The new Firefox 3 icon set has started to show up in the latest nightly builds. They look pretty good so far; but what I’m really looking forward to seeing is the new keyhole back/forward button design. You can take a look at the mockups for the new icons here, or download the latest nightly build here.
Traditionally new Windows incarnations are light on innovation; evolution rather than revolution has always been the name of the game. Windows Vista is more of the same, an array of major and minor updates and improvements. There are more new features in Windows Vista than in previous editions, true, but most of these were a long time coming and obvious enough moves. Nothing unexpected from an Operating System not associated with innovation by any measure.
This is not to say Microsoft as a whole in not innovative. In fact, the Xbox division has been quite an innovative one when examined in hindsight; they defined console gaming online with Xbox Live and were the first to bring true multimedia to a gaming machine with the 360 (using an Xbox as a Windows Media Center Extender is truly a beautiful thing, even though I’m still waiting for that Divx/Xvid support), managing to ship 43 Million units along the way (25 Million Xbox and 17.7 Million Xbox 360 as of September 2007). Although the division has only recently started to turn a profit, in such a competitive market the Xbox has been a successful console.
This success spurred Microsoft into adopting a cohesive strategy for promoting and evolving gaming on Windows. In 2005, Microsoft launched the Games for Windows program, a gaming platform and marketing campaign designed for this purpose. Games for Windows involves a few different aspects. In order the qualify for Games for Windows status (shown by a strip along the top of the software box, similar to console packaging), publishers must meet a certain set of requirements, including:
The Games for Windows program also includes the new Windows Games Explorer, a feature exclusive to Windows Vista, and one of the nicer additions to the venerable Operating System. On the outside it’s not really much; a special folder that hosts all the games installed on a system, along with box-art and metadata downloaded from the Internet (Games for Windows certified titles have this information already on the disk in an XML file). The folder has a few useful options apart from just showcasing titles; it is fully compatible with parental controls, integrates with the computers WinSAT scores, and hosts common links for gaming related functions, such as configuring input devices or tweaking the firewall.
On paper, it’s not that impressive. In fact, it reeks of the ill-conceived special folders such as My Pictures introduced in Windows XP. However, it’s actually a great idea. Games should be treated differently to regular programs. Downloading box-art is not only aesthetically pleasing, but provides a much more intuitive way of sorting through a long list of titles. Parental Controls are sure to be a boon to concerned (or overbearing) parents.
More than anything, its about time Games were given the place they deserve in the Windows eco-system. Right there in large font on the start menu.
Unfortunately the Games Explorer is, like many first editions, good but not great. It doesn’t really go far enough in its initial functionality. The annoying thing is, it’s the little, obvious features that are missing. For example, a lot of Games which are not part of the Games for Windows program integrate nicely with the Explorer anyway; with the title’s cover-art and metadata downloaded from All Game. Of course, there are still many titles that do not work at all the Games Explorer. These can be manually added by dragging and dropping the shortcut into the Explorer Window, but, inexplicably, there is no way to manually add the title’s box-art or edit the metadata. What this leaves you with a raft of gorgeous cover-art thumbnails, and a few low-res icons from the incompatible games. Daft.
I should mention there is a tool available online here which will allow you to edit the Games Explorer details. However, I can’t recommend it at this stage; when I tried it out it actually messed up many of my titles and I had to delete everything from the Explorer and add them all again manually. To be fair, it is still in beta stage, and so erratic behaviour is to be expected.
Hopefully in the future (and by the future I don’t mean Windows 7, perhaps Service Pack 2?) Microsoft will roll out an update to this promising addition. Hopefully.
Today marks my third time installing Ubuntu alongside Windows Vista (the first was an ill-fated attempt on my desktop, the second resulted in a successful triple-boot system with XP, Vista and Ubuntu on said machine); this time on my new laptop.
Being familiar with the pitfalls of such a configuration, I’ve come to appreciate the value EasyBCD holds. The BCD (boot configuration data) is new to Windows Vista, and by most measurable tests is far, far superior to the NT Loader of old.
Unfortunately it’s crap to configure; the only verbose way of editing it is with an archaic command-line tool.
This is where EasyBCD from Neosmart comes in. It’s small, feature rich and an absolute joy to use. It comes with presets for all major Operating Systems and wraps the whole BCD in a really nice GUI.
If you’re considering installing another OS alongside Vista, this is truly a must have tool. Download the latest version here.
The most important programs in the World are those you install the moment you get a new computer, and continue to use regularly.
I just got a new Acer Aspire 5920 laptop (which I may review some time, although that may not be necessary), and so recently had the pleasure of rediscovering what are the most important programs in the World to me. Here they are in no particular order:
The first thing I installed, and I suspect the same to be true for many others, was Firefox. It needs no introduction; the best browser in the World. This was necessary almost immediately to start gathering other essential software from the Internet.
My favourite archiving utility, 7-Zip is fast, lightweight, supports everything and is open-source (my favourite kind). This was used right away, as many of the applications I would be downloading were archived (99% were zip-files, so I could have gotten by with Windows built in extractor, but man that gets slow when the archives get big…).
