Norton AntiVirus 2011 - first impressions

If you know me, I've been a faithful Norton AntiVirus (NAV) user for quite a long time. I wasn't particularly crazy over NAV a few years back, but in recent years, NAV has dramatically improved and today, it is, IMHO, one of the best antivirus solutions out there.

As part of my subscription, Norton offered me a free upgrade to the latest 2011 version. I installed it without hesitation, and I'm bursting with excitement to share my first impressions with you, because good has become even better.

Firstly, installation was lightning fast - super easy and fuss-free. After a reboot and an activation screen, NAV is setup and ready to use.

Norton AntiVirus 2011 main screen

This is the home interface for NAV 2011. I think it's comprehensive without being too intimidating. New in this version is a map which shows worldwide cyber crime activity for the past 24 hours. Cool. Only gripe with this new UI is that the system status at the top could be more prominent.

NAV sidebar gadget (top)

Norton also provides a sidebar gadget for Windows, which shows you at a glance your system status, and provides two buttons below - one to launch NAV with the Activity Map, and the other with Norton's online backup.

Performance

NAV, back in the XP-era, always had a reputation of being big, intrusive, bloated and a memory hog.  But with this version, I can confidently say it's far from that.  NAV 2011 is a full-featured antivirus software which doesn't compromise on performance.  It is blazing fast, lightweight, and doesn't slow down your system.  Everything feels snappy.  LiveUpdate works fast, the main screen is almost instant start-up, and scan times are the BEST I've seen from any security software.  Doing a quickscan (after running Norton Insight once) only took me 15 seconds.  Mind-blowing!

NAV's performance screen - allows you to see how much resources its sapping up

Security

I don't have scientific test results to convince you, but I'd say that Norton AntiVirus is very effective, both in protecting you from threats and removing them.  Ever since I've used Norton, not a single threat went unnoticed - even those minor tracing cookies gets picked up in scans.  And ever since I've used Norton, my computer has not been infected with any malware.  That's all I can say - it is pretty darn good.  Provided, of course, you update virus definitions.

Norton Facebook wall scan

New in this version are also two new type of scans you could perform - one is a reputation scan (checks the trust level, age and prevalence of programs and processes on your computer) and the other one - now this is interesting - is a Facebook wall scan, which scans your facebook wall for potentially dangerous website links.  Very innovative. 


Customisation

Settings panel

At first look, the settings panel is intimidating.  There's so many things for the user to tweak, so many options and settings.  The one I'd recommend to adjust is to turn on Microsoft Office Auto Scan.  You could slowly ploy through the other options and adjust them as you please.  If not, the defaults are fine.

Norton Insight

Norton Insight

So how does Norton accomplish it? A full-featured solution without the bulk and the heft? It's every security company's dream right? This is where the intelligence lies - Norton Insight.  What Insight does is to scan your computer processes against Norton's list of safe processes.  Once it has been trusted by Norton, any subsequent computer scans performed will skip through scanning those processes, thus achieving quick scan-times.  Very smart, and works extremely well.

Conclusion

This is just my first impressions of NAV.  If you're the kinda guy who will only be convinced by charts, graphs and numbers, Google for another review.  But if you're a normal home-user like me, and you're looking for a standard anti-virus software for PC protection, hands-down, I'd recommend Norton AntiVirus 2011.  It is excellent in almost every aspect. 

If money's an issue though, you could also consider the free and excellent Microsoft Security Essentials.  It's good, but not quite up-to-par with Norton.

Microsoft Security Essentials review: good enough?

When Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) first launched, I wrote a post about how this could spell doom for security software companies like Norton, but I also expressed my apprehension about free anti-virus software. I mean, Microsoft states it clearly that it is essentials. So is this a good enough anti-malware solution for home users?

I've been using MSE as my sole anti-virus software for three months now on two Windows laptops. One is running Vista business, the other is a netbook with 7 Starter. Before that, I was using Norton products, but when my subscription expired, I figured out that renewing was costly and so decided to give MSE a chance. (By the way, I'm still a big Norton fan.)

So can MSE replace Norton Anti-virus?

If you don't want to read through the rest, the short and simple answer is YES.

MSE indeed lives up to its promise of being a lightweight, hassle-free, top-notch anti-malware software. I don't know if this brings you any assurance, but at least I felt more secure knowing that MSE is based on the same protection technologies as Microsoft Forefront.

Microsoft Security Essentials main console

The installation was fuss-free and quick. Once installed, Windows Defender gets disabled, which is only natural since MSE is a superset of Defender. MSE's user interface is spartan, but extremely clear and well-organised. At one look you'll know if your system is healthy or not. Green means good, red means bad, yellow means at risk... couldn't be more straightforward.

Virus definition updating takes place either within the MSE console, or via Windows Update. You can update manually, or MSE will do it automatically in the background. There are new definitions released daily. It is really unobtrusive - no funny pop-up messages and what not - it just works.

Now the big question on every user's mind: is MSE effective in malware protection?

This I can't speak with authority, because everyone's mileage will vary. But I will say this: if you're a cautious user like me, then MSE is sufficient to keep you protected real-time from all the threats like worms, viruses, spyware, trojans etc.

