TWO FOR JOY

DUAL BOOT – With newer, simpler software, running two operating systems on one computer is no more just for techies or experts. But this also makes your computer vulnerable to virus attacks and hackers

With technology becoming obsolete faster than the speed of thought, change also brings with it uncertainty. It’s the same when you talk of computer operating systems (OS). With newer programs being introduced every other day, it is imperative that you keep up with the developments. So, how does one handle the change? The answer is: two OSes in one computer. Welcome to the world of dual booting.

Largely confined to the world of techies or computer experts because of the complex process involved, dual booting has become a lifesaver for many ordinary users especially since the launch of Windows Vista. For users who were comfortable with Windows XP and the programs used on that, Vista poses new problems: it still does not support some old programs.

Theoretically, it sounds simple to load two OSes on a computer. Technically, there are a lot of issues. Managing all the different partition types, figuring out how to lay out the partition so that they can boot, are among the issues not many users want to be bothered with or can handle.

Thanks to newer software such as VMware and Boot Camp (for Mac); this process has become much easier. A program that allows user to achieve this is known as the boot loader. Let’s take a look at some of the popular and easy-to-use ones.

Microsoft Virtual PC 2007

A Microsoft product, it is believed to be very stable and has good integration capabilities for running two different Windows OSes on the same computer. Virtual PC lets you create separate virtual machines on your Windows desktop, each of which virtualizes the hardware of a complete physical computer. In short, you have two computers on one hardware set-up.

This software is different from dual booting in the sense that you don’t need to reboot to switch between OSes. Simply known as ‘virtualization’, the process allows you to switch between OSes at the click of a mouse since they run two (or in some cases three) different OSes of the same hard drive. So, you are not switching from one OS to another, but simply changing a drive in theory.

The functionality is not hampered, provided your hardware is up to the requirement. It is difficult to suggest on recommend hardware setups since it depends on the kind of software you plan to use and how much space you need for your data. But it’s always safer to err on the side of excess hardware than to realize that you don’t have enough firepower.

In theory, such a setup also allows you to have multiple users on the same computer. Microsoft recently developed software in India that is aimed at reducing costs of hardware by letting two users access one computer simultaneously.

Sure, there is a limit to the number of people who would opt for a multiple user-system on one computer. But it is useful in learning environments such as schools and colleges where costs for hardware acquisition are often too high.

VMware

One of the more popular services for virtualization of your computer is VMware. The free converter software allows users to make their physical machine into a virtual one. What it does is create a virtual drive where you can load the second OS of your choice.

A virtual machine is one that you can use as if it was on your desk. The virtual machine could be in another part of the world, but for you, it is accessible like your local machine. The obvious advantages of this are for people who are travelling and have a desktop back in the home or in the office they need to access, or for IT professionals who need to control and work on servers located half a world away.

But for the average user in an office, it can mean having only a monitor, keyboard and mouse and using a computer with another user, thereby cutting down on costs for the company. And if no functionality or security is compromised, the pay-off is surely worth it.

Mac Boot Camp

There was a good reason for Apple to employ Intel chips, and one of them was the possibility of loading and running Windows OS off a Mac. Bundled with OSX Leopard, is something called Boot Camp that allows you to install Windows on your Mac and run it natively.

Why you would do it as another question, but the option is now available. Simply put, there are users who want to switch to Macs but can’t do so because most of their work depends on a Windows machine, thanks to the software they have invested in or need to use. But with Boot Camp, they can partition their hard drive and run Windows natively off their Mac without needing a second computer.

You can install any of the Windows versions (Microsoft Windows XP Home/Professional with Service Pack 2, Windows Vista Basic/Premium/Business/Ultimate) provided your hardware is good enough to run them. One thing to always remember when doing this on a Mac is that Apple does not support Windows and anything that goes wrong needs to be fixed with the help of Microsoft support.

Key Points – The installation procedure isn’t too complex, but there are some points to remember:

• You need to have Mac OSX Tiger 10.4.6 or higher with all necessary software upgrades.
• You need at least 10GB free space on your hard drive.
• Your Mac must be Intel-based and not PowerPC.
• Apple recommends that you print out all instructions before starting with the procedure and I agree with them.
• When you start the procedure, Boot Camp burns a disk with all necessary Windows drivers that help it to run on Apple hardware. This is a critical step and should not be missed.
• Using the Boot Camp software, you can decide how much space you want to set aside for your Windows setup. This will not move around your Mac files, but create a partition for your Windows OS. Be careful, though, and choose the right partition (virtual drive) or you could lose all your Mac data.
• At the moment, the Boot Camp software is still in ‘Public Beta’ stage, which means there may be problems with it and using it should be done after a lot of consideration.

