Category Archives: Software reviews

Any software reviews will be placed in this category.

Web browsers… is there still one leader and one leader only?

The web browser “war” still rages on.

It’s been going on for years. What is the best web browser? I don’t think there will ever be a final decision, although I would think most people would agree that Firefox has to be the safest and easiest way to browse the web.

The dreaded Internet Explorer is still used by millions. The reason for this is that many people just don’t know about Firefox or other web browsers. They just stick to whatever comes on their Windows PC. I suppose, if you were a computer novice, you’d just do the easiest thing and stick to Internet Explorer. Such a shame… if you use IE, you don’t know what you are missing.

Firefox is still extremely popular. It’s got just what everybody wants. A reliable, safe, fast browser that can be customized beyond belief. It is an extremely good browser – I’m using it to write this post now. It does exactly what it claims it does. It is very easy to use, I can trust it for any online payments, and I can use a huge range of plugins to make it do whatever I want it to.

With new web browser, Google Chrome, has Firefox got a challenger? Well, it has got a range of clever features. For example the tab management is very good. Instead of using just one process to manage all of your tabs, it splits each tab into a different process. This means that if one tab crashes, you don’t have to close the whole browser. And it does this without becoming a RAM-hog. Add to that it’s lightning speed launch times and Glass design (in Vista Aero), it does add up to be a relatively good browser. Google does have work to do to it, I mean it does have problems. My biggest problem is that it just doesn’t render some pages properly, and it claims that some pages are unavailable when they aren’t really.

What about Apple Safari? Well that’s good too. It has its ups and downs. I would only use it on a Mac, since I’m not a fan of the Windows version. It just seems rather pointless in Windows when you could just use Firefox, which is much more reliable and usable.

Opera? No way. I’ve never liked Opera. Again, it comes down to the same thing – why have it when you can have Firefox which is much safer and reliable. I don’t like Opera’s interface, and overall I just think it’s a no-go.

So, if you want an answer. It still remains – there is only one leader – Firefox. It just can’t be beaten for its safety, reliability, speed, and customizability. And those, I think, are the four keys to a web browser. Maybe, one day, a browser may become as good or even better than Firefox, but I think you be safely assured that it’s not going to be anytime soon.

Windows Live Essentials 2009 Beta 2

Well Windows Live Essentials Beta 2 was released yesterday, at last. They’ve done a hell of a lot of work and so far it seems to have paid off.

Windows Live Messenger

They’ve changed the interface quite a lot. It’s a bit more user friendly now, and a few new visual effects make life easier. The pop-up alerts (eg for someone signing in) are now somewhat transparrent and look that little bit more classy. They’ve also made warnings such as “[contact] is Busy and may not reply” removable and the warnings only appear for a few seconds. That’s good thinking. On top of that it is generally a lot faster and it isn’t stamped with Beta everywhere anymore.

Windows Live Mail

Very much the same – upgraded, cleaner interface which is much easier to use. Few bug fixes and other niggly bits. They have replace ‘Send and Receive’ with ‘Sync’.

Other

The rest of the software suite has changed slightly. Overall, its cleaner and quicker making it much more user friendly and usable. 

If you’re using Beta 1 at the moment you should have already been alerted that beta 2 is out, but if not, grab it here: http://download.live.com/

Give it a go and post what you think in the now online comments section below.

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Beta first looks

After the beta of Vista Service Pack 2 was finally launched to the public, I decided to give it a try and see if there were any major improvements.

You can grab a download of SP2 beta for free from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/dd262148.aspx but its only recommended you do so if you are an experienced computer user.

I went ahead and downloaded it last night and the first thing that was a little annoying was that the file is getting on for 400mb and the install program has to download even more so if you are on tight bandwidth be careful. I, thankfully, checking the Fair Use Policy with my broadband provider and according to Tiscali I won’t have to worry if I’m not using in excess of 100gb per month which is miles off what I use. Anyhow, I downloaded the file and ran it.

It doesn’t require much of your attention. It first confirms you want to install and you have to accept terms, then it kicks off. Once it has downloaded a few files you have to confirm again that you want to install the serivce pack and then you just leave it to it.

However, it takes several hours to install the pack and on a 1GB memory laptop thats dual core I had to wait about 3 hours before the first PC restart. 

It hasn’t really changed very much since the install. Admittedly it is a little faster and there are a couple of minor upgrades in features but I wouldn’t say its something thats vital.

I dont think its worth bothering to upgrade, and I would wait until the final next year.

WordPress 2.7 Beta 1 Out – First test on GEEK!

I logged onto WordPress today to find they’ve launched a first beta of 2.7. So quick as I could, I prepped up a test install to see what its like.

So here is the first page, and it looks wonderful.

Well, first looks – I really like the new design. Looks much more organised and tells you a lot more than the previous version’s dashboards.

Windows 7… what do you think?

Well it’s been on the news recently that Windows 7 is beginning to get it’s first visual demos and it’s being shown around a little. And from what I’ve seen, it looks like it’s going to be really nice. The visual design of it looks much more homely, and it looks like Microsoft wants to work even further at making the computer be more of a household object.

If you haven’t heard much about the new Windows 7, this post on Neowin.net will help you catch up a little. I’ve also got a few screenshots here that give a vague idea of what it will look like.

 

Windows 7

Windows 7

 

The new start menu

The new start menu

Obviously, the design could change at any time so this is only a vague idea. But by the looks of it, it might be quite nice – although I don’t like the start bar at all at the moment, but its probably only a demo. 

Oh and a quick research says that it will be released anytime between the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010 – fat chance in my opinion but we’ll see. Remember how delayed Vista was?

Lets just hope they don’t make the same mistakes with Windows 7 that they did with Vista.