You bet we are!

Before Microsoft Vista was released to the general public, we had a discussion on the show about what to look for when buying a new Vista ready computer.

I mentioned that I was fearful that the tier 1 computer makers, Dell, HP, Compaq, Gateway, and the rest, will be selling low priced machines just like they have been with XP. But!!!!! Vista is a different animal. There are five versions.

My fear was that these makers would be putting Vista Home Basic on the low priced computers. Thereby, cheating the buyer out of the full Vista experience and a number of useful features. Vista Home Basic is a bastardizedversion of Windows just like Windows ME was to Windows 98.

In the meantime, Vista has now shipped. Many are finding that third party manufacturers are lagging behind in preparing their products for Vista, and that many of these third party product don’t work properly on Vista.

All that said my worst fear came true tonight.

I was asked by a friend to visit one of his employees homes to find out why the computer was running slow.

The user is a complete novice.

When I arrived, I discovered that he had just bought this computer from Dell and it came with Windows Vista Home Basic on it. Strike one.

When I sat down to the machine, the Dell support software was asking that the NVIDIA drivers be updated. We all know the NVIDIAs Vista drivers are not 100% yet don’t we? Ok. I do this. I took 15 minutes do install after I downloaded the update!!!

I proceeded to the System Information to find out what was in this machine. The processor was plenty fast. An AMD 3100, But, the video ram was just 64MB and system RAM was only 512MB.

In addition, I found the latest version of Norton Internet Security on the machine.

Oh, one more thing. The version of Sonic DVD software on the machine was not Vista compatible. Windows kept popping up a message stating an upgrade was needed.

With all of these issues in combination, it’s no wonder this machine ever ran.

I removed the Norton and replaced it with AVG antivirus and antispyware. I made sure the built in security feature were all enabled in Vista. Added 512MB more memory, removed Sonic replacing it with Nero, and guess what? Speed! And no errors! This machine was now running much better. More like a Vista machine should be running.

He is going to put a new ATI video card into it when he gets a little more money. That should help a lot. Then this customer will be a happy camper with his new machine.

The bottom line?

What the hell is Dell doing selling such a crippled machine? This machine should have 1GB of Ram, 128MB of Video Ram, and software that does not restrict the users ability to use the system. And, all of the software should be Vista compatible.

I am sure the other makers are just as guilty of doing the same thing with their low-end machines. I just have not bumped into one yet.

Why can’t the bottom line machine at least be good enough to make sure the buyer’s experience is a good one? Don’t sell middle of the road XP machines with the Vista label on them.

Get with it Dell.

Mike DiMichele
Technology Specialist
Steve and Johnnie’s Website Wednesday Night
WGN Radio - Chicago
www.wgnradio.com
www.savemybutt.com

I just spent 15 minutes at a listeners home to repair their desktop computer after they spent 2 hours on the phone with their ISP, Comcast, and an hour and a half on the phone with Microsoft. What they were trying to find out is how to get back on the internet. The connection had failed and would not come back.

He told me what the support person on both calls had him do. It is amazing what the troubleshooting flow charts that tier 1 tech support people read actually make you do.

However, none of it helped. Basically because none of it stepped the user through some basic troubleshooting steps.

When I arrived with my laptop and disk case in hand I asked the user to review for me what the problem was.

He could not get onto the internet from the desktop computer. The IP address was the default 169 IP range that Windows uses when there is no DHCP server found.
Their wireless laptop was able to browse and send email though.

Here are the steps I used to troubleshoot and fix the problem.

1. I connected my laptop to the ISP provided router/modem with my own patch cable. I obtained an IP address and browsed the web. That meant the modem was working fine.

2. I did the same thing with his cable with the same results. That meant his patch cable was good also.

3. I set the computer’s IP to an address in the range of the router, 192.168.1.105, and tried to ping the router. No luck this time.

4. I pulled a CD out of my case that I keep some utilities on and ran a little freeware program that has been around for a long time called Winsocfix. Bottom line it repairs the Windows Network Socket Layer. Oh, I did backup the registry first. Viola! After a reboot, we were back online.