Once you are done with the installation, you can choose Mac OS or Windows when starting up. If, however, you should need to switch from one OS to another, you will need to reboot. The 138 MB download is free from Apple, but, as we mentioned before, it is still in public beta.

Uses and Warnings

Virtualization of your computer or enabling in to dual boot offers a range of advantages. But be careful as it also makes the computer vulnerable. In case of a dual boot Mac with Windows, you are opening up the Mac hardware to Windows viruses. In case of dual booting a Windows machine, you could make yourself susceptible to virus and hack attacks. Spend time on understanding the security issues that could crop up with this.

The advantages are tremendous as well. If you have one license of Photoshop for Windows XP, for instance, you may want to continue using it despite upgrading to Vista. And dual booting or virtualizing your Windows XP OS would allow you to do this.

There are also issues with Vista not yet supporting all your software and instead of buying a second computer to keep running your old stuff, you could just partition one computer and have it multi-tasking.

Most of the software that lets you dual boot and virtualize your computer is free, but trust only names that are well known. Do your research and use forums to get answers to specific questions you may have. The installation for most dual boot software is easy, but it’s the things after that you need to be careful and aware of.

From the Monitor to the Small Screen

The race to connect your TV to your computer and the Internet kicked into high gear when Apple Inc. introduced a slender, wireless set-top box called Apple TV.

This silvery little gadget is designed to play and display on a widescreen family-room TV set all the music, video and photos stored on up to six computers around the house – even if they are far from the TV, and even if they are all Windows PCs rather than Apple’s own Macintosh models. It can also pull a very limited amount of music and video directly off the Internet onto the TV.

Apple TV is tiny, just about eight inches square and an inch high; far smaller than a typical DVD player or cable or satellite box, even though it packs in a 40-gigabyte hard disk, an Intel processor and a modified version of Mac operating system. It has a carefully limited set of functions.

Yet it works great, and it is recommended for people who are yearning for a simple way to show on their big TVs all that stuff trapped in their computers. It works well with various combinations of Windows and Mac computers, with movies, photos, TV shows, video clips and music. And even without the fastest wireless network it can handle, it performs flawlessly. But it won’t work with older TVs unless they can display widescreen formatted content and accept newer types of cables.

Like the iPod before it, Apple TV isn’t the first gadget in its category. Several other companies have made set-top boxes or even TV sets and game consoles that could link the TV to the digital content on computers. But none has found a mass audience for this, mainly because they tend to be hard to set up and confusing to use.

Part of the secret of Apple TV is that, like most of Apple’s products, it doesn’t try to do everything and thus become a mass of complexity. It can’t receive or record cable or satellite TV, so it isn’t meant as a replacement for your cable or satellite box. It can’t play DVDs, so it doesn’t replace your DVD player. Its sole function is to bring to the TV content stored on your computer or drawn from the Internet.

Apple TV isn’t for that small slice of techies who buy a full-blown computer and plug it directly into a TV, or for gamers who prefer to do it all through a game console. And it is not for people who are content to watch downloaded TV shows and movies directly on a computer a screen. Instead, it’s for the much larger group of people who want to keep their home computers where they are and yet enjoy their downloaded media on their widescreen TVs.

Apple TV’s most formidable competitor is the Xbox360 game console from Microsoft, which, in addition to playing games, can also play back content from Windows computers on a TV. And Xbox360 can do something Apple TV can’t do, which is to directly purchase and download movies and TV shows from the Internet. But the Xbox costs 50% more than Apple TV, is much larger and stores only half the material.

It’s a beautifully designed, easy-to-use product that should be very attractive to people with widescreen TV sets and lots of music, videos and photos stored on computers. It has some notable limitations, but you will really like it. It is classic Apple: simple and elegant.

In tests, Apple TV performed perfectly in a house over a standard Wi-Fi wireless network with Pioneer plasma TV and six different computers – three Windows from HP and Dell, and three Apple Macs. Setup was a breeze, the user interface was clean and handsome, and video and audio quality was quite good. Unlike any of its rivals, Apple TV can play the copy-protected music, TV shows and movies purchased from the iTunes online store.

