So, if you didn't change them, then somebody else did. Or a virus. A little piece of software has sneaked in through your computers backdoor, and begins to follow the exact instructions its creator(s) gave it. In some cases it could be to make trouble for you by deleting files you might need sometime in the near future. Your system could work properly, without any errors and you won't even notice that anything is wrong with your computer. But one day you get repeated error messages, or you experience problems to run certain programs you use. Or you maybe you notice that you have lost documents or other files that you use, and you are 100% possitive that you did not delete or move them. This is when you could be atleast 99% sure that someone, or something is disturbing your system. In most cases this happens to be a computer disease in form of a virus infection.

Therefore it is very important to protect yourself and your system against viruses. I bet you don't want your work to take the triple amount of time because your computer is running slow, or to even disappear entirely from the face of the earth. A good thing to practice when you use your computer as a workstation is to take backups of your work. And I must urge you to store files or folders on a separate disk in addition to your main drive. (For example you save your work to your computers harddrive, and then burn it over to a cd, or copy it to a flash disk. In the case of a virus infection you could atleast be able to save your work if your computer is wasted. So, remember backup.

This brings us over to another aspect of viruses. That is about the highly destructive ones. Most of them are stopped by anti virus software before they gets to spread too much. But some of them are really tricky and surprises a huge number of users and systems before it is taken care of. The companies that develop anti virus software always have to look for new viruses, because hundreds and even thousands of new ones are created every day. Every minute someone on this planet are focusing their energy on one thing. Guess what.?! The making of a new disease they can spread around the globe. This is why I ask the question; Is viruses pure fun or pure evil?

My personal guess is: None of the above. I think there is a combination of the really old part of mankinds mentality that is to fight or cause troubleif we are pissed about something, and the creative minds that construct these sicknesses to make trouble for most people possible. They get the feeling of having the upper hand, and that they have done some damage. The only problem for them is that virus creators won't see the despair in your eyes when you realize that you have lost your latest week of work because of their creating. The only thing they can do is to monitor the global expand of the infection, and look at statistics on number of infections, computer crashes and so on. But mostly I think they are just having a really good time just by knowing that a lot of people are suffering huge losses after they did a "good job", because this was their intend in the first place.

To conclude this little article I feel that I have to explain to you once more the importance of a proper anti virus solution installed on your system, backups of the things you care about, and that you know that some viruses are a joke, but some will really cause you serious trouble. By visiting the website link below you will find more useful information about viruses, and other threats that exists online. There are also a collection of quality protection software at very reasonable prices.

My friend came to me because of the problem he had with his wireless connection. So we started to track down possible problems to find the solution. But his computer was somehow disturbed. Infact the computer was running slow, and didn't response to any commands at all. We tried to cancel several prosesses in order to free capacity, but no luck. It seemed that the computer had a lot to do and couldn't get any free power to even shut down running prosesses. In my eyes, this clearly seemed like my friend had been another innocent victim of cruel intentions and hard work.

With his computer running so slow, we decided that we should simply try to restart the system, and try to gain control over it again. So we pushed the restart button. It went black, and then it booted up for a second. As soon as it came alive again, we both looked at eachother with wide open eyes. We could not believe what we saw. "Non system disk" was the message we got. It meant that his main drive on the computer was empty. No system files installed. We were gasping.

He lost his whole system because of an infection of viruses. As a disease it broke down his system, like a human disease will do to our body. He lost his music collection, his latest couple of days of work, and a lot of private stuff. He did not take any backups, only the work he had done a couple of day earlier. He could not believe it. It was like the world collapsed he told me.

I have no problem understanding him. I had a crash when I lost my whole list of merchandise. All together over 300 000 items. That was one very grey day. I then saw that a simple little thing could have spared me for all those weeks of work after that. A backup list. One single cd, memorystick, dvd, diskette, or anything that could store my extra copy of the list.

