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Windows 7 will prove more secure than OS X Snow Leopard this year, in part because it doesn't have Java and Flash enabled by default... When asked what he thought would make the safest OS and browser combo, he opted for Chrome or IE8 on Windows 7, with no Flash installed, although "there probably isn't enough difference between the browsers to get worked up about."

For my money, the juiciest quote from the interview was "The main thing is not to install Flash!"

Since Pwn2Own allows hackers to attack any plugin installed on the OS by default, Microsoft had an advantage until now.

They were an early casualty that had to redo their first issue magazine app because of Apple. In the end it was an underwhelming 500MB kludge, and I doubt they recouped the costs that they must have put into that.

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/05/27/adobe-rewrites-wired-magazine-ipad-app-without-flash-gets-it-ap/

This is why you should realize that "You" != "Most people"
Stop making wide-arching statements about what you think the rest of the world is doing when you are basing it solely on yourself.

This is what you should have done instead - namely actually do some research before talking out your ass:

Here's an old article that discusses how in Q4 2008, 25% of Vista sales were 64bit.
Also note that "Windows 7 is expected to be Microsoft's last native 32-bit version - Server 2008 R2 has already moved to 64-bit only".

Also, here we have stats indicating that 46% of Windows 7 PCs are 64bit.

AdBlock isn't enough; it still loads the data, but doesn't display it.

Used to be true for the Chrome version due to a deficient extensions API. No longer true now. Well mostly since according to the developer a few elements might still slip through the net. The Firefox version on the other hand has always kept the blocked sites' data from being downloaded.

These Chinese pirates did.

What's so bad about it? Microsoft expressly disclaims any and all warranty and liability, while maintaining that you do not possess your first sale doctrine rights. Check this out:

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/09/09/student-beats-microsoft-legally-by-himself/

Some time ago I ran a PDF software research, annoyed by Adobe Reader 7. BTW, all this is for Windows platform (I have an XP copy).

I purposefully didn't upgrade for a long time (years), wrongfully assuming that Reader 8 (and 9) are even slower. What I learned (and verified myself) is that Adobe Reader 7.x is slowest of them all, so...
PDFs software has multiple requirements/features (not everyone needs all of them):
- display PDFs as standalone application
- display PDFs online in the browser
- load quickly
- allow editing and forms
- install a thumbnail generator (when explorer is in thumbnail view, it can display first page of the PDF document)
- install a PDF IFilter (will get back to it) *
- display tooltip when hovering mouse over document icon
- add a property sheet (right click->Properties) with some document infos

IFilter: is a piece of code which parses a document (PDFs in this case) and extracts pieces of information which might be interesting for indexing (file name, author, some keywords specified during editing, etc.). The filter is used by: desktop search technology (specifically WDS - Windows Desktop Search) and by SharePoint servers.

So, during my research I quickly found this article, which taught me about alternatives: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/12/28/pdf-xchange-another-light-weight-adobe-reader-alternative/

Basically, some alternatives are:
- Adobe Reader Speedup - a small program which allows to enable or disable Adobe plugins. It comes with presets if you don't feel like manually tinkering with plugins. It works with all Adobe versions I tested (7.x, 8.x, 9.x) - I guess it just makes some registry changes.
- Adobe Reader Lite - this is an unofficial installer which re-bundles only the most commonly used pieces of Reader. Each time Adobe releases a new version of software, someone (an external volunteer) has to redo the work with the new DLLs. It is therefore versioned (Adobe Reader Lite 9.x.y, etc.)
- Foxit, which many people know about.
- PDF-XChange, an excellent solution with great editing and form capabilities. It is more powerful (feature rich) than Foxit, just a bit slower at startup but still obviously faster than Adobe.
- Sumatra, which is rather dumb (bugs in rendering, no editing options at all) but fastest of all I'm writing about. Actually, I never tried Sumatra, I was happy with PDF-XChange.