It’s very easy to love VLC; it’s really small and really fast, and can play almost anything you throw at it. It has loads of other features too, like network streaming and encoding/transcoding, but they’re not worth delving into right now. Sufficed to say, this is the quickest way to get up and running if you need to play anything.
Daemon Tools is a CD/DVD-ROM drive emulation tool, in which you can mount and run ISO images (it also supports other image files such as cue files Nero images). It sounds simple, but this is a genuinely great piece of software, and my favourite of it’s kind.
Microsoft Office being an essential piece of software is pretty much a given in any circumstance, but I thought it was worth mentioning the latest edition, 2007, in particular. I’m a huge fan of the visual refresh the Office Team has developed in the form of the Ribbon Bar; and as a persistent user of Office I can testify to its usefulness. This is good stuff.
One for the developers, this is my preferred source-code editor. It has a nice extendible architecture, with a variety of plugins available as single DLL files.
I didn’t get very far without an FTP client; FileZilla is the best.
CCleaner is quite simple; it cleans all the crap of your computer. Really, really useful. Don’t take my word for it, witness it’s universal acclaim.
Last.fm is one of my favourite sites at the moment, and I consistently have the software running for hours on end. If you don’t have an account, I strongly recommend signing up for one. In fact, get a premium account, it’s €2.50 a month.
I actually hate iTunes, but I love my iPod so I put with it. You can download the latest version here.
Adobe Reader is a well-documented performance nightmare, whereas the also free Foxit Reader is lightening fast. I have them both installed because Adobe Reader will create nice-thumbnails of the PDF files; and Foxit Reader will open them in seconds.
Simply because I love Google Earth.
Although I haven’t actually used Visual Studio in a while, most of my coding lately has been web-based, I know I’ll have to load it up sooner or later.
I guess that’s it; I’m sure I’ve missed a few, and this is merely a snapshot of the many, many programs people use day in and day out. It’s a small sample of the most important programs in the World.
What is a shitbox? The concept should be self-explanatory; a shitbox is an incredibly slow computer. The reason for it’s unusually colourful name is twofold: the first is simply because the machine is shit (although one could make the argument that it not the machines that get shittier, it is our tolerance levels for said machines; I assure you, in a few years that Quad-Core beast sitting in front of you will transform into the hideous beige shitbox I am currently forced to gaze upon). The second reason for these ‘computers’ being so named is the resulting mess in which they can leave us in; i.e. ‘I feel like shit, all because of that Goddamn shitbox’. Now that you are informed, I will continue.
Working with a shitbox is incredibly frustrating. In fact, if you can avoid any association with these archaic devices I would urge you to do so; this includes shelling out what little money you may have for a modern PC. Of course, this is not always possible.
Now, I normally experience hassel-free computing at home on my Dual-Core Vista PC. This is not so in work (where many, many people suffer the evils of the pentium III); in work, I use a shitbox on a daily basis. This gives me an intimate knowledge of how to cope with such a ‘computer’, and in my infinate generosity, I’ve decided to impart some of knowledge onto the needy interwebs.
Obvious I know, but it still has to be mentioned. Hit ctrl-alt-delete, go to your task manager, and click the processes tab. How many of those of those processes are necessary? Now filter the results by memory usage, and cpu allocation. Determine the biggest hogs, and kill them (end process). This is a short term solution; you need to stop these programs loading on startup. You can catch a few offenders by checking out your ‘Startup’ folder in the Programs menu. Likely culprits include Adobe Reader Speed Launcher, Microsoft Office and Quicktime. Delete anything you can live without from this folder.
Not all startup programs make themselves known in the ‘Startup’ folder. You can check out all startup processes by visiting the Startup tab in MsConfig (hit windows+r to open a run dialog, type ‘MsConfig’). Disable all you can live without.
You can make life easier by avoiding the above and downloading CCleaner, which I talk about below.
In the age of terabytes, freeing up disk space rarely has an impact on system performance, but when working with a shitbox every megabyte counts (it pains me greatly to have to say that). The quickest way to free up space is to blast the programs you never use off the system. Use disk cleanup and defragger after this (in fact, when working with a shitbox, you should defrag every week: schedule it). Finally, use CCleaner.
CCleaner is my favorite kind of free: useful and free. It has three sections: Cleaner, Registry and Tools. All of these sections clean.
When you minimise a window, it frees up a huge chunk of memory. Minimise agressively, minimise often.
This my favorite way to use a shitbox. Simply replace all your slowest programs with speedier alternatives (where available). I’ve outlined my favorites below (all are free, as in beer).
Firefox 1.5
I use Firefox 1.5 instead of 2.0 on my shitbox for the speed boost, and to avoid the dreaded Firefox memory leaks. Conservative use of tabs is still advised, as is the occasional program restart. You can get Firefox 1.5 from OldVersion.com.
Foxit Reader
Adobe Reader is so fucking slow on my machine, it’s unbearable. So I went with Foxit, and my teeth have never been whiter.
Irfanview
Probably the best image viewer on the market, it’s also the fastest I’ve come across. Grab it here.
Notepad++ and Filezilla
Developing on a shitbox just shouldn’t be done, but if you have to, use Notepad++ as your IDE, and Filezilla for ftp.
