Microsoft is late getting in the game but it is slowly deploying tools to help Windows users combat virus and malware. Microsoft Security Essentials is the next step in rebuilding their sullied image. In the past they have released Windows Antispyware; later renamed Defender. As a standalone download, not many people heard about it and even less used it on their Windows XP machines. As of Vista and beyond, Defender is included in your OS for really Microsoft’s protection. From the complaints I hear in the field, one of the top reason people are switching to the Mac is their lack of viruses.
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Microsoft’s new Zune will have quite an impressive list of features. First of all, for anyone thinking it’ll have HD video, this can be misleading. It is HD radio with an option of HD video OUTPUT. It will be running Windows CE underneath. On the surface, it will have an OLED touch screen interface with a 16:9 widescreen format on a 3.3 inch screen. Aside from this, it will have built-in full screen internet browser with accelerometer and a touch screen QWERTY keyboard.
Everything so far has gotten the iPod Touch beat with the exception of iTunes. This is where Apple’s true value lies. You pay for the device once but iTunes will keep making them money as long as there are things to see, hear, and play with on there.
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If you have your computer hooked up to your HD TV and would like to view youtube videos directly from your couch, this is for you.
http://www.youtube.com/xl
This is a version of youtube that includes large buttons and easy navigational markers for people to see from far away. If you have Microsoft Media Center, point the built-in browser to this address and enjoy youtube content from your couch.
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If you ever have problems with windows 7 crashing in a constant loop once you put an avi or any movie file on the desktop, then you are the victim of thumbnail cache error. There are many ways to fix this but the quickest and easiest is to disable thumbnail preview all together. A side benefit of this operation is your windows explorer will be much faster loading up. You can individually enable thumbnail view for a folder if you want in the future, but keep it off system wide to avoid the aforementioned problem above.
Here’s how:
1. Open up an explorer window, click on the ‘organize’ button on any folder and choose ‘folder and search’ options.
2. Click on the ‘view’ tab and check the ‘always show icons, never thumbnails’ checkbox.
3. Click OK, and you’re done.
