From an SMH article on Adobe Flash.
“Flash does have some issues, particularly around reliability, security and performance,” said Dean Hachamovitch, general manager for the Internet Explorer browser.
How many urgent security updates has Internet Explorer had issued against it in the last 12 months? How many in the last 10 years? How about this list of updates for IE 6 Service Pack one as an example: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326489
For the last few days my Word 2007 installation on my Windows 7 box has been playing up.
In particular it will not let me use the mouse to edit documents, as in clicking within the Word application does nothing.
If I open a document through Windows explorer or any means other than from the open dialog within the program they will not open.
And when I close Word is crashes and restarts.
The good news is out of frustration this morning I found the solution to the problem.
And it is all the fault of Microsoft and Automatic Updates.
This Microsoft KB article will explain how to fix the problem.
This is the outline of the problem as given by Microsoft
You install an automatic update for Microsoft Office Word 2007 on a Windows Vista-based computer and then restart the computer. If Word 2007 was running when the computer was restarted, you experience one or more of the following symptoms:
- The mouse does not work when you use Word.
- You cannot open a Word document from the Search window in Windows Vista.
- You cannot open a Word document from Windows Desktop Search.
- Word crashes when you try to start or exit Word.
- Word crashes when you open the Open dialog box.
- Word crashes when you save a document.
- Word crashes when you close a document.
The first thing to note is that this problem applies to Windows 7 now as well as Vista. However, the automatic fix it script that you can download to fix the problem will not work on Windows 7 so you have to fix the problem manually (I will get to this soon).
The second thing to note is that the problem was caused by restarting Windows to install updates while Word was still running. There are only two ways this could happen. a) you didn’t close all the programs running on the system before you restarted. or b) Windows Update automatically restarted the system while these applications were running. What happened to me is b) and that is what really annoys me. Sure you can disable automatic installation of Windows Update files. However, I have the feature turned on for the sake of simplicity. If there are critical updates I want them installed. What I do not apprieciate is Windows corrupting itself in the process of installing updates. Furthermore I do not expect a problem with an Automatic Update to still be a problem more than two years after the problem was discovered (this blog on this exact problem is posted September 2007: http://www.edbott.com/weblog/?p=1771)
The fix is simple, but it does involve editing the registery. Something that you are never advised to do unless you have a serious problem with your computer. Hence my anger at Microsoft for stuffing up their own program through an update.
To resolve this problem, delete the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Data registry subkey. To do this, follow these steps:
- Exit all Office programs.
- Click Start type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
- Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Data- On the Edit menu, click Delete, and then click Yes.
- Exit Registry Editor.
- Restart Word.
I am very happy tonight because the copy of Forza 3 that I ordered off Fishpond on Thursday night arrived at my house this morning, when I was not expecting delivery until Tuesday because of the long weekend.
Forza 3 has been hyped as one of the best games of the year, so far in my first two hours of playing it has not lived up entirely to this hype.
My first moan is that for a simulator it has far too much of an arcade feel to it. I saw a comment on a forum that stated the cars feel like they are floating, and that is exactly the problem, it feels like you are driving a hovercraft simulator not a car simulator.
Second to this is the graphics, they again have a very arcade feel and look to them and do not compete with the likes of Dirt 2 or Race Pro as far as track detail goes.
The lack of a free race mode is disappointing oversight. In New Zealand the game is heavily marketed upon the inclusion of the Australian V8 Supercars. However being forced to wade your way through the career mode until you unlock them is an incredible pain. Update: I found free race mode, you just had to be able to start career mode, and then back out of it.
Tracks. Or lack of them. No Australian tracks. And too many fictional tracks. Fictional tracks suck because they try to make them ultra cool but in the end they are nothing like any real track would be and therefore just adds to the arcade feel of the game.
Next is the music, or lack of it. Forza 2 had a good soundtrack on menus and loading screens, however, while racing you had no music on the pure sound of a race car. However, Forza 3 reverses this and on the menus you had electronic background music, and any real music is played quietly in the background of races, it is slightly off putting and again adds to the arcade feel of the game.
Finally the annoying track intros. Why can’t the race just start with 3, 2, 1 rather than some silly view that rotates 3 different views of the car?
So what is good about the game?
AI. The computer drivers in the game are aggressive and hard to beat.
Damage. You cannot just ram up the backside of another driver and expect to get away with it. You will damage you vehicle and this affects your performance.
Going off the race line affects performance. Also dirt and grass dramatically slow you down. This is what a racing game should do.
My Difficulty Set up: Autobrake Off, Anti-lock brakes on, stability control off, traction control on, shifting automatic, suggested line braking only, AI hard.
Note: I have tried to race with Anti-lock brakes and traction control disabled but it just causes you to spin no matter what you do to prevent it.
It is good to read that for once Microsoft is going to court for the right reasons: http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/archives/173922.asp?from=blog_last3
Microsoft alleges that a Hong Kong-based company has been obtaining the usernames and passwords of Windows Live Messenger users, using those to hack into Microsoft’s system and users’ accounts, scraping their contact information, and using those contacts to continue the bulk spamming.
The company, Funmobile Ltd., allegedly sends an instant message that appears to be from the e-mail address of a person’s Windows Live contact, Microsoft says. The message contains a link to a Web site that requires users to enter their Windows Live log-in information. Then it redirects to an adult Web site or bogus social network for Windows Live users.
The suit alleges the defendants breached the Windows Live contract, tortuously interfered with Microsoft’s business relationships, violated the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, violated the Federal Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act, violated the Washington state Anti-Phishing Statute, trespassed on Microsoft property (its servers), and hence were unjustly enriched.
“Above all, we hope the lawsuit will send a clear message to all potential perpetrators that this kind of activity is not tolerated on our networks,” Cranton wrote.
Make sure you read the full article on the link above. At least now I can tell my friends when they spam me through MSN that they no longer have a virus but have rather been hacked, or more likely unknowingly given away their login details through visiting a fake MSN site. Good on Microsoft for taking the spammers to task on this one too.
It was interesting returning to Auckland on Thursday night to find out that in the past few days the world has completely changed. Yes Google has finnaly let the cat out of the bag (but I think it actually escaped months ago) that it was developing an operating system to rival Windows.
Google Chrome OS is not planned to be released until late 2010 however the source will be released later this year (so in some ways you could start using it later this year). The full announcement is here: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html
The points that I am most interested in are:
I am excited about what it can deliver, but building a web browser that gets 30 million users in 9 months is one thing. Building a operating system that can deliver a smooth user experience without bugs or issues is a whole lot harder.
The NZ Herald reports that in the new version of windows (due out in October) will ship in the EU without any internet browser (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10578747)
The EU have really shot themselves in the foot here.
The original point of suing Microsoft for anti-trust was due to it forcing IE on people and embeding it so hard into the operating system that it cannot be removed. Since Vista (and I think XP) you have been able to remove it.
Now the EU are wanting Microsoft to ship IE with Windows, but also include the choice of other browsers at installation as well. This is just plain stupid.
Why should you be forced to ship your competitors product?
I agree with the move that Microsoft has taken, it is going to annoy a lot of people, no internet browser is going to be real pain, but being forced to carry someone else’s product is even worse.
