News From The Computer World

End Of The Line For Windows 98 and Millennium
Windows Vista Is Here, Get Used To It
Windows Vista Hardware Requirements
Browser Wars III: Internet Explorer 7.0
Run Windows XP On Your Mac
 

End Of The Line For Windows 98/Millennium 

Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 98 and Millennium on July 12, 2006. After this date you will no longer get technical support or product/security updates for these operating systems. If you're still using any of these products, you should think seriously about upgrading soon. Even when fully patched, Windows 98/Millennium is full of security holes and performance problems. PCs that run these operating systems are usually slow, have antiquated hardware and are prone to crashing. Many current release software packages will not run on these systems. Keeping these machines going is an accident waiting to happen, and the cost of supporting them can easily exceed that of a new computer. Users have several options: If your computer has the right hardware, you could upgrade to Windows XP Professional. Minimum specs: 800Mhz Pentium III CPU, 512MB RAM, 40GB hard drive. Backup your data and do a clean install. If your PC's hardware doesn't make the cut, get a new one with Vista. See specs for a new PC. 

Windows Vista Is Here, Get Used To It

Vista introduces some big changes for Windows users. Aside from the striking new Aero desktop and interface, tightened security is what you’ll notice most. Users no longer run with administrator rights by default, meaning that you can't do whatever you want to your computer without it sometimes asking you for authorization. In order to make configuration changes that require administrative rights, you have to click OK when User Account Control (UAC) asks you to approve the changes. Installing some programs may require you to log on as an administrator or supply a password. Certain applications and hardware will not run under Vista, so before you upgrade, make sure the programs you need are Vista compatible. Networking functions are locked down by default; to share files and printers easily on a small network like you did with XP will require a little more work. If you try to navigate to a secure website that doesn't pass Internet Explorer 7.0's certificate or phishing filter test, you'll see a page warning you not to proceed.

People are complaining that Vista’s tightened security makes computing more of a hassle. Some of these folks were the same ones who complained vociferously about XP’s lack of security. Perhaps they should talk to Mac OS X users who are used to entering administrator passwords in order to configure their systems. If you want a “don’t hassle me about security” computer experience, then stick with XP or Windows 2000, but don’t complain that Microsoft hasn’t made a serious attempt to make PCs more secure. Having said that, Vista's UAC can be overly intrusive. Simple things like changing the date and time require one to click through a UAC pop-up. UAC can be disabled, but that defeats much of the security improvements in Vista. Hopefully Microsoft will fine tune UAC to be less intrusive when it releases the first service pack for Vista.   

Other major changes include a vastly improved search capability. Enter a word or phrase in the search field and Vista begins searching your computer for matching items while you type. Performance is maximized through enhanced use of memory, allowing Vista to run on a five-year old computer (assuming a fast enough processor and sufficient memory) with decent performance. Other less significant improvements are too numerous to mention here. Suffice to say, Windows Vista is a worthy upgrade. But before you rush out and make the switch, a word of warning: The Doctor recommends that you don’t upgrade your current system to Vista right now. Hardware and software manufacturers have been very tardy in releasing Vista compatible versions of their products, so chances are that some things on your computer that work with XP will not work with Vista. If you want Vista now, buy a new PC with it pre-loaded, knowing that some of your old software may not work anymore. Make sure your new computer comes with Vista Business or Ultimate Edition. Don’t get the Home Edition; it’s missing too many key components. (Back Up) 

Windows Vista Hardware Requirements

Microsoft has released the hardware specifications required to run Vista. Here's a brief summary:

Minimum Requirements for Vista:

• 800MHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor

• 512MB Memory

• 20GB Hard Drive with 15GB free space

As usual with Microsoft, pay no attention to their minimum specs, as they are barely sufficient to run Windows XP.

The Onsite PC Doctor's Minimum Requirements for Vista:

• 3GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 2GB of system memory
• 128MB of dedicated graphics memory
• 80GB of hard drive capacity with 15GB free space
• DVD-ROM Drive

These specs are a starting point for buying or upgrading a PC that will run Vista with any kind of speed. For optimal Vista performance, The Doctor recommends a Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon 64x2 CPU, 2GB of memory, a Vista-compatible graphics card and a 250GB SATA hard drive. If you are considering upgrading or buying a new PC now, make sure it will have the necessary hardware to upgrade from XP to Vista if you decide to do so in the future.     (Back Up) 
 