This all took 15 minutes to do. It took an hour each way to get there!

Windows sockets have been know to get corrupted from time to time for years. This fix has been around for that long also. And I have used it many hundreds of times over the years.

So, why is it that the two tech support people at Comcast and Microsoft don’t know about this simple fix? Why is it not written in any of the Windows books at the book store? How come all those “Windows Tips and Tricks” books say nothing about this little tiny fix?

If you know the answer, let me know.

Mike DiMichele
Technology Specialist
Steve and Johnnie’s Website Wednesday Night
WGN Radio - Chicago
www.wgnradio.com
www.savemybutt.com

Why is it the more tech related articles I read about Vista the more I see writers blame Microsoft and Vista for not playing nice with hardware, drivers, and software.

Does anybody believe as I do? That, in most cases, it isn’t Vista’s fault?

Why? Because those same writers have been hounding Microsoft for several years to get the security and functions thing right. Vista is what we’ve gotten. Is it perfect? Not yet. Yes, there are some bugs.

But, most of the bugs are not Microsoft’s fault. It is the fault of software and hardware makers who have not made their product Vista ready. These companies were given Vista APIs more than a year ago so they could make their product work on the beta releases. This in turn would make the final tweak for their software and drivers a quick fix for the final edition of Vista, which by the way has been out for the business community since November. That means these manufacturers have had more than 2 months of a gold release in the public’s hands to do their final tweaks.

So, what is the hang up with some stuff not working right in Vista? Not Microsoft.

In a slightly different direction, upgrading to Vista can be tricky if you are not prepared for it. I have a tutorial and downloadable PDF at my web site, http://www.savemybutt.com.

Basically, I recommend a clean install. Many drivers and settings in XP will be inherited and may screw up how Vista works. If you aren’t going to do a clean install, then make an image of you OS drive with something like Acronis True Image first just to cover your butt, or buy a new computer with Vista already on it.

Bottom line?

Hardware and software makers need to get off their dead butts and get with the game. And QUIT blaming Microsoft for everything.

Oh, one final thing.

On the subject of software companies coming to the table late, what the hell is taking Apple so long to make iTunes work on Vista. They, too, have had more than a year to make it so.

Oh, I forgot. If iTunes doesn’t work on Vista, then that is that many more PCs that won’t be sold or upgraded to Vista and Apple fans will blame Microsoft again.

Mike DiMichele
mike@savemybutt.com
http://www.savemybutt.com

I found an article in the Washington Post, read it, that caught my eye this afternoon.

It had to do with the potential ability, yet undocumented, to use the voice-recognition feature built into Vista to do delete files on your hard disk.

The first comment made by a reader named Joe sent me ballistic. It was one of those days.

Joe said, “Gotta love Microsoft’s defense — “this attack will only work if you’re actually -using- the super-duper cool features that we put into the OS to try to con you into buying it…”"

So the FUD begins.

If you have an understanding of what has to be done for this to work, then you would also understand that it is more likely that you will be bitten by a spider and become Spiderman.

Cynics, like Joe, do nothing but spread their dislike for Microsoft. When, in fact, the blame should be, most often, on the third party driver and software manufacturer and the user.

Yes, as it turns out, no matter how secure an operating system is made, the hole that cannot be patched is the user.

The are so many steps that must be in just the right place at just the right time for this to even possibly work, that I’m sure we will never hear of a documented occurrence of it really happening.

So, this is FUD.

Since 95.9% of computer users world wide are using some form of Windows (see Forbes reference here http://www.itfacts.biz/index.php?id=P8018), don’t you think it is better to help educate them on the proper use and protection of their system then copping out by blaming Microsoft for everything?

I had a interesting experience today getting my new broadband connection installed.

If you are ordering Comcast broadband, make sure you insist that the installer let the tech office do the registration saving you the possible grief of having to clean up your machine.

Its that time of year again. When we get together with our family and friends to celebrate.

For Christians, like myself, we celebrate Christmas, the birth of Christ.

However, there are a lot of people who also celebrate at this time of year.

Our African American friends celebrate Kwanzaa and our Jewish friends celebrate Chanukah.

