Hmm, anything else?  In a bit of geeky news, I ditched Microsoft Security Essentials and moved to avast! antivirus.  Security Essentials was okay, but it lacked some pretty basic things (like a frickin’ pause button) and it doesn’t have as many realtime scanners as avast!.  So, avast! it is.  I think it’s a superior solution and so far I like it, but staying virus free is ultimately dependent on the actions of the user, don’t you think?

Oh, and one last thing.  I’m going to be in Vancouver in two weeks for the 2010 Winter Olympics.   Huzzah!

In light of my enthusiasm for this new operating system, as well as the wealth of reviews on the Internet, I’ve decided I’m going to do a two-part post on Windows 7. The first post will be my experience upgrading to Windows 7, both on my desktop and laptop, which will include comments on my experience with Windows Easy Transfer, and whether I’m successful installing an upgrade copy of Windows 7 to a new partition, rather than wiping out my existing operating system entirely (which should make the transition a little easier for me). The second post will be my experience using Windows 7 as my primary operating system after several weeks.

So, look for those in the coming weeks!

Now, before you burst a vein pointing out that I’ve repeatedly said I’d never purchase an iPod, you’re absolutely right. I’m not thinking about the iPod nano now, nor will I ever in the future. I do think it’s impressive that Apple finally bothered to give a crap and add an FM tuner to one of its iPods (a feature which has been on the market for years now, but which Apple was apparently to cool to bother to acknowledge) but I still just can’t stomach these things. So, the iPod is out.

The Zune HD is intriguing. In fact, I can safely say I’d probably buy this device, if it supported Ogg Vorbis. I know there are many out there who consider this a dead or dying audio format, but the truth is that it’s still technologically a superior codec to MP3 and, most importantly, a lot of my music library is in vorbis! Yes, I could undertake the monumental task of re-digitizing my collection, but that would be a huge headache and not worth the effort, because there are many other players on the market which are just as sleek as the Zune HD that do support vorbis. So, Microsoft, I wanted to give you a try, really I did, but you’re missing that one last intangible, immeasurable quality of “chemistry.” Don’t fret though; you’re getting my money on Windows 7.

So, where does that leave me? Well, certainly visiting Anything but iPod a lot, for sure. I am intrigued by the Cowon i9. It seems seems slim and light, supports a lot of audio formats (including vorbis!) and looks kind of neat. I can’t tell whether it’s actually going to be released in this country though, or how much it might cost. There are those who swear by Samsung; the M1 and R1 look interesting, but it’s not clear whether the US will ever see the M1, and the R1 hasn’t even been released yet. This is going to be tricky.

• The other day, I downloaded Security Essentials, Microsoft’s new free antivirus program. Surprisingly, I’m rather impressed with it; it actually detected a virus (!!) that AVG was missing. Needless to say, I’m now using it instead of AVG. There are a ton of really basic user interface enhancements it desperately needs (c’mon Microsoft, there should at least be a button to pause scans) but I guess there’s something about having the might of Microsoft behind an antivirus program that makes me feel more protected than I would with AVG. Plus, the price is right.
• I’m currently engrossed in The Informant by Kurt Eichenwald. Inherent bias aside, this is an absolutely riveting page turner, filled with so many plot twists and surprises that I frankly cannot believe it is non-fiction. I also really like Eichenwald’s writing; he’s not flashy or overly descriptive at all, and he’s very good at getting straight to the point. I highly recommend this book!
• I’m also reading the Harry Potter series. Every dark and boding tale of corporate greed needs its dose of fantasy for balance, right?
• Where did the summer go?

Cheerio!

Windows 7

A couple weeks ago, I let my curiosity get the better of me, and I decided to install the Windows 7 Release Candidate to see what sorts of new bells and whistles Microsoft was cooking up in the latest upgrade to Windows Vista incarnation of Windows. I like to proudly declare that I largely skipped over the bumbling comedy of errors that is Windows Vista (with one tiny exceptions, see below on that) and I figured it was time to re-familiarize myself with modern Windows. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

But before we get to that, I have to briefly recount the process I went through to get this sucker working. In an abundance of caution, I decided I would install it on my old computer that has been gathering dust in a closet somewhere. So, I hooked up the computer, downloaded and burned the Windows 7 iso, and went to boot ‘er up.

“Cannot boot from CD – Code: 5″

Huh? I proceeded to go through a litany of possible fixes; using different DVD drives; burning onto DVD+DL discs in case the older DVD drive didn’t recognize DVD-R discs; updating and changing BIOS settings, all to no avail. Finally, after lots of Googling, I came to the conclusion that the motherboard in my old computer was not compatible with/couldn’t recognize the boot image in the Windows 7 iso. So, I made a new one! The process was pretty involved, but, with a little help from the internet, I found a boot image I knew my motherboard was compatible with, and used imgBurn to make a new iso with the compatible boot image and burned that iso to a DVD. Finally, Windows 7 was booting up.

After installing Windows 7 (which went quite quickly, compared to XP) I realized how out of date my old computer has become. Windows 7 was running, but in less than desirable fashion. So, I switched course. With help from a cnet video, I created a new partition on my abundantly-proportioned desktop hard drive, and installed Windows 7. And, I’m happy to say, I didn’t have to create any new bootable DVDs.

After using Windows 7 for several weeks now, I’m rather impressed with it. In contrast to the mess of Windows Vista, I feel like Windows 7 is a more streamlined user experience. I like the new Devices menu where I can see and change settings for all the peripherals and components attached to my computer (although my ifp-790 didn’t show up there – instead, it showed up as a new mass storage device, but I guess its supposed to do that with the firmware I have loaded on it). Although I am a big fan of each application getting its own Window on the taskbar (and I hated Windows XP’s option to group similar Windows together to minimize taskbar clutter), I have to say I’m very impressed with Windows 7′s taskbar organization. Even though there is grouping, I don’t feel like I have to click through multiple Windows before I can get to the one I want – probably because of Aero peek. I also like the option to create libraries to organize files more efficiently. Also, I’ll say that the Aero effects are nice, but, in the final calculation, are immaterial for me.

So, all that convinced me that it was time to take the plunge and update Windows XP. I purchased the highly-discounted upgrade to Windows 7 Professional (figured it’d be prudent to have XP mode, just in case…) from Newegg last week, and will anxiously await October!

Acer Aspire Timeline 4810

I’m writing this blog on a brand new Acer Aspire Timeline 4810. At the very reasonable price of $599, 8 hrs of battery life, 4.2 lbs, and an internal optical drive, this was an offer I just couldn’t refuse. It’s basically the 2009-version of my old Gateway 200ARC. Hands down, the biggest selling point for me on this laptop was the battery life. I was barely getting 1 hour of battery life on my previous laptop, which was just a joke. Now, I’m basking in endlessly flowing waters of energy and battery life. It’s glorious.

On the whole I’m thrilled with the new laptop, but there are a few gripes I have. First, I have to endure Windows Vista until October (fortunately it qualifies for a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it’s released, so there’s a silver lining there). Also, the button to turn the wireless adapter on/off is a little… weird… it’s not exactly a button you can press, it’s more like a touchpad and it’s not terribly responsive, and the only way I can make it work consistently is to run my finger over it back and forth. Not a big deal though.

So, in summary:

Windows 7: good. New laptop: good. Windows Vista: bad. Free upgrade to Windows 7: good. Battery life: good. Sending SMS text in gmail: missing.

That’s all, folks!