Free MS apps for XP

Road to Know Where lists over 150 free applications that MS gives away for use on XP.  While it may be 6 years between releases, there are things to keep the intrepid OS fan placated.  While I don’t want to sing the praises of MS, this list at least gives grist to the debate.
I’ve been [...]

Royale Noir Theme for XP

 A review and download of a recently discovered MS theme for XP.  This is a black (Vista-ish) theme signed by MS.
XP was released with the clownish Luna theme.  Then MCE 2005 came out with a new theme called Royale–this was mostly an update to Luna, less bright, less clownish.  Royale was eventually distributed to anyone [...]

10 Things I Love About Vista (RC2)

The caveat being that MS may flub these before the final release.

The application by application volume control, very nice.
Removing Windows Update from its IE integration, about time!
Calender/Contacts, much needed.
Windows Explorer, I like the different views, I like the favorite links (stolen from OS X), I like the breadcrumbs, mostly pleasant.
Included applications are nice; IE, WMP, [...]

10 Things I hate about Vista (RC2)

The caveat being that Vista has not been released, these things may be fixed in the final version.

Aero. The default theme in Vista is garish. While not as clown looking as XP, the default colors and transparencies are uninspired eye candy. I converted to windows standard theme after a couple of days…I like it.
The shutdown/restart [...]

Why Can No One Get Search Right?

Much hype surrounds integrated search features in modern OS’s; each claiming to work out of the box.  Not one works in any usable manner.  Not Spotlight, not Beagle, and not Vista’s search.  They are all to limiting–sure they work fine as app launchers–to work for anyone who actually needs to use search.
To be functional search [...]

Vista RC2

Been using RC2 as my primary desktop for a couple of days…must say that I am impressed…it mostly works as expected.  But it is fugly.  The UI needs work before release.  The non-Aero theme is nice, it is much less clownish than XP.  But Aero?  Crap.  Open media player and play a song, the song [...]

Fracturing the net

error
More and more lately I’ve seen these sorts of “errors”. Usually kids, they think they are cute, or somehow getting over on MS. Personally. I use IE, Firefox, and Konquerer almost equally. I’ve been using Firefox since .7 and I generally like it.
There is a whole movement out there to get Firefox [...]