Why is Windows so bad?

[Timelessblur]

No windows and mac are good a diffent things.
For the average person they are about the same. Mac look better and dont have virus and spyware. Take away those 2 things more or less the average person does not really care. My sister and my mom are 2 prime examples. For the most part the home computer does not have to many problems because of how I set it up. After about 3 months with me being gone it may need a little work but noughting I could not tell them how to fix over the phone or can not do my self in about 5-10 mins. Most of it was automated. Windows is not as high mantiances as everyone here makes it out to be. Spyware, virus scan need to be done but both are automated to do at 3am-4am once a week. The Virus scanner is updated at least once a week automaticly the day before the scan. Again no outside help. Updates downloaded automaticly and again installed automaticly at 3am. My personal computer is well maintain. Most stuff is automated. I do keep an eye on the logs just out of habit and I sometime do more work than I need to just because I enjoy keeping everything at peak levels. On a mac it more than likely would require the same amount of extra ti time (non automaticed stuff) just because that who I am.

I know for a fact that their are maintiaces things that need to be done on a Mac and most of them can be set to do it automatcily at 3am. Windows has stuff it needs done to it but it not extermly high maintice at least not as much as you are making it out to be.

For a lot of people the plate form matters. A lot of stuff I do on the computer Macs can not do, suck at doing, or they lag years behind the windows counter part. I am one of the few people who can say the lack of software hurts.

2 programs I use quite offen or will be using quite offen is Math cad and Autocad, Microstation. Math Cad is windows only. Autocad is more of less windows only. The Cad programs that macs lag a few years behind windows ones. The industy standard for most work is Autocad. The goverment requires Microsation. But I dot really exaplet you to understand that since not many people deal with those pro lv apps.

Their are also Games. A lot of the games I do like are currently windows only. One game I am looking forward to coming out is Guild Wars. It being releases this month on windows only. They stated they plan on porting the game over but OSX is the last on thier list. The linux verson will be out before the Mac verson.

I also buy a computer to use it. I enjoy the tweating of it. That is half the reason when I get a 2nd hard drive I will be installing linux or I will take the home computer this summer and make that my linux box.
For my parents I would suggest a mac for them simplely because Macs are a lot more forgiving when it comes to maintiance due to the lack of virus and spyware and some other more minor things.
For me I like to game but out side of games I use a several apps for my major adn what I will do when I get out of collage that do not existed on a Mac. I like to be able to upgrade my computer and I like to build them and play with the hard ware. I like to be able to upgrade more than just the ram. I can replace my Graphic card opitcal drives, and I can put PCI cards and I dont want to have to pay aroudn 2g to even get an accpetble lv for a computer I can do that 2. I dont like apple desktops. They are to limited. Thier laptops are sweet and I plan on getting one when my current laptop needs replacement in a year or 2.
I dont have a 1/10th of the problems people here claim to have with windows and some times I have the what are you smoking. I seen comparison that look pretty clear that they are from 9.x line to OSX. That would be like me comparing XP to oh Max OS 7.x or 8.x not really fair at all.

 

[Timelessblur]

This surprises me, Timelessblur. Common sense tells me the exact opposite would be true for zealots - i.e. they're the ones least likely to need technical support, let alone introductory-level technical support.

While we're on the subject of things that are bothersome about Windows, one of my pet peeves is that Windows doesn't have a particularly intuitive system for ejecting USB thumb drives and similar hardware.

To eject a USB thumb drive on Windows XP:
1. Find the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in the System Tray. You might need to expand the system tray first if you have unused icons hidden. The icon looks like a disk with a green arrow above it.
2. Double-click it (or right-click it and choose "Safely Remove Hardware" from the menu that appears - it's the only option) - the Safely Remove Hardware dialog box opens.
3. Select the device to eject (Windows calls this "stopping the device") and click Stop.
4. A confirmation dialog appears showing the device you selected along with any sub-components that will also be stopped. Click OK to stop the device(s).
5a. If stopping the device was successful, you'll get a little pop-up notification that you can remove it safely now in the system tray.
5b. If stopping failed for some reason, you'll also get a notification in the system tray - this one usually says that the device is busy, so it couldn't be stopped right now. Sometimes, it's not immediately apparent why Windows considers the device busy. If that's the case, it'll usually succeed if you retry 5-10 seconds later.

Their is another way to eject a USB drive from windows.