Apple TV’s most important limitation is that it can’t stream much video or audio directly from the Internet – yet. The capability to go directly to the Internet, bypassing the computers in your home, is built in, but is initially being used only to fetch feature film trailers and short preview clips of popular sings, TV shows and movies sold on iTunes store. Apple TV also won’t allow you to buy media directly from the iTunes store. You must first download content from the Internet or iTunes on a computer, and then Apple TV will grab it from the computer and play it on your TV.

Apple refuses to say if or when this direct-to-the-Internet capability will be expanded. But I fully expect Apple to add the capability to stream or download a variety of content directly from the Internet.

Apple TV is a pleasure to use. The setup is stunningly simple – plug the unit in and hook it up to the TV with a single cable (not included). The unit finds and connects with the Wi-Fi network almost instantly. Any song, TV episode, movie or photo you download or otherwise add to that one computer is automatically replicated on the Apple TV’s internal hard disk for playback on your TV. This synchronisation function works perfectly with both a Mac laptop and a Windows Vista desktop.

In addition to your single synchronised computer, you can designate up to five other computers as sources for your Apple TV. On the TV screen, Apple TV presents a simple, handsome list of content for each computer you choose to view. Media is divided into Movies, TV Shows, Music, Podcasts and photos. You can change among your various computers using a menu called Sources.

There are some drawbacks to Apple TV; it won’t work with most of the older TV sets. Also, the tiny, simple Apple remote control can’t control the volume on either Apple TV or your TV set or audio receiver, so you have to keep reaching for the TV or audio receiver remote. But, all in all, Apple TV is a very well-designed product that easily brings the computer and the TV together.

Just Say No

All computer upgrades are not created equal

In the computer world, you may buy something expecting it to be the perfect fix or upgrade, only to find it’s the equivalent of warm milk. You can drink it, but it’s not very satisfying. Knowing when that might be the case can prevent disappointment and save you money. Let’s look at some risk areas:

RAM – Especially with the arrival of Windows Vista, you’ll see the benefit of having upto 2GB of RAM. But if you still have XP, 1GB does nicely for most uses. While adding more RAM than this may speed up a computer slightly, you run into the law of diminishing returns. In most cases, adding still more RAM is a waste of money.

Hard Disks – My friend’s 200GB hard disk has about 115GB free. Replacing that disk with a larger one would offer no benefit at all. If your hard disk is less than half full, there’s no point replacing it. Instead, if you have the cash on hand, consider adding a second external hard disk. That will give you room to grow as well as providing a handy way to store backup copies of your data.

Computer Monitors – I love the way flat-panel LCD monitors look. They take up less space on a desk than a tube monitor, and prices have come way down. But if you have the wrong expectations, they can be a waste of money. Sure, there’s plenty to recommend about them these days- the response time is vastly improved from the first generation of these monitors. In the early days, LCD had trouble handling fast action, such as video or video games. But if you have a top- notch tube- type monitor, don’t expect even the best LCD monitors to offer better colour or sharper images. Replace your monitor if you want a more modern look, or think a wide-screen flat panel would make life easier. Otherwise, avoid the expense and disappointment.

Routers – Humans have always been fascinated by speed. Me too – I still remember the way the early Pontiac GTOs pushed you back in your seat when you pressed hard on the accelerator. To take advantage of this craving, you’ll see all sorts of speed claims on the packaging for both wired and wireless routers. I expect those claims are true. But even the slowest router is faster than your Internet connection. So, if you expect to get faster response on the Net based on your router, you are heading for a disappointment.

PC tune- up programs – They promise to fix problems, speed up your computer – if you believe the ads, they’ll do almost everything, but cook scrambled eggs for your breakfast. I’ve found these programs to do only a so-so job of fixing problems. And they seem so eager to find and report problems that I suspect they end up fixing things that aren’t really broken at times – a dangerous habit. My advice: Use one when – and only when – a problem is hurting the performance of your computer. Don’t use them on a computer that is working just fine. Ironically, my favourite of these tools is free for the download. Unlike some of the commercial products, CCleaner is very simple and has no annoying pop-ups.

New PCS – When you spend several hundred or even thousand dollars on anew computer, you expect to experience a real difference. But if you have a relatively modern PC – with processor rated at 2GHz or higher, XP installed and 1GB of RAM – replacing it with a new computer with Vista installed isn’t going to be life-changing experience. That’s especially true if most of your computing involves surfing the Web, using e-mail, writing some documents and doing some spreadsheets. Even a hot new PC using a chip with multiple processors won’t give you much – if any – noticeable improvement. Sure, it’ll be faster, but not in ways the average user would notice.

I hope I’ve saved some of you a few bucks by steering you towards a cool drink of water.

