The computer man

[Nini]

HP is particularly adept at making completely bloated frontends for their consumer level printer's drivers. Seems a universal truth no matter what OS you use.

[Pete]

I own an HP colour laser.

If I were to install the driver that HP recommends for vista, it would only print in black and white.

I feel there is nothing else to say on this matter.

[Dr Lobster*]

you can usually download the 'driver only' from the hp website, or the universal printing system which is a great deal lighter. we have standardised on hp printers at work for many years and the universal printing driver works well with most printers.

the hp printer/scanner/copier devices on the other hand... that's an entirely different story - that crappy software (aside from creating shortcuts on the desktop like the 'hp memories disk' which can't be removed by normal means) seems to add an additional 15 seconds to the boot time of any machine it's installed on.

[Sput]

and sadly it's exactly that multifunction thing we have in the office.

[cdd]

the type of person's computer who i dread is perhaps the 'computer active!' reader who installs every piece of untested crap that graces their pages.

I know one of those, I installed a copy of Virtual PC onto their computer and it works like a charm. When

As for malware download sites, I have rather high hopes for Microsoft Smartscreen which is already part of the IE8 Beta. Some of those pages that imitate the Windows interface with phony security alerts look incredibly realistic and I don't understand how users are meant to know the difference - the cues are always very subtle.

[cdd]

I have items to add to the list anyway.

• iTunes installed
• Microsoft Works installed
• Windows Sounds enabled
• MSN Messenger has some silly extra emoticons
• BBC Iplayer / 4OD starts up with the machine
• Has some stupidly long Windows password installed but no encryption
• "Internet Explorer as provided by ..."
• Has some silly mouse pointer installed
• Keyboard layout set to English US

[Sput]

That first one is just snobbery, cdd. ADMIT IT! As for the password but no encryption - that's what I use! Encryption implies people will get into the computer in the first place, which is a damn sight harder if you don't have an unpassworded account.

[cdd]

That first one is just snobbery, cdd. ADMIT IT!

iTunes and me is a long, sorry story.

Encryption implies people will get into the computer in the first place, which is a damn sight harder if you don't have an unpassworded account.

Aren't there boot disks these days that can clear Windows passwords in a matter of seconds? You don't even need to remove the hard drive.

[Pete]

Quite how you hope an iPod will work without iTunes installed is a mystery.

to be fair, iTunes is such a hulking horrible bloated beast of a mess it pains me to have to install it on the computers i fix.

[rts]

- Opening a new browser window for a new page, when tabs are enabled.
- Minimising a programme when you've finished it, rather than closing it.
- Using the Recycle Bin to "store files in one place" - strewth.

[Sput]

Quite how you hope an iPod will work without iTunes installed is a mystery.

to be fair, iTunes is such a hulking horrible bloated beast of a mess it pains me to have to install it on the computers i fix.

I never understood the hate for itunes. My ever so slightly shit PC runs it fine, and for the mac it's a veritable pleasure.