’s better to use a 3rd party browser. Firefox is the one I would recommend
Get it free here Mozilla.org.

5) Don’t use Outlook (or Express) or ensure its patched.

Ditto, for OutLook, use something like Thunderbird.

6) Install MS updates

Microsoft has a service to update your system with patches etc. Its called windowsUpdate and you should have a link for it in your Start menu. Run it regularly to keep your system patched.