The Sound of Music

One of the most asked for guides has been on the audio world. Unfortunately, this is such a vast domain that covering most aspects would take up pretty much time. Here is the shore, concise and very precise guide to assembling your own audio system. Now, I take on the source and the amplification. Next time will be the big daddy component – the Definitive Loudspeaker buying guide.

The Big Myth

The big myth here is that you should always buy an integrated all-in-one music system. Nothing could be further away from the truth. It’s almost impossible for a single company to make every single component of the audio system perfectly.

Each component needs its own expertise, skill and proficiency. For instance, those who make a state of the art CD player may not be able to make the best loudspeakers. The all-in-one music-system has its own place when it comes to bedroom audio, space constraints or convenience but cannot suffice when the audio system you are planning to build has to be a soul stirring work of passion.

The good news is that it’s not as complicated as most people will have you believe. Break it into simple steps, keep to the basics, avoid the jargons, be aware of the gimmicks and trust your own judgment.

The Source

In a domain where we are all about to move to Blu-Ray and HD-DVD this is now getting to be very confusing decision. Still, the way to go right now is to choose a dedicated, stand-alone CD player. DVD players that also play CD’s may not be able to give you the same performance. Look for an easy interface, ability to play CD-R’s and a robust build. Play a CD on it and firmly tap around the player with two fingers. If it skips then it should be off your buy list. It should also be able to play scratched CD’s easily. If you are buying a high-end audiophile level CD player then look for DVD audio and/or SACD multi-channel capability and make sure it has an output to feed an external Digital-to-analog converter. It should have an S/P-DIF output, usually marked as ‘Digital Out’.

Most importantly listen to the source player by disabling all features and carry a CD with music you are familiar with.

The Boosters

A basic receiver is an all-in-one box component with an integrated preamp, tuner and preamp. These receivers have everything a basic amplifier has with an added processor to decode formats and sound encoding like Dolby Digital and DTS. They also have multi channel power amplifiers, DSP processing and plenty of Audio/Video inputs/outputs. You need to figure out whether your usage is purely for audio or combined with some video too.

Look at the rating of the power supply, the build quality, the sound, the bass management and match the impedance to your speakers. Be very careful when choosing this product as some receivers with wiz-bang feature lists and nice lights suffer from a common problem – terrible preamp/processor sections. Once gain, take some familiar source material with you and leave the final judgment to your ears.

Next time, we move to the world of Loudspeakers. This admittedly is where some complexity comes in. The Big Payoff is that the speaker is easily the most important piece of audio equipment you will ever buy. Get it right and the audio performance will take you to places you have never been before.

Married to the Mobile

Powerful new phone devices are rewriting the rules of the social networking game

While Walter Zai was in South Africa watching wild animals recently, people around the world were watching him. Zai, a 37-year old Swiss engineer, used his mobile phone to send out constant updates and images from his safari for an online audience.

“You feel like you are instantly broadcasting your own life and experiences to your friends at home, and to anyone in the world who wants to join,” said Zai, who used a new online service called Kyte to create his digital diary.

The social networking phenomenWhen on is leaving the confines of PC. Powerful new mobile devices are allowing people to send round-the-clock updates about their vacations, moods or even their latest haircut.

New online services, with names such as Twitter, Radar, Zaiku, hope people will use their ever-present gadget to share (or, inevitably, to over-share) the details of their lives in the same way they have accustomed to doing on websites such as MySpace.

Unlike the old networking sites, which are still largely used on PCs, these new phone-oriented services are bringing the burgeoning culture of exhibitionism to more exotic and more personal locations. They are also contributing to the general barrage of white noise and information overload – something that even some participants say they feel ambivalent about.

But such services have the same addictive appeal for young people as Blackberry’s do for busy professionals, said Howard Hartenbaum, a partner at the venture capital firm Draper Richards, an investor in Kyte. “Kids want to be connected to their friends at all times,” Hartenbaum said. “They can’t do that when you turn off the computer.”

Central to the technology of Kyte and similar services is the marriage of the mobile phones and the Net. Users download Kyte software for their phones at www.kyte.tv and can send their photos and videos- however grainy- form the phone to their online Kyte ‘channel’.

Viewers can tune in to the programming on their own phones or on the Kyte site or they can have the channel show up on their own website or social network page. In some cases, the video stream can be watched live. Those who are watching the same channel can swap messages with each other and the channel’s creator, even if he or she is silently stalking wild animals.