I going to assume that you have my computer open so you can see the drive other wise the extra step it is open up my computer

1. Right click on Flash drive icon menu pop-up
2. Choose eject.
3. Remove drive.

Same thing for opictal drives. Most of the time it is easier to just hit the edject button on the drive them selves.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Their is another way to eject a USB drive from windows.

I going to assume that you have my computer open so you can see the drive other wise the extra step it is open up my computer

1. Right click on Flash drive icon menu pop-up
2. Choose eject.
3. Remove drive.

Same thing for opictal drives. Most of the time it is easier to just hit the edject button on the drive them selves.

Optical drives are different. You don't have to "stop" them - just press the eject button on the drive itself. For flash drives, you do have a valid point. However, some people, like me, just don't think to look there

 

[mcgarry]

... I buy a computer to USE IT (what a concept) so I don't want to spend time tweaking, maintaining, compiling, praying, etc....

now that's just NUTS! or not ...

... You wouldn't consider a TV that broke down all the time superior just because it got some local access channel from Montana that showed goat porn. ...

Best. Line. of. Thread.

 

[Timelessblur]

Optical drives are different. You don't have to "stop" them - just press the eject button on the drive itself. For flash drives, you do have a valid point. However, some people, like me, just don't think to look there

true I found it by luck. most of the time I just pull it right out of the computer and not think anything of it. It not a problem unless the computer it writing to it. The computer makes noise telling it was disconected but it does not give me the the little ballon complaining about it. I only get that if it was activly using the drive. Other wise it just goes Ding telling me signely that it something connect to the USB drive was removed.

 

[anonymous161]

For a lot of people the plate form matters. A lot of stuff I do on the computer Macs can not do, suck at doing, or they lag years behind the windows counter part. I am one of the few people who can say the lack of software hurts.

Certain software may be a determinate for using a specific platform but that doesn't really improve the quality of the platform itself does it?

Perhaps you are correct, here is an English Program that runs on Windows.

 

[Cali_Man]

You know what I don't like about Windows....

When they rattle at night as I'm trying to sleep. Those are the worst. Or when the seals crack. That sucks too.


...I also hate France...

/Vive la Mac

 

[Mord]

Updates downloaded automaticly and again installed automaticly at 3am.

some of us use our computers at 3AM, , seriously there is no hour in the day/night that i have not been on my ibook this week, my sleep is very eratic. The point is that without you on the phone your relatives pc's would have a fair few problems, if you know what you are doing anything is easy, if you dont it can be hell, most people dont even know the differences between a firewalls an anti virus/spyware ect, so just use one and think they are safe.

 

[Timelessblur]

some of us use our computers at 3AM, , seriously there is no hour in the day/night that i have not been on my ibook this week, my sleep is very eratic. The point is that without you on the phone your relatives pc's would have a fair few problems, if you know what you are doing anything is easy, if you dont it can be hell, most people dont even know the differences between a firewalls an anti virus/spyware ect, so just use one and think they are safe.

well only once in the past year have I had to be on the phone with my parents on how to fix something minor. Some times it just them asking how to do something which I can tell them do to do over IM. not anything releated to the OS or windows just how to do something with a speficed program (more advance stuff in Excel or word, or hardware related issues since the computer is also 5 years old now so it has several age related issues in the hardware that I know even macs are not immued to. The hardware is not fast enough for some stuff and I am worried about its hard drive since it is 5 yeras old and 5 years is about the rellible for after that you have to start worring about it failure.

 

[XNine]

Unfortunately, I AM a Mac Zealot. And I do see the importance of Linux as a server, but as a desktop client? No. It's not supported at all by any company out there that makes good, solid software.

And again, I'm sorry, but EVERY time (that would be twice), I've had a problem with my Mac, It's either been A: A kernel panic due to burnt out RAM, or B: Windows Sucks... HAHAHAHA Just kidding. B: Because some idiot thought they'd program a little app called BEACHBALL and it screwed with my system to no end.

You statements are grossly exaggerated. Okay, so there's a few people on the planet that can run windows flawlessly. That's nice. But when I'm at work, using the piece of junk Dell at my desk, and the huge report I was working on generating is lost because of NOT RESPONDING errors on EVERY single app, that's a big problem. I'm surprised I have tethered the power cord around a help desk lackeys' neck and thrown it out the window.....

