Panda- ing to Vista users
Security firm Panda Software has finally released a beta version of its Panda Internet Security 2007 for Vista. Current Panda Internet Security 2007 customers will get the complete version free when it becomes available. Panda already has a beta version of Panda Antivirus+ Firewall 2007 and a full version of Panda Antivirus 2007, both of which are Vista-compatible but which are only available separately. Panda has also created a Windows Vista Center on its website - www.pandasoftware.com - to give users information about the compatibility of Panda Software products with the new operating system.
Drivers, all in one place
Security and utility website RadarSync is keeping an eye on the Vista driver situation, which means that the rest of us don't need to worry about going to various different manufacturer sites and searching for updated drivers. Just check out the RadarSync page every so often.
Adobe Vista versions now available
With today's launch of its Creative Suite 3, Adobe has finally finished upgrading (most of) its product line so that it works with Vista. The company's statement earlier this month (PDF link) says that because most of its products were released before Vista came out, older versions may not work with the new operating system.
For home users, it's not a big deal. Adobe has already released patches for the latest versions of both Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements (although users of older versions might be a bit stuck). Until today, it was the design and photography customers (of which we're one) who couldn't use applications such as Photoshop CS or CS2 and Indesign CS or CS2 on Vista.
The new edition fixes all that, though, along with several other sparkling new features.
Vista fonts available
Windows Vista comes with a package of new fonts, which are, generally, well designed and pleasant to look at. For those of us still stuck on Windows XP (or earlier versions), it's worth noting that it's possible to download the font pack and install it. You can find them at Jake Jarvis's website.
It's worth noting that, technically, the fonts aren't supposed to be available in this way, so download at your own risk (we've had no problems, though). And it certainly improves viewing for some documents created by Vista users.
To install the fonts, unzip the file to your desktop, where it will create six folders, one for each font.
Then click Start, then Control Panel (or Start, Settings, Control Panel depending on how your system's set up) and open the Fonts control panel (again, either double-click it or click Appearance and Themes, then Fonts in the left-hand panel).
Drag each folder in turn into the Fonts window, at which point it will be installed.
How do you turn off Vista?
Not by clicking on what looks like a power button in the Start menu, that's for sure. Clicking that will put the computer into a sleep mode, rather than switch it off. Presumably that's part of Microsoft's plan to make the PC an 'always-on' device, something Bill Gates was loudly trumpeting back when Windows XP was launched. To switch it off, you need to click the arrow, then select Shut Down from the menu.
One of the designers of that part of the operating system vents his spleen on his blog, about how much hassle the team went through just to design that one switch. And over on his blog, software developer Joel Spolsky gets stuck in to the same subject: "I'm sure there's a whole team of UI designers, programmers, and testers who worked very hard on the OFF button in Windows Vista, but seriously, is this the best you could come up with?"
Easy shortcuts, and Mobility Centre Part 2
Following my comments about mobility centre pmpmac kindly wrote a comment to say that there is a send to desktop option when you right click on an item in the Start Menu. So there is a quick way of adding a shortcut to the desktop.
Sensing there might be a way to create keyboard shortcut I had a look on the Windows Help website and found that this is indeed possible for all versions of Vista.
Right-click either on the new shortcut on the Desktop or the shortcut in the start menu, and select Properties from the menu that appears. Click on the Shortcut tab and then click in the Shortcut key box. Shortcuts have to be made with both Ctrl and Alt, so just type the letter you want to use and then click on OK.
The page does warn that whilst the shortcut will work on the Desktop some programs may have their own shortcuts that will take priority when the program is active.
OneCare: Microsoft admits what's already apparent
The computer security market exists largely because Microsoft isn't able to write an operating system without holes in it. That, in itself, isn't to have a go at MS - nobody's capable of writing such a large piece of software without flaws: not Apple, not the Linux crowd, and not Microsoft.
But... the sheer number of exploits for these flaws mean a lucrative marketplace for security software, something MS is now keen to get its hands on, which resulted in OneCare, the new Microsoft security program. Only problem is, it doesn't work all that well. A few days after OneCare failed to get certified in an industry standard test, the company has admitted that the program wasn't ready for release.
Arno Edelmann, Microsoft's European business security product manager, said that the program actually has pieces missing. That's perhaps not surprising to people whose Outlook and Outlook Express email folders OneCare has deleted. Microsoft has now apologised for that, too.
It's fair to say that if your anti-virus program is deleting bits of other programs you make, it might need a little more work.
Handy tip for notebook owners
After forgetting to turn the wireless card on a notebook back on after a battery streching train journey, I discovered the Windows Mobility Centre. This is a very useful collection of settings likely to be needed by notebook owners.
Of note to me is the ability to turn wireless networking off to save battery power but it is also a quick way to change the power scheme and volume.
There is a fly in the ointment, no shortcut key that I know off. There might be as I first saw the Mobility Center appear when my 18 month old daughter was let loose on the keyboard. She's not telling me what she pressed though so I'll have to find out for myself.
How to make a useful feature list, or not
I think someone at Microsoft needs to learn about how people use lists....
While researching another post, I had a quick look on the Windows Vista website and decided to browse by feature as I knew what I was looking for. Or so I thought.
Not finding it I decided to look under all the sections just in case it was somewhere else and found what you can see on the left.
What is the point of filing everything under Windows? I know they are all parts of Windows because I entered the web address of the Windows Vista website.
I will now file all my articles under W for work or C for computers...
A spelling check
So there's a petition before the Prime Minister to ask him to get Microsoft to offer a British English version of Vista. The thinking is that Swedes, of whom there are fewer than there are speakers of British English, get their own language edition, as do several other smaller ethnic groups. But we Brits are stuck with 'Favorites' and similar heinous misspellings.
Is it a good idea? Opinion here in the office is divided, with one wizened editor claiming that, because many current American spellings are actually old-British-English in origin, the American language Vista is actually British anyway. Hmmm... not sure about that one.
In general, the petitioner certainly has a fair point, however, and the petition specifically refers to schools, where it's possible that kids might become confused by the two spellings.
Backtrack on DRM
We've found a simple way around the screen grab problem that raised my temperature earlier. It is possible to take a grab in Media Center - you just have to exit full screen mode and take the grab in a window.
OK, I take it all back. Except for the fact that Microdoft hasn't been explicit about this - when the problem arose I had a look through the company's knowledge base and found nothing. So while I'm glad there's now a way to finish my work in Vista, I'm peeved to have spent more time researching the problem than on the stuff I get paid to do.
Whether this approach works with the new generation of DRM-protected movies remains to be seen, but my DVD of Dr Strangelove grabbed just fine.
Microsoft fires first vista DRM shot - straight at own foot
Much has been said about the draconian DRM measures in Vista, but apart from some creative mythology noted in an earlier blog, we hadn't felt any day-to-day practical effects from the copyright restrictions.
But that's now changed. As an IT journalist working for Computeractive magazine, I'm working on a series of step-by-step guides to using various features in Vista. A key feature of such guides is the illustrative screengrabs used to guide readers through projects. But the grabs in the guide I'm writing on burning a playlist using Media Center under Vista look rather bleak. Totally black in fact.
Here's the grab I've just taken of the Media Center music library. The bleak view wasn't a surprise, as XP channelled video content via overlays to boost video performance. The upshot of which is that when you press Print Screen, you get no image because Windows isn't processing the graphic content. But it wasn't a problem because you could simply uncheck the overlays option in the Performance tab of Media Player.
But our friends at Microsoft have decided that this won't do in Media Player or Media Center under Vista, presumably because it would possible to use a screen grabbing application to capture indivdual frames of copyright-protected video and reassemble them into an illegal copy. Whether this presents a viable threat to the movie industry is another matter that I, frankly, am too irritated to consider right now. But given the attention Microsoft has paid to detecting and protecting copyrighted material, I would have hoped that similar thought would have been given to non-protected material. Guess I should have known how foolish such a thought was.
A step forward in design
While playing around with the sound settings in Vista, I opened the Mixer when there were several programs running to discover the volume of each one can be controlled separately. What a good idea.
Previous versions of Windows have offered mixer controls based on the type of sound, such as Wave and MIDI. The snag is that for most people Wave covers everything, rather defeating the object of having a sound mixer.
It may seem like a small change but sometimes these are the ones that really count.
Windows activation can be bypassed
...so says Windows expert Brian Livingston on his website. Apparently there's a simple workaround that will stop the activation monitor from hassling you for a year. It involves editing the Registry, but other than that, it's not difficult.