Of course this gets tricky because 'cautious' is subjective and hard to define. What I mean by cautious includes not surfing dangerous websites, scanning files on download, running only programs you trust, scanning removable media before opening, doing weekly scans and so forth. If you're a careful computer user, and you don't intentionally do stuff that could harm your system, then MSE will keep you safe. But if you purposely visit malicious sites, install suspicious software, then I can't say with certainty MSE will protect you because I haven't been in that situation before.

All I can say is that in the three months, I have had zero virus attacks/infections using MSE as my only anti-virus. So to me, MSE is as good as Norton in protecting me from threats. Just today I plugged my friend's infected thumb drive into my computer, and immediately, MSE alerted me about the trojan before it even opened the contents. So from that one experience I can say real-time protection does work.

But surely MSE isn't perfect. There are areas which I felt could improve. Firstly, the scan times are quite long. I'm used to the super-quick quick scans from Norton products, so in comparison MSE's quick scan is noticeably longer. Also, full system scans may take anywhere between 1-2 hours depending your computer. It's a really long wait.

So to conclude, if you can't afford or don't want to pay for Norton anti-virus or similar products, I can safely recommend MSE to you and I'm sure it will keep your system safe and running. But of course if money is no issue then go get Norton, because Norton does have a few advantages and extra features. The real question is if these extras (like Norton file insight etc) are worth the money. That's only for you to decide. My advice is to first try out MSE, and if it isn't good enough then buy Norton. If it is, and for most people it will be, then keep on using MSE because it never expires!

It's hard to come across such good software. Microsoft has got anti-virus right. It's free, small, light and good. I never thought this day would come.

iPad quick thoughts

The Apple iPad is a device which bridges the gap between the iPhone and a laptop. In many ways it's a glorified iPod touch. I think it's way too early to judge if the iPad is a success or not. I don't know if it will be a game changer. All we can do is wait and see first.

As of now, if you're entertaining the notion of purchasing this at first launch (i.e. 2 months from now), I discourage you from doing so. Clearly, this is still a version 1.0 product that needs refining. We aren't even sure if we really need it. I'm not sure if I could actually use this as a netbook replacement. After all, there's no flash support, no multi-tasking, web cam... yada yada.

As much as Apple calls it a new class of device, the truth is that the iPad will compete head on with the saturated netbook market. The iPad's aggressive pricing implies this. So the first question that I ask is whether the iPad can do what most people do on netbooks. Now as much as Apple says netbooks suck/is not the solution, the truth is that it is wildly successful, and because of its success surely the netbook can't be all wrong. It is successful because it offers full laptop capabilities in a cheap and compact form-factor. In my view, if the iPad is going to be a huge success like the iPhone was, it has to do what the netbook does, and do it 10 times better. If not, then I think it makes little sense for people to get the iPad in addition to a netbook. It just complicates life to have to manage another device.

So to me the real question is this: can the iPad replace a netbook? If no, then I won't get it. I don't want to be managing my iPhone, netbook, laptop AND my iPad. It's just too much technology for me.

Apple unlikely to do a netbook

Will Apple be launching a new netbook soon? I mean, almost every major computer manufacturer has one in its line-up. HP has the Mini 1000, Asus has the Eee PC, Acer has the Aspire One, Lenovo has the S10, Dell has the Mini 9, MSI has the Wind... you get the idea. Netbooks are the hottest computing trend now.

Sad to say, Apple is unlikely to jump on the bandwagon soon. It will not be releasing a MacBook mini or a netbook similar to what's on the market now.

Why is this so? Tim Cook, chief operating officer of Apple, said at a recent financial results conference call that "we're watching that space, but from our [point of view] the products are based on hardware that's much less powerful, software technology that's not good, cramped displays. We don't think that people are going to be pleased with those type of products. It's a category we watch, we have some ideas here, but we think the products there now are inferior and won't provide the kind of experience people want."

There you go, question answered. I don't think we will see any low-cost, mini laptop from Apple this year!

Darn!

Now my younger sister has a faster, cooler laptop than me!

Vista and RAM

Here's a quick update on my experience with the Toshiba Satellite Pro L300 after a month. It's a fine laptop... not perfect, but for its low asking price, it's hard to complain. In my usage I found that the screen could be sturdier, the battery life better, and the system, faster.

It came with 1GB RAM, and that's anything but enough for Vista.


I bought a 2GB SD card and used it for ReadyBoost, which didn't give dramatic performance improvements, and also upgrade to 2GB RAM, which gave an INSTANT, noticeable performance hike. It also did push the WEI sub-score for RAM from 4.5 to 4.8, and the graphics sub-score from 3.0 to 3.5. Still, I hesitate running Aero on such laptops.


With 2GB RAM, Vista now breathes much better, and finally I can really multi-task reasonably OK (like running Photoshop, iTunes and Office simultaneously). Lesson learnt: if you're running Vista, you would want to have AT LEAST 2GB RAM!

Apple Notebook Event - Summary

Image from Apple

On the 14 October, as anticipated by rumour websites, Apple held a small event at Cupertino to unveil their next generation of notebook computers. These new notebooks are mind blowing... but boy I wasn't at all surprised, because the rumours were dead accurate and I knew so much prior to the event! These days the rumour mill is so unbelievably accurate that it destroys the excitement when the product actually launches... it was the same for the iPod event.