I've used both Windows and Mac for many years, and neither have had a stable, god-like OS until OS X came along. My monthly maintenance on a Mac: Run Disk Utility from the disc, open case and blow out the dust, close case....done. I don't have to constantly have ADAWARE or SPYBOT constantly running because it's called A POP-UP BLOCKER. It's built-in to Safari. Where is it in Internet Exploiter? Nowhere to be found!!!!

Yes, I am a Mac Zealot. But could probably run circles around 80% of the people who own a computer on ANY OS. Save for OS 2. Never messed with it. Don't want to.

Okay, back to modding my XBox (the only anything I own made by M$)

 

[plinden]

No matter what a Windows apologist says about Windows security, it doesn't change the fact that it is the least secure OS around, and IE is the least secure browser. This is due in large part to the close intergration of IE into Windows. Considering the fact that almost 90% of users are using this combination, this gives a nice large pool of PCs for zombie networks and spambots.

Now, I agree that Windows can be made secure, and I personally have never had spyware (apart from tracking cookies) or a virus since about 1992 (when someone used an infected floppy in my work PC while I was on vacation), and never a BSOD since I spilled coffee into the keyboard of my last Win 95 PC. But a recent security website I visited had some stats that 70% of PCs still have known vulnerabilities. Installing SP2 fixes many of these problems, but how many people have done this?

I personally haven't SP2 on either of my PCs, mainly due to a nightmare two days trying to install it on my desktop. It caused problems each time, seemingly at random, from not allowing access to my account, to registry corruption, to network problems, and it even lost the XP theme at one point (it wasn't in the display Appearance settings). After one OS repair that self-aborted, it wouldn't even boot up correctly - it would go into the OS setup, then abort, then reboot continuously, giving no way out of the loop - I just gave up and wiped the HD, reinstalled WinXP, SP1, and all the latest security updates. Now I may have just been unlucky, one of the 1 in 100,000 PCs (or whatever the stats are) for which SP2 won't work, but this is just another reason for going for Macs - Microsoft have such a large combination of systems to support that they can't possibly get them all, but even if an OS update doesn't work on a particular Mac, the next update will work.

Now, my desktop may be fixable for SP2. Five years ago I would have spent another two days researching online and tweaking everything in sight. But now that I'm sort of grownup, with a mortgage, kids, and a responsible job, I just want to compile and test my Java code, write a few functional specs now and then, check email and macrumors, play music and organize my photos.

So now, the latest thing with my work laptop is that all browsers stop working within a day of booting, requiring a reboot. Blanks pages only, for Firefox, IE, and Opera - still no idea why that should happen

Then there's the remark that always gets me - "if you use Firefox and Thunderbird you won't have any security problems". True - that's what I do - but it's tantamount to saying "Windows is secure if you don't run any other Microsoft software on it". So, my conclusion is, if I'm not running any MS software, I may as well switch to Mac - it may even be a pleasant experience.

 

[eazyc10]

I'm a long time windows user who recently purchased a powerbook and I can say I fell in love instantly with OSX. I still use my PC's (mostly gaming) but my powerbook has become my daily driver.

I work in IT and I can see that the things Windows does in the business world, Mac's could not. To go along with this however, you must deal with stupid people daily and have to fight against all the crap the crap that windows users have to deal with. (and to say that not opening attachments is the only thing you need to do to fight viruses is laughable)

With that said, Mac's are not all that perfect that everyone makes it to be. A couple months after my purchase, I came to my powerbook to realize that it had turned off. When I tried to turn it back on, it loaded to a flashing folder with a question mark. Low and behold, somehow the data on my HD had become corrupted and I had lost almost everything I had. I was told that I needed to repair and verify permissions regularly to keep things like that from happening. Where was this information before hand?!?! In all my times with PC's, I had never completely lost my data and that made me a bit ticked off that something like that could happen.

I have had bad memory, BSODs, but never lost my data. If it were so important to check permissions you would think that there would be more warnings regarding this issue.

Still, I love my powerbook and when i have the $$, will eventually get a G5.

 

[iGary]

Becuase our office manager has spent the last TWO DAYS trying to get her new Dell set up.

A Firewire Cable and 45 minutes is al it took to get my new iMac up and going just like my old Sawtooth.

 

[Panu]

Ho Hum

I purchased an iMac in January that kept crashing. They exchanged it for another that kept crashing. The Apple store tried to repair it twice, but it kept crashing. Finally the agreed to replace it again, and this time I paid a little money to get the next higher-up iMac so there would be all new hardware. Now there is no problem.