This time of year is about family, friends, giving, and reaching out.

While most of us will enjoy the company of those close to us, there are many who can’t be home to enjoy.

There are our heros in Iraq. The public service people, police and fire fighters. The men and women who are working, driving trucks and flying air planes, delivering the gifts we bought and the food we will eat.

There are the service people waiting on us in restaurants, the gas station attendant who makes sure we get where we are going, and the doctors and nurses in our hospitals.

We also need to remember that we have homeless people and people in hospitals or have no family.

It is a time to celebrate.

Please, while you are celebrating raise a toast or say a prayer for all of the people who, for one reason or another, can not celebrate in their own traditional way with their loved ones or friends.

They are all our family.

Happy Holidays.

About a week ago I was reading the NY Times and came across a story regarding an IT department support person who was repairing the president of the company’s computer and thought he had discovered child porn.

The tech was wondering if he should risk his job and turn in the head of the company to police.

This incident brings up a good point. When you have your computer repaired is it the technicians place to determine if anything, be it porn, accounting documents, company secrets, etc., on the computer is incriminating and should that tech call in the authorities?

Generally speaking as a tech myself, if there is no life or death issues, than it is none of my business.

In 23 years of servicing and repairing computers I have seen all kinds of interesting things pass before my eyes. With the development of the Internet it has become even more interesting. None of it can be categorized as life or death information, thank God.

In todays society we have to be careful of what we see and who we tell. The mighty arm of a lawyer may well come down on you. And, with all of the stuff that could, I repeat, COULD be misconstrued as against the law, what happens if it isn’t? What if you were wrong?

How does that impact the accused or even you?

I don’t want to be a professional witness for the rest of my life turning in people who have some porn on their machines that COULD be child porn. Or, maybe it ISN’T child porn. I don’t want to warm the bench of some court room guessing if the document I recovered from a dead hard disk might be the recipe to Coke a Cola. I don’t get paid to be a snitch. I get paid to repair computers.

Unless there is a clear indication that there is a threat to life and limb, or it is very clear that there is some sort of incriminating information that could be a danger to other people, I do the job I was hired for. Repair the computer and that’s it.

No matter my moral or ethical beliefs, it is none of my business. Period.

I was reading a story at Computerworld earlier that made me think about how the porn industry makes gobs money on the internet, and has since the first porn sites were developed.

As a matter of fact I remember reading a story in one of the big business magazines some years ago, sorry I don’t remember which one now, about the business model porn sites use to keep their customers happy and spending money.

Now it appears, I thought with a laugh, that the anti-virus companies are starting to learn from the porn industry. The Computerworld story talks about how McAfee has joined Symantec and Microsoft in the auto-renewal of your subscription every year on your credit card unless you opt out.

That is exactly what porn sites do. If you sign up for a membership, your credit card is charged every month by default, unless you cancel before the next billing date. Actually, porn sites even make it easy to opt out or cancel a membership. They hope you will come back some day.

McAfee, Symantec, and Microsoft don’t make it easy or friendly. They seem to have learned how to increase the cash flow, good for them, but not how to make it easy for the customer to cancel or even switch to another vendor, bad for us.

Just like the porn sites, when you sign up for one of their anti-virus products online, the auto renewal feature is the default action. There is no opting out or canceling it until at least one month later in one case.

They big three are saying that it is for the good of the customer to protect their computers and those of others that they communicate with. All in all, not a bad idea. But, the customer service side of this stinks.

So, as low as it might sound, again, the porn industry has beaten some of the biggest computer software companies in the game of customer service and knowing how to please and/or keep the customer.

As I am not a fan of any of their services because the are invasive and intrusive to the performance of the operating system, I will continue to use other products that many times seem to do a better job anyway. In some cases FREE software.

What do I use? Trend Micro’s products, NOD32, Kaspersky, and AVG (Free).

The moral of the story? Be very careful when buying your anti-virus or security software online. Especially from McAfee, Symantec, and Microsoft.

Hi. My name is Mike DiMichele. I am one of the technology specialists on Steve and Johnnie’s Website Wednesday Night computer call in show at WGN Radio in Chicago.

Mike