So Microsoft says it's a "hack", meaning it's illegal, while Livingston points out that the documents detailing how to do it are freely available on the software company's website. He also points out that, while activation is designed to stop home users using one copy for both the home PC and a notebook, with this hole Microsoft has opened the door to real software pirates creating copies that don't even need to be activated.
Presumably, though, a fix of some kind is on the way. Watch this space.
Don't touch that power plug!
Partly due to our Green Computing campaign and partly due to upbringing, I habitually turn computers and other equipment off at the wall. Since the introduction of ATX case design, computers are never really off; the power supply is still providing power to the computer.
This has never presented a problem and may have saved me a few pennies over the years but may now be a problem with Windows Vista.
I've mentioned in a previous post that my notebook enters a 'sleep' mode rather than shutting down. A little investigation proved that this is true of desktop computers as well. The problem here is that a desktop PC has no battery to keep information safe until the computer is turned on again or decides to hibernate to save the files to disk.
What can be done?
The settings for the Start menu button cannot be changed so the first step is to turn on Hybrid Sleep. This mode takes a little longer but it saves documents to the hard disk so that a loss of power does not destroy them. I would say this is an essential change for notebook users.
It will probably come as no surprise that accessing this option is a rather convoluted process. Click on the Start button and then on Control Panel. Click on System and Mainenance, then Change when the computer sleeps and then on Change advanced power settings. Click on the + next to Sleep and then next to Allow hybrid sleep. Turn it on for both battery and plugged in.
The other is to use the extended shutdown menu to the right of the lock computer icon in the Start Menu to either hibernate or shut down the computer. You can then be reassured that, not only are your files safe, but you are doing something to help the environment.
Vista Live games on the way
Windows gamers are to get their hands on the small arcade-style games that have been delighting users of the Xbox360. The Xbox Live Arcade, which offers downloadable games for a small fee, has been very popular, and now it's coming to Vista. Microsoft says that on May 8 it will release Halo 2, which will be compatible with the Xbox version. That means Windows gamers can compete against Xbox players. Later in the year, more games will appear.
It's interesting that Microsoft is so keen to push gaming on Vista - particularly as something you can do in conjunction with your Xbox 360. XP is a pretty good gaming platform, but clearly the company reckons that Windows is in danger of being left behind as gamers stick to their Xboxes or, worse, their Playstation 3 consoles.
Vista ate my Switch card
Cash machines that crash are a pain in the neck, but our local Clydesdale Bank cashpoint is dedicated to go ing one better - it's not unusual to see one or both cashpoints crashed and inoperative.
One unlucky ComputerActive staffer put his card in the machine this lunchtime, only to have it promptly crash and throw up the Blue Screen of Death. In these situations, the ATM automatically destroys any card left inside. No money, and no cash card. Very frustrating. As he watched the machine scroll through the startup process, however, he was shocked to see it loading an application called VISTAatm.
Sadly, it was this VISTAatm, not an ATM running Vista. Which would have been far more amusing, and would at least have helped lighten the situation a bit.
Vista on a MacBook - easy peasy so far
In the past, I've played around with Apple's Macbook notebook and Vista, using Boot Camp, a bit of experimental software from Apple that allows Windows to run on Macs with Intel processors.
The attractions of running Vista on Mac hardware would, at first glance, appear to be pretty slim, especially if you are a firm (nay, religious) believer in Mac or Windows. But that's missing out on a couple of things. Apple makes good (if slightly expensive) hardware, and Vista runs really quite fast on it. If you're a Machead, you might have to run Windows occasionally for work, or you might want to play a few more games than are available on OS X.
Although Boot Camp is intended to run Windows XP SP2 only, the world and his dog has spent time over the past few months trying to get Vista up and running on Boot Camp, with various levels of success. It's been a pretty doable thing for a while now, and I was able to put Vista on my personal dual core MacBook in November with no hassles at all. Out of the box, pretty much everything worked.
Not all of the functionality was there. Using two fingers to scroll using the trackpad, or right click (yes, there's one mouse button, but right clicking by putting a second finger on the trackpad is remarkably intuitive) is something I really missed when mucking around in Vista. Then there's the other things that don't work: sound, Bluetooth, keyboard mapping, the disc eject key, brightness adjustments and the like.
Luckily, someone's done all the homework, (thanks, you crazy guy) so it was pretty easy last night to get All of these things up and running, after one hiccup. When unpacking the installation files, you unpack them to the drivers folder the instructions tell you to create on the desktop in Vista. This is a little ambiguous, and had us foxed. So when the drivers installer asks something about a server, and asks you to browse for it, look for the drivers folder you made, and put them there. After that's it's pretty much a walk in the park.
