How is it that the largest software company in the world can get things so wrong after all these years?
Many of the issues faced at our helpdesk are related directly to insane defaults, bad software and patches and poorly implemented security schemes - all courtesy of Microsoft and charged for by their technical toadies.
We even see small business operators lumbered with hugely expensive servers and terminal services installations to cater for their tech person's latest "great solution" from Microsoft, be it Small Business Server 2008 or whatever.
Frankly, we're appalled by the lack of technical expertise and competence displayed by support staff across the country, and the seeming reluctance of these experts to embrace better solutions.
To help address the balance, we offer here a few tips to help make your computing experience easier (without actually ditching all your Microsoft products and getting into the future of computing via Mac or Linux systems or totally internet based applications - and yes, it's happening...not quickly enough, but it is happening)
This page isn't intended to rail against Microsoft per-se, but it does illustrate that knowledge out there is in limited supply, and that there are alternatives. These are not necessarily the only solutions, but they have been proven by time and experience.
We welcome any feedback and other suggestions.
The great Internet Explorer download mess - this file contains invalid data
Hello Microsoft! Your browser is broken!
If you're experiencing problems downloading updates (getting the message: this file contains invalid data), then the likely culprit is Internet Explorer (Note: this does sometimes affect other versions and other browsers too).
We’ve received a substantial number of calls recently from clients attempting and failing to update SmoothPay.
The problem appears to be with Internet Explorer caching downloaded files, and is especially problematic in IE7.
To eliminate the problem:
Another solution:
Unable to run help files across the network - F1 not working
Hello Microsoft! Your logic is pretty flawed on this issue. In trying to stop a small-ish problem you've totally overlooked the obvious. If it's unsafe to open a compiled help file across the network, then might it not also be unsafe to run executable files across the network?
This is one of those "out there" software patches that left most software suppliers in the world scratching their heads in wonder.
To eliminate the problem:
Vista - the wonder of it all
This fluffed up version of Windows has provided us all with hours of entertainment.
Again, Microsoft have dressed up their chook of an operating system and changed a few rules, like protecting files installed in Program Files folder from being changed by anyone other than an Administrator - and preventing users from creating files in the root folder of their hard drive. Excuse me - just who's hard drive is it again?
We're dumbfounded - since Windows became a dominant desktop operating system, Microsoft have advocated installation of software into the Program Files folder and consequently we experienced DLL hell and all kinds of nasty problems - so, being slavish devotees to this mantra, all products install to Program Files by default. But then along comes Vista, and you can't run your accounting systems, payrolls etc if they have been installed to this folder - unless you run as administrator or turn off user access controls (not recommended), otherwise any data files, ini files etc installed in those folders are either "shadowed" or not able to be altered.
To fix this mess:
Security, permissions errors
It's a pity, but on peer-to-peer networks and client-server networks, Microsoft's security settings seem to have a mind of their own - and they certainly don't provide for application-centric security and file access privileges - you'd think a mature operating system would provide such features...
What this means is, that if a user with Admin privileges creates a file and moves it into a folder that has general user access, then ordinary users may not be able to access/update/delete the file so created - bit of problem if it's a data file!
To resolve the problem (every time it happens):
A better solution:
The dumbest defaults of all - hidden file extensions, and double-click
You mean...there's a better way?
Yep! This nutzoid logic means that files are unidentifiable (unless the little "Excel" icon beside a CSV file means it's a CSV - or is it an XLS file etc?) which causes problems when you need to identify such a file and upload it to the IRD, the bank etc.
And as for double-clicking an icon to make a program run - give your OOS a break.
The solution:
To Microsoft Office, or not?
It's not a secret! There are viable alternatives to Microsoft Office, and many provide a good degree of compatibility with Microsoft's proprietary file formats - thankfully becoming a thing of the past.
One of the best is OpenOffice, which provides a complete word processor, spreadsheet, database, drawing and presentation solution - for free!
Given the expense of Microsoft Office, it's well worth while considering using an alternative - and it'll suit most user requirements.
The biggest change you'll experience is the need to use tables to get good layouts, and you also get the benefit of being able to create PDF files directly from the application.
To obtain OpenOffice: