Bent Corner

Blogging from Williamsport, Maryland so you don't have to.

Tag: Microsoft

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 Compatibility View

If you use Internet Explorer 8 to access the web and have noticed that some websites just don’t look right, or that some features just don’t work, you need to know about something called Compatibility View.   It essentially dumbs-down  Internet Explorer 8 so that it can correctly display so-called older websites.

To enable Compatibility View for a website, follow the following easy steps:

  1. Open the website that is not displayed correctly in Internet Explorer 8.
  2. Click the Compatibility View button located directly to the right side of the address bar.  It’s supposed to look like a jagged edged, “broken” document.  More specifically, it’s supposed to represent a broken website.
  3. If you do not have one of these spiffy buttons, go to the Tools menu, and click Compatibility View.

That’s it.  The website in question should now look and function correctly each and every time you visit it.  That is, until you delete all your Internet cookies or reset your Internet settings.

Shortly after Internet Explorer 8 went live, a lot of people evidently couldn’t read this very blog.  It was because IE8 had problems with the WordPress theme I was using at the time.  If people who couldn’t read my blog would have activated Compatibility View, they wouldn’t have had any problems.

I mention this because I get an absurd amount of phone calls at work from people about this very issue.

Microsoft wants to make Bing the official search engine of teabaggers and birthers everywhere

166px-Bing_logo.svgMicrosoft is in talks with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation to de-index every News Corp owned entity from Google and allow Bing, the new search engine owned by Microsoft, to become the only search engine for News Corp properties. This would mean that if you wanted to search for something on Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, or the New York Post, you would have to go to Bing, not Google.  The same would apply to 20th Century Fox, Fox, Fox Sports, FX Networks, and a host of other entertainment and sports networks.

According to the Financial Times, News Corp isn’t the only media company approached by Microsoft to make Bing the exclusive search engine.

I cannot help but believe that this is a really stupid idea.  Not just for News Corp, but for Microsoft too.  A deal like this wouldn’t stop anyone from using Google to find News Corp related content.  For instance, say Sean Hannity or Glenn Beck say something incredibly stupid on Fox News.  If went to Google and performed a search of what they said, you might not find anything that directly links to Fox News, but you would still find a plethora of web content related to whatever Hannity or Beck said.  Microsoft may pay News Corp money to de-link from Google, but that’s not going to stop bloggers and others from linking to News Corp entities.

These bloggers and others would simply move to the top of the Google search results.

A move like this would also hurt Bing’s credibility.  I’m not sure being the official search engine of Fox News is anything to be proud of.

Zune players locking up

There’s something strange going on with Microsoft Zune mp3 players. If owners of the Microsoft iPod knockoff needed another reason to regret buying a Zune over an iPod, they just got one.

Owners of the 30 gigabyte version of the Zune started having problems early this morning. Zune players began booting on their own and then mysteriously locked up during the boot process. So far, Microsoft doesn’t have a clue why the players are doing this.

Imagine that.

Stalled Printer Repair 1.1

stalledprinterjobHere’s another piece of freeware that should have been created by Microsoft, but of course wasn’t. Stalled Printer Repair deletes a print request clogging up the printer spooler queue that cannot for whatever reason be deleted. Once something is stalled in the spooler queue, you cannot print anything until the first job is cleared from the spooler queue.

Even if you don’t try to print anything else, a stuck print job in the spooler queue can severely slow down your machine.

This problem has plagued Microsoft machines for as long as I can remember. Maybe instead of filming those stupid Mojave Experiment commercials where they trick retarded people into believing that Microsoft Vista is really some new Microsoft operating system called Mojave, though ought to just fix the operating system(s) that already really have.

Download Stalled Printer Repair 1.1

Do not forget to defrag

My PC has been running slow lately. When I would check out the performance in Windows Task Manager, the CPU would often show something close to 100%. I thought it had something to do with Firefox since it was when I had several tabs and even browser windows running when the problem showed up. Then again, my PC usually has a couple Firefox windows up all of the time.

It wasn’t until I tried setting up my new external hard drive that my PC was heavily fragmented.

If you are Mac user or a fake UNIX (Linux) user, you probably don’t even know what a fragmented hard drive is. It’s something only we Microsoft users have to deal with. I used to be hyper diligent when it came to defragmenting my hard drives. Over time I just got out of the habit of doing it. I guess one of the reasons I let the task fall to the wayside was because I don’t think I’ve ever fixed a PC problem by running Defrag. It was always just something I did before actually finding the real cause of whatever problem I was dealing with.

Since defraging my C: drive, I’ve noticed a remarkable difference. It’s ridiculously fast now.

Nintendo to offer Wii rainchecks

I read an article in the LA Times that since Nintendo can’t make enough Wii game consoles to satisfy consumer demand, they will do the next best thing – they will begin selling rain checks. They are calling them “Wii Certificates”. Nintendo hopes to squash criticism and stop prospective customers from defecting over to one of the rival game systems.

We’ve been thinking about getting a Wii. They look like a lot of fun and they don’t cost nearly as much as Sony’s Playstation 3 or Microsoft’s XBox 360. Plus with a Wii, it only comes one way. The XBox 360 and the Playstation 3 both come in different models and editions. It’s confusing. I’ve never really understood the difference between the different versions. For instance, the XBox 360 comes in a special Halo 3 edition except it doesn’t even come with the Halo 3 game.

The Wii only comes one way.

I’ve looked for them every time I go to a retail store that sells them. Though I always see enough Playstation 3 and XBox 360 consoles to choke a goat, I’ve never seen a Wii. They’ve been out a year now and I still haven’t seen one for sale.

Why would someone want to buy a Microsoft Zune?

I honestly cannot see why somebody would purposely choose to go out and spend money on a Zune mp3 player. Microsoft’s lame attempt at producing something to compete with Apple’s popular iPod mp3 player. I understand that Microsoft felt the need to once again go out and copy something another company first came up with. Once they realize consumers like whatever another company was able to come up with on their own. It’s what Microsoft does.

They “created” MSN when they realized people liked going online with AOL. They “created” Internet Explorer when they realized people like accessing the web with Netscape. They saw how scary popular the iPod was so they “created” an mp3 player of their very own.

Microsoft doesn’t so much as create as it does mimic. In the case of copying Apple’s popular mp3 player, they seem to have done a poor job. Worse then they normally do when they copy something. They actually chose to make one of the three available colors brown. Who does that?

Just who do they expect to go out and buy a Zune? People that have lost bets and must now do something both stupid and humiliating? Are iPods banned somewhere in the country that I’m not aware of? One of the reasons iPods are such a killer piece of hardware is because it meshes easily and seamlessly with iTunes. Microsoft has Windows Media Player. Ouch.

I’m sure there are some Microsoft loyalists out there that will run right out and buy one of these things. I just cannot imagine anyone really wanting one of these Zune players more then they would an Apple iPod.

Microsoft’s Zune Only Looks Simple [Washington Post]