microsoft

Similar to ICQ and Yahoo Messenger , MSN Messenger is a chat program that allows you to interact with other people around the world. If my memory serves correct, ICQ is the "Grand Daddy" of all Windows-based chat programs with a graphical user ... interface (GUI), but MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger are gaining in popularity. Conveniently, MSN Messenger comes bundled with the Windows XP operating system. Wait a sec -- did I say that was 'convenient'? No it's not. Since I installed Windows XP, MSN Messenger has been in my face multiple times asking me if I want to sign up for an ... (view more)

As some of you may know, I recently installed Windows XP on my system. So far, not so good. My computer system has one of those cutting-edge video cards (NVidia GeForce 400 MX w/ 64 meg) that allows me to output the video to my monitor and my big ... screen TV. I use my DVD drive (inside the computer) to play videos on my TV. Yeah, it's a pretty sweet setup. I have the latest NVidia drivers (30.82) for my video card (for Windows 2000 / XP). When the driver is installed, I get a message that "this video driver has not been certified by Microsoft ... blah blah" warning. Basically, this ... (view more)

Do you trust Microsoft? Is Bill Gates the Antichrist? While a new computer user may not know a thing or two about Microsoft, its trustworthy practices, Bill Gates, and the Windows operating system -- the usual response from most experienced computer ... users is: "no way," and "yes!" I guess the first thing that comes to my mind regarding antitrust and Microsoft is the Netscape scandal: most people refer to it as the browser war . I suppose this antitrust scandal is most pertinent because of all the media attention it received at the time. It pretty much set the wave for other ... (view more)

Whether you know it or not, Microsoft has a previous track-history for releasing sub-standard software that is known to be less than computer-friendly. What do I mean by "less than computer friendly?" Quite simply: either there are lots of bugs ... present in Microsoft's software, or their software has been known to make systems run sluggish . The Story Recently, I was visiting my brother and decided to hop on his system and surf the Internet. His machine consists of Microsoft Windows 98, has 128 meg of RAM, and is powered by a Celeron 600 MHz processor. Certainly, this system is not ... (view more)

A few weeks ago, I was called to do an upgrade on an older, Pentium 200 (P200) MHz computer. The P200 was equipped with an old-style scanner that used a special interface. After a few years of good use, the scanner died and needed to be replaced. ... Since the Pentium 200 did not come equipped with a USB interface (universal serial bus), shopping for a new scanner was difficult. The options were to buy an old-style scanner which used the Parallel Port (Printer Port) as its interface - but this was not a viable option because it was extremely slow and would not meet the demand in an office ... (view more)

I've been diddling around with Windows XP now and again on my system. My first take on Windows XP was "wow, this looks really different", but then quickly realized that different is not necessarily good. All the die-hard Windows users will find that ... they will spend much of their first hours of using Windows XP in order to re-orient themselves with the new interface. But fear not, Windows XP can be configured to look like its predecessors if you're resistant to Microsoft's monopolizing change. The biggest issue I have with any new Microsoft Operating System (OS) -- specifically ... (view more)