PCW Interactive

Traditional computing versus the app store

2010-02-12T13:05:54Z

What will computers be like in ten years time? The answer is harder to predict now than if the same question was posed ten years ago. Currently, two competing models of operating system design and software distribution are emerging, and it's quite possible that one will fall by the wayside.

On one side is the traditional design model of Microsoft Windows and Mac OSX. The operating system is big, and lets you tinker away with the PC to your heart's content. You are able to do what you like, download and install whatever software you choose and if you break your computer, or become infected with a virus, well, that's your fault.

On the other is the model of the iPhone, iPad and Google Chrome OS. The operating system is designed to not get in your way. You either purchase and download applications from a central app store, one that's managed, regulated and controlled, or you use applications on the web such as Google Docs instead of desktop software. This has its benefits. If you can't freely install software on your device, neither can a potential hacker, which makes the experience a lot safer. With an operating system that doesn't do much, there's less likelihood something could go wrong, and less obscure error messages.

Which will prevail? On one side, some argue that the Windows approach is outdated, that users dont need full control of their devices, that it makes computing more complicated than it needs to be, and that it allows for hacking and piracy. Supposedly, what we all want is a slim operating system that boots quickly, applications that download and install themselves with no potential problems and a system that's impervious to hackers.

On the other, some feel that the iPhone and Chrome OS approach is too limiting, that the idea of not being in complete control of your own device is a terrible one, and an app store where the available content is controlled, is an afront to the principles of open computing. iPhone owners who wish to install applications on their phone without using the Apple app store have to 'jailbreak' their phone first, which means they can no longer recieve official software updates. The Android approach is similar, while Chrome OS gives users nothing more than a web browser.

Could this model eventually usurp Windows completely? Perhaps not, Microsoft may simply evolve Windows to match people's changing needs, blending the software we use now on the desktop into its Azure cloud computing platform. One thing's certain, computing and access to the internet is now part of mainstream life. The overwhelming majority of people who now use computers don't know the first thing about them, why they go wrong, or how to fix them. This is even more true now than it was ten years ago. They dont care either, it doesn't matter, as long as their computer just works, and this is the market every company now needs to cater for.

Mac OSX and masking tape?

2009-06-17T16:26:36Z

I just couldn't help telling you about a situation I came across when doing some support for a customer with a Mac.

He has recently upgraded his macbook air to the latest OSX version and this has taken away a tick button that allowed him to disable the trackpad whilst using an external (USB) mouse. He phoned Apple support and was informed this was a feature of the latest release. The Apple support person was very helpful and whilst there is no easy fix, told him that there was a code that could be typed in to turn on and turn off the trackpad, but there were issues with advising him to use that.

Helpfully, he said that on his own Mac he uses masking tape to cover the trackpad whilst he is using an external mouse. I can imagine the Apple ad now "..engineered from a single block of aluminium to tolerances beyond compare, and now comes complete with a roll of Apple masking tape to disable the trackpad while typing". You couldn't make it up.

Still, even with masking tape OSX is still head and shoulders above Windows, but come on Apple, think before you change things. I suppose it just goes to show, nothing's perfect and even Apple can make silly mistakes.

Do you think Apple will give a free upgrade to masking tape v1.0 to all affected notebook users? By the way, I'm a mac user and mac fan.

Phil Cox

The PC industry does itself no favours.

2009-06-03T14:14:56Z

I use a Palm Treo Smartphone, which I sync with MS Outlook on my PC using Windows Mobile; or rather I did until I applied the Office 2007 SP2. The file format change broke the synchronisation.

Palm's UK support website was useless, full of broken links. Their US WebChat rep suggested that I apply a Windows Mobile file format upgrade. Sounded good, but when I ran it, it told me that I was using the wrong language, and it would terminate. US English vs. UK English? No, same result with the file from the MS UK site. Then, eventually, the penny dropped, temporarily change the language on the Smartphone to US English, and it worked. Really!