But as suspiciously accurate as the rumours were, not all rumours came true. Apple did not release a tablet notebook, and neither did they decide to venture into the hot netbook market. But hey it's not as if I really expected them to... for the longest time ever there were rumours of a tablet, but time and time again this rumour proves to be just baloney.

So Apple introduced a new MacBook and MacBook Pro and gave hardware upgrades to the MacBook air.

The event started off with Mr Tim Cook's presentation on 'State of the Mac', giving a general overview of the Mac's incredible uptake rate and crazy-good sales. He reported that with several quarters in a row, Apple grew above market rate by two to three times.

Accounting for this trend, he cites a few reasons (not all I agree with). Firstly, this is because Apple makes superior computers and software, like Leopard, iLife and iWork. That's fine, I believe that. Then he mentions running Windows on the Mac via Bootcamp as another compelling reason why people switch. This I fully agree... having the option of Windows and Mac running on a same machine and thus eliminating compatibility concerns is in my opinion THE MOST crucial reason why people are convinced to switch.

After that, Cook mentions something which I feel strongly for. He says that Vista's inferiority to OS X is yet another reason why people move away from PCs to Macs, and goes on insinuating that OS X is miles ahead of Vista, and Vista did not live up to Microsoft's expectations. If you ask me, I tell you this is nonsense. Cook's statement is the typical response of Mac fanboys, ridiculing Vista just because they worship Apple and hate Microsoft. Vista is not selling well, yes that's a fact, but NOT because it is inferior to OS X, but because Apple's "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ads give consumers a false negative impression of Vista, thus users shun it. Like I've written, Vista is superb. It's not because Vista sucks, but because people perceive it sucks and hence want to switch to a Mac.

Ok enough of that. After 'State of the Mac' followed an interesting presentation on new ways of manufacturing notebooks. This new manufacturing process was first seen in the MacBook Air with its precision aluminium unibody enclousure, ensuring a robust, sturdy yet lightweight chassis. Basically, the body is carved out of a single block of high quality aluminium. Then, Jobs returned on stage to introduce the laptops proper. To cut it short, these are the new changes:

MacBook Pro 15-inch

Image from Apple

1) New precision aluminium unibody enclosure, which saves half the structural parts as compared to the previous model. Jobs passed around the unibody to the audience and allowed them to feel how sturdy it is for themselves.

Image from Apple

2) A wonderfully bright 15-inch LED backlit display, which is instant-on and saves more power than normal displays. Colours are also more punchy, and the screen is all-glass, extending to the edges, taking after the iMac's design.

3) A new multi-touch glass trackpad, which has 39% larger tracking area than the old model. The click button has been eliminated, and now the entire trackpad is the button and is clickable. Also, some new multi-touch gestures were introduced. For example, swiping four fingers down on the trackpad will activate expose.

4) Screaming fast but more expensive DDR3 RAM.

5) Now just 0.95 inches thin.

6) Solid State Drives (SSDs) now come as an option on the MacBook Pro, and capacity has been bumped up to 128GB. Clearly this trend of SSDs over spinning hard drives are spilling beyond netbooks and ultra-portables, to the high-end notebooks too.

7) 802.11n Wi-Fi technology with bluetooth 2.1 and EDR. Comes as no surprise to me.

8) New mini display port connector which will drive 30-inch displays.

9) New graphics chipset! It will feature dual graphics - the more powerful but battery draining Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics (512MB), or the less powerful but more battery friendly GeForce 9400M integrated graphics.

MacBook Air

Image from Apple

The MacBook Air is Apple's ultra-portable laptop, and this time, the changes made were purely under-the-hood. The new Air will have a larger hard drive at 120GB, or an optional 128GB SSD. It will also use the new DDR3 RAM, and the same mini display port found on the MacBook Pro. But the most significant upgrade is the graphics. It will use the GeForce 9400M to provide 4X faster graphics than the previous model.

MacBook

Image from Apple

"The MacBook is the best selling Mac, ever." This was what Jobs said, and it comes as no surprise. The MacBook is an awesome machine, and now, Apple has reduced the price of the white plastic MacBook to only S$1588. (I feel it could have been much cheaper though.)

But the real news is that selling alongside this white MacBook is a totally new aluminium MacBook, featuring the same uni-body design with the MacBook Pro. It will feature a 13.3-inch LED backlit display for the first time, with the same button-less multi-touch trackpad, mini display port, DDR3 memory, and new GeForce 9400M graphics chipset.

Available in 2 models (2.0GHz and 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo), the high-end model will even have a backlit keyboard. One can also opt for the SSD option. Prices are steep though, starting at S$2088, but still reasonable considering the new features.

All in all, if you have been looking for a Mac notebook, now is the opportune moment to get one. Their laptops have reached such a high level of quality and perfection, it is really a class above the rest. Still, you might find them lacking in certain minor areas, such as having only 2 USB ports, and no card reader at all. Once you look past these small disappointments, you will realise that this is one incredible, durable machine that's above the competition.

