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Posts tagged Windows

Chrome is developing in guarding You against malicious downloads

Apr06
2011 2 Comments Written by hotrao

Peter Bright at Ars Technica informs that “[...] Google has just announced that it’s going to take this protection even further in its Chrome browser and apply it to executable downloads. Click a link that downloads a program Google’s Safe Browsing API regards as hostile and you’ll see a warning, along with an option to cancel the download.

Initially, malicious Windows programs will be the target. Such programs are unfortunately commonplace and generally depend on social engineering tricks—rather than outright security flaws—to lure users into installing them, with fake video codecs and bogus anti-virus software both being popular approaches.

A similar security system, designed for a similar purpose, was included in Internet Explorer 9. [...]” (full article here). Same topic is covered by Ed Oswald at betanews (full article here)

I’m sure that this is another required step into the endless war between thieves and guards, but I also think that will bring more complexity instead than simplifying life to end users, because when a security message appears 9/10 of times is not comprehensible to an average user.

This post as a comment also here and here

Posted in Tech - Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

VLC pulled from Apple app store

Jan08
2011 Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

Matthew Humphries at geek.com informs us that Apple has excluded VLC player form Apple store due to supposed terms of licence under GNU (full article at http://www.geek.com/articles/apple/vlc-media-player-pulled-from-the-app-store-2011018/).

Could be for this or to avoid that the service for renting and selling films is put under discussion by the ability to read divx films inside Apple devices?

I really love iPhone, iPad and Mac, though I use mainly Linux and windows for work. But is not with this kind of things (or by trying to exclude porn) that Apple can reinforce the position against competitors.

This post as a comment also at  http://www.geek.com/articles/apple/vlc-media-player-pulled-from-the-app-store-2011018/comment-page-1/#comment-3968386

Posted in communication, Economy, Tech - Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Linux is…

Nov26
2010 Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

…like a tipi (or teepee): No gates, no windows and apache inside. (full article at geeks are sexy http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2010/11/25/linux-is-like-a-tipi and at Make use of http://www.makeuseof.com/tech-fun/linux-is-like-a-tipi/)

Really a good one! :-)

See the picture below

linux apache

linux apache

Posted in Other, Tech - Tagged , , , , ,

How to remove Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) from your PC

Oct15
2010 Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

Tim Brookes at Makeusof.com writes a tutorial on how to remove Windows Nag protection.

For those who would like to understand the techie behind this kind of protection, the article is at http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/remove-windows-genuine-advantage-pc/; for all consider buying a genuine one.

Posted in Other, Tech - Tagged , , , , ,

The quest for technology is paved with strange things

Oct09
2010 Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

Mike Elgan at Computer world reports ten things that he doesn’t understand in modern technology (full article at http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9190164/10_things_I_don_t_understand_about_consumer_technology).

What follows is my non serious comment, reported after Mike question (btw, his answers are very professional and worth a read, but today I’m in really bad mood and so I need to joke on something… :-) ):

  • Why did Apple make the iPad so slippery? Because Apple earns a lot in maintenance, and so you know the most slippery the more spectacular the crash…
  • Why doesn’t Twitter auto-shorten URLs? Come on, you have the limit to 140 chars in twitter, maybe they felt the need have to have something longer ;-)
  • Why do people call iPod Touch the “iTouch”? Because they are testing Twitter shortening service
  • Why can’t Google Chrome read RSS? Because just came out from nursery; is expected to start reading in a couple of years
  • Why does Windows cover the very button you need to click? Because loves joking or because someone hard coded Murphys law inside of it
  • Why is iTunes for Windows the opposite of every other Apple product? Do You mean heavy and not easy to use? Well is a matter of chance and of doing something you’re not really willing to support and try to boycott windows…
  • Where are those Google personal-time projects? Mmmh this is tricky. Maybe the guys at Google are experiencing gardening projects? :-)
  • Why can’t Facebook be used as an address book? And what would do Plaxo if this was like this?
  • Why can’t I use Google Reader as an RSS Reader? Still mumbling on this…
  • Why are driving directions so tiny on the Google Maps iPhone app? Because the developing team has undergone eye surgery and now spots a coin at 4 miles

This post as a comment also at

    Posted in Other, Tech - Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

    Backup windows home server files to an external drive

    Oct03
    2010     Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

    The guys at how to geek wrote a tutorial on this some time ago (full article at http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/10797/backup-windows-home-server-folders-to-an-external-hard-drive/).