Browser Wars III: 
Internet Explorer 7.0 Has Arrived

Microsoft has released its latest web browser, Internet Explorer 7.0. It's part of Vista, and available via download for Windows XP (SP2 only) and Windows 2003 Server. Windows 98, Me and 2000 are stuck with IE 6. It's been a long time coming for Microsoft, (five years, to be exact), since the release of Internet Explorer 6. Over that time we've seen a proliferation of adware, spyware, malware, and other assorted trojans and nasties that took advantage of security holes in Internet Explorer to wreck havoc on PCs. Many users dumped IE for the improved security of alternative browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Opera. Along the way they discovered features like tabbed browsing, built-in search bars and R.S.S. readers that made life without IE not only safer but easier as well. Microsoft has been working hard to catch up, and with Internet Explorer 7 they have finally closed the gap. If you want to see for yourself, click here to go to the download site.

First, a little history: Back in the early days of the World Wide Web (1994), there was a company named Netscape which had a web browser called Netscape Navigator. It revolutionized personal computers by bringing the internet to the masses. Computers before then were basically data entry terminals. But with Netscape Navigator on your computer, you could easily access a vast trove of information and ideas previously unimaginable to the average person. The world has not been the same since. Microsoft saw this reality as clearly as anyone, as well as the threat that Netscape posed to their dominance of the PC market. Microsoft's problem was that they didn't have a web browser that could compete with Netscape Navigator. In typical Microsoft fashion, they bought a browser from another company, renamed it Internet Explorer and worked on it. In 1998 they released Internet Explorer 4.0, which was considered superior to the Netscape browser. Browser War I was over. Internet Explorer dominated the PC world, and Netscape was sold to AOL. Back then, browsers had not yet been targeted by hackers, and the spyware industry did not exist. Some of the original Netscape developers started an open source project called Mozilla, which led to the release of Mozilla Firefox 1.0 in 2004. The timing was perfect, as the spyware industry had found the security holes in Internet Explorer 6 it needed to attack millions of computers and make the internet a hazardous place to be on a PC. Firefox addressed those security problems and users dumped IE in droves. Browser War II had begun. Microsoft realized it had a big problem, and countered Firefox with Windows XP Service Pack 2, which plugged a lot of holes. Despite Service Pack 2, Internet Explorer 6 ( which was developed before the spyware era) was still running on its original leaky architecture. IE 6 had to be scrapped. Microsoft, like turning an ocean liner, takes a long time to come out with major new products, but if you give them enough time they usually get it right.   

If you've never used any other browser besides Internet Explorer, than 7.0 will be a big improvement. If you've been using Mozilla Firefox, than most of the changes in IE will be old news. The biggest, most important difference in IE 7 is not the improved user interface but the vastly improved security. Having said that, hackers will inevitably look for and find some holes in IE 7. The same thing has happened with Firefox. Once a program achieves mass acceptance, it becomes a target. Users will have to continue installing updates to keep their computers safe, no matter what browser or operating system they use.   

There are some caveats to be aware of with IE 7: You can only run it on Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1. If you're still running XP without SP2 (in which case you're very vulnerable to attacks), you need to install it first. Older versions of Windows (Windows 98, Me, 2000) can't run IE 7. If you care about security, you shouldn't be using any of those older operating systems on a PC anyway. Microsoft will stop issuing updates and support for Windows 98 and Me in July 2006, so that should give those users incentive to upgrade. Windows Vista, Microsoft's new OS, will be released for consumers in January 2007. It will come bundled with Internet Explorer 7, along with a host of other security enhancements and features. If you wait to buy a PC next year, you'll be using IE 7 by default, just as most users who own a PC now use whatever version of IE that's on their machine. This accounts for the reason why Internet Explorer maintains and will continue to maintain its huge market share despite its past problems. Most people just use whatever comes pre-installed on their computer, and if 95% of the world's personal computers come with Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer, that's what people will use. (Back Up) 

Run Windows XP On Your Mac

The Doctor would love to see OS X run on standard PC hardware. This would allow millions of users to switch to the Mac OS without being forced to buy Apple hardware. Apple's market share of the desktop OS would increase exponentially and make the company a pile of money. For a variety of reasons, this will probably never happen. OS X is a great operating system and Apple makes good computers, but they made a decision a long time ago to make the Mac OS available only on Apple's proprietary hardware whereas Microsoft licensed Windows for use on any PC. Apple's market share has gone up significantly in the last year with the shift to Intel processors, but most of the increase is in the home user market. Businesses will continue to stick with Microsoft products. Their world runs on Windows-based computers and that's not going to change anytime soon.  (Back Up)