I sit here to day and I know from years of experience that backups are very important. But to ensure that your computer is quick and healthy also, and don't collaps entirely, I seriously recommend that you get yourself a copy of some quality protection software. There are two more things I strongly recommend you to protect yourself from. If you would like to know what they are, and how to stand up against them, please visit the website described below.

Most security software developers out there claim to have the best solution, and that their system will give you a trouble free internet experience. This is very far from the truth. Infact no software out there deals with every malware(viruses, spyware, adware) that exists. This is things that evolve very quickly, and new ones in dozens are created and spread online every single day. It takes a huge effort to update anti-software solutions to be able to deal with all the latest threats in every category.

Very many internet users also tend to trust the large and respected companies such as Symantec (The creator of Norton) and other big ones. Well, this is ofcourse something that is normal in the everyday life. You like to know that the doctor that is going to do a surgical procedure on you has done a few procedures in his life or else you wouldn't be able to trust him, right?

In this industry on the other hand, it seems that this could be the opposite. People who develop spyware and viruses are interested in harming most people and systems possible, and then the logical thing to do is create a "parasite" that breaks through the most used security systems such as Norton. This is why we have tested Norton Internet security's integrated anti spyware function versus other systems that are primarily created to deal with spyware. The results are devastating. Norton is by far the best anti spyware killer. Infact in my eyes one of the worst ones. But their firewall is working great though.

So how can you be comfortable with the security software you have? My opinion is that you test it for yourself. Find out what is working for you and what you need to be better. I am personally most bothered with the anti spyware removal software. This makes sense because this is the kind of threats that evolves most quickly. And the reason to that is money. Big money. Huge efforts are laid in the creation of spyware. They spy on your actions on the net to be able to target you with ads and popups. When your system is so infected by spyware that the different spywares are competing with eachother for the available resources, the result will be a slow computer.

FreePcAssistance.com has recently tested a free spyware removal software. It is really a great tool. It includes a registry fixer, and a complete anti virus solution. All in one package. And it is free. Read more about it on our website as described below.

You have most likely been one of the many victims of spyware. There are several thousands of them online today, and still growing at an incredible rate. They are designed to spy on what you do online, which pages you visit, what information you send, or even to steal the codes for your bank accounts or other accounts. Some of them will only spy on you to be able to target pop-up ads on your computer screen. If you have installed a pop-up blocker, they won't bother you. But some are using a new type of pop-up called "pop-under". These ads slips through a pop-up blocking software because they are not a small pop-up window, but a new full-blown webpage that lays over everything that is on your computer screen.

So, if you are experiencing that your computer is running slow or hanging, even after you have installed a fresh operating system, then you should try to check for spyware. They infect you from suspicious sites, especially porn sites and wares (pirate) sites. Very often you are asked to install a codec to play a video or something. You go ahead and install it, but no video appears, and nothing seems to happen at all. This is when you probably have to look for spyware again. To find these creeps, you will need a spyware detector. There are many good ones, but there are also many that isn't that great. So you will need to read some reviews and tests to find the one best suitable for your needs. This brings me over to another type that I urge you to be aware of. They are really sly, and you might not believe it when you read this, but I assure you that these things exist.

Again I talk about a new breed of threats. But this kind is very tricky to get rid of. Maybe you have noticed that a security warning from "security center". It claims that you have a serious problem with your system, and you need to fix it right away. You are asked to click on the button to fix it immediately, or to fix it later by closing the warning. No matter which button you push, you are sent to a website which is offering you some fantastic anti-spyware software. Be aware. This is nothing but spyware that has infected your system, and the only problem you will get rid of with this software is the spyware they have created themselves. It won't fix anything else. For most people this security warning looks pretty scary, and they will go ahead and purchase this so-called anti-spyware software. Well, you will most likely get rid of the warnings that pops up constantly. But remember that the problem was created by the same people that offers you the fix. I don't think they deserve any money at all.