StickyKeys make hole in Windows
It turns out that one of the features of Windows designed to help the disabled could actually lead to a security hole. StickyKeys is what's known as an 'accessibility' feature - instead of having to press two keys at once, such as Ctrl-C to copy, the user can press Ctrl first and then hit C, if StickyKeys is turned on. To do so, you tap the Shift key five times in a row.
The problem is that Vista doesn't check to make sure that the StickyKeys program is the correct one, according to a McAfee security researcher. When you tap the Shift key, Vista launches a program called sethc.exe, but it doesn't make sure it's the right file. So if the file is replaced with a program that causes problems or gives an attacker access to the system, you're in trouble.
There are a couple of reasons not to worry, though. Firstly, the attacker would need physical access to the computer to install the bad file over the good one. He'd also need to get you to turn StickyKeys on to get the thing going.
The madness of simplicity
If you believe the hype, Windows Vista is the easiest operating system to use, certainly from Microsoft. The trouble is, as far as I can see, this has resulted in even more steps to perform simple tasks with pointless layers needless extra steps.
For example, I needed access to hidden folders (and such is my frustration that I cannot remember why now). In Windows XP this was quite simple: Open Folder Options from the Explorer window, select the view tab and then the option Show hidden files and folders.
Not so in Windows Vista. In an effort to make the Windows Explorer interface easier to use, there is no Tools menu. This means the Folder and Search options link has had to move to the Organize menu. As this didn't seem to bear any relevance, I did bother looking and set off into the vast veldt-like plain that is the Vista Control Panel.
I won't go into the changes to Control Panel today, but after some exploration that would make Stanley and Livingstone proud, I finally found a link called Show hidden files and folders.
Excellent, I thought, just a simple option that will no doubt toggle to Hide hidden files and folders when I click on it. But no, instead the old Windows XP Folder Options appears. Surely it is reasonable to assume that if I click on this link I want to show hidden folders rather to see yet another option.
I am a big fan of the book Designing the Obvious in which the author often quotes Einstein's words "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler". I can't help but feel that this is the problem with Windows Vista. In an effort to make everything as simple as possible, Vista is actually harder to use.
Look, no keyboard or mouse!
The humble mouse and keyboard are so ubiquitous that it is easy to think that there are no alternatives. Vista Home Premium and Ultimate now include aspects of Windows XP Tablet PC, making graphics tablets a feasible replacement for both the mouse and keyboard.
Handwriting recognition is not new to Windows; it has been included with Office since Office XP but it only worked with a few programs.
The recognition software is much improved with much more accurate results. It can cope with quite fast input and less than perfect handwriting. It is still slower than typing for a touch typist but it is a welcome alternative; I find that using a graphics tablet eases the RSI brought on by using a mouse for too long.
I have some complaints however. When the Writing pad can is docked at the top of the screen the border is very thick. As using the Pad takes up valuable screen space anyway this is annoying. We know the transparency effects of Aero Gloss are impressive but showing off like this is pointless and annoying.There are also some Capitalisation problems. Like that one.
Perhaps the most damning comment is that I had to finish this post off with a keyboard, writing just took too much time. Still, it's good to see these kinds of features included in the consumer version.
Debunking the DRM myth
There's been a lot of misinformation recently about DRM - the copy-protection functions built into Vista. That extends even to claims that Vista will delete your MP3 collection when it's installed.
Needless to say, that's not the case. Vista does include more annoying DRM than Windows XP, but it largely applies to high-definition movies. Unless you have a compatible graphics card, monitor and software (the key phrase to look for is HDCP-compatible) you either won't see anything when playing a HD film, or will see a worse-looking version. It's true that Macs and Linux computers don't come with these restrictions, but there's a good reason for that - HD movies won't play at all on Macs or Linux. Not yet, anyway, until the various manufacturers and developers get their acts together. When it comes to music, Vista will perfectly happily play your MP3 collection, as would XP. Vista does include a technology called Protected Audio Path, which can limit how you play protected files (such as those bought from MSN Music), but that hasn't been used yet.
RTFM? Where's the Vista Manual?
A common complaint on forums is that the people asking for advice have not bothered to read the manual. This is normally interpreted as laziness (although we should never discount stupidity) but it is fair to say that there is sometimes no manual to read.
The manual supplied with Windows XP with new computers is a very weak effort and we are very curious to see how the Vista manual compares.
I did ask Microsoft for a copy and it has so far sent me a link to the Windows Vista Product Guide
Now call me picky but I was somewhat frustrated to see that the document is only available in docx and xps formats; the two new formats in Office 2007. Although an xps viewer is included in Vista it would be nice if they could supply it in a more widely used format...Maybe one ratified by ISO perhaps. Oh no, that was OpenDoc from OASIS and OpenOffice, probably not then.
NHS employees: Big discounts on Microsoft Office
We'd never heard of this before, but we were tipped off by a doctor this week: NHS employees are entitled to a discount on Microsoft Office. That's not the usual 10 percent deal, either: any employee, whether a doctor, nurse, administrator or otherwise, can pick up a copy of Office 2007 for just £17.
Interestingly, it's a souped-up version, too. What you get for your money (which includes VAT and delivery) is the full Office 2007 Enterprise edition, which includes Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook and the excellent note-taking program OneNote. There's no RRP, because it's usually only available to corporations doing big deals, but we reckon it clocks in at north of £400. Not a bad deal, then. If you want to stick to the older version, Office 2003 is available too.
If you want to take up the offer, get in touch with your local IT department, who will be able to send you a 'program code'. You'll also need an NHS email address to log in to the scheme website. No word yet on whether it's possible to pick up Vista under the same scheme.
No let up for Vista upgrade problems - but we have some good advice
The sorry saga of Vista upgrade problems refuses to die down and even though Microsoft thinks it is being handled very well - we at Computeracive don't.
One hugely irate Computeractive reader got in touch to say even though he could successfully register, Modus Link wanted to charge him a whopping £69.13 for the privilege - £12.03 shipping charge, and £57.10 inc VAT for the DVD. Well he refused of course - wouldn't you?
But this puts him to the back of the queue again and why do I get the nasty feeling he is going to be told when he tries to re-register that the Microsoft Certificate of Authenticity has "already been used" - so tough matey.
But there are still too many people who find the registration website continuing to crash or that their COA is not recognised. And not surprisingly with the cut-off date to register for the 'free' upgrade looming - around the end of March for most - those who are having problems are beginning to panic.
So I have some advice.
Keep copies of all emails you have to send to your retailer or Modus Link; same goes for any phone calls. Make screen grabs of failed registration attempts. Do this and even if the cut-off date has come and gone and you still haven't been able to register for your upgrade - the law should cover you.
Trading Standards has told me that armed with this proof, you should be able to demand your upgrade because it ain't your fault that the companies involved have put in place such a shoddy system to register. Who do you demand the upgrade from?
Initially the retailer but TS did say the situation could be complex and your claim might be against the distributor - eg Modus Link. Richard Webb of Oxfordshire TS said contact your local TS office if you find yourself in this situation.
Power draining sleep
After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to start a Vista notebook having left it unused for a couple of days, I decided to investigate what actually happens when you click the power off icon in the Start Menu. Here's what Microsoft says:
When you click the Power button on a desktop computer, Windows saves any open documents and programs to memory. Sleep requires an extremely small amount of power—about the same as a nightlight—and allows you to resume working within seconds.
So I decided to test exactly what kind of nightlight is being used. I put the notebook to sleep at 9pm with 58% of battery remaining.
9am the next morning I turned it on again to find that the battery had dropped to 38%. Maybe I have a small battery but losing 20% of the charge in 12 hours suggests a very bright nightlight and this is a relatively new notebook.
This is frustrating because it is not unusual for me to leave a notebook for a couple of days (say the weekend) but then need the battery with power to work on the train on Monday morning.
Closer investigation into the power options revealed that the notebook was waiting 18 hours before going into hibernation, rather hopeful really. Hibernation is where Windows is saved to disk and the computer turned off properly, even if it does take longer to start again.
The other concern is that hybrid sleep was turned off. When the computer enters hybrid sleep open documents are saved to disk as well as memory in case of power failure, or a flat battery.
We are going to try a head to head between Vista and Mac OS X on the same notebook to see how they compare on power saving modes.
What is ReadyBoost all about, then?
One of the most interesting things Microsoft has added to Vista is called ReadyBoost. The thing is, there's some confusion about what it actually does.
So, first things first, it's not a memory expansion. It's actually a cache, which picks up information coming from the hard disk, and stores it in memory. Because memory is faster than a hard disk, the next time the information is needed, Windows will get it from the cache rather than the hard disk, speeding things up.
Plug a USB key in, then, and as long as it's fast enough, Windows will ask whether you want to use it as a cache.
That's why it doesn't matter if you unplug the USB key - it's not part of the computer's memory, so all that will happen is that, the next time Windows asks for something it thinks is in the cache, it will fail, and have to load it from the hard disk, which is slower but will still work.
Then again, it also means users shouldn't expect any huge speed increases - it might work for some things, but ReadyBoost is not a memory expansion.
In addition to that, it won't work for long reads (see link above) - that is, if the computer has to read a large block of data from the hard disk, it will simply bypass the USB key. It makes sense: if you're playing back a video file, there's no point caching it, as you're unlikely to want to watch it again and again.
But that does mean that ReadyBoost's improvements in speed may not be particularly apparent, so don't expect too much from that £20 key when you plug it in to a Vista computer.
No Word support in Wordpad
Love it or loath it, Microsoft Word is the lingua franca of word processing, so it is very frustrating that Wordpad in Vista cannot open Word .doc files. Wordpad in Windows XP could open and save Word files, even if most of the more advanced features of Word were absent.
Unsurprisingly there is no mention of this on the Vista Wordpad webpages or in the Support KnowledgeBase. In fact, the only reference to Wordpad in Vista is that it may not open files created with Wordpad in XP properly because the XP version used the .doc document type.
What to do? Well, OpenOffice will quite happily open Word files, along with a whole host of others. For those unhappy with such a large download, AbiWord is a simple word processor that only weighs in at 5MB The Microsoft Word Viewer will only let you copy and paste content out of a word file, and needs an upgrade to read the new 2007 document formats.
Get your Vista in America
There has been some talk about the pricing of editions of Vista. People are grousing - fairly, it has to be said - that it costs a lot more in the UK than on the other side of the Atlantic. But is it legal to use an American copy over here, and will it work? We put the question to Microsoft, back in December, and the company go back to us a couple of weeks ago.
Here's the official line:
"There are no technical or legal issues that would prevent an individual from purchasing software in the US and bringing it to the UK."
So there you go - if you're off to America, or have relatives there, pick up a copy of Vista, legally and on the cheap. Remember that, in theory, you have to pay customs charges if you're bringing back more than £146 worth of goods from abroad (that's in total, for all your purchases).
Ordering on the web is an option, but most American web shops won't ship to the UK, and you'll probably have to pay duty on the delivery, which could wipe out any savings on the cheaper versions. But if you're physically travelling to the States, and want a copy of Vista, it may be worth waiting until you get there to buy one.
Windows Backup makes a welcome entrance
Having been involved in the last few features about backup (including the most recent in Issue 236), the absence of Windows Backup in Windows XP was very frustrating. Anyone lucky enough to have a Windows XP CD was ok (have a look in the VALUEADD\MSFT folder on the disc) but as most of our readers have computers supplied with Windows, they couldn't take advantage of the software.
Microsoft told us that they could contact the manufacturer but they didn't place any obligation on the manufacturer to supply the file.
The wrong has been put right in Vista with backup tools installed automatically. And, insofar as anyone can get excited about backup, the tools are rather good.
Home Basic and Home Premium come with a utility for backing up files. The files for backup are selected by type rather than location, very useful if photos are in several locations. It supports DVDs and external hard discs, and is sensible enough not to backup to the same hard disk as the files are on.
There is a schedule option so regular backups are hard to forget with reminders to insert blank CDs or DVD when they are needed.
Vista Ultimate is even better with a utility for making a complete image of the hard disk so it can be exactly recreated in the event of a really bad problem such as a hard disk failure.
We keep saying it (unashamedly), there really is no excuse for not backing up important files. Don't say we haven't warned you.
It takes time to create
Looks like many Creative users will have to wait before moving to Vista - the company's list of updated drivers shows a lot of missing links. Most of the newer products such as the X-Fi series have 32-bit drivers available, but there are very few 64-bit drivers for the rest of the company's range. Some of the drivers should be available later this year, but there are a few worrying gaps.
It looks like most of the older Creative webcams won't be Vista-compatible at all, including, we were astonished to see, one called the WebCam Vista (see screenshot above, from the linked page). That can't be right, surely?