Toshiba Satellite Pro L300 first looks

As part of my team's win in the international ThinkQuest website design competition, we each received a laptop from Oracle! This 700USD laptop is a Toshiba Satellite Pro L300, a 15.4 inch widescreen business machine.


The model name is a bit of a misnomer... although is says 'pro', the truth is this is a simple, no frills, budget notebook. But don't get me wrong, the L300 is an affordable and serious machine with respectable features for its price.

But first, this is how it looks: grey lid, un-funky colours, very typical business laptop...












The L300 retails with a variety of technical configurations, including an AMD version (yuck) and the normal Intel chips. My model is an Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.0GHz, with a standard 1GB 667MHz RAM, standard 160GB 5400rpm HDD, and lousy integrated graphics that I can't even remember.

On the Windows Experience Index, the L300 had a (pathetic) lowest subscore of 3.0, thanks to the graphics chipset which won't run Aero well. The harddisk yielded the best subscore of 5.2, while processor got a 4.9. I'll be upgrading this thing to 3GB RAM soon; 1GB is anything but sufficient.

Nonetheless, there are some positive things about this machine. Firstly, the 15.4 inch widescreen is one of the better ones I've seen for this price range. It's big, bright and clear, making it absolutely gorgeous to view photos. There is also a SD/memory stick card slot in front! And it is blessed with 3 USB ports, a well designed keyboard and a DVD RW drive.

Battery life is average at around 3 hours, and so is its weight. While it doesn't feel heavy like stone, it is not very light either. You wouldn't want to use this as a mobile road warrior, as it is quite big in size, but I can imagine this on the office table for general usage. When I start to nitpick, I would wish this was much thinner, the screen less thick, and the mouse button less stiff. Other than that, this is your standard laptop but with solid construction, good ergonomics and some very useful features.



On the software side, this L300 came pre-installed with Vista Business edition, which is the right way to go. Although Toshiba offers an XP Pro version, I think Vista is the future and everyone should run Vista. It's more secure, has more functionality, and from an aesthetics standpoint, more eye-candy.

What I wasn't too pleased about was the preloaded junk programs. The Toshiba DVD software stuff is fine, but what isn't fine is Picasa 2 photo editing software (I'll never use that), the Google Desktop search and toolbar in IE, and some other crap that I can't remember. This is bad... these unnecessary software clutter up the machine, take up disk space, slow down performance, and I won't use those programs!! It also does come with Norton 360 60 day trial, which is more acceptable since I'd want to use that, and also Office 07, which is fine too, but apart from that, the other bloatware isn't acceptable! Toshiba should learn from Sony and allow customers to opt out of these software and just have the OS installed.

You might feel differently about the extra software, and you may like it for the added functionality out of the box, but not for me. I like to install what I want to use. But overall, this is a truly utilitarian laptop, not outstanding but gets the job done. And for the low asking price, this is perhaps one of the better 15 inch widescreen business notebooks around.

Strictly NOT for gaming!

Vista reliability monitor: all time high!

Check this out! The reliability score of my Vista system is at an all time high of 9.96! Almost perfect score if I keep this up for a few days more... hmm wonder if it will ever hit 10.00? :P


Well, for those who don't know what I'm referring to, Windows Vista has this application 'Reliability and Performance Monitor' which will keep track of how healthy your system is based on performance counters, event trace data and configuration information. It also considers errors such as application failures, hardware failures etc.

When you first install Vista, the score is a perfect 10, then depending on how many subsequent errors there are, the score fluctuates. A long period of healthy performance would give you a higher score and vice versa... it's one of those cool things in Vista that's just plain fun to look at. Btw, I don't know anyone with as high a score as mine!

Update (16 Aug): My reliability index has hit 10.00!

Eee PC 4G: hands-on

The recent trend in mobile computing is to create affordable, portable, and somewhat underpowered ultra mobile PCs (UMPCs). Asus was one of the first to launch a cheap UMPC which sold like hotcakes, and that is none other than the well-known Eee PC.

It has already been on the market for a while, and there are new competing machines such as the HP Mini-note, which is a great road warrior btw. I have been playing with the 7-inch Eee PC in stores before, but today I had the chance to physically interact with it at home for a while. My dad's friend just got a 4G version, and so I explored it. :)


This machine runs on Linux, and uses software such as OpenOffice, SMPlayer and Firefox as alternatives to Office, WMP or IE on Windows respectively.

It costs around S$400, so quality isn't top notch. It is worth your every cent though, despite how 'toy-ish' it feels. It is a no-frills, simple to use, straightforward machine with emphasis on the Internet (web 2.0 stuff such as Google Docs) and also on education (there is a dictionary and periodic table pre-installed).


Extremely portable, the Eee PC is an ideal choice for students, or for casual web-surfing and presentations to clients. I like the 3 USB and VGA ports, but don't quite like the small low-res 7-inch screen. Of course there is the bigger 9 inch model, which promises more screen space. This Eee PC runs on 512 MB RAM, but it feels snappy.


There is plenty of simple games installed too, but too kiddish for adults. This is a potato game that Shawn really enjoyed:


And that's Shawn posing with the 'Penguin Racer' game on screen, which is a lot of fun too!