Therefore there are 3 contenders:
1. Adobe
Slowest of them, displays documents standalone and in browser, allows powerful editing. Creates explorer thumbnails and tooltip. Does NOT add a new sheet when looking at file properties. Comes with an IFilter.
2. Foxit Reader
Fastest of them, displays documents standalone and in browser, allows editing (but not very powerful). Does NOT create explorer thumbnails and tooltip. Does NOT add a new sheet when looking at file properties. Does NOT come with an IFilter.
3. PDF-XChange
Fast but slower than FoxIt, displays documents standalone and in browser, allows free editing (powerful). Creates explorer thumbnails and tooltip. Adds a new sheet when looking at file properties. Comes with an IFilter.

So, there you have it.
I installed FoxIt and PDF-Xchange on my system - FoxIt is the default viewer, but I get the IFilter and stuff for XChange, and I sometimes open with the other one. On my GF's laptop I instaled Adobe Reader Lite (for some reasons she insists on using Adobe, albeit she only reads PDF files only now and then, never edit).

BTW: FoxIt takes advantage of the fact that people don't know that Adobe Reader comes with a free PDF IFilter and sells (for 100's of $) their own FoxIt PDF IFilter. This being said, some guys tested for IFilters on a huge collection of PDFs, and FoxIt's was fastest (and has a 64-bit version IIRC). Again, SharePoint servers do need such an IFilter installed.

HTH.

For those of you who don't like the big ugly orange button, Download Squad tells you how to change its colour or make it transparent.

at hacking competitions, which OS is usually the one to fall first?

Pwn2Own 2010: Google Chrome is the last man standing

More of the excitement now is in mobile computing, which is highly proprietary.

The largest and the fastest growing mobile OS's are both open source. Where've you been?

I use Firefox because it has a plug in "Flashblock". This plug in blocks all Flash from running except if I push an "allow" button or add the site to enable flash always. Having all Flash blocked has not detracted from my web browsing experience one iota. For those few sites written in Flash, I just allow the flash or don't go there.

Maybe you can find the same thing for Safari? Further, if Flash is causing such a problem

Looks like there exists a similar thing for Safari:
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/09/14/clicktoflash-for-safari-avoids-flash-browser-bloat/

I just Googled "Safari Flash" and the above link was at the top?

I think that's safe to assume. Apple won't let Flash on the device and I really can't see them allowing Silverlight.

They don't have to. Silverlight can stream a regular old H.264 video and use HTML 5 when targetting the iPhone:

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/11/28/microsoft-brings-silverlight-video-to-the-iphone-without-a-plug/

"So how long till it makes its way to Droid - if ever at all? I don't mind exclusive deals, but it'd be nice if they wore off after a few months."

Exclusive deals? Where in the article did it say they signed an exclusive contract with Apple?

The reason you won't find this on the Droid now or ever is number of devices and number of people paying for software. As of Dec 2009 the iPhone has had 78 million sales, and this number does not include millions of iPod Touch out there. Compare that to 800,000 Droids sold and it's obvious why it's unlikely any company would put any effort into developing software for Droids, it's a 100-to-1 ratio, 1%.

Would you make a program for 1% of the platforms, or 99%?

And that's why Droid has failed. Developers see $$$$ in iPhone and Touch, so they make the software, and the consumers see all the software on the iPhone so they buy iPhones.

It's a repeat of the 90s with Gameboy vs Sega Game Gear.

And let's not forget hardware failures like the Droid only having 256mb for apps. 1999 called, they want their storage size back. iPhone started with a minium of 4gb, and the latest 3GS is only offered in 16 or 32gb varieties, which is needed when games like The Settlers want 300+ mb.

I'm sorry I didn't mean to turn this into a anti-Droid rant, but when you see everyone and their 1 yr old baby with an iPhone and you stubbornly turn around and buy the opposite, don't be surprised when the developers create software for the phone that everyone and their baby bought.

