I’ll still be checking in here from time to time, if only to approve comments stuck in the moderation queue.

Have fun, everyone, especially those of you going to CES.

You can read both articles and participate in the discussion yourself.

Jason’s post: Windows 7: Mojave My Ass

My response: If you love Windows XP, you’ll hate Windows 7

During the course of writing my reply, I stumbled across a shortcut I had never noticed before, one that works in both Vista and in Windows 7.

One of Jason’s complaints is that Microsoft removed the Run shortcut from the Start menu when it released Windows Vista, and the Run box is still MIA from Windows 7.

If you mastered the Run box in Windows XP, you probably missed it, at least for a while, when Vista came out. But as I explain in my ZDNet piece, it’s not gone,  just hidden. And I explain several alternatives and workarounds for it:

First of all, the Search box at the bottom of the Start menu does nearly everything the Run box did, and much more. If you begin typing a command, it appears in the Start menu, where you can click or press Enter to run it. With the Run box, I have to type a command in full and possibly even include its path. If I mistype the name, I get an error message.

[…]

Still not convinced? You want the old- school Run box? So just press Windows key+R. That shortcut has been around since the mid-1990s and still works in Windows Vista and Win7.

Not good enough? Fine. Customize the Vista/Win7 Start menu to add the Run command and you can party like it’s 1998. Right-click Start, choose Properties, click Customize, and select this check box.

And that’s when it dawned on me. In both Vista and Windows 7, the Run command is actually a system-managed shortcut in the Start Menu folder of your user profile. So, if you want to open the Run dialog box, just click Start, type run, and press Enter.

Hilarious, and yet … for those who have occasional uses for the Run menu, a nifty productivity tip.

I’m interested in your feedback on the transition from XP to Vista and Windows 7. Leave it here or over at ZDNet.

This free add-in allows you to sync your Hotmail and Live accounts with Outlook and also access your calendars and contacts from the corresponding Windows Live services. Installing the connector software adds a new top-level menu option, which you can use to add a Hotmail/Live account to Outlook, as shown here:

You can adjust the way that Outlook retrieves messages as well. Each Hotmail/Live account you add gets its own set of folders in the Outlook navigation pane, and the software takes care of keeping things in sync. The effect is the same as using an IMAP or Exchange account, with messages available on the server and in a local copy unless you delete them.

The connector software also adds a small toolbar at the bottom of the Outlook menu that displays server status for each account.

The most recent update of the Connector software is version 12.1, released on December 15, 2008. I’ve got it running on a multitude of systems here, and it works great. Stable, fast, does what it is supposed to do. Highly recommended for anyone with Microsoft-powered web e-mail accounts.

Here’s the official word from Zune support:

Early this morning we were alerted by our customers that there was a widespread issue affecting our 2006 model Zune 30GB devices (a large number of which are still actively being used).  The technical team jumped on the problem immediately and isolated the issue: a bug in the internal clock driver related to the way the device handles a leap year.  The issue should be resolved over the next 24 hours as the time change moves to January 1, 2009.   We expect the internal clock on the Zune 30GB devices will automatically reset tomorrow (noon, GMT). By tomorrow you should allow the battery to fully run out of power before the unit can restart successfully then simply ensure that your device is recharged, then turn it back on.  If you’re a Zune Pass subscriber, you may need to sync your device with your PC to refresh the rights to the subscription content you have downloaded to your device. 

Customers can continue to stay informed via the support page on zune.net (zune.net/support).

We know this has been a big inconvenience to our customers and we are sorry for that, and want to thank them for their patience. 

Q:  Why is this issue isolated to the Zune 30 device?

It is a bug in a driver for a part that is only used in the Zune 30 device.

Q:  What fixes or patches are you putting in place to resolve this situation? 

This situation should remedy itself over the next 24 hours as the time flips to January 1st.

Q:  What’s the timeline on a fix?

The issue Zune 30GB customers are experiencing today will self resolve as time changes to January 1.

Q:  Why did this occur at precisely 12:01 a.m. on December 31, 2008? 

There is a bug in the internal clock driver causing the 30GB device to improperly handle the last day of a leap year.

Q:  What is Zune doing to fix this issue? 

The issue should resolve itself.

Q:  Are you sure that this won’t happen to all 80, 120 or other flash devices? 

This issue is related to a part that is only used in Zune 30 devices.

Q:  How many 30GB Zune devices are affected? How many Zune 30GB devices were sold? 

All 30GB devices are potentially affected.

If you own a 30GB Zune player (the original hard drive model, released in November 2006), you got an unpleasant surprise this morning when you tried to turn it on. As many users have reported on the Zune forums, the player starts up normally, the status bar goes to 100%, and then it freezes. At that point the device is completely inoperable.

The problem appears to be date-related, and Microsoft as of 7:00AM Pacific time has a note on its Zune service status page noting that they are aware of the issue and are working to correct it.

I can confirm that the issue does not affect other Zune models, only the Zune 30 with upgraded firmware. My Zune 80GB player works just fine, and the Zune service and software are unaffected as well.

One post on the Zune forums claims that the issue can be resolved by removing the battery and doing a hard reset. That’s a tricky process that involves some risk of breaking the plastic piece that covers the Zune cable connector. In addition, it’s unclear that it actually solves anything, as other forum participants report that the problem returns as soon as the supposedly repaired device is reconnected to the PC.

And as an aside, I think the customers who are outraged and threatening class action lawsuits need to relax. Yes, it’s an embarrassing issue, but it appeared to start around midnight Pacific time during a holiday week. Microsoft responded publicly with a statement less than seven hours later. That’s not an unreasonable initial response time. Now we’ll see how long it takes for a fix to arrive.

I’ll update this post when Microsoft releases more information or if I learn anything more.

Update: On Twitter, ZuneInsider says: “We really are trying to get to the botton [sic] this ASAP. thanks for the patience.”

Another Twitter update, from around noon Pacific time: “hey folks. we are making progress and close to being able to ID the issue for you all - just running thru additional checks and testing“

Microsoft announced it will be releasing a new edition of its operating software, called Windows 7, while Apple is working on its new OS X Snow Leopard. How will they stack up against each other?

Hilarious.

(via)

You can help me out by leaving a comment with some of the annoyances you’re hoping will be fixed. Please be specific; simply saying “It’s too slow” or “I don’t like Explorer” aren’t useful.

Here are a couple of entries from my list to get the conversation started:

• The system sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason and then doesn’t go back to sleep.
• The file-based backup program is too inflexible and doesn’t allow me enough control over the types of files or locations I want to back up.
• Showing or hiding the Preview pane in Windows Explorer takes too many clicks.

OK, your turn.

Australia’s ITWire has some details about one DVD image, which supposedly includes the familiar multiple editions of Windows 7: Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate.

Neowin’s Tom Warren has a few more tidbits and some screen shots.

During the past year, I’ve looked at several third-party gadgets that tried to put a front end on the excellent (and free) Pandora music service. Every one of them had at least one crippling flaw.

So I was delighted to see last week that Pandora has designed its own Vista Sidebar gadget. Here it is in operation on this notebook:

It’s the very model of a good citizen: clean, efficient, fun to have around. It doesn’t use much in the way of resources (roughly 30MB of memory on this 3GB system).

Update: As Jim King points out in the comments, the gadget is Flash based, as is Pandora’s web-based interface. And of course, Adobe still hasn’t released a 64-bit version of Flash. That’s not a killer, though. If you want to use this gadget in Vista x64, you’ll need to run the x86 Sidebar.exe. Shut down the x64 Sidebar.exe application and start the version located in the Program Files (x86) folder. Voila!

If you’re a Pandora user, I highly recommend it.

Until a few days ago, that is, when Sean Alexander, who commissioned the original Yule Log viz way back when, posted an updated Yule Log Visualization for Windows Media Player 11/Vista/XP.

And shhh, don’t tell anyone, but it works under Windows Media Player 12 in Windows 7 as well:

Get a playlist going, switch to Now Playing mode, right-click the center pane and choose the Yule Log visualization from the menu.

And to really make the effect complete, click the View Full Screen button in the lower right corner of the Media Player window. That takes away the menu bar, play controls, and album information, leaving only the graphic.

(And if the fake flaming log thing is just too corny, try the Psychedelia Viz Pack instead.)

Think again.

The current download offering is a beta release of GeForce version 179.28, covering Windows XP and Windows Vista (x86 and x64) on the following GPUs:

GeForce 9800M GTX/GTS/GT/GS
GeForce 9700M GTS/GT
GeForce 9600M or 9650M GT/GS
GeForce 9300M or 9500M GS/G
GeForce 9200M GS/GE
GeForce 8800M GTX/GTS/GS
GeForce 8700M GT
GeForce 8600M GT/GS
GeForce 8400M G/GS
GeForce 8200M G

I installed the driver successfully on my Dell XPS M1330 without problems, after first updating the system BIOS per Nvidia’s recommendation. (If you have a Dell Inspiron 1420, Dell XPS M1330, or Dell XPS M1530, be sure to read this note first.)

And now the bad news. Some fairly large players in the notebook market have chosen not to support this release. If you own a Dell Vostro, a Lenovo ThinkPad, or a Sony VAIO with an integrated Nvidia GPU, you’ll have to get an updated driver from the OEM.

Also, if you have a hybrid SLI notebook (the Nvidia download page has a detailed list), you’ll need to wait a little longer. That configuration isn’t supported on the current beta drivers.

ATI/AMD? The ball’s in your court.

Currently, the link goes nowhere.

I’m still highly doubtful that the public (or anyone outside of a few carefully selected beta testers) will see this build before Steve Ballmer’s Windows 7 keynote on January 7 at CES. I suspect that the page will be filled out shortly with details about how to prepare for the beta, perhaps even including a registration page.

We’ll see…

Good idea. But in practice, the algorithm might need some fine-tuning. Here’s what it suggests when I visit my Windows Live home page:

I’m not sure where it got the idea that I’m in Mexico or that I speak Spanish. (Although I learned a fair amount of Spanish years ago and pick up enough to get by fairly quickly each time I visit Mexico.)

I won’t spoil the ending for you, but will note in passing that Andrew’s experiment ended very quickly.

For a lot of people, this is the holy grail. I continue to believe that the reverse configuration makes more sense today, with Home Server running in a dedicated VM on a Media Center machine.

Maybe in 3-5 years Media Center will be written in such a way that it can run as a role on a server. But not today.