The iMac is not a replacement; I have an Alienware that can run rings around the iMac, but that's not saying anything bad about the iMac, given the specs for both machines. The Alienware also had problems on delivery: the CPU fan got knocked out of kilter during shipping and wailed like a banshee and a case screw was too tight. Since then I've been running the Alienware 24x7x365 with only two problems, both of them my fault.

My parents have an apartment in my basement. I put my father on a Dell running Windows XP on my wireless LAN some time ago, and he has no problems, except remembering how to do things. He'd have the same problems on a Mac, because in both OSs you have to remember which icon to click on, right?

In my life, I have only had two blue screens in Windows, both of them caused by a memory failure.

A long time ago, I bought a 486 33MHz PC when that was the latest and greatest. I increased the memory twice, changed the video card twice, swapped out the CD for a CD-RW, added a second one, upgraded the hard disk twice, then replaced it with two hard disks, put in and took out a tape backup, changed the floppy drive, added four USB ports; all with my trusty screwdriver. During that time, I had the machine upgraded to a Pentium, then to a Pentium Pro, and changed the case. I finally threw it away for no good reason, really, other than I wanted a different computer. Even though I stopped upgrading it, it could still run Windows 2000 and Office with acceptable performance. (Linux, strangely enough, ran too slow on that machine.)

I don't understand the religious devotion that Mac users have for their machines, because you can't tell a story like that about a Mac. You can wake up one morning and find your machine is effectively obsolete. However, they are pretty and it is easy to like them.

I didn't understand the Apple religion when I bought my Apple//+ and I don't understand it now. I don't understand why people waste good emotions by loving Apple or hating Microsoft. I like the iMac, I like the Alienware, I like OS X, and I like Windows, and I won't choose sides. Maybe you guys should get a religion or fall in love; I don't know, but a machine is a machine.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

I purchased an iMac in January that kept crashing. They exchanged it for another that kept crashing. The Apple store tried to repair it twice, but it kept crashing. Finally the agreed to replace it again, and this time I paid a little money to get the next higher-up iMac so there would be all new hardware. Now there is no problem.

The iMac is not a replacement; I have an Alienware that can run rings around the iMac, but that's not saying anything bad about the iMac, given the specs for both machines. The Alienware also had problems on delivery: the CPU fan got knocked out of kilter during shipping and wailed like a banshee and a case screw was too tight. Since then I've been running the Alienware 24x7x365 with only two problems, both of them my fault.

My parents have an apartment in my basement. I put my father on a Dell running Windows XP on my wireless LAN some time ago, and he has no problems, except remembering how to do things. He'd have the same problems on a Mac, because in both OSs you have to remember which icon to click on, right?

In my life, I have only had two blue screens in Windows, both of them caused by a memory failure.

A long time ago, I bought a 486 33MHz PC when that was the latest and greatest. I increased the memory twice, changed the video card twice, swapped out the CD for a CD-RW, added a second one, upgraded the hard disk twice, then replaced it with two hard disks, put in and took out a tape backup, changed the floppy drive, added four USB ports; all with my trusty screwdriver. During that time, I had the machine upgraded to a Pentium, then to a Pentium Pro, and changed the case. I finally threw it away for no good reason, really, other than I wanted a different computer. Even though I stopped upgrading it, it could still run Windows 2000 and Office with acceptable performance. (Linux, strangely enough, ran too slow on that machine.)

I don't understand the religious devotion that Mac users have for their machines, because you can't tell a story like that about a Mac. You can wake up one morning and find your machine is effectively obsolete. However, they are pretty and it is easy to like them.

I didn't understand the Apple religion when I bought my Apple//+ and I don't understand it now. I don't understand why people waste good emotions by loving Apple or hating Microsoft. I like the iMac, I like the Alienware, I like OS X, and I like Windows, and I won't choose sides. Maybe you guys should get a religion or fall in love; I don't know, but a machine is a machine.

It sounds to me like you've had your fair share of bad luck and good luck with computers (bad luck with that iMac; good luck with knowing exactly what caused your Windows box to display a blue screen, and, better yet, knowing exactly what to do to fix it). Sure, Apple periodically refreshes their Macs with new stuff, but, as long as your current Mac does its job well, why buy a better one now? It's just a waste of money - there's very little gain for what you're spending. I'm actually similar to you in terms of Mac OS X vs. Windows - I like and use both of them. However, I prefer the Mac OS, simply because that's what I'm most familiar with. I'm very happy with my PowerSpec PC - it does what I ask of it well enough for my needs. I can say the same for my iMac G4.