I hear a question coming up now; how to get rid of the disturbing warnings without paying? I have a solution that has worked for me all the times I have been infected. That is to format the harddrive and reinstall the OS(operating system). But this is no method that I prefer, since it takes a lot of time, and you have to set up your computer again. We are talking about several hours of work here. So, before you go ahead and do this, I recommend that you scan your computer with every piece of anti-spyware and anti-virus software that you posess. Maybe you are lucky and get rid of it, but in most cases it is stuck. Anyway, it is well worth a try. Or ofcourse, you could pay the thirty bucks, or whatever it costs, and you very easily solve the problem. Again, this is nothing I recommend.

Just to mention it, these warnings is more a disturbance than a real threat. If you decide to reinstall your system, you absolutely have time to take backups. They are relatively harmless, but very annoying. So in time you want to get rid of it. Which method you choose is up to you of course.

With ever-increasing movements in manufacturing toward a seamless integration of shop systems, enterprise resource planning (ERP) software has proven a viable solution to the problem of communication between departments. The immediacy of graphically-displayed (GUI), real-time data available to operators at the touch of a finger functions to reduce the amount of time and paperwork necessary to make job production run smoothly. However, one of the last vestiges of needless multilayer redundancy in the manufacturing system is shown in the very essence of the production system; that is, the conceptual and actual separations that exist in the engineering and manufacturing bills of material (BOM). While there are, of course, different types of bills of material dependent upon the department that generates them and for their intended purpose, the similarities of ultimate purpose found in engineering and manufacturing BOM’s is the basis by which ERP seeks to their integration within the production process.

Generally, a BOM describes the product to be produced in terms of its various assemblies, sub-assemblies, and parts. In addition to being a listing of parts, a thorough BOM displays these elements in hierarchical fashion with a master BOM outlining the list of components by broad reference and working its way down through the sub-assemblies and increasingly detailed constituent components necessary for the production of the product. For many ERP software systems utilizing GUI displays, this hierarchical mapping of BOM entry and inquiry is produced in what is termed an exploded tree view, whereby components as kids are easily traced back to their parents. As well, to the extent that BOM’s provide a knowledge of type and quantity of parts necessary for a particular job, they are vital to accurate purchasing and efficient inventory maintenance.

The problem regarding BOM’s in manufacturing is when the classic structure of the engineering BOM needs to be enhanced by the creation of a manufacturing BOM for actual production. In the past, wasteful amounts of paperwork were needed to describe the production in terms of routers—especially when it came to the inclusion of data such as phantom parts. In addition, any engineering change order (ECO) that affects material ordering, purchasing, inventory or any number of other departments could cause great delays in production as they thus affect the manufacturing BOM. In short, the classic separation of engineering and manufacturing BOM’s (where quoting is always in the middle) necessitates the additional step of reorganization of the assembly router.

With ERP software, engineering and manufacturing BOM’s are now integrated to eliminate such reorganization and the need for an additional BOM for manufacturing itself. Tooling information is included directly into the router from engineering as the different tree levels are controlled in ERP software under a single dispatch list. In addition, ECO’s are automatically updated within the GUI and without additional paperwork. In the more robust ERP software systems, the engineering BOM is backward scheduled on the shop floor for more accurate assembly instructions. However, perhaps the greatest benefit of all in the use of ERP to integrate engineering and manufacturing BOM’s is that of a single-system organizational communication structure. Now, engineering and manufacturing are finally working together on the same page, resulting gained efficiencies in direct production costs (such as inventory management) and reduced waste in various in-direct costs (such as off-production labor time).

If anything in manufacturing is certain, it is that the greater the materials handling the less efficient the system will be all the way down the production line. Indeed, materials acquisition and issuance has become something of a science since the introduction of lean principles into manufacturing over thirty years ago. The idea of lean in materials management is tied to the notion of estimating the material quantities that will be needed at any moment in the manufacturing operation. Prior to the automation of the shop floor, materials management (as a function of inventory management) was both a labor-intensive and often-inaccurate process as estimates for material were usually based on out-dated data. Today, however, enterprise resource planning (ERP) software systems take the manual process out of the production loop and through the use of real-time data, achieve the automation of materials management.

In essence, the function of materials management boils down to two divergent concepts—buying for inventory versus buying straight to the job. As the less efficient concept, buying for inventory means the “storing” of material (raw and/or components) for future use in production, whether or not that production may be presently pending or unknown into the future. In terms of material clerk efforts, buying to inventory requires a great deal of material handling in terms of turnaround, cycle counting, and issuance. On the other hand, buying straight to the job means less handling of production material within the shop. In a best case scenario, material enters the shop through the loading dock, travels directly to the work center where it is used immediately in manufacturing, and then shipped out just as quickly as finished goods; in other words, material moves straight through the factory. We often see such efficiencies in lean-cell manufacturing operations.

The estimating of material quantity in such a best case scenario is based upon the router (or traveler), which is in itself a quantity dependent document. That is to say, as the quantity of material needed is known in advance, the work order is also quantified, In turn, this makes it easy to know what to buy and what to move from inventory to the job as quickly as possible. Furthermore, ERP software will manage backflushing, whereby material is issued automatically when production is posted against an operation. In short, an ERP backflushing program will make use of the known quantity of jobs completed to calculate through the bill of material the quantities of the components used, and then reduce on-hand balances by this amount. Some ERP systems will even allow the input of quantity to issue material or backflush as initial job steps are completed. Such an option can have a great effect on the reporting of production scrap.

In the end, automating materials transactions on the shop floor through robust ERP systems raises efficiencies in the general materials management functions of inventory clerks. To this end, ERP software achieves the desired goal of the minimization of both material issuance and overall transactions.

The purpose of this article is to discuss and document the core set of files produced by Visual Studio Express when one creates a simple Windows application. If you have not already installed your free copy of Visual C# Express, and you want to follow along with this article, I would suggest that you download it and install it.

In the old days of programming people could write single file programs, compile them and run them, but such is no longer the case. There is a core set of files you get every time you create a project with C# Express and it is very useful to know what those files are and how they function together to produce a program.

Start with an Empty Windows Application

If you are following along with your own copy of Visual C#, you can create an empty Windows Application by clicking File | New Project and then clicking the "Windows Application" Icon. Name your project "SimpleWindow" and hit Ok.

Visual C# Express should create an empty Windows project with a single blank form. Save this project by clicking File | Save All.

If your installation of C# Express is the same as mine, it should have created 10 files and a directory hierarchy consisting of ten subdirectories. Let's examine those files and see what they do.

Solution Files

The highest level subdirectory should be named SimpleWindow, and it should contain two files -- SimpleWindow.sln and SimpleWindow.suo . In general you will not modify either of these files by hand. Descriptions follow:

SimpleWindow.sln is the topmost file used to create a program, it contains information about the structure of the entire solution such as the names of the projects contained in the solution and their locations.

SimpleWindow.suo is an entirely different animal, the Solution User Options file. It contains temporary information such debugging breakpoints and what files you have open. You can safely delete this file and it Visual C# Express will recreate it the next time you open the solution. The suo file is store in binary format and thus difficult to examine.

Project File

SimpleWindow.csproj is an XML file which contains instructions to the MSBuild Engine for how to build the SimpleWindow project. MSBuild is the (new in Visual Studio 2005) Microsoft tool used to build .NET applications. In general you will not modify this file directly; but if you want to do so, you can find complete documentation on Microsoft's MSDN web site.

Code Files

Although SimpleWindow is the minimal Windows program you can create using Visual C# Express, it creates six code files -- Form1.cs, Form1.Designer.cs, Program.cs, AssemblyInfo.cs, Resources.Designer.cs, and Settings.Designer.cs. Descriptions follow:

Program.cs is a very simple code file with a very important job. C# express expects that one and only one class in the SimpleWindow project will contain a "static void Main()", the main entry point to the SimpleWindow program. The "Main" routine contains only 3 active lines of code; and for purposes of this article its job is to create and run an instance of Form1. That's all. Program.cs is done.

Form1.cs and Form1.Designer.cs contain two pieces of Form1, the single automatically generated form in this project. At first it may seem odd to split Form1 into two files, but there is a good reason. Form1.cs is meant to be edited by hand; whereas Form1.Designer.cs is generated by the IDE visual design tools. For example, if you add a button control to Form1, the IDE automatically generates all the actual code to draw the button on Form1 and places it in the Form1.Designer.cs file. All forms generated by Visual C# Express are split this way.

Settings.Designer.cs The code in this file provides easy and direct access to the application and user settings for the program. Application and User settings are data generally having to do with the operation of your program which you might want to change on a per installation or per user basis; for example, a database connection string or the location of a directory the program uses. This data should persist after the program is done executing. This file is automatically generated by C# Express from information you add to the Settings.Settings file (discussed later in this article), so you should not edit it the C# code in this file directly.

Resource.Designer.cs This file is also generated automatically, from the XML Resources.resx file. It contains code to provide easy and direct access to resources such as images or waves.

AssemblyInfo.cs is a very interesting code file which C# Express has stuffed into the "Properties" directory of the SimpleWindow project. AssemblyInfo.cs has just what you would expect, information about the assembly (executable file) built by this project. The information is stored as a set of C# attributes. You can change the attribute values to change your assembly information using only the C# code editor. Furthermore, because the information is in a C# file it gets compiled into your program and thus is available to you, the programmer, to use at run time. This is a very nice way to do things, and I will devote a future article to the topic of how to access Assembly information. I recommend you examine the contents of this file.

Resources and Settings

I mentioned the Resource.Designer.cs and Settings.Designer.cs in the "Code Files" section of this article, but how are they created? The answer is they are both created visually using designer tools provided in the C# Express IDE, and they are stored in an XML Format. Descriptions follow.

Settings.settings is the XML file containing user and application settings which are defined in the Settings Designer visual tool. This file is compiled into the C# file Settings.Designer.cs by the SettingsSingleFileGenerator tool.

Resource.resx is the XML file containing resource information which is defined in the Managed Resources Editor visual tool. This file is compiled into the C# file Resource.Designer.cs by the ResXFileCodeGenerator tool.

Debug Support

SimpleWindow.vshost.exe is a "hosting process" file. The Hosting Process was introduced in Visual Studio 2005 to provide improved debugging support. It allows for such features as faster debug startup, partial trust debugging, and design time expression evaluation. These features will be discussed in more detail in a future article.

Summary

When you create a new solution/project in C# Express you get a lot of files. It is handy to know what those files are for, particularly if your project gets corrupted somehow. In this article we looked at the files that are created when you first create a simple Windows solution/project. My next article will examine files that are created when you do a complete build.

In the past, the word 'gadget' has almost always applied to a physical object that you could use for some unique purpose. Gadgets could be useful to the point of saving massive amounts of time and energy for their users, or they could be little more than interesting trinkets. Gadgets are almost always novel in some way or another though.

Now the word gadget has transcended the need to be a material object and also applies to some types of computer programs. Specifically Gadgets are now types of programs that are designed to be run on Microsoft's new Windows Vista operating system and to be run embedded in a special web based service offered by Microsoft. Because these gadgets come in two different varieties, those varieties are specified by the names of the gadgets. For example, Web Gadgets are embedded in the web page in a similar way to traditional applets. The Sidebar Gadgets are run in a special sidebar in the Windows Vista operating system.

These software Gadgets are available for download from a web site associated with Microsoft and perform a wide variety of functions. Web Gadgets can include programs that provide you with daily quotes, words of wisdom, games like hangman that you can embed in web pages, a clock displaying Greenwich Meridian Time, and software that can stream live video from web cams in various parts of the world (Europe seems to be especially popular). There are also HTML sandboxes and links to email that you can embed in a web page. One useful application that you can download and place in a web page is a text message window which will allow you and another person to communicate in real time from various websites.