Daniel Graf, Kyte’s 32-year old co-founder, sees each of the world’s hundreds of millions of camera-phone owners as a potential television broadcaster. “To run a television network used to require expensive cameras, a satellite connection and studios,” Graf said. “But the production costs have gone down to zero. Now you can share your life over a mobile phone, and someone is always connected, watching.”

Another company proving the potency of the sharing impulse is Twitter, which is also based in San Francisco and has lately captured the enthusiasm of bloggers and tech insiders. Twitter, spun off this month from a company called Obvious, lets people broadcast short text messages from their phones and computers to those of friends and strangers.

For many Twitter users, text messages have become a form of self-expression and public performance. They are flinging messages that would seem to be of slight interest to anyone: notifications that they are online or listening to music, or going shopping, or even performing activities of in historically move discreet nature.

Twitter’s fans include some high-profile technology pundits and even John Edwards, the former senator who uses it to inform followers of his whereabouts on the presidential campaign trail.

Jack Dorsey, a co-founder of twitter, said high-speed social networking can become a money-maker. “I believe it can be profitable,” Dorsey said. But it is not entirely clear how, and how soon,” he added. Twitter, which says, it has several hundred thousand users, could ultimately consider displaying advertisements, or charging frequent users especially those who send out promotional messages. Social networking sites such as Facebook are largely supported by advertising.

Mobile-phone companies themselves are trying to get into mobile networking game. Chief among them is Helio, a year-old mobile phone carrier aimed at young people. A joint venture of Earthlink and SK Telecom of South-Korea and based in Los Angeles, is making social networking a central part of its business and is betting it will be fundamental to attracting new subscribers.

Helio has an exclusive deal to offer MySpace features on its phones, which tend to be slicker and more multimedia-focused than those from more mainstream cellphone companies. At the end of 2006 (the last time Helio publicized its public figures), 70% of its 70,000 members used MySpace, said Michael Grossi, senior vice-president of strategy and business development at Helio.

To further capitalize on the trend, Helio plans to introduce a handset that has a fold-out Standard keyboard for easier typing and socializing.

Tiny Pictures, a San Francisco startup company, is taking a slightly different approach. Its service, Radar, is similar to Kyte in that users send their camera-phone photos to the internet or to the phones of other Radar members. But users share their pictures only with friends they have invited to view them.

John Poisson, chief executive of tiny pictures, said the service was explicitly intended to be private because mobile social networking Works best and will be most lucrative if users know the people they are sharing pictures with.

“Exhibitionism will exist as long as there is voyeurism,” he said. “But we are in the business of helping people stay in touch.”

Of course, there is such a thing as being too much in touch. Zai was disconcerted by the instant feedback to his safari photos that popped up on his phone. “Getting all kinds of communication in such a remote place is a bit confusing,” he said. “I kept responding, ‘I don’t really have the time to talk to you now. I have to make photos of these elephants.’”

Over the Air

The problem with really great technology is that sometimes it has no users. It sounds like an oxymoron but unfortunately, it’s true. The gadget graveyard is littered with products that were wonderful but did not gather critical momentum to become world-class bestsellers. Betamax, Minidisk, 3D, Voice recognition – there are multiple examples of really astonishing technologies that did not take off.

It is that famous ‘tipping point’ problem where every new product or innovation needs a certain number of users to embrace it before it becomes the de-facto standard in its sphere. Sometimes it needs a different kind of company with certain marketing skills to get the point across. Apple has done that before with the iPod – and they are attempting it again with the media streamers.

Apple with its iPod didn’t invent the portable music player, nor did it bring about the revolution of the MP3 format. All it did was to see the potential of an existing product, simplified the usage, made the device really sleek and shiny and unleashed it onto the unsuspecting consumers with dramatic marketing. The rest is history. Pretty much the same thing is happening in the world of media streamers. A number of companies make multiple versions of it and Apple is entering the market with its own version – the simple, smooth and sleek Apple TV.

Collectors

Media streamers at their most basic level are pure collectors. Today, most homes have multiple devices on which we keep many things. We have music collections, photos, movies, audio files, recorded TV shows, podcasts, video clips – but they are strewn all over the place. Most of them reside on a computer, a laptop or portable media player. Yet, most of our real viewing is done on a TV with a DVD player and a cable connection jammed into it. What if all of this could be centralized – where you could listen to a song, tune into an Internet radio station, fire up a movie or a video clip, listen to podcasts or browse an entire photo album – anywhere in the house. With no wires, no cables and a simple setup – that’s what a media streamer would do for you. Fundamentally a media streaming device will access files from multiple sources and play it anywhere you want – your bedroom, the living room or your home theatre.