 

[Panu]

Their is another way to eject a USB drive from windows.

I going to assume that you have my computer open so you can see the drive other wise the extra step it is open up my computer

1. Right click on Flash drive icon menu pop-up
2. Choose eject.
3. Remove drive.

Same thing for opictal drives. Most of the time it is easier to just hit the edject button on the drive them selves.

There is a simpler way to remove a USB drive.

1. Pull it out.

You can configure Windows to use a cache (or not) for flash drives. If there is no cache, you don't need to go through the eject procedure.

 

[Panu]

I'm actually similar to you in terms of Mac OS X vs. Windows - I like and use both of them. However, I prefer the Mac OS, simply because that's what I'm most familiar with.

Generally, I find that I prefer whichever one I'm not using, because while I'm using one, I can think of a feature on the other that I'd like to use.

For example, for years I have enjoyed the Windows feature that lets me select a bunch of files, type in a file name, and have the whole group renamed. For example, if I type in "vacation," the files are vacation (1), vacation (2), vacation (3). That's very useful, especially with photos. I miss that on OS X, but it is one of the new features in Tiger.

 

[Panu]

Sure, Apple periodically refreshes their Macs with new stuff, but, as long as your current Mac does its job well, why buy a better one now? It's just a waste of money - there's very little gain for what you're spending.

Separate topic, so separate reply. My point with the upgrade story is this:

With a Windows or Linux machine, no matter who makes it, you can upgrade it incrementally. You could start from a 8086 and gradually upgrade it, piece by piece, to a Pentium 4. You could do it all yourself. It's no harder than installing memory on an iMac yourself.

With an Apple machine, there's a limit to what you can upgrade. You can upgrade memory, for instance, but you can't incrementally upgrade an Apple//+ to a G5. You have to save up your money and buy a whole new machine at several points along the way.

There are pros and cons to both sides.

The pro on the Apple side is that it is probably cheaper in the long run to replace the machine than to buy the parts at retail.

The pro on the x86 side is that you can enjoy the cost advantage of replacing the entire machine, but if you can't afford a new machine and you need something this instant that your manufacturer didn't contemplate in their design, you can generally add it.

 

[RacerX]

A long time ago, I bought a 486 33MHz PC when that was the latest and greatest. I increased the memory twice, changed the video card twice, swapped out the CD for a CD-RW, added a second one, upgraded the hard disk twice, then replaced it with two hard disks, put in and took out a tape backup, changed the floppy drive, added four USB ports; all with my trusty screwdriver. During that time, I had the machine upgraded to a Pentium, then to a Pentium Pro, and changed the case. I finally threw it away for no good reason, really, other than I wanted a different computer. Even though I stopped upgrading it, it could still run Windows 2000 and Office with acceptable performance. (Linux, strangely enough, ran too slow on that machine.)

I don't understand the religious devotion that Mac users have for their machines, because you can't tell a story like that about a Mac. You can wake up one morning and find your machine is effectively obsolete. However, they are pretty and it is easy to like them.

Really? I'll give it a try...

I have a Quadra 950 (ca 1992) which originally came with a 68040 at 33 MHz. I've increased the RAM from the original 16 MB to 136 MB (it maxes out at 256 MB), maxed out the onboard video RAM to 2 MB and added two video cards (the system has three 21" Radius displays on it), added a CD-ROM and CDR, pulled the floppy drive so I could have room in the case for three hard drives (though I only have two right now, 9 Gb and 1 GB). I also upgraded the processor to a PowerPC 601 at 66 MHz with 1 MB of L2 cache (though I thought about doing a motherboard upgrade to a 9150 which has a 601 at 120 MHz with 1 MB of L2, but this is working just fine for now). It originally came with System 7 but I'm using Mac OS 8.1 on it now.