At this stage (nconsidering it's a one-man show) you still need to roll your own: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/12/04/how-to-convert-hexxehs-chrome-os-build-image-to-a-virtualbox-v/

Conversion is broken in Zero, you'll need to download Cherry for that, I'm working on it, but like you said, one man show and I have college too. :/ http://chromeos.hexxeh.net/ChromeOS-Cherry.torrent for the cherry build. Thanks for the slashdotting, guys. :D

At this stage (nconsidering it's a one-man show) you still need to roll your own: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/12/04/how-to-convert-hexxehs-chrome-os-build-image-to-a-virtualbox-v/

Uhh, a quick google search shows these links:

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/12/04/how-to-convert-hexxehs-chrome-os-build-image-to-a-virtualbox-v/

http://www.unixmen.com/news-today/706-chromium-os-zero-released-

No one mentioned http://ixquick.com/ as an alternative from there page : Ixquick Protects Your Privacy ! The only search engine that does not record your IP address. http://ixquick.com/eng/protect-privacy.html running mozilla recommends bing as a search brings up http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/12/11/mozilla-and-firefox-veteran-citing-ceo-eric-schmidts-latest-ou/ as the first hit and this Slashdot story a the fourth hit .

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/03/28/29-of-windows-vista-crashes-caused-by-nvidia-drivers/

Yeah, and being one of the main reasons for vista instability is a great feather in Nvidia's cap.

I'm trying to figure out if I'll get a "woosh". Can you cite anything about China's once booming recording industry that's now died? The facts are that pirates (and I'm not one) spend more on music than non-pirates. Here are some citations:
http://www.switched.com/2009/11/03/music-pirates-also-buy-more-tunes-than-others-poll-finds/
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Pirate-Fileshare-Music-Download-Illegal,news-5001.html
http://www.mixx.com/stories/9014955/music_pirates_spend_more_on_tunes_than_non_pirates_finds_poll
http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=27090916
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/11/02/music-pirates-spend-more-on-music-than-their-legal-law-abiding/
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/04/study-pirates-buy-tons-more-music-than-average-folks.ars

In the US it is generally known that almost everyone speeds and have for 80 years or so

In some places where it's obvious that the speed limit for the road conditions are way too low. Especially during the '70s when the national speed limit was 55 and had been reduced from 70 or higher in most places. here in town I notice that people drive well UNDER the limit most of the time; the speeding is mostly on straight interstates.

Law enforcement has been "cracking down" and imposing draconian penalties on speeders since the beginning of the automobile era.

A hundred dollar fine is a draconian penalty? When I'm travelling I notice that the speeders are all driving Hummers and Escalades and the like -- to these people, a hundred bucks is NOTHING.

Are you trolling, joking, or just ignorant?

If you watch this video you will be amazed that IE9 can now do rounded corners. The clueless presenter is completely unaware that Firefox and Webkit have been doing this for years and is "super impressed". It's a bit sad the huge divide that exists now.

But XP will run on on http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/02/25/installing-windows-xp-pro-on-8mhz-pc-with-20mb-ram/

• A Unix-based operating system (such as OS X or Ubuntu)

Oh no, didn't you hear? Linux isn't safe any more either :-)! http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/10/27/how-good-is-wine-at-running-windows-software-on-linux-good-enou

But it's OK, most of those spyware protection programs are available on Linux as well! The link above shows how to install Windows Police Pro!

This is good news! Your bios will allow you to recover in small 1-minute increments those 20 hours you just spent upgrading to windows 7.

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/09/12/windows-7-upgrade-could-take-20-hours-reasons-to-do-a-clean-in/

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/08/26/free-software-foundation-throwing-a-hissy-fit-over-windows-7/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10318343-16.html
http://www.aeroxp.org/2009/08/fsf-violates-creative-commons/
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-7-Sins-Bad-Vista-6-1-120095.shtml

Yeah, there actually has.

Huh? Since when did Sun prove this?

Sometime last year.

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/12/22/virtualbox-2-1-supports-64-bit-guest-operating-systems-on-32-bit/

(first link on google)

There is a common complaint about Flash video performance in Firefox. There is a tip/fix going around that supposedly fixes it because the problem seems to be that Firefox wants to save the tabs every TEN seconds so the user can start where he/she left off after shutting down the program or after a crash.

Save every 10 seconds? That seems a bit much and it certainly seems it could contribute to heat.

Actually the older the software, the easier it is to make copies and put it on multiple machines. Once the software reaches online activation, it cannot be copied so easily without beating the activation scheme.

Anyway as it turns out Microsoft is giving away free downloads of MS-Word 5.5 for MS-DOS so that old systems can run it for free. The direct download link is here in EXE self extraction format. It is the Y2K fix for MS-Word for DOS 5.5 and under and released as a new version instead of a patch or update. Microsoft felt that releasing a full DOS version would be easier than update older versions of MS-Word for DOS going back to Word 1.0 and up to 5.5. So those still using DOS or looking for a DOS word processor can take advantage of MS-Word 5.5 for DOS for free.

Looks like Microsoft have already taken pre-emptive action. A fully-functional version of Word, lacking XML support but including all the features that anyone actually uses, is now available for (free!) download:

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/11/25/free-file/

Old news indeed: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/07/16/facebook-sez-dont-mind-us-were-just-whoring-out-your-photos/

Facebook is already letting ads use your face in them. See this blog post. I certainly don't qualify as hot or as single, thus I don't want my face showing up in these - especially without remuneration.

The short form of how to turn this off is to go to this page, and change the entry to "No one".

The turbo feature works by routing all your non https content via compression servers, which can ofcourse cause slowdowns: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/03/13/opera-10-alpha-now-includes-opera-turbo-compression/

This appears to be lossy compression that reduces image quality... Hopefully pretty much all html is compressed at the source these days: http://www.webreference.com/internet/software/servers/http/compression/

I don't know if you're trolling or just unfamiliar with Windows development, but there are apps originally for Windows 1.0 and compiled in 1992 that still run on modern Windows.

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/01/26/multiple-versions-of-windows-7-not-new-to-beta-build-7025/

Microsoft Outlook Web Access (if recent built on server side) works actually very well on IE7+. It has some resemblance to hotmail.com, or maybe hotmail resembles OWA. Unfortunately it scks deluxe on any other browser :(

When it comes to other things you mentioned, why not use some of the web-based alternatives?

1. PDF Reader -- Google docs/gmail offers a fantastic PDF reader.
2. Visio could very likely be completely replaced by one of the following -- glinkr.net, bubbl.us, gliffy.com.
3. MS Office/OpenOffice probably too can be replaced by either thinkfree.com or docs.google.com

On Ubuntu (and presumably other apt-based distros?) you can use apturl. It's in the ubuntu repo, though not installed by default. It's still pretty rare to run into an apturl link though (I ran into one on a forum somewhere once?).

Really, people who complain about copy/pasting command lines are just looking for something to complain about though, so I doubt this would satisfy them even if it were widespread. People use the command line because it's the easiest and fastest way to do things, even for a total beginner. Having started a bunch of people off on ubuntu, about half of them using synaptic, and the other half using apt-get, the ones using apt-get always had the easier time.

In any case, if you really want to, you can always try to hunt down the appropriate software online, and then pay for it just like you would for windows, so the whole argument is a little silly

This feature already exists.

Some useful sites I've found are:

• http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx
• http://www.nirsoft.net/
• http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/10/31/portable-wscc-simplifies-access-to-sysinternals-nirsoft-utiliti/
• http://portableapps.com/
• http://portablefreeware.com/
• http://www.getusb.info/55-portable-apps-for-making-a-usb-super-stick/
• http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/portable-software-usb/
• http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/09/02/24-killer-portable-apps-for-your-usb-flash-drive/2
• http://www.emergingtechs.com/posts/35-portable-applications-every-tech-needs/
• http://www.simplehelp.net/2008/07/21/15-portable-apps-to-help-troubleshoot-pcs/

Using mostly these sites, I've come up with a very useful collection of apps and utilities totalling under 2Gb, which easily fits on a flash drive with room to spare for data. One example is winaudit, which will generate an extensive report when run on a pc. You can save the reports on various pcs to your flash drive in various formats (pdf, html, text, csv), bring them home, and go over them in more detail to see what needs to be fixed or updated on the various pcs you encountered.