    Take a look

    Posted in Other, Tech - Tagged , , ,

    How to clean giant context menus

    Sep10
    2010     Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

    Guys at how to geek write a good tutorial on how to clean a too much grown context menu (full article at http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/28104/how-to-clean-up-your-messy-internet-explorer-context-menu/).

    Simply the path is this:

    “[...] The first thing you’ll notice is that there’s an “Accelerators” section of the context menu, and if you don’t use any of them, you can easily get rid of them all. Just head into Tools –> Manage Add-ons, click on Accelerators on the left-hand menu, and then disable any of the items that you don’t use. While you’re in here, you should also click on Toolbars and Extensions and get rid of anything else that you don’t actually need—it’ll make Internet Explorer run a whole lot faster. [...]  Next you’ll want to open up regedit.exe through the start menu search or run box, and then browse down to the following key:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerMenuExt

    Once you’re there, right-click on the key and choose Export, and then save out the file somewhere just in case you need to revert the changes—if you do, you can simply double-click on the exported file to put everything back. [...]”

    Thanks guys for the hint.

    Posted in Tech - Tagged , , , , ,

    Another POV of classic Windows shortcuts: a tribute to creativity

    Aug27
    2010     Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

    I come through a peterwut post at 9GAG (http://peterwut.9gag.com/), representing a post from annesouza’s blog (peterwut post at http://9gag.com/gag/33364/, annesouza’s one at http://annesonsouza.tumblr.com/post/955984471/foto-auto-explicativa).

    No words, only a tribute to the quintessence of creativity, whoever did this.

    You can find it here below.

    Posted in communication, Tech - Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

    Polarizing software

    Jul02
    2010     Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

    Jim Henderson at makeuseof.com reviews Poladroid for Windows, a software aimed at transforming your photos with the charm of Polaroid photographies (full article at http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/have-fun-polarizing-your-images-with-poladroid-for-windows/).

    The software is simple but funny and You can get the installer at http://www.poladroid.net/

    Posted in Tech - Tagged , , , , , ,

    Windows web platform

    Jun11
    2010     Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

    An anonymous at How to Geek writes a tutorial on using web applications locally through Microsoft Windows Web Platform (full article at http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/19182/run-wordpress-and-other-web-apps-on-your-pc-the-easy-way/).

    “[...] 

    Many web apps today, such as WordPress, MediaWiki, and more, are open source and can be run for free from any computer with even a simple local web server.  They are often very difficult to install on your computer, since they require a number of dependencies such as PHP and MySQL.  Microsoft has worked to make this easier, releasing the Windows Web Platform Installer.  This lets you install many popular web apps and free tools in Windows with only a few clicks.

    Here we’re going to look at how to install WordPress and the free Visual Web Developer 2010 Express to edit web code with the Web Platform Installer.  But, if you’d rather install a different web app or tool, feel free to choose those as the installations are generally similar. [...]”

    Worth a read, given the trend of putting everything on the web.

    This post also as a comment at http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/19182/run-wordpress-and-other-web-apps-on-your-pc-the-easy-way/#comment-93847

    Posted in Other, Tech - Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

    Happy birthday Windows 3.0

    May23
    2010     Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

    The windows club reminds us that today is the 20th anniversary of Microsoft Windows 3.0  (full story at http://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-3-0-turns-20).

    Those like me that remember those “good old times” also remind that sort of religious wars between thos owning a Mac, an Amiga and a PC.

    And when we read the System requirments:

  • 8086/8088 processor or better
  • 640K conventional memory, though 1 MB of extended memory recommended.
  • Hard disk with 6-7MB of free space
  • CGA/EGA/VGA/Hercules/8514/A graphics and an appropriate and compatible monitor

    • a little proud smile comes in my mind, wondering how much we were cratives doing what everyone of us did with those resources.

    Now we think that Teras, Gigas and Internet are the “normal” world. Yesterday we had kilos and megas. No it’s not a century ago, just 20 years.

    This post as a comment also at http://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-3-0-turns-20/comment-page-1#comment-5273

    Posted in Other, Tech, Thoughts - Tagged , , , , , , , ,

    Google drops IE6 support…

    Jan31
    2010     Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

    …but who cares? :-)

    Gregg Keizer at Computerworld reports that Google, following the well known problems with Chinese hackers and Internet Explorer security problems, has decided to drop compatibility with IE6 (full story at http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9150138/Google_joins_the_kill_IE6_campaign?source=rss_news).