By this time, the WMDC sync interface on my phone was well and truly broken, so I went back to the Install disk that came with the phone. It said that it would only run if I had Adobe Reader 8.0 or above, even though I keep myself well patched and have 9.1. Luckily, I remembered what I had to do when I first bought the phone and bored down three levels on the disk file structure until I found something that would run and do the job. And my phone now syncs again!

Would an entry-level PC user have found their way through this maze, or would they have given up and bought a Mac?

John Fleming

Vista community should get free upgrade

2009-06-03T14:09:23Z

I have to tell you that Windows 7 is a triumph for me and all the little Vista quirks such as losing Wifi after a Hibernate and the UAC aggravation have disappeared. In addition I love the interface and I am not looking forward to downgrading back to Vista when the RC expires.

However, as Windows 7 was developed directly from Vista and the experience and feedback of all the early Vista adopters has been instrumental in making Windows 7 the quality OS that it clearly is, don't you think it would be a nice gesture for Microsoft to offer all their loyal Vista users a free upgrade to Windows 7 in recognition of all the free support they have had from the Vista community?

Once the corporate lads move en masse to Windows 7 (and they will) Microsoft will clean up anyway and it's always nice to spread good fortune around, don't you think? I await my serial key with anticipation, but without holding my breath

Jeff Annely

Glossy screens

2009-06-03T14:06:18Z

Am I unusual in thinking that glossy screens on laptops are close to useless? In an amusing bit of doublespeak, these are sometimes labelled as 'anti-reflective'. In perfect conditions they give a nice picture but if there is any light on the user or behind them, there's a big reflection.

In sunlight on a train journey, for example, they are hopeless, sit one way and light falls on the screen. Sit the other way and all you can see is yourself. There is a simple solution, use a matte screen. We recently managed to get one by buying last year's model, but it seems glossy is now almost ubiquitous on laptops and, sadly, starting to creep in on monitors. Is there any chance of sense prevailing over marketing?

Professor Peter Hancock

A bad week to be European

2009-05-27T15:10:12Z

This week hasn't been short of product announcements. We've had the Zune HD, the Palm Pre has a release date and Lenovo has announced the world's first netbook based off Nvidia's Ion chipset.

However, it seems Europeans are going to miss out on all three. While in the US the Palm Pre has been given a release date and an exclusive carrier has been named, there's only random speculation about O2 carrying the Pre in the UK, with no confirmation and no release date.

Of course, the Zune HD might actually be good, but we wont know about it, unless Microsoft breaks with tradition and goes for a worldwide launch. So far, no Zune model has yet made it to these shores.

The worst is the Lenovo S12 though. This could be the most interesting laptop announced for a long time as it has a 12in screen, a Geforce graphics chipset and an HDMI output, which makes it well suited to playing back HD video.

Except, in Europe it wont be using the Ion chipset, instead tied down to the same tired Intel chipsets we're all bored with.

Extra charges for virus removal

2009-05-21T16:40:41Z

I read Clive Akass and Barry Fox's articles with interest in the May issue. I haven't been exposed to the issue raised by Clive, however my gripe is much related to Barry's.
When you purchase - at least online - Norton Internet Security you are told you are entitled to install the product on three PCs. But instructions on how to do this are nowhere to be found on the website, where you are always directed to the products page and encouraged to "buy now".

Even on your "Account Page" where your product key is to be found there are no instructions on how to use it. Adjacently you get an icon to "download" and you fall into the trap of buying another license for 3 PCs - at least I did last year!

When the need arose to make use of one of the "spare" licenses I spent about 30 minutes trying all sort of tricks. Eventually I downloaded the free 15 day trialware and when I was encouraged to subscribe rather than using the product key provided with the trialware I introduced the one purchased earlier and low and behold it worked!
But nowhere on the site, support or elsewhere could I find this simple solution.

Constantin Christofidis

The great RMA robbery

2009-05-21T16:38:23Z

Is it me, or are vendors keener to refund failed returns rather than replace them? You may remember when times were good and products would be superseded with shiny new ones in the blink of an eye. Consequently prices for the tired old goods would drop very quickly. In those halcyon days vendors were more than happy to use up their old stock on warranty returns. I remember Maxtor even had a policy to offer cut-price capacity upgrades for drives failing near the end of their warranty. Now that goods are getting more expensive due to the sliding sterling rates, there seems to be much less appetite for a simple, honest replacement policy.

