Windows

Software Crashes? Don't Get So Distressed. Did I Happen To Mention That I'm Impressed?

Posted by on Oct 18, 2007 | One Comment

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Two of my regular community members joined me via Skype for this call. The three of us tossed around opinions and ideas regarding software… your choices, differences, crashes, and even updating. Sc_Thor, wirelesspacket, and I had an open discussion tonight about software.

We started off talking about software updating, and how Apple has Software Update available. Not only will this application tell you when your software needs to be updated, it will also give you a change log so that you can see what is different and what has been improved.

Next we started discussing software crashing. It’s the nature of the beast. Software will occasionally crash. It doesn’t matter if you’re using Linux, Windows, or a Mac — you are still susceptible to the occasional crash. I’ve actually been impressed with software crashes twice before. The first time was when Colloquy crashed on me. A little box came up, asking me if I wanted to send a report to Apple AND Colloquy itself. Now that’s a great idea. Send the report directly to the software developers, so they can address the issue.

The second crash I was impressed with was from Microsoft. Back when I was beta testing Office 07, I had a crash. The box came up… and told me this was a known bug that had already been addressed for the next version. Now that is slick. I loved that one.

We then wandered into discussing the differences between Linux and FreeBSD, since most people have no idea whatsoever. Bascially, Linux uses the GNU Public License, which is a monstrous document. FreeBSD uses a license that is literally two sentences long. It says basically that you cannot remove the copyright, and you must reproduce the copyright when necessary.

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  • UncleDoug

    Chris hope you can discuss this software frustration. There are many that do not know or do not worry about it, and then there are those like myself that want better control of my cpu and ram.

    The annoying and frustrating problem with some software is that they want to ignore your wishes and run at system startup.

    I use a program to let me know if a program it trying to install at system startup at boot ” Startup Monitor” and another that will allow me to stop a program from running at system Start UP “Startup Control Panel ” but there are some programs that literally Do NOT Care what you want!

    Fortunately most software allows you to manage when they start. But there are a few that do not need to run at Start Up but “insist” they do,

    One of the most annoying and aggravating programs is Quick Time and its task manager. Also I left Kat a short comment in one of her first blogs about one of the forums she contributes to. When I first logged in (did not click on anything) there was a popup from StartUp Monitor saying that quick time wanted to run at startup, I denied and changed pages, another popup.

    If I did not have StartUp Monitor it would have installed at boot. Sure sounds like a drive by, but from a program that the quality and reputation differs from this hidden activity, Oh tell Kat this also happened at another site with in a week after,

    The only items I prefer running at boot are the necessary system files, and security programs. There is NO reason updating programs need to be running at boot or checking except when you startup that program.

    A couple other names of programs that want to run at system boot are
    Adobe Reader/and Photo Downloads
    Nvidea several different files
    Java updater
    Oh yest Microsoft Media Player has a persistent and annoying file that wants to run at startup.

    There are many more but I catch those on initial installation. But during installation it can be fun with different security programs waring me. Unless you know what a program is intended to do, like webextract during a Microsoft installation you might tend to deny it.

    Would like to see a discussion and listing of other files those in your discussion group have encountered. Post the listing and results in Lockergnome Windows Fanatics.

    Thanks
    UncleDoug