    What makes me think are a couple of things:

    a) first of all big G gurus and business case developers will have made their own counts, and I personally think is a wise choice.  Most of the people (remember: non tech people are the majority of population. What is strange and hassling for us isn’t for them) are automatically updating their Windows installations and IE8 is gaining more and more space)

    b) this is a move, due to many other things, but most of all trying to bring a step beyond the OS andbrowser wars. Google cannot stop supporting Micrososft products, but now that is near to have a full portfolio of products (ranging from office products, to OS and passing through a browser), can try to boycott Redmond’s product in different ways (through the browser in a browser, through non supporting applications,…)

    This post as a comment also at http://www.computerworld.com/comments/node/9150138#comment-561727

    Posted in Economy, Tech - Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

    Apple and Nintendo and other false (or true) competitors

    Nov14
    2009     Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

    Jeff Smykil at Art Technica (http://arstechnica.com/authors/jeff-smykil/), wites an article on the fact that “Nintendo’s president thinks Apple isn’t a competitor and people should stop saying so. Is this a bluff, denial, or just the beginning of another decline of a once-powerful video game company” (full article at http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/11/despite-nintendos-claims-apple-is-a-competitor.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss).

    I think is only the last case of a company (or a person) telling the market that everybody didn’t understandwhat was happening.

    Is the same reaction I had when Yahoo CEO said that Yahoo wasn’t a search company. And I add, only beacuse was still loosing market shares against Google.

    Unfortunately for Nintendo’s CEO Mr.  Satoru Iwata, Apple is a player in gaming industry, and, in my opinion, wil be one of the three player that will remain in less that 5 years: Google (through Android), Microsoft (through Windows) and Apple (through Iphone).

    This post as a comment also at http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=174096756&m=133002122041&r=222007422041#222007422041

    Posted in Economy, Tech - Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

    Windows XP love

    Jun19
    2009     Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

    Ron Schenone at Lockergnome asks some XP stories to share wondering why people stiil love XP (full article at http://www.lockergnome.com/blade/2009/06/18/people-are-still-in-love-with-windows-xp-i-wonder-why/).

    Well, I think that some laziness and people habits are also behind this “XP love”: changing an OS is not so simple and risk free.

    Also Today OS have a shortened life (see Vista and Windows 7) and upgrades are not for free.

    If you add the fact that not everybody (I would say the majority) feels the need to have the latest technology and software onboard…then recipe is done to have XP still loved by people ;-)

    This comment also at http://www.lockergnome.com/blade/2009/06/18/people-are-still-in-love-with-windows-xp-i-wonder-why/#comment-185510

    Posted in Tech - Tagged , , , , ,

    Microsoft and the open source threat

    May22
    2009     Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

    Matt Hartley writes on Lockergnome about a former Microsoft employee predicting proprietary software death, or at least Redmons’ products one (full article at http://www.lockergnome.com/linux/2009/05/21/ex-microsoft-programmer-taken-entirely-too-seriously/).

    I think that most important thing is something very similar to adverse selection seen in insurance (the phenomena for which those at most risk are those most likely to take insurance for this risk).

    Open source software is quite interesting for companies (because of less cost associated, at least at startup), but proprietary software is so present and binded within companies that feels to me quite difficult to substitute it with open sources.

    This is true, at most reason, for OSes: if I can agree that funcionalities of a Linux based system (whichever it is) are more usefull and easily available to the power (or not so power) user than those in proprietary systems, on the other side I must admit that Windows is so pervasive in today computing that seems quite impossible to drive it to death in medium term.

    There are also other two points:

    • People using computers are, in general, not hackers nor power users, nor technical aware people. And this is a barrier to understand and accept  the open source switch;
    • Companies that use open source systems rely on a set of tools, functions and other means specifically tied to an OS (think of APIs and DLL on 3270 web emulation packages that are tied, oftenly, to specific OSes and browsers)

    So, Bill can sleep well for another couple of decades, maybe loosing some of his tremendous market share, but, definitely not closing his business.

    The king is dead (?), so long live the king.

    This article also as a comment at http://www.lockergnome.com/linux/2009/05/21/ex-microsoft-programmer-taken-entirely-too-seriously/#comment-91321

    and at http://www.lockergnome.com/theoracle/2009/05/26/will-microsoft-endure-ex-employee-presents-good-reasons-it-wont/#comment-8727

    Posted in Economy, Tech - Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

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