Diversity

You can achieve this with an Xbox360 and Dlink, Netgear have their own versions. Microsoft media center can do this with media extenders, some companies have built this capability into a DVD player and now we have the Apple TV. Once again form takes precedence over function as this pizza box appliance is just about an inch thick, yet surprisingly heavy. Typically it is devoid of any unnecessary buttons (not even power-up); all the connections are at the back and the famous Apple branding takes its pride of place on top. It comes with a 40 GB hard drive inside and works on 802.11g and 802.11n wireless. I was up and about and running in less than 3 steps and was able to access and play most of my media files from three different computers.

However

It is not all good. The Apple TV is fairly typical of most products from the company – big on build up, huge on design, simplified to idiot-proof levels but short on functionality. Let’s save that for a detailed review of the Apple TV, the Hava and also do a comparison of the best Media Streamers in the market. Streamers will eventually be commonplace. It’s a natural evolution of home entertainment devices and is going to be a critical component of the wireless home, basically an idea whose time has come.

Which OS are you?

Windows Vista requires major hardware upgrades, yet there are good reasons to stay with it. Mac OSX has stabilized a great deal more than Vista. Plus it looks great. So, which Operating System (OS) is for you?

It is always difficult to get used to completely different way of life. This holds true for absolutely everything including Computers Operating system (OS). Solo readers you will have to decide: when should you switch to Microsoft Windows Vista? Should you?

According to several users and experts, Vista is not too different from its predecessors and the learning curve isn’t as much as was expected. But the changes to the user interface mean that there will be the number of new things to learn and a number of old ones to unlearn.

This is what you decision will hinge on. Would you rather learn a new system that is buggy and still unstable or one that has long been acknowledged as the best, but has only recently come around to having a large enough third party software support base to appeal to everyday users? Of course, we are referring to the Apple Mac OS X.

But this is tricky, certainly not easy. Both OSes have their pluses and minuses. Windows has a very large pool community that is taking the torch ahead and there are plenty of third-party vendors who have created and continue to create newer and better programmes for the windows platform. On the other hand, it is an extremely unstable operating system and one that is prone to virus attacks and crashes more often than Mac.

But the real deciding factor would be your usage pattern. Before we start comparing some specific packages for the users, let’s take a look at the pros and cons of both OSes.

UI and ease of use

If Windows XP was the ugly duckling, Windows Vista is supposed to be the swan. A major facelift It has ensured that Vista is now far better looking and more intuitive than previous versions of Windows. Whether this is true or not, only time will tell. One of the things that Macs have always boasted of is a good UI and ease of use. If you are switching from Windows, It could take time to get used to.

A Mac keyboard layout is not identical to that of a Windows computer’s. We are not referring to the different positions of the Page Up or the Delete keys. There are new keys here such as Command and Function that do more than tertiary application launches. Unlike on a windows computer, there is no Start button either. The Apple logo to the top-left takes care of most system-related functions like Recent Programmes, Shut Down and Restart. Also, most Mac programmes can be left running in the background without their taking up screen space. Only the active programme’s toolbar will be visible on screen. At times, when no document or file is open for that programme, you may not even know that the programme is open. That’s when the dock is handy. Every program is highlighted on the dock with a small arrow under it. Clicking on the icon will bring the programme to the front and offer access to toolbar and all other functions you want to use. Once you are past this (and this will take a little while to get comfortable with it), using the Mac is a breeze. There are some advantages that a Windows offers over this, however. For one, your active programmes are visible in the form of windows on your taskbar. Convenient, but in case of smaller screens (even 15-inch ones), it can be a challenge to not have too many windows open and lose sight of unnecessary ones that hog processing power.

Security has long been a major concern for most Windows users. With a large number of viruses doing the rounds, anti-virus software is a must. And that costs a neat sum, as it does with a Mac. The real difference is that a Mac is perceived to be much safer and prone to fewer virus attacks. I am not saying that it is virus free, but it’s not as problematic as a Windows machine would be. With Vista, this is set to change. Improved firewall features and better encryption promise safer ride. Heading over to actual functions and programmes that one uses, here’s comparison of the various features of both OSes.

Range of software available

If the Mac has one Achilles’ heel, this would it. There just isn’t enough third party software for a Mac compared with a Windows computer. While all essentials are available, it’s the smaller and more specialized ones that can be tough to find. And it’s not just about software. If you are a gamer, you may just have a tough time finding (or waiting) for a Mac version. Once available, though, it’ll be miles ahead of anything you could imagine in terms of performance and looks.