However, no computer is ever perfect. What I don't quite like is the stiff mouse button, the small trackpad, the small 'backspace' key which I always miss... and to nick-pick, the hinge is a tad too stiff.

Overall, highly recommended as a secondary laptop. Verdict: 4/5

Advantages: very affordable, portable and light. Performs acceptably well and has a neat and user-friendly interface. Also has a handy black casing which fits the Eee PC snugly.

Disadvantages: Screen too small and 4GB flash drive is pathetic (can slot in an SD card to solve that).

The philosophy behind data backup

There is no denial that today we use computers more than ever. Not just one machine, but many times, multiple machines. Personally, I have one family desktop and in my room I have another laptop. In a few months time yet another laptop will be arriving. Therefore, increasingly, one finds it a challenge to manage data across multiple computers. Furthermore, it is common to own a few thumbdrives and harddrives to add to the arsenal of data storage devices.

With so much data accumulated in so many different physical locations, managing and organising them in a central location then becomes an administrative nightmare most will face in time to come. I don't know about you, but I'm facing this issue. This makes data backup very tough because it's hard to account for all the files, i.e. which ones are duplicates, or which are newer versions as they are scattered all over.

But backup, as complex as it seems, is actually quite clear-cut. Or at least, the philosophy behind the management of your documents should be as simple as this: A file only exists when it exists in two or more separate physical locations.

This is the reason for backup. One can only guarantee that a document is truly safe when it exists in another storage device. This is because harddrives do fail, and the more we come into contact with them, the higher the probability that they will malfunction. So always backup your data, and until you do that, none of your data really exists because they can be gone anytime during a crash or virus attack.

So how do I ensure everything is foolproof, and that data exists in more than two locations? The strategy is to backup the backup. Get TWO huge harddrives, probably around 500GB. Use one to backup all your data (either manually or using software such as Time Machine), then copy all that exists on that first drive into the second one. In other words, mirror that first drive. Lastly, bring that second drive and store it out of your house (maybe at grandparent's place or at office). You never know when your house will be burned down by fire, or when there will be an earthquake. At least when that happens and your house becomes reduced to rubble, you know that your precious data will still be safe in another location, and that's key.

Another way to bring that data out of your house is to store it up in the cloud. This means uploading stuff to online data storage services such that they are independent of any physical harddrive. It's all stored online in the servers of that company. Examples are Windows Live Skydrive, Amazon's S3 service and Apple's iDisk. Most are paid services however.

In today's digital world, your data is about as precious as your life. All your photos, music, documents, videos ARE what you want to preserve, so do backup today keeping in mind this philosophy. You will feel more secure!

Survey Results: The Vista & XP conundrum

Windows Vista has been around for quite some time already. Having turned one year old, and into its first service pack, it cannot be considered as 'the new kid on the block'. Many new computers come with Vista pre-installed. I think it's a stellar operating system, but a large portion of people believe otherwise, thinking that XP is still a wiser choice.

I've written about this before, saying that it is frightening how people don't want to move on to Vista but cling tightly to XP. I said I found this trend puzzling and disconcerting, that people would actually find a dated OS more attractive than a fresh revolutionary version of Windows. Tech journalist Paul Thurrott gave his view on this problem and explained why.

In my attempt to seek first-hand answers, I decided to conduct an online survey on my friends to find out why exactly.

The survey was hosted on freeonlinesurveys.com, and most of the respondents were young people who typically use a computer on a daily basis, for school work, entertainment, online chatting, internet etc. Thus it is appropriate to survey this target audience to find out their thinking behind the choice of operating system for home use specifically, be it XP or Vista. A big thank you to all those participants, your effort was helping in allowing me to gain insight on this issue.

Analysis of Questions

Question 1:
I started with a non-intimidating question. What is the primary operating system your home computer runs on? The purpose of this is to see how popular Vista is in the Singapore market, and also, as a side aim, to see how much market share the Mac has. I was expecting the majority to be still using XP, and I was dead right.


68% of respondents run XP, while only a pathetic 16% use Vista. Clearly, XP is ubiquitous. On the Mac, things are equally bleak, but interesting: the total number of Mac users equal that of Vista users. Could this signify that Mac is gaining market share? I think so. I know of many friends who bought a Mac within this year; it's crazily popular.

Implication:
Vista is obviously not very sellable and appealing to customers, and this should worry Microsoft that Vista is not selling as well as planned. Although one could argue that it doesn't matter, as long as people buy a Windows license and Microsoft earns the buck, it's OK if they are not getting Vista. However, that isn't completely valid. By not getting Vista, customers are not "sold on the company's technological vision, and they're no longer lining up as Microsoft tries to lead them to the future", in the words of Thurrott. Thus there is a need for more marketing/positive publicity for users to be convinced to upgrade.

Question 2:
If you must choose between Windows XP or Vista, which would you prefer to run on your computer?


I expected the results to show a bias towards XP, since I have read that many detest Vista and therefore wouldn't choose to run it on PCs. However, it turned out to be a draw, or almost. Vista won by a mere 4%. Nevertheless, this trend is worrying as there is no widespread adoption of Vista, even one year after release.