I purchased a Samsung SpinPoint 750GB drive from a well-known on-line retailer. After extensively testing the drive, I found that it would not write past the first 6% of its capacity. I returned the drive, only to be told that stock was 'overdue' and was immediately refunded the line item price for the drive, without being given the option to wait for new stock. Purchasing the same drive elsewhere would set me back an extra £12-14 in a higher price and carriage.

Given the high failure rates of IT hardware (whatever happened to QA?) this looks like just another way to lift a few extra quid out of recession hit computer enthusiast.

Bart J Smit

Shock and horror, some excellent customer service

2009-04-30T12:59:59Z

Just over one year ago, I paid for an annual subscription to IGN / Gamespy's premium website. In addition to faster downloads of patches and demos, it also gave me access to plenty of MMORPG beta tests, which is the main reason I subscribed.

Consequently, I didn't use the service and completely forgot about it. At least until a week ago when I was rebilled for another year's subscription.

I wasn't too happy about this, but since I hadn't cancelled it myself, I didn't expect a refund.

But I tried anyway, so contacted their customer service department, explained the situation, and here is the response I got:

"Hi Orestis,

As a courtesy we have credited your last subscription charge to your account as per your request, we hope to see you back with us in the near future."

I didn't mention I'm a journalist in order to jump the queue, or get angry with them in any way. I am certain many other organisations wouldn't refund me in this situation, as they aren't bound to in their terms and conditions. The lesson I have learned is to always keep a look out for any subscription-based websites that take money directly from my account and not forget to cancel.

Bandwidth Gobbler

2009-04-24T09:52:14Z

I have a media centre PC which no one is allowed to install anything on. It is the mission critical system in my house. I noticed recently that on a restart, the time taken from when the machine was new has gone from seconds to minutes. There was nothing in the start-up because I very rarely install anything. I was thinking about ghosting it back to when it was delivered but then I thought I'd try your tricks in the May edition. I fired up the autorun suggestion, expecting not to understand a word of the reports but... I did, because this machine is clean I saw a service running called Kservice, thoughtfully provide by Kontica.

A bit of investigating revealed this had turned my PC into a P2p server, courtesy of the BBC, no doubt I'd click "I accept..."
When I'd installed iPlayer. I turned this from automatic to manual, it's not as though I use iPlayer much, and my machine is back to normal. I wonder how many other readers have added this resource, bandwidth gobbler inadvertently.
Roy Houghton

Positively Ancient Apps

2009-04-16T17:53:43Z

I had to smile at your Editorial (PCW June), especially on the subject of positively ancient apps. For my finances, I'm still using daily, Quicken UK version 3 for Windows (3.1 Recommended!) which I must have bought around 1994. It's on two floppy discs together with a large well illustrated and comprehensible manual and replaced an earlier version which I think came as a cover disc with the old PC Direct magazine.

I transferred it to a new computer running Windows 95 in 1996 then onto another with Windows XP in 2002. It has always performed perfectly well, produces excellent graphs and reports, the latter being easily transferred to Excel 2003 using the Print Report Tab-delimited Disk File facility.

It's needed no support from Intuit's Helpdesk; just as well as it's not been available for this program for years.

I'm currently holding off getting a new computer until Windows 7 is up and running with vendors but wonder if my luck's running out and my faithful old friend will end up in a drawer along with its contemporaries. On the other hand, so long of course as we still have floppy disc drives, then maybe...?

Hi-Fi Sound from PC ripped files

2009-03-31T11:38:45Z

It seems to me that digital audio products for the mass market are moving ever further from sonic quality towards prioritising convenience. Hence audio file creating/management kit like the Sony Gigajuke, Brennan JB7 and DJ Tech N56GL.

Look below the surface, and none of these products are qualified for what used to be called the hi-fi market, but they fulfil a purpose which the all-singing and dancing PC (provided you know a suitable workaround and are prepared for endless complications and compromises) will never achieve. These devices are simple to use and work out of the box.

Much of Gordon's article was devoted to what to do with a ripped file, from encoding to delivery to the amplifier. But surely the extraction process is as critical?

What about the fundamental tool used for this task: the CD/DVD transport? Compared with the weighty devices considered essential for a hi-fi system, the PC CD transport is a cheap and flimsy consumer disposable. Yet, it is being asked to do what is essentially a mastering task when it is being used to rip and burn.

Are we not kidding ourselves when we attach expensive add-ons to a building block which was never intended for the job?

Mike Robinson

Archiving - A cautionary tale

2009-03-30T16:35:39Z

For some years I have been using CD's to archive scanned documents, digital photographs etc. and I also use a large external hard disk for the same purpose. In 2007, after the purchase of a new Dell OC with XP as the OS, I decided to archive my slides to DVD and have since started converting my vinyl record collection to DVD. In virtually all occasions the Roxio software has confirmed that the DVD burning has been successful. I had been using Verbatim certified 16x DVD's from a pack of 100. The file list of the burnt DVDs had been complete and correct in Explorer.

Recently I had need to access an archive and tried to copy the whole of the DVD to a hard drive. Imagine my horror to find some files could not be read producing a DOS error. I tried generating a new DVD archive and some files on this new archive could also not be read. A new archive to a DVD manufactured by TDK was completely satisfactory. I then checked all the Verbatim DVDs that I had recorded, to find that all had files that could not be recovered.

Before I found the archive problem, I had purchased another pack of 50 Verbatim certified 16x DVDs. Of the 30 I used, 10 had the fault I described above after burning. I did not run any other software when burning the DVDs so that the maximum resources are available for the burning routine.

Has anyone else seen this problem? Many people may be blissfully unaware that their archive is faulty. I now copy back from DVD to hard disk every DVD that I burn to check its integrity. I have only seen this problem with Verbatim DVDs. Verbatim CDs do not seem to have this problem neither do my TDK or Phillips DVDs. I have not been able to contact Verbatim to complain. I must stress the need to back-up ideally using multiple methods, if I had not, I would have lost valuable data.

Dr I. A. Steer

Freeware for Windows Registry

2009-03-30T13:13:55Z

A couple of freeware programs that Mark Wilson's article Introduction to the Windows registry didn't list, but which I've found very useful, are:

Revo Uninstaller, which, unlike the standard Windows program uninstall, also removes nearly all of the registry entries related to any program you are removing.

RegScanner, which allows you to search the registry for any word or string of characters. It lists all occurrences in a single pane. It's much quicker than trying to find something in regedit.

The list has columns of Registry Key, Name, Type, Data, Key Modified Time, and Data Length. If you right-click on any item, the context menu gives you, as one of its options, Open In Regedit. Selecting this option takes you direct to the item's key in Regedit, without you having to work your way down a long Hive tree to find it, and saving you a lot of time.

Both programs require a little knowledge of the registry, which Mark's article provides. Given that, I've found both of the programs good time-savers.

Richard Wilson

Let's see 'Brains, Apricots and Dragons

2009-03-02T10:50:34Z

Last year I emailed with a request for early back issues and on learning that editions of PCW from this era were lost forever, was so disappointed that I just could not bring myself to reply. However, the reprinted Sinclair QL review is exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for.

The QL is the computer I always wanted, but could never afford. It represented such a lost opportunity for a British computer company, and which I still regret never being able to own. In the same vein, I would love to see a reprint of the Sirius 1 Benchtest from, I think, 1984. I took that issue (the one displaying Chuck Peddle's green image on the monitor) with me on the bus and read it while waiting for an interview at Sheffield University. I kept it until it fell apart and even though I remember precisely nothing else about it. That issue represents the beginning of an IT career which has seen me, so far, through 25 years, and 300 issues of PCW.

Let's see the Superbrains, Newbrains, NASCOMs, Apricots, Orics and the Dragons (I did own one of those!). If you ever do recover those old issues lost in some soggy field by the storage company, give me a call and I will take them off your hands... for a small consideration, of course.
Ed Parr