Some useful sites I've found are:

• http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx
• http://www.nirsoft.net/
• http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/10/31/portable-wscc-simplifies-access-to-sysinternals-nirsoft-utiliti/
• http://portableapps.com/
• http://portablefreeware.com/
• http://www.getusb.info/55-portable-apps-for-making-a-usb-super-stick/
• http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/portable-software-usb/
• http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/09/02/24-killer-portable-apps-for-your-usb-flash-drive/2
• http://www.emergingtechs.com/posts/35-portable-applications-every-tech-needs/
• http://www.simplehelp.net/2008/07/21/15-portable-apps-to-help-troubleshoot-pcs/

Using mostly these sites, I've come up with a very useful collection of apps and utilities totalling under 2Gb, which easily fits on a flash drive with room to spare for data. One example is winaudit, which will generate an extensive report when run on a pc. You can save the reports on various pcs to your flash drive in various formats (pdf, html, text, csv), bring them home, and go over them in more detail to see what needs to be fixed or updated on the various pcs you encountered.

For recent versions of Ubuntu, fire up Synaptic {or use apt-get, or any other preferred method} and get the package called Startup Manager.

Beats the hell out of tweaking GRUB entries.

Actually, I thought their print quality was pretty good. Of course, after a few thousand pages it tended to fade out -- but ribbons are very cheap. We used these in our office for printing mostly invoices and accounting reports. Cheaper than laser, much cheaper than inkjet, and the ink is permanent and waterproof, doesn't dry up and clog like inkjets. But slow and noisy.

Most dot matrices have a "letter quality" mode, which printed at higher resolution. However, if you were using Windows, it converts a page to an image and print it as a giant bitmap, using Windows Truetype fonts which did look crappy at dot matrix resolution, and taking much, much longer than using the printer fonts. DOS programs with their own printer drivers were much more suitable, (I used Word 5 -- Microsoft offers it as a free download) though there are Windows workarounds (eg, FTprint.

But for my personal use (as I do DTP and graphics) now I have a HP Laserjet.

It was actually 29%, so I won't require your $20.

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/03/28/29-of-windows-vista-crashes-caused-by-nvidia-drivers/
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080325-vista-capable-lawsuit-paints-picture-of-buggy-nvidia-drivers.html
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/03/28/nvidia_vista_drivers/

Erm, they also gave out disks, and some have installed it on lower hardware. See here where they install it on a Celeron lappy. Microsoft demonstrated it running on a netbook. I can't remember where, but I recall reading a review of Windows 7 where they installed it on a laptop with 1 gig of ram, and said it ran as smooth as XP on the machine.

Not to mention, giving out a laptop with known devices and hardware for a pre-beta built isn't exactly out of the ordinary. That way Microsoft can ensure that all the devices and drivers on that laptop are actually supported (remember: PRE-BETA). Not to mention the specs for those computers aren't exactly out of the ordinary now, and will be either standard or 'underpowered' two years from now when Windows 7 will be released.

But your point is moot anyway, since they've already given out installer discs, and people have installed it on a variety of hardware and still were impressed with the performance.

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/10/25/experimental-minefield-browser-from-mozilla-is-crazy-fast/ and I quote:

"Let me tell you - it's crazy fast. In fact, Ars Technica is reporting that Minefield is 10% faster than Google Chrome" ... so what?

At work I am using Windows, so I was able to give Chrome a go, but after a week Mcafee ant-virus was flagging chrome.exe as a virus, followed by its installer. There wasn't much I could do to get round the issue. My main browser is Firefox and I like to have a menu-bar, instead of poking around Windows Vista style to find out where all the options are hiding.

While I did uninstall Chrome, I did install Iron, simply to be able to validate web pages I am developing:

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/09/24/iron-chrome-for-privacy-fanatics/

This is essentially the same browser, but tailored to "privacy fanatics". It has yet to get my anti-virus in a fit.