For most users, a word processor, a spreadsheet processor and a mail client are important. And if MS office is your holy grail, don’t worry. Office for Mac takes care of that. The familiar Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook are all available in Mac versions. (The outlook parallel for Mac is called Entourage and it works just as well). Without getting too much into the specifics, let us say that these are identical to the Windows programmes and just as robust. Entourage may, in fact, be a bit better than Outlook, with features such as Project Center that allow you to view all activity around a particular project in one area. Of course, you have to set it up, but it is a useful tool. For the publishing industry or the graphic artists, Mac has been the computer of choice for long, thanks to superior graphics and better performance and there is no changing this.

With the introduction of Intel-based Macs, there is greater expandability thanks to the fact that you can run both Windows and OSX on the same computer. All you need is software like Parallels Desktop. Ensure, however, that you have the requisite hardware to run a dual-boot computer.

Wireless connectivity

AirPort Extreme sounds like a fast bus to the Airport. It is in fact, Apple’s Wi-Fi adapter. Now, it’s built into most new machines. User experience says that it works a lot better than any Wi-Fi adapter seen on Windows machine did. Logging on to a wireless network is a piece of cake and a Mac brings back more networks than a Windows machine does.

Spotlight

Windows XP had Find and Vista has search, But OSX has spotlight. It’s the desktop search tool that indexes everything on your computer. The search is so fast that by the time you have finished typing your keyword, the results have started appearing. And you can choose how you want to sort them. It sounds basic and it is. But it is powerful enough to be considered intuitive and necessary. Quite addictive, really.

iLife, iWork, .Mac

These are some of the productivity and fun software suites available with Mac ( all need to be bought separately).The .Mac is an online service that gives you an e-mail address and web space to backup data and host your own site. Why would you do that? Because everything then becomes simpler since the user-end integration has already been done on your Mac. . Mac members can create private, ad-free online communities for family, friends and closed-user groups to share, coordinate and communicate. The entire group can post files and other data to iDisk, publish web pages and post links to other sites. The integration extends to sharing dates and events with others using iCal calendar.

iLife and iWork are productivity tools that include a photo viewer, a DVD viewer and even a website creator. Perhaps the most interesting is the Garage Band that lets you create your own audio, including Podcasts. Yes, all this is also possible on a Windows machine and you have specialized free software to facilitate this. But the free software is not always upto the mark and you do need to know a lot about a lot to do some things well.

OSX Panther

The current version of OSX is the Tiger. The next version (expected by October 2007) is called Panther. Panther has new features like Time Machine, an automated system that backs up everything such as music, photos, movies and documents. Time Machine has the ability to take you back in time to restore your system in case of a crash, and, at least, be at a point close to the crash. Additionally, there are expected to be improved versions of Spotlight and additional features like Spaces that let you organize your windows into different groups on the screen.

There are, however, plenty of reasons to stay with Windows, including the cost. While a Windows machine that has Vista on it may cost about Rs.60000 (varying with the configuration and the manufacturer), a Mac with similar specs would cost about 30% more. And despite all arguments about having to relearn a new OS, Vista will offer some familiarity if you upgrade. It really is a choice.

The Big Picture

Recreating the magic of movies in your own home is no longer a dream. Here are some options to help you do this

While you can’t help how a movie turns out, you can surely tailor the experience, especially when you are trying to recreate the magic of the movies in your own home.

Where to start?

Today, there are many options for setting up a home-theatre system. If you are very particular about how every component will look and what its exact function will be, you can opt for a custom-assembled system. This will take some researching since the variables involved are plenty. If you were to find a good Bose, Sonodyne or such signature store, you could easily get help from them. It would still be recommended that you do your research beforehand.

There are also out-of-the-box systems available from leading manufacturers that you can hook up, and these certainly cost a whole lot less. Of course, the quality you get is only as good. Most of the out-of-the-box systems do not bother much with the size of your room when putting together the components, thus rendering some of the speakers inadequate. The wiring, which is also an important part of the set-up, is often not as good as when you have gone out and assembled your own components. But if time and budget are constraints, the ready-to-use ones are a good option.

Something Point One

2.1 ch (channel), 3.1 ch, 5.1 ch and, now even 7.1 ch, these are the buzzwords you will hear when shopping for a home theatre system. Simply put, the format consists of three speakers across the front and two speakers in the rear. The .1 is a sixth channel called an LFE that is sent to a subwoofer.