Implication:
This is not the ideal situation that we should see. Ideally, if Vista was more successful, almost everyone should choose it over XP, but clearly this isn't the case. As with question 1, this shows that there is a problem with Vista such that customers do not find it favorable to use on a daily basis.

Question 3:
On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate Windows Vista in general?


The reactions to this question are widespread and not clearcut. There are 2 people who think Vista is absolute baloney, some thinking that it's average, some above average, and one respondent thinks it is flawless and deserves full score. However, the bulk responded by giving a score between 5 to 7, meaning average to good.

Implication:
This question was tough to evaluate, so I concluded that opinions are mixed, but the majority of people perceive Vista to be average to good, as opposed to exceptional. I guess this could be the reason for the slow adoption rates, as people don't recognise the brilliance of Vista.

Furthermore, XP service pack 3 will be released, and many Vista features were brought down to run on XP (e.g. Office 07, Windows Defender, Windows Presentation Foundation, .NET 3.x), meaning that XP is still not that bad an alternative and it seems logical to stick with it. In this respect you could argue that the failure of Vista is Microsoft's own-doing, and I would agree. But to add on, Microsoft has to do this as many businesses still rely on XP, and small portable under-powered laptops still utilise XP, hence there is a demand for increased support that Microsoft has to address.

Question 4:
Are you aware of the release of Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista? The purpose of this question is to gather the level of awareness the public has regarding this release.


Apparently, 64% indicated that they aren't aware of SP1, and thus I would assume they also do not know what it is about. Only 36% have heard of SP1. This is acceptable as most aren't tech savvy enough to be concerned with tech news.

Implication:
There's not much to conclude from this. I mean, the only group of people this affects are the minority of Vista users, and even so, it would most probably have downloaded and installed on their machines automatically via Windows Update in a non intrusive manner. So it is possible that people have updated Vista without even knowing what the update entails or what it is.

Question 5:
Do you think that Service Pack 1 has made Vista a more viable operating system than before? This has to do with the mentally that an OS is only 'usable' and 'stable' after the release of its first service pack (which btw surely isn't the case for Vista).


55.6% think that SP1 has made Vista better, while 44.4% disagree.

Implication:
According to Microsoft, the release of SP1 shouldn't change the 'Vista value equation', meaning that SP1 should not make extensive changes to Vista such that the user experience is dramatically better. SP1 contains security updates and system performance improvements, amongst other minor changes like how Windows Genuine Advantage works and how file search functions. However, there are no significant changes made and Vista with or without SP1 is still largely the same.

Therefore, SP1 has definitely made Vista more viable, but in truth, not exceptionally viable. Just a little bit more viable.

Question 6:
Focusing specifically on Vista users, I proceeded to ask: Do you regret choosing to run Windows Vista? This is to see if Vista is truly that inferior compared to XP.


The response elicited is very encouraging and assuring that I'm not the only weirdo who thinks that Vista is good. 71.4% indicated no regret in choosing Vista, while 28.6% felt that they made a wrong decision.

Implication:
This goes to show that although few use Vista, but those who use it mostly like it and are not disappointed with it.

Question 7:
If you regret choosing Vista (i.e. answer YES to question 6), why? For the minority who regretted Vista, I wanted to know what was the reason.


Out of the respondents who disliked Vista, they said that Vista is laggy and runs slowly on their computer, and hangs often. Also, it is incompatible with games, software and hardware. Lastly, it is 'bloated' with unnecessary software.

Implication:
This is where the survey gets interesting. Let's address the first complain of laggy performance. Basically, if you have capable hardware, you shouldn't face this issue, but if you run on old hardware, or did an upgrade from an XP-era machine, then it isn't shocking to find that Vista runs less than optimally. Therefore my only response to this is: for any OS, do make sure you have a good hardware configuration and CPU power before running the OS, otherwise it will surely be laggy.

The second issue is that of compatibility, which I hear so so often, it's frustrating. To claim that Vista is incompatible with many software is complete nonsense. In fact, compatibility on Vista is so much better than on XP when it was initially launched. Most major programs work fine, such as Firefox, Office, Photoshop, iTunes etc. When it comes to games, however, I'm uncertain as I do not play games to know if this is a problem. Hardware wise, it is also very much a non-issue as long as you do not have extremely dated hardware. New drivers have been issued for download which has increased compatibility greatly.

The last issue is that of unnecessary features. By this, I assume people are also referring to the excessive eye-candy and animations in the Aero interface. This is a funny problem: in XP people complained that it lacked features, yet when Microsoft increased the feature-set in Vista by adding in things like the Sidebar, 3D flip, Windows Meeting Space, DVD Maker, Mail etc., people complain that it is bloated. So it appears that it is hard to please the customer whatever Microsoft does. It seems to me that people are just getting back at Microsoft any way possible.

Question 8:
For existing XP users: Why won't you upgrade your computer to Windows Vista, or buy a new computer with Vista installed?


This is perhaps the most important question in the entire survey, as it tackles the root of the conundrum: why are users so comfortable with XP such that they will not upgrade to Vista? The results confirm my initial speculation, and also Thurrott's theories: that people avoid the upgrade as they are contented and satisfied with XP and see no urgent need for Vista. This is the single most outstanding reason!