I also have a Power Macintosh 7500 (ca 1995) which originally came with a PowerPC 601 at 100 Mhz (no L2 cache). When I got it it came with 32 MB of RAM which I've upgraded to 512 MB (it maxes out at 1 GB), and maxed out the onboard video RAM to 4 MB. It has three PCI slots, which I could use for a video card, but it is running fine as it is so I haven't added any. I currently have two drives in the case (9 GB and 4 GB) along the CD-ROM drive. I upgraded the processor to a PowerPC 604e at 225 MHz with 256k of L2 (I could go as high as a G4 at 800 Mhz with 1 Mb L3 cache). When I got it it was running mac OS 8.1 it is now running Mac OS X Server 1.2v3 (Rhapsody 5.6).

I have a Power Macintosh 8100 (ca 1994) which originally came with a PowerPC 601 at 80 Mhz with 256k L2 Cache. I increase the RAM from 16 MB to 208 MB added Apple's AV video card (with 2 MB of VRAM and included S-video in and out) and a second video card to run my two 16" monitors. I upgraded the hard drive to 2 GB and the processor to a G3/500 with 1 Mb of L2 cache. This system is currently running Mac OS 8.6.

My trusty PowerBook G3 (Sept 1998) originally came with a G3 at 266 MHz with 1 MB of L2 and 32 MB of RAM. I upgraded the hard drive to 8 GB and moved the original 4 GB drive into one of the expansion bays (so it has two hard drives now) and replaced the original CD-ROM drive with a CD-RW in the other expansion bay. I increased the RAM to 512 MB and upgraded the processor to a G4 at 500 MHz with 1 MB L2. Originally this system was running Mac OS 8.1, it has since run Mac OS X Server 1.2 and is now running Mac OS X v10.2.

On the non-Mac side, I have an SGI Indy (ca 1994) which originally came with 32 MB of RAM and an MIPS R4600 processor at 133 MHz with 512k of L2 cache. It originally had a 1 GB drive and was running IRIX 5.3. I upgraded the RAM to 128 MB (maxes out at 256 MB) and replaced the hard drive with a 9 GB (with room for a second hard drive still). I upgraded the processor to an MIPS R4400sc at 175 Mhz with 1 MB of L2 (gave me a 60% increase in floating point operations) and upgraded the operating system to IRIX 6.2 (5.3 was a 32-bit OS, 6.2 is 64-bit). I also added an Indy Video and Cosmo Compress cards, the Indy Video added two Composite and one S-Video in ports and one Composite and one S-Video out ports (the Indy came with one Composite and one S-Video in ports) and the Cosmo Compress lets me capture video at full frame rate (29.97 frames per second) at full frame size. This makes this the best system I have for capturing video.

I didn't understand the Apple religion when I bought my Apple//+ and I don't understand it now. I don't understand why people waste good emotions by loving Apple or hating Microsoft. I like the iMac, I like the Alienware, I like OS X, and I like Windows, and I won't choose sides. Maybe you guys should get a religion or fall in love; I don't know, but a machine is a machine.

PC user seem to characterize the users of any platform other than Windows as being religious... Which is their way of putting down those users. It comes from an inferiority complex and is quite understandable.

As for any hate for Microsoft that I have, that comes from direct dealings with Microsoft and their lawyers. It has nothing to do with me being a Mac user (or user of any of the other platforms I enjoy), it has everything to do with Microsoft and how they do business.

 

[jackieonasses]

Really? I'll give it a try...

There ya go... Us Mac fan boys have never tinkered with our computers...




Well - I have a Apple IIc And have had it since 1990... Since then i have added a processor that doubled the speed... And added System OS 7.6 (which is marvelous by the way) I also have a Color classic - i have had that since 94' And i have a Powermac Cube - Which in a few weeks will have Tiger on it.. I have had that since 2001...

So the argument that he made is now invalid!

kyle

 

[Panu]

I don't have to constantly have ADAWARE or SPYBOT constantly running because it's called A POP-UP BLOCKER. It's built-in to Safari. Where is it in Internet Exploiter? Nowhere to be found!!!!

Internet Explorer has had a built-in pop-up blocker for quite some time. Assuming you update Windows as conscientiously as you update OS X, you can turn it on in IE this way:

1. In the menu, select Tools | Internet Options...

2. In the resulting dialog box, select the Privacy tab.

3. Check the box labeled "Block pop-ups"

You can also click on the Settings button. That brings up a dialog box that allows you to exempt specific web sites, choose whether or not IE plays a sound when it blocks a pop-up, and choose whether or not it shows an information bar when it blocks a pop-up--that information bar lets you make an exception on the fly, such as when you are downloading a file and the site uses a pop-up to download it from a different URL.

You can also select three levels of pop-up blocking.

 

[Panu]

There ya go... Us Mac fan boys have never tinkered with our computers...




Well - I have a Apple IIc And have had it since 1990... Since then i have added a processor that doubled the speed... And added System OS 7.6 (which is marvelous by the way) I also have a Color classic - i have had that since 94' And i have a Powermac Cube - Which in a few weeks will have Tiger on it.. I have had that since 2001...

So the argument that he made is now invalid!

kyle

I surrender the point; I didn't know it was possible.

 

[Panu]

PC user seem to characterize the users of any platform other than Windows as being religious... Which is their way of putting down those users. It comes from an inferiority complex and is quite understandable.

As for any hate for Microsoft that I have, that comes from direct dealings with Microsoft and their lawyers. It has nothing to do with me being a Mac user (or user of any of the other platforms I enjoy), it has everything to do with Microsoft and how they do business.

I've know a lot of Microsoft gurus and users who are very happy with their systems. Whatever were you doing that got you a letter from a Microsoft lawyer? You can always balance that out: start an Apple Rumor site and maybe you will hear from an Apple lawyer.

I would never shave a Dell logo into my hair or put a Microsoft sticker on my car, but I'm the sort who doesn't put any stickers on my car. I figure I might regret them if I get pulled over by a policeman with a different opinion.

 

[RacerX]

I've know a lot of Microsoft gurus and users who are very happy with their systems.

Great. I'm happy for them.

Ummm... so what? Is there a point? Use what ever you want. Just show some respect for other people.

Whatever were you doing that got you a letter from a Microsoft lawyer? You can always balance that out: start an Apple Rumor site and maybe you will hear from an Apple lawyer.

I didn't get a letter.

I work as a consultant for a number of businesses. One of them (a magazine) got a letter from Microsoft's lawyers saying that they believed that this business was using pirated Microsoft software and that they would be sued for $150,000 for each illegal copy.

I was ask to work with Microsoft's lawyers as a third party for doing the audit.

This business only used Macs. The main software was from Adobe and Quark. Other than a couple copies of MS Office 98 and one copy of Office 2001, the only MS software on these systems were IE and Outlook Express. I also found some lost copies of Word 5.1 and 6.0.1 that they had in storage.

I had to account for where every copy came from and show proof that it was original (I photocopied the original media in some cases).

All this was started by a hot line tip. And Microsoft came after these people and they were forced to defend themselves at some cost (which came out of their pocket, Microsoft never offered to pay for putting them through all this).

And the documents Microsoft's lawyers sent weren't even usable for the audit. They were designed for businesses that use Windows.

I would never shave a Dell logo into my hair or put a Microsoft sticker on my car,

But some people do. Just because you don't, doesn't mean it doesn't happen!

but I'm the sort who doesn't put any stickers on my car. I figure I might regret them if I get pulled over by a policeman with a different opinion.

Same goes for political view points.

Personally, if you have to ware your preferences as a label, you most likely have issues.



But still not as big as people who go out of their way to label others... like people who refer to Mac users being religious. That is a form of bigotry. The comment has a negative connotation and is meant to show disrespect.

I would rather you put a Microsoft sticker on your car than have to read you make another degrading comment about Mac users. It would be a step in the right direction.

 

[Panu]

I work as a consultant for a number of businesses. One of them (a magazine) got a letter from Microsoft's lawyers saying that they believed that this business was using pirated Microsoft software and that they would be sued for $150,000 for each illegal copy.

I was ask to work with Microsoft's lawyers as a third party for doing the audit.

I had to account for where every copy came from and show proof that it was original (I photocopied the original media in some cases). All this was started by a hot line tip.

The bad guy here was the snitch, not Microsoft. Apple would have done the same thing in the same situation--the Mac rumor sites are a case in point. If you have a trademark, a trade secret, or a copyright, you have to enforce it yourself. If you know that someone is infringing on it, and you don't act to enforce it, you can lose it. That is why I recently had to take a Lutheran church to task for plagiarizing my web site. If they cite the source, there is no problem. They can have my stuff for free. But if they don't cite the source, it's not my stuff any more.

I went through the same thing that you did with a former employer, only the audit was self-imposed. So I know it was very unpleasant.

Personally, if you have to wear your preferences as a label, you most likely have issues.

I agree completely. I can think of tons of examples to illustrate how you are right.