So, in a 3.1 or a 7.1, the .1 remains constant but the 3 or 7 defines how many speakers there are in the system and how they are to be distributed. The wiring for these needs to go all around the room and when setting up the speakers, it is important to know the size of your room and choose the speakers that have the best reach. To really make your sound system work, you would also need to worry about things like thick concrete walls with no windows, solid-core doors with yards of weather-stripping and sound absorbing baffles on the walls and ceiling. Chances are that most of us won’t have the time, inclination or budget required to do this. Hence, we make do with five speakers arranged at the right places.

Key Components

A TV set, a DVD player, five speakers (we’ll use 5.1 as the norm), receiver and the right cabling are what will be needed. Instead of a PLASMA/LCD set, you could also use a projector that is hooked up to your DVD player and a wall-mounted screen to make the effect bigger. But the components for this are costlier because High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) output will be required. HDMI is a direct digital connection that can carry digital high-definition video as well as digital multi-channel audio. By eliminating the conversion to analogue signals, it delivers perfect picture and sound quality, completely free from noise (distortion).

While the experience will be greatly enhanced if you used a projector set-up, getting the right projector itself could run into more than Rs. 1 lakh. Unless you are a certified movie buff, it’s not recommended. Commonly referred to as front-projection systems, these are for the connoisseur with deep pockets. If you are on a budget, a large-screen TV set or Plasma screen should do just fine.

Once you have the components in place, it is important to check whether your room is right for this. If you have a choice, go for a rectangular one with as few doors and windows as possible. Or you could place your components in such a way that they form a rectangle with you at the centre on the shorter side, opposite the TV set (or whatever display you are using). Now, it’s time to hit the shops and get your rig. Before this, though get a fix on your upper-limit budget, and stick to it. It’s easy to succumb to temptation.

For example, a salesman once told me that I should try out the new Monster cables that would greatly improve the sound and picture quality because they carry digital signal from the DVD player, priced at about Rs.6000 for a set of two cables.

Remember that the reason you are doing all this is to get a fee of theatre in your house. It’s important to get as many aspects right as possible. Bare tiles, marble or any wooden flooring will reflect sound, causing a loss in quality of the audio. It’s advisable that you place a carpet, or at least a large rug to fill as much of the room as possible. It is also a good idea to have some paintings or décor items in the room to absorb unwanted noise. Hang thick curtains to keep out the light and reduce glares from the screen. But if the room is pitch dark, watching a long movie can strain the eyes. To correct this, you could buy dimmers for lights and reach a middle point. We never said this was going to be easy, did we?

Check These Out

• Bose is one of the preferred brands, and not without reason. Of all their systems, it is worth checking out the new GSX Home Entertainment System. It can store upto 200 hours of data digitally and new Gemstone speaker system makes the pieces smaller, yet retains the output. It comes with acoustimass module, a media centre, two speakers and 3.2.1 universal remote control. Although the system does not have five speakers, it claims to deliver the same effect. The media centre combines a progressive scan DVD/CD player, FM tuner and offers inputs for three other sources. All this for a nifty price tag of approx. Rs. 94900 (taxes & levies extra).
• Pioneer is another manufacturer that is not often considered when looking for a home theatre system. They have some great components on offer; including 42 and 50 inch plasma TV sets that bring a 5.1 ch home theatre system wit it free. Although prohibitive for some buyers, the cost of Rs. 1.6 lakh for the 50-inch TV set and Rs. 1.3 lakh for the 42-inch TV set do make a good deal. The screens can be wall-mounted as well as kept on a tabletop. The set-up includes five 60-watt speakers (four towers and a subwoofer) in addition to an HDMI-ready DVD player. The cost of this set-up is otherwise approximately Rs. 30000 but free when you buy the TV set!
• For a high-end system, you could also visit Yamaha and the Bang & Olufsen (B&O) shops. They will be able to offer customized solutions based on your room set-up and size. Most homes do not have good acoustics in their rooms. That’s where the solutions from Yamaha or B&O will help. These solutions, however good they may be, are not cheap and start at around Rs. 1.5 lakh for a great set-up that includes speakers, amplifier and a good player. The TV set is your own.
• If the Bose, Pioneer or Yamaha systems are beyond your budget, you can try the Sonodyne genie 2 HTS that has a receiver with seven analogue, one optical and two digital inputs. Simply put, you can plug everything you have into this and use the speakers to output it. Priced at approximately Rs. 62000 (all inclusive), it includes five satellite speakers and one main speaker with the universal remote. Best suited for small or medium-sized rooms (upto 300 sