Yet Another Reason Why Users Will Hate Windows 8

What is one of the first things a person does after installing Windows? Customize it of course! Colors, backgrounds, icons, screensavers, and fonts. Ever since Windows 95 the end user has had hundreds of possible ways to make their system... theirs. I know very few people who stick with the options that Microsoft includes in their O.S. There are hundreds of sites with art and software which you can use to modify elements of your desktop that even Microsoft hadn't expected anyone to want to change. One of my favorite programs was Microsoft's DreamScene introduced in Vista. It allows you to use a video clip as your desktop background. I sometimes use a video of my puppy friends chasing each other around as my desktop.

Windows 8 News says that Microsoft won't allow custom Metro UI backgrounds once Windows 8 is released. There will be eight included styles - maybe more once the final release ships. Their reasoning is because of "the dynamic nature of the Metro UI which increases or decreases in size whenever apps are added or removed. Photos added as wallpapers would have to be scaled, stretched, or repeated as users add or remove apps. Plus, those desktop backgrounds would hardly be visible anyway according to Windows 8 director of communications Chris Flores."

Is Microsoft saying that they don't trust us enough to make our own decision about how we want Windows customized? What if someone works with only a certain set of apps and doesn't need to change their background all of the time? Why can't someone use photo streams instead of just one photo? What about the app developers? Doesn't Microsoft think that one of them could come up with a way to fix this?

I'm pretty sure that someone will come out with a "hack" for this issue but usually these are meant for only experienced Windows users. If it's too hard to do then the average user will most likely avoid these "hacks" and just reluctantly forced into being satisfied with what Microsoft hands out.

The more news that I see about Windows 8 the more I'm thinking that many will be happy with just sticking with Windows 7. While many consider Windows Vista to be a failure, Windows 7 can be considered as "Vista fixed" and are very happy using it. Will Windows 8 be another Vista? Actually, I think it's going to be as big of a flop as Windows ME unless Microsoft makes some drastic changes to it before it gets released.

Chrome Breaks Outlook

The other day I decided to give Google Chrome a try. Everyone else is doing it so why not? I downloaded, installed, and played with it for awhile. Then I realized that Roboform didn't work (it claims to but there are many pissed off Roboform users saying otherwise) so I uninstalled it. Later, I went to open a link in an email I received and got this message: "The operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Contact your system administrator". So I contacted myself, I am the only user on this computer and I AM the Administrator, and then proceeded to scratch my head...

Google to the rescue. I find it ironic that I used their own search engine to discover that Chrome messes things up when you uninstall it. It apparantely messes with some Registry keys and it doesn't replace or delete these modifications during the uninstall process. The Registry keys affected have their entries changed from "htmlfile" to "Chromehtml". The following Registry file can be created by opening Notepad, pasting the text below into it, and save it as All Files (not .txt) with any name you choose followed by .reg. For example: Outlookfix.reg

Do this on your desktop so you know where to find the new file.

(copy and paste the area in between the dotted lines)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.htm]
@="htmlfile"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.html]
@="htmlfile"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.shtml]
@="htmlfile"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.xht]
@="htmlfile"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.xhtml]
@="htmlfile"


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Click this new .reg file and say yes to the UAC prompt. It's fixed. Take that Google! Now if I can just figure out why my Google SafeSearch settings won't lock. I doesn't work in the three different browsers I have tried - even Chrome. I'm beginning to wonder if Google is getting sloppy because they have grown too big, too fast.

DISCLAIMER: The Registry is a dangerous place to mess with. You can ruin your whole Windows installation by doing the wrong thing. I am not responsible for any damage done to your system if you use the above steps to attempt to fix your computer. If you don't know or don't feel comfortable messing in the Registry then find someone to help you.

Edit: I have since found a solution for Roboform and Chrome and all is well for now. I'm still getting used to it but I'm liking it so far.

If They Are Selling It On TV, Then It's Probably A Scam or Worse

You see them on TV all of the time. Commercials stating that their websites can provide "free" or ridiculously reduced prices for products or services. Let's take a look at a couple of these "awesome" offers and what is really going on when you attempt to use these offers.

I'm sure that you've seen commercials advertising QuiBids.com. Their claim is that you can buy stuff through their online auctions for outrageously low prices. They show iPods for $20 and even a new Ford Mustang which supposedly sold for $800 and some change. Sounds too good to be true? It is. Yes, you can join for free but you can't start making bids until you buy a "bid package" - 60 bids for $60 bucks. You can only bid in one cent increments so you can spend your entire bid package and still not win that iPod. If four people were bidding on that one iPod and all 60 bids are used before a winner is announced then quibids get's $240 plus the $20 that the winning bidder still has to pay. They entice you by starting you off in their "beginners" zone. All of the items are cheap things such as $10 gift cards and low dollar amount pre-paid credit cards. Usually you win but again if it takes more bids at 60 cents each than what the card is worth then you really didn't "win" anything. There are also many complaints on scam reporting sites that claim that when they are winning and the auction reaches close to the end sometimes they get booted from the auction before the timer runs out, the timer skips seconds and goes to zero near the end of the auction (keeping you from making a potential final winning bid), or someone comes in at the last second and makes a winning bid over yours (a bot?). The biggest slap in the face? If you lose your bid QuiBids offers to sell you the item and shows an inflated retail price as it's offering to you. You already lost $60 bidding. Why not just buy the thing for more than anyone else is selling the same item for? Sounds stupid to me.Yes, if you read the fine print you can find out all how their system works but it's not explained in the TV commercial. All you hear is (to quote Charlie Sheen) "winning" - and they use a really pretty girl to persuade you too. Web Of Trust (find out about these guys at http://www.mywot.com/ and ad WOT to your browser!) shows this site all in red. Stay away! These guys are baddies and are raking in the dough on unsuspecting consumers.

Then there's FreeScore.com. Their claim is that you can check out all three of your credit scores for free. FreeScore.com, however, charges a $1 “processing” fee upfront and after that is only free for for seven days. After that, a $29.95 monthly fee applies. (Many credit-score monitoring services offer free 30-day trials.) To actually get the service for free, a consumer would have to sign up, request cancellation within seven days and ask the customer service representative to refund the $1 fee. I see nothing "free" about this service and really don't like the idea of another third-party having access to my credit info and have my social security number in their databases. WOT also shows this site all in red. Stay away!!! And quit picking on that poor 583 guy in your commercials. I wish my credit score was THAT good!

I will occasionally cover other sites when their commercials bug me enough to do so. I would also like to point out a pattern that these TV commercials use. You will rarely see these types of commercials on during the day or prime time hours. They are usually on when people are sleeping. They are taking advantage of insomniacs and half asleep people who are more vulnerable to these attack ads that try to persuade you to go against your waking judgements. I have read articles about this type of advertising before and these examples hold them to be true.

I will end this on a high note. Not all commercials advertising websites or their products are evil. One of many of my friends favorites is Gamefly.com, the Netflix of video game rentals. They are open and up front in their advertising and you get exactly what is advertised. You can also buy used games at drastically reduced prices. If I had a gaming system (and an income) I would use these guys. Too bad they don't have PC games as well.

Until the next time... and Happy New Year everyone!

Internet Explorer Updates

Finally, the folks at Redmond appear to have caught up with the rest of the world when it comes to browser security. While other browsers have been doing it for years, Microsoft has never really had many browser updates out-of-cycle. Security patches and "upgrades" have always been something you get once a month from Windows Update. This looks like it's all going to change sometime early in 2012.

 Microsoft will be pushing updates harder (still through Windows Updates of course), forcing people still using IE6 (Windows XP) to upgrade to IE8 and Vista and Windows 7 users will be pushed into IE9. You also will still have the option to block the update. From what I have read the updates will be more frequent but other than that I see no reason why every tech site has a story about this today. It's really no different than what they are doing now except the requests to upgrade will be more in your face than before. Does anyone really care about this? If people haven't upgraded and are still using older versions of IE then either it's by choice (a dumb one but it's their choice), or it's by ignorance or stupidity. Most people now seem to be hooked on Firefox or Chrome anyway.

There is a bonus to upgrading to IE 9 right now though. You can get one free month of Hulu+ right now just for running IE9. Of course they want credit card info but you can easily cancel after the free month is over. Find out the procedure to get Hulu+ with IE9 by going here: http://www.hulu.com/plus/ie9.

Now if Microsoft would only make IE10 work on Windows 7 and not just 8 but that's another story.

My "Free" Phone Using Google Voice

Since it has been pointed out to me that my methods for making/receiving phone calls using Google Voice may be unethical and possibly violates Google's T.O.S. I have decided to scrap the (successful) idea and I WILL NOT be posting my results. Sorry for those of you who might have been waiting for this. Can't do it. Just not gonna happen. To the two of you who keep messaging me for the info - stop. I choose to not divulge or use the info I gathered in any way, shape, or form and I suggest that you do the same if you are trying to figure it out for yourself. I know that I can't afford a lawsuit from Google. Can you?