Windows is pants!!!
 

Right.....my laptop is going out the window!!
Am I the only one who thinks Windows OS is totally *&^^&&!!!!!!
The little bar at the bottom of the Internet Explorer screen has gone, disappeared, vamooshed, without even a see-ya later. You know the one which shows how much of the page has downloaded (not the windows START bar).
Anyone any idea how I get the litte f***er back!
Also anyone recommend MAC.
Let me know or the laptop gets it!

Went Mac in 2003 and not looked back.

Do a search in the Computer forum for lots of discussion on pros and cons.

Use Firefox or Opera

Maybe you'd get more relevant answers if you posted in this forum
(some search there could help too)

IIRC, the bar down the bottom is a setting you can change. Your ISP should be able to help you restore it if you call them on their customer support line. Otherwise you could ask in the pprune computer issues forum.

People still use PCs?

View menu, status bar, click. I don't know...:sad:

Calm Blue Ocean, young Sir. Here, have some Laudanum....:p

Users are pants............:E

Seriously though, why not use a different browser like Firefox or Opera? IE is any awful insecure kludge that reports God-knows-what back to Redmond

Opera is now free - http://www.opera.com/ - and it's very very good indeed. Super fast, secure and controllable. Built in mail client, so it's a one-stop-shop. Opera now passes the Acid2 test for official W3 standards compatibility and is almost the only browser that does (IE doesn't even come close).

Mac :ok:

Yep - that should sort it.

Is there a downloadable package available to replace Word?

Many thanks...:ok:

Cheerio & Solid Rust Twotter, I switched to Open Office a few months back (from MS Office) and can say I much prefer using it. Thunderbird replaced the Outlook email client.

While on the topic of alternative software I found a much better viewer for pdf files than the Adobe pantsware. It if called foxit - it opens the files almost immediately as opposed to the Adobe crap which takes ages to load.

(I use Opera - its makes IE look the rubbish it is),

Fuji :ok:

Duff beer,

If not View / Status Bar, possibly F11?

And are you sure that it's best to have the laptop go out of the windows, rather than the Windows go out of the laptop?

;)

SD

Now, Linux with Firefox are the best.

First time I ever saw a thread being booted out of Jet Blast :E

But some good notes there - I'm going to checkout the "Acrobat replacement" (already use Firefox quite a lot, but my PPRuNe cookies are all with IE (I know - but I'm lazy!)

Foxit - Oh - big problem, it can't handle "links" in the .pdf document!

Downloaded it and used it to look at a pdf file, which has lots of links in it. Foxit does not go to the links, and tested the same file with Adobe,and the links work. NOT a good start!!

Well there are solutions to the agonisingly slow loading of Acrobat...

1) Open C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader" folder. Or if you have Pro, it's probably in the C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Acrobat" folder.

Find the "plug_ins" folder and rename it "plug_ins_disabled".

Create a new folder named "plug_ins".

Copy the following files from "plug_ins_disabled" to "plug_ins":
EWH32.api, printme.api, and search.api

2) PDF Speedup - freeware (which does the same and more things in a more sphisticated way) from - http://www.softpedia.com/get/Office-...-SpeedUp.shtml
and there are others too....

Mac :ok:

Errr Scuse me
 

Last time I looked, it was version 7.0.7 and some of the reasons for the upgrade were related to security issues, so it might be worth checking for the latest version.

My first solution is purely manual and it doesn't matter what version - just create a "plug_ins_disabled" folder and move unwanted plugins to it.

PDF Speedup may work for v7.07 and there must be updates. There are several other freeware programs that do much the same thing.

Point taken though!

:ok:

PS: Checkout - http://www.tnk-bootblock.co.uk/prods/misc/index.php for Adobe Reader Speed-Up (ARSU) an uptodate Adobe Reader speedup utility. Tested OK

Actually I like it better!

Going back to the original query - if the 'view-status-click' hasn't worked, check that the window hasn't slipped down, hiding the status bar behind the task bar. To remedy, right click on the prog name on the task bar and select 'maximize'. That fixed it for me in a similar situation some moons ago...

Thanks for all your advice chaps and chapesses.

Ive calmed down a bit now...the laptop has had tea and biscuits, its going to get an early sim check to see how it handles a Doom session.

Im also going to have a ruddy good look at all the new OS systems recommended.

Again I appreiciate your help guys.


Duff man......"yeeeeah"

The problem I'm finding with non-Microsoft software is that many websites seem to be written using IE based protocols that mean they don't work properly (or at all) in Firefox, Konqueror etc. My new computer has only Linux on it and hopefully will stay that way, but I'm still going to have to use my laptop with XP on it for certain sites...

It is up to us as individuals to make it clear to the websites in question that they are in danger of losing business as a result of their lazy approach to website design.

Email the webmaster with your complaint, explaining that you will take your business elsewhere, as you cannot access their website with your non-IE browser.

If enough people do this, then change will happen.

If no-one complains then the status quo will be maintained.

Of course, MS may just release IE for Linux :p

SD

Operating Systems:

Windows ("Windoze"!) has been steadily improving for the has several releases. I went from 95 to 98 and 98R2, stayed with that for ages and finally went to XP when it came with a new laptop.

I find XP is stable, and pretty good as long as you ignore the "sales talk" that says "designed for XP" when there's only 256Megs of RAM - yes it's fine, as long as you don't have a very demanding need! Should be at least 512Megs (I'm running with 1.3GB)

I once (twice actually) tried to load Linux on an old desk-top, and couldn't get that to work, so I'm very wary of trying to install it onto a laptop (drivers for screen, touchpad, power, etc) Linux still seems to be the "OS for Geeks" and, although I'm pretty competant with Windows, I'm not sure I have the time to learn all about the penguin!

My other concern for Linux is the software availability - I know many writers do releases for Linux, but I just know that some of the little apps that I use won't be available for Linux - even though it's supposed to be the OS that will save you having to upgrade to a bigger,faster computer every 2 or 3 years! It's just got to become more "user friendly" - If I could install Linux as easily as I can install Windoze and it's apps, then Bill Gates would get no more of my money (yes! I have licensed Windows!)

I'm a bit fed up that installing software on Linux is so difficult. I wanted to put avidemux on my computer, but the rpm file I found has so many dependencies that aren't on the SuSE DVD that I gave up in the end. I suppose I could try compiling it from source, but it does seem a pity.

Can't get .avi files to play on my computer either - Google recommends "mplayer" but similar story to above, even with a SuSE 10.1 RPM...

That said, all I did under Windows was web browsing/e-mail/photo editing/sync my Palmpilot/play card games :) - Linux copes with all of those admirably...

I don't think the company cares that you can only access the intranet on IE...