At home I am using a Mac, so Chrome is not even an option.

> What more do you need?

Although you may not need it: google calendar also integrates with thunderbird, and ms-outlook, and syncs with your blackberry calendar.

You can also schedule an appointment using your cellphone using the Jott service:

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/12/05/jott-to-your-google-calendar/

One of the many howtos on how to setup thunderbird/lightning with an exchange server: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/03/30/howto-thunderbird-and-ms-exchange-server/?

You can also download the entire dos word suite from the microsoft website still. They just re-released the entire program for free on their website rather than patch it for y2k.
here is a non-ms mirror:

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/11/25/free-file/

Just seen this review:

And for those who can't:
Check here for summary.

Comcast has been known to deliberately reset the connection of torrenters who upload more than they download, in effect temporarily interrupting all of their connections; The claims have been brought to the attention of the FCC. They specifically target the .torrent protocol; you can bypass the resets with encryption. Of course, encryption reduces the total number of downloaders available to connect with, and Comcast's objective is to slow the downloads, not stop them entirely, so it is often more efficient (as a downloader, anyway) to not encrypt.

In any case, what Comcast advertises is download and upload speeds -- they do not advertise a bandwidth cap. Here is some nice drivel from their website, http://www.comcast.com/Shop/Buyflow/Default.ashx

"Get on the fast track...fast! With Comcast High-Speed Internet, you'll enjoy the most amazing online experience. Powered by Comcast's advanced fiber-optic network, you'll love the thrill of blazing-fast speeds. Speeds way faster than DSL from the phone company! * And with Comcast's innovative PowerBoost® technology, activities like downloading videos, movies, music and games or uploading photos go even faster.

Plus, you'll enjoy over $300 of valuable features included with your subscription at no additional charge. Like the highly-acclaimed McAfee® Security Suite ($120 value) and the Comcast Toolbar, a comprehensive set of security tools to help protect your family when online. You'll also get the Universal Address Book powered by Plaxo®, Rhapsody Radio PLUS®, Photoshow Deluxe 4.0 and much more!

So just select the plan that suits your needs, add it to your cart, and start enjoying the best Internet experience available. Happy shopping!

Current Cable TV Customer Special 19.99 for 6 months: Stop crawling the web and start burning rubber with scorching speeds up to 4 times faster than 1.5 Mbps DSL, up to 7 times faster than 768 Kbps DSL, and up to 100 times faster than 56 Kbps dial-up! You'll get free tools like McAfee® security software to keep all your info and computer safe. And with Comcast.net, you'll get amazing free content and features like The Fan(TM), your one-stop source for the best online video.

Promotional Rate is $19.99/month for 6 month(s), ongoing price is $42.95/month"

Now, this page links directly to a "shopping cart." Nothing has been mentioned about a bandwidth cap. Way, way, WAYYYY at the bottom of the page, there is some fine print:

"Comcast High-Speed Internet: Equipment fees not included in monthly service charge. Prices do not include applicable taxes, installation or franchise fees. Pricing, content and features may change and may vary by area. Call your local Comcast office for restrictions and complete details about service, prices, and equipment in your area. Pricing and service offerings displayed on this site are for residential Comcast customers only. Commercial and business pricing and service offerings differ. Speed comparisons are dependent on Comcast High-Speed Internet service tier selected (6 Mbps, 8 Mbps or 16 Mbps) and are based on download speeds vs. standard 1.5 Mbps DSL service. Not all service tiers are available in all areas. Many factors affect speed. Actual speeds vary and are not guaranteed. Maximum upload speeds range between 384 Kbps and 2 Mbps depending on the service tier selected and can be even faster with PowerBoost®."

Emphasis mine. Now, that is the ONLY THING that might remotely imply a bandwidth cap that I've seen in this whole sales pitch -- they are basically telling me that, if there is a cap, I have to call them and ask about it. Now, I haven't gotten around to that part yet, but don't you already see how t