Apart from that, the number two reason is that these XP users have read negative reviews of Vista and have influenced them to believe that Vista sucks. Other reasons for not upgrading is due to the perceived compatibility issues, and the fact that Vista runs slower than XP on an equivalent hardware configuration.

Implication:
Why people aren't upgrading is more of an issue of human nature rather than anything else. Because people have been sticking with XP for so long, they get contented with it and will not throw it away just yet. It's back to the analogy of the 'old sweatshirt' that Thurrott describes, and boy is it true! The saying goes that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Similarly, if XP has no big flaws, then continue using it. Now that some Vista features have been ported down to XP, there are not many compelling reasons to upgrade. The only reasons I can think of now is because of Instant Search, improved security (UAC) and the fanciful Aero interface.

But nonetheless, Vista is superb, and if you're getting a new desktop/laptop, try to run Vista (on capable hardware) and I'll assure that you'll like it!

Let's move on: Vista SP1

To me, it's surprising how so many people don't like Vista. I was at a bookstore last Sunday, and a quick read at the content of computer magazines showed a similar and worrying trend that claim Vista to be lousy, buggy, and a memory-hog. Many of these magazines do not do justice to the amount of effort the Vista team has put in, and definitely do not portray Vista accurately. They all claim that Vista is slow and requires expensive hardware to run well, that it is buggy and unreliable, that UAC sucks, and that it is inferior to XP.

Yes, Vista might run slower, that's true. But hey, when XP first released, wasn't that what people said about XP over Windows 2000? I mean, we can only expect each successive OS to run on more demanding hardware than before. How can a new OS, with more advanced features and UI, run better on slower hardware than it's predecessor? It doesn't make sense. Furthermore, what these magazines and articles miss out is the fact that you're trading the slower performance for more security, a better looking interface (Aero), and new features, such as Instant Search. To me, it's a fair trade-off. Vista is indeed more secure than any other version of Windows. I don't know how to put it, but it's frustrating how people simply dismiss Vista saying that it is worse than XP. Even close friends of mine are sticking with XP, and that baffles me. For me, I use Vista because it's the future of Windows. XP was the past, and it's no good clinging onto something so dated. It's high time for us to move on and adopt Vista. It's the best version of Windows yet I believe.

But why aren't people moving on? Paul Thurrott alludes XP to a comfortable but dirty old sweatshirt that you've been wearing for years. You know it's old, but yet you aren't willing to throw it away because you're too attached to it. And that's the biggest problem with Vista: they delayed it too much, in an attempt to release a polished OS, such that people get too familiar with XP and they become contented with it.

Well, now that SP1 is out, it may be time to reevaluate your stand. I've been playing around with SP1 recently, it doesn't offer significant visual improvements, but improves performance such as time taken to move files etc.

Let's move on. Vista is the future of computing, not XP.

Turning junk into good use

Before I got the new iMac, I was using a HP desktop with a 15-inch LCD display. But now that the HP is no longer in use, the display has been sitting in a corner collecting dust, until today.

I should have thought of it earlier, but somehow the idea didn't hit me that I could use the old 15" display together with the iMac for an extended desktop experience, meaning, dual display.

Setting it up was easy. After messing around with some cables, this is how my computer table-top looks like:


So this is how it works. The iMac has a Mini-DVI video-out port. I borrowed my dad's DVI to VGA adapter for his MacBook, and used it to hook up the 15" display. Then, under System Preferences, I arranged the monitors such that dragging any windows out of the iMac's screen to the left would result in that window appearing on the other display.

Only a few people would realise how useful this dual display configuration is. It's like having two computers and one CPU. It is beneficial when using software such as photoshop, where I move all my toolbars on the other monitor so that there is space to work on whatever photo I'm editing. It's useful when you're checking mail and working on a document at the same time. Just shift the web browser window over to the other monitor so that the word doc can occupy the iMac screen. I can see so many reason why I could use this extended screen experience.

And I'm turning junk into good use! My only complain: placing a 15" beside a 20" is like David versus Goliath. It looks weird!

iMac finally here

Finally, after about 2 weeks of patient awaiting, my family computer, a 20-inch iMac, arrived yesterday morning. It takes the place of a 4.25 year old HP desktop, and proudly I must add.

Haven't really set it up yet, still have to install Photoshop and other essential apps. It is dual-booting Windows Vista Home Premium via Boot Camp. The work I have to do on Vista is more than on Leopard. Have to install Norton, Photoshop, connect to Internet, get Windows Updates, get SP1 (maybe?)... just time consuming stuff.

Will properly review this new guy when I have the time, probably next week or so, and also upload more pictures. But initial impressions are good. It is blazing fast, screen is gorgeous and very compact indeed. Being an all-in-one desktop sure saves space. Cables are also very few, avoiding the usual clutter of wires. In fact, it is just one wire from the iMac to main power supply, then another USB cable from iMac to keyboard, and mouse is wireless. There's another USB from iMac to printer, and the printer is then connected via a thick cable to main power. That's about it. Extremely neat and tidy.

For technical specs and stuff, wait for the full review.

Apple gone crazy over product updates

In this month of Feb, Apple has extensively updated many of their products, but with minor changes. It's a little hard to keep track because there are simply so many small improvements made. I've decided to compile the changes here:

So here goes:
1) 32GB iPod touch (S$848, which is preposterously priced)
2) 16GB iPhone
3) iPhone and iPod touch firmware 1.1.4 (probably in preparation for the SDK, which is going to be late)
4) 1GB iPod shuffle price drop to US$49
5) 2GB iPod shuffle introduced (US$69)
6) Aperture 2 (Apple's take on Lightroom)
7) MacBook updates (Processor, hard drives, RAM, Wi-Fi)
8) MacBook Pro updates (Processor, hard drives, RAM, supports multi-touch trackpad gestures, Wi-Fi)
9) iPhoto photobooks now available in Singapore!

That's a very busy month for Apple. Tell me if I'm missing out anything.

These few days my 4 year old HP PC is giving me problems again. It's very highly possible that I might get an iMac anytime within the next month, after I've made a few decisions.

1) To dual-boot XP or Vista?
2) What anti-virus to run on my Mac?
3) Should I max the RAM at 4GB or upgrade to 2?
4) Should I run Ubuntu on that old PC?
5) To purchase Office for Mac 2008 or use the 2004 version I'm currently using?
6) Will my hardware work with my new system?
7) Is 500GB HDD enough or should I pump it up to 750?

Ok ok too many questions that I will answer soon as I ponder over it... But clearly, this new computer I'm getting is an iMac. Can't afford a Mac Pro, Mac Mini's are underpowered, PCs are out of the question. Tell me what you think!!

One last thing! Apple will release the iPhone/iPod touch Software Development Kit (SDK) on the 6th March, 6 days late from original plan. I'm dying to get third party apps on my iPod, so Apple this better be good.

I'm crashing, I'm crashing, I'm crashing

Argh. More programs are starting to crash more frequently on my Mac.

1) Today, PowerPoint crashed about 4 times. When I quit it, COMMAND+Q, PowerPoint shuts down, then an error message comes up telling me that it has closed unexpectedly. Then the usual choices whether to report this error to Microsoft or not.

2) Safari has crashed at least four fantastic times today.

3) MSN crashed on me a few days ago too, multiple times. Now I have migrated to Adium.

Hmm...what's next?

Oh and some recent articles written by Paul Thurrott has made me think twice about the iPhone's success. It's either Apple makes it or breaks it. If it goes wildly popular, Apple can still take over the phone industry. If not, Steve Jobs may just go downhill.

Now that's scary.

Safari 3 is in beta for a reason

I'm sorry Apple, but from today onwards, Safari 3 beta shall cease to be my main web browser on my Mac.  Don't get me wrong, Safari is a fine, blazing fast browser, but the only problem (don't know if other users face this) is that it KEEPS ON CRASHING ON ME! On average, Safari crashes 1-3 times per day.

No wonder it's still in beta. Before the final version arrives, and stability bugs are fixed, I shall be porting my bookmarks and stuff over to Camino, the Firefox-based Mac web browser which seems good, especially with its "Session Saving" feature which is lacking in Safari.

"Camino 1.5 now includes support for “session saving”, or optionally remembering what pages you were visiting when you quit and automatically loading them the next time you start—perfect for all those times you have to install Mac OS X updates!"

Bye Safari 3, you will now reside in some secluded area in my hard-disk.

World's fastest startup time

Finally, after a little prodding into the CPU of my HP desktop and a quick check at Task Manager, I found the reason why my family PC was running so slowly. Guess what, I found that the DDR2 ram slot was loose!

So, instead of running on 768 MB ram, it was all the while running of a pathetic 256 MB ram for the past few weeks. I have two ram slots, one with the default 256 MB, and another one with an extra 512 MB I inserted by myself. The system didn’t register that second 512 MB ram slot, and all it needed was a bit of poking and twiddling. Now my system is running at an acceptable speed again.

Surviving on just 256 MB ram, I did some startup and shutdown tests with a stopwatch. Now this may seem exaggerated, but it isn’t, I promise. On 256 MB ram, startup took a spectacular 15 MINUTES!!!!!! (Including some third party apps like sidebar and Yahoo widgets.) Shutdown took an amazing 3 MINUTES!

Now with 768 MB ram, startup is roughly 5 minutes, thankfully. See the wonders of an extra 512 MB ram! Finally, I can Photoshop in peace again without waiting forever to get things done.

As people grow old, they get feeble and frail

Similarly, as computers grow old, they get all sluggish, unresponsive and they leisurely perform their tasks. It’s as if they have suffered from fatigue.

This is the state of my PC now. It is performing at an undesirable and completely unbearable speed. Maybe those extra Vista stuff has finally caused its downfall. The VTP, sidebar and Yahoo widgets, coupled with very very intensive and extensive Photoshopping of photos with an average file size of 4-5MB and managing gigs of data.

I can’t use it already. It takes like ages to perform the most mundane tasks such as switching between Photoshop and Windows Explorer. And complete boot up takes something like 5-8 min, which is totally absurd. Come on, my Mac starts up under a minute.

My PC is dying soon. Do I hear the soft faint sound of Vista calling out, whispering in my ear, saying: “it’s time to switch”?