AOL

Okay, sometimes I get a little grumpy about some products, like Vista and any fee-based security product (like Norton, McAfee, Trend Micro, etc.).

Now I have to admit that I have just about had it with AOL. I do not understand why anyone would still be using it. I'm not just talking about the AOL 9.1 client, but even AOL Webmail.

I recommend giving it up. Get yourself a Google e-mail account and put all the fuss and muss about AOL behind you. Go ahead and write that note you have been putting off writing informing your friends and family that you have a new e-mail address, wait a month or two, and never use AOL again.

In the past week I have had to reinstall AOL 9.1 on a customer's machine because the current copy had somehow gotten corrupted. The reinstall eliminated the problem.

I have had a customer on satellite who was unable to access her AOL e-mail in any way, could not even access a plain aol.com home page, whether AOL Desktop or webmail. Checking online blogs we found several other AOL users, also on satellite, who had the same problem. This had been going on for about 3 days starting around July 20. I don't know if the problem is fixed yet, but come on, why satellite users only AOL? She could access her e-mail on another computer not satellite-linked. Weird!

A customer who switched from using the desktop client AOL 9.1 to AOL Webmail discovered that on Webmail she could not (and AOL confirmed this on the phone) access her saved e-mail that was saved on her own PC! Yes, any e-mail saved on AOL could be accessed on webmail. Go figure!

And, hard to believe, but some people are still paying for the privilege of using this bloated, problem-prone, program. It turns out that unless you are a paying customer, you can't call for help!

So who needs it? Bite the bullet! Cut the cord and experience freedom from AOL!

Spybot 1.6

There is a new version of Spybot, Version 1.6, available now, and compared to V1.5 it is as fast as lightning! They have somehow drastically improved its runtime speed.You can get it (free as always, but they do welcome donations) at download.com.

In a couple of days I will detail here how to set this up to run automatically, including getting updates, immunization, and a check for problems, automatically deleting all of the items it finds.

Skin Vista to Look Like Windows XP

Okay, some of you (those with Vista) may be a little tired of me bad-mouthing Vista, so I apologize to those who may feel that way. The plain truth is that I do not like Vista. I invested some $800 in a Vista laptop a year and a half ago. I needed it for teaching and for supporting my customers who had Vista, but I never said I liked it!

Years ago I heard of a company investing millions in a system with a name like Corporate Manufacturing Information System, or as it was called, CMIS. Users soon came to call it Corporate Mistake on an Incredible Scale. To me that is what Vista is, and Microsoft has only itself to blame.

So today I see this article on pcworld.com, and I had to smile. I have already made some but not all of the suggested changes. I think they are all fine but you may want to be sure you can return to the original before making any of them if, like me, you yearn for the good old days of XP!

Skin Vista to Look Like Windows XP

Buying a new Dell PC with Windows XP

I assisted a customer of mine 2 days ago with the online purchase of a new Dell PC that comes with Windows XP loaded and ready to go. We simply went to the Dell web site, clicked on Office (not Home), and then selected Small and Medium Business. We selected the machine we wanted and then customized the configuration. On the Ship To screen, we simply put the person's name, and when asked for the Company Name, repeated the customer's name. That's all there was to it. The new machine will be delivered within 3-5 business days. Oh, forgot to mention that it comes with a Vista installation disk so that should the customer ever want to migrate to Vista that can be done at no additional cost.