The Sidebar Gadgets are also very impressive and can be downloaded and installed on your Vista operating system with a minimum of trouble. Examples of these programs include ones that rely on the web for information. You can get live news feeds, your local weather (or presumably someone else's local weather if you like), and information about ongoing ebay auctions. There's also one that lets you search various ebay sites right from your sidebar. Another Gadget will play music on your media player in a random order while displaying the art from the cover of the album being played. One Sidebar Gadget will also monitor your computer system's use of memory, as well as hard drive space used, and the use of the processor. If you happen to be Muslim, you can get a Sidebar Gadget that reminds you when to pray. There's also one that will access your Microsoft Outlook calender and remind you of your appointments.

Another great thing about Microsoft taking the initiative with these Gadgets is that they build a sense of community by encouraging people to create and submit Gadgets of their own. That means that you don't have to be part of some big software company in order to contribute the programs that are available for use by users of Windows Vista.

A pioneer in technology reporting, Julia Hall has published articles about the latest digital devices and gadgets for over ten years. After graduating from MIT with a degree in electrical engineering, Julia turned down huge salaries from some of the most recognized fortune 500 companies in the world to pursue her dream of becoming a leading consumer advocate. Julia uses her expertise to cut through the too good to be true deals offered by high tech companies to reveal the real steals and the real duds that we're bombarded with daily. If you enjoy staying on the cutting edge of technology about newest gadgets whether for business or pleasure, but find yourself occasionally confused by the overwhelming and convoluted information out there let Julia show you the way.

Let’s face it, over the past 10 years, personal computers have become an integral part of our lives. Many households have computers in home offices, living rooms, kitchens and even bedrooms. We see the technology as something useful, friendly, and even precious and fragile at times.

Regrettably, the very technology of personal computing we seem to rely on is subjected to virus infections, email SPAM, Spyware/Adware, Trojans etc. As a result, your computer performance starts degrading, applications run slower than usual and in some instances; you are getting constant pop-up ads on your screen.

Worst-case scenario, your computer “crashes”, well not literally, and you have to spend a significant amount of time and money on hiring a professional and re-installing the operating system along with all the software applications originally installed on your computer. But what about your data, the most precious personal information that may include your emails from family members, friends and colleagues, your personal documents, financial information and finally, family photos.

When you computer is infected, and the operating system needs to be re-installed, unless done by a professional at a significant cost to you, your personal information may be lost forever. You may ask, “Why is this guy painting such a grim picture?”

The answer is; “This is an unfortunate reality”, and unless you are fully equipped and prepared to deal with the issue on your own, with a very little help, you may loose your valuable information permanently.

Computer Viruses and Antivirus Software

As I mentioned earlier, computer viruses may destroy your computer’s operating system and disable access to your personal information. Computer viruses are generally distributed through email, Internet sites, instant messaging (chat software), and physical media such as CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, USB or floppy disks.

The best preventative strategy is to have a full-featured antivirus software installed on your computer.

Most of the personal computers purchased today are already equipped with the antivirus software. “So, what’s the catch?” you ask me. The catch is that every commercial as well as non-commercial antivirus software requires frequent updating. Many people think that if the antivirus was installed on their computer by the vendor, they are protected for life. Wrong!

To give you an example, when a new computer virus is discovered, large teams of software developers work night and day to come-up with an antidote, a “pill” that would destroy a virus and will inoculate your personal computer. Once available, the antivirus update or "signature", will be available on the vendor’s website for download. If your antivirus software is up-to-date, and is configured to update automatically over the Internet, you have very little to worry about. But what if I told you that millions of computer users out there have outdated antivirus software.

Believe it or not, it is true. It means that even though they think that their computer is protected, in actuality their, and any computer with outdated antivirus software may be easily infected by a virus.

You have to be cognizant of the fact that most of the commercial antivirus software available today requires annual subscription, and if your subscription was not renewed on time, the antivirus would stop updating its virus signatures, thus exposing your system to a threat. The good news is that there are non-commercial, free antivirus software packages that can be downloaded and used absolutely free of charge on your home computer.

A PC freeze is certainly one of the most aggravating things because it usually happens in the middle of something. So, what can you do to end the freeze?

There is nothing more frustrating to the user of a personal computer than when it “freezes.” Computer freeze usually refers to that state when the computer suddenly ceases to operate. In severe cases of computer freeze, nothing happens at all. The keyboard and mouse become inoperative, and whatever image is on the screen remains there. The computer is frozen.

New computer users have a tendency to want to give the monitor a few sharp smacks when this happens. They view the problem as a sort of log jam, and feel a good smack will break it up and get things rolling again. Actually, they are not completely wrong although there method of correction is flawed. In many cases, the cause of the freeze is a log jam. To put it another way, it is an overload of the processing system. This can be caused by having too many operations running at the same time. The processing unit has a limited amount of memory capacity.

The type of memory known as ROM memory has a much smaller capacity than the massive amount of storage in the hard drive. Since the processing unit is performing programmed instructions at such a fast rate, the fact that multiple programs are running at the same time is often unnoticed. The processor is actually skipping from program to program. It performs some instructions from one, and then moves on to the next. The user may be actually working on only one program and is unaware that others are actually being executed at the same time.

When the load becomes too much, the processor will be waiting for an instruction, and that instruction will never come. In some cases, the processor may go into a loop following a set of instructions that take it in a circle with no exit. When either of these things happens, the result is a computer freeze. The unit is not actually frozen. It is waiting for an instruction to move on, and that instruction is not being received.

Hitting the monitor is not going to help. It is also not going to help to frantically push buttons. Each keyboard stroke is sending another set of instructions to the processing unit. Since the processing unit is already overloaded, or not processing, sending more instructions will not help. It often will make the problem worse. The only keys that should be pressed are control, alt, and delete together. This will bring up a screen that will allow you to attempt to shut down some unneeded programs. This might result in the “unfreezing” of your computer. More than likely the unit will need to be shut done and rebooted to clear the processor.

Microsoft is infamous for releasing programs before they are really ready to work without errors. Internet Explorer 7 sets the new standard for nightmarish releases.

For the last 10 years or so, Microsoft has been the dominant company in the internet browser game. The Internet Explorer program simply dominated anything else that tried to compete with it such as Netscape. Part of the domination came from the fact Explorer came pre-loaded on most computers, but I digress.

In the last few years, Explorer has started to lose market share. Free browser programs have been popping up and roughly 20 percent of people have switched to them. Mozilla Firefox is one program that has become very popular. It offers an entirely different interface and many people prefer it to Explorer.

Feeling the heat of competition, Microsoft has launched Internet Explorer 7. As tends to be the case on the net, it has an entirely new look that is suspiciously similar to Firefox. For whatever that is worth, Explorer 7 is a disaster. The program freezes, refuses to load sites, blocks sites and is more or less just a disaster. If you haven’t tried it yet, DO NOT! If you have, it is time to remove it! If you don’t, you will find yourself in a heap of frustration as the program glitches grind your computer to a halt.

In truth, Microsoft has some excuse on this one. The program is in beta testing. This means it is the initial version and the company expects problems will occur. It then hopes to fix them. Whenever you see a “beta” version of a program, this is what you should expect. The problem, in this case, is Yahoo is marketing the program as though it is fully functional and ready to go. This is misleading and many people are downloading the program only to have massive programs.

Internet Explorer 7 will eventually be a solid, functional program. It is not that now! If you have it, go back to Explorer 6 or Firefox if you are having problems. Trying to repair the browser is next to impossible.