 | By Dennis O’Reilly Every significant Windows patch is accompanied by a string of conflicts with this or that product or function. A reader asks whether there’s still room for an uncomplicated approach to everyday PC care and feeding. |
Knowing when not to futz with Windows’ innards
Imagine having to be an auto mechanic just to drive a car. That’s what anyone who doesn’t have an engineering degree feels like these days just trying to keep a PC running.
Insider tips, how-tos, best security practices, and more
Subscribe to Windows Secrets — free!
The Windows Secrets Newsletter brings you essential tricks for running Windows XP, Vista, 7, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Windows Update, and more — weekly, free.
Bonus: get this free download when you subscribe
Interested in Windows 8 but don't know where to start? You have a friendly guide in My Windows 8 Consumer Preview: A Sneak Peek at the Windows 8 Public Beta, by Katherine Murray. This month, all subscribers can download Chapter 1 and Chapter 5. In this excerpt you will learn about the new look of Windows 8, how to make things happen in it, how to use the apps that come with it, and how to get more apps.
We guarantee your privacy: We will never sell, rent, or give away your address to any outside party, ever. We will never send you any unrequested e-mail. Unsubscribe requests are honored within one business day. Privacy Policy
Last week’s Top Story by Scott Dunn included a bit more Windows information than reader Christine Aichelman cares to hear about:
- “I started with the LangaList and was still enjoying it as it morphed into Windows Secrets. It was a little more technical, but it still had a lot of information that I, as a retired stay-at-home nurse, could use in keeping up my desktop and my husband’s laptop.
“The publication seems to be more and more for business people and less for the home user. This last publication, instead of showing you how to go into IE or Windows and make adjustments, [suggested] little programs to fix everything. There is less technical know-how and more ‘download this program’ to fix it. I’m constantly trying to simplify. Keep all the unnecessary stuff off so things run faster and more smoothly.
“Perhaps technology is finally just passing me by, but there must be other people at home who just want to be able to take care of their equipment, get introduced to a few new handy programs, and get the instructions necessary to fix annoying things that crop up, like that Microsoft patch that was incompatible with Zone Alarm. [See Susan Bradley's July 24 article in our paid content.]
“I just wanted someone to know we aren’t all IT people.”
We’re focusing on software reviews, news, and Windows tutorials. We want to include stories of interest to all stripes of Windows users, so please give us your feedback on the kinds of information you want to see. Let us know via the Windows Secrets contact page.
Where to find the Support Alert search plug-in
In last week’s issue, editorial director Brian Livingston introduced the Windows Secrets browser plug-in that queries articles from back issues of the Support Alert Newsletter. The site also offers a plug-in that searches old Windows Secrets articles and a search page that uses our implementation of the Google API (application programming interface) to query Windows authority sites.
A reader named Robin was unfamiliar with this kind of search technology:
- “In your latest newsletter, you mention a plug-in for a Google Windows-related site search.
“I don’t know what this is, and I am sure lots of your other readers will be the same! What is this? Are you secretly getting us to install the Google Toolbar?”
Open your browser, pull down the search widget, select Yahoo or some other search engine, enter windows vista or whatever, and click the magnifying-glass icon. You’ll see a page of results from Yahoo or whichever search engine you selected.
After you add our plug-ins, you can choose from three more search engines: Windows Secrets, Support Alert, and our Google API implementation. Using our Google API tool simply makes Google.com refine its search to only those sites that Google considers to be “authorities” on Microsoft Windows. That includes PCMag.com, PCWorld.com, WindowsSecrets.com, and the like.
I find that this produces better results than using the generic version of Google.com when I’m looking for some fact or tip about MS Windows.
| Readers Christine and Robin will each receive a gift certificate for a book, CD, or DVD of their choice for sending comments we printed. |
The Known Issues column brings you readers’ comments on our recent articles. Dennis O’Reilly is technical editor of WindowsSecrets.com.
Related posts:
