Someone Else

Robert Moir writes about Operating Systems, Computer Security and Virtualisation.

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New Buildings and Apologies
In the grand tradition of this blog, I need to apologise for not posting again. I don't have much of a defence, except that I've been very busy at work for reasons that I can now talk about: My employer has finally received all the confirmations...
Building a Media Centre
As anyone who takes even a cursory glance at this site will know, I've been critical of Windows Vista for a very long time ( way before it became fashionable to bash it! Who says I'm not a trendsetter?). With Service Pack One being released I...
Windows XP SP3 - What I've found so far
Just some quick notes on what I've noticed, or been told by people I trust, about XP SP3 so far. My own experiences are based on a clean install at home and a few test upgrades at work (ah the benefits of being paid to do R&D). What XP Service...
Windows XP SP3: Pretty damn good actually. Windows Live Installer: Sucks like a vacuum.
I was originally going to base the title on The Scorpions' " Rock You Like a Hurricane " but then I realised that "suck you" was open to all kinds of misinterpretation and wouldn't end well. Still on with what I really wanted...
You know what would be even faster?
I found this post on Lifehacker via Kurt Wismer , someone whose comments I've kept an eye on for since I started reading the alt.comp.virus newsgroup, which is quite a time ago now. Kurt seems to have the habit of annoying people by simply speaking...
Just because you're used to an abusive relationship, it doesn't make it OK.
I have to admit that some areas of the computer industry make me asahmed to be part of the IT profession at times. Take gaming - 1up.com's article on 5 botched game launches talks about Steam ... Yes, yes, we all love Steam now. By which we mean "It...
FDisk is back, now with a GUI interface.
Microsoft have released a new tool to render your Vista installation (even more) unusable and hence prod you into moving back to XP or buying a Mac. More info here . I'd love to give a serious review but the laptop we use at work to test Vista / simulate...
Internet Explorer 8 announced. No one appears to care.
So with great fanfare*cough*, Microsoft have announced the next version of their web browser , which will be Internet Explorer 8. Didn't see that one coming! Dean Hachamovitch, manager of the IE team, has some fun with 'alternative' names...
Waiting to switch...
Glenn Wolsey posted today about his experiences with migrating from a desktop machine to a MacBook Pro and how it's caused him to re-think his storage strategy. This got me thinking about my own computers and storage needs. I'm actually very happy...
I can has Leopard upgrade?
I'm sure it'll come as no shock to regular visitors here to learn that I've upgraded to Leopard today. Will it last as long as my Vista install? Place your bets now! The Leopard install took about 30 or 40 mins with the "archive"...
Vista sucks - officially!
Don't let the spin fool you. Microsoft have agreed to extend the "end of shelf-life" date for Windows XP for another 5 months because people are just not buying into Vista in the way they hoped. This is an embarassing climb-down for Microsoft...
Stupid Command Line tricks.
In the cases below I’m talking about commands that can either be run natively by the operating system, or (in the case of Windows at least) are available as free addons. Windows Remember that Windows commands are case INsensitive, e.g. "PING" and "ping...
Defrag (pt2) You can compare products - but not easily.
It seems to be some kind of universal rule that the moment I describe a post here as "Part One" intending it to start a series, something happens to drag my attention away or make the issue irrelevant *sigh*. Still after a long time waiting, this is part...
Can a Virus hurt you if it just gets downloaded to your computer?
This is another question I see get asked a lot around the place, so I'm posting my latest answer to this question here. Can someone tell me, if I download a zipped file which contains a virus and open this file then would my system would most likely become...
Upgraded my PC today...
After 6 months battling with Vista, I have finally come to the conclusion that Vista is, as they say , "teh suck". I came to this conclusion after Windows Installer died a horrible horrible death and I was unable to add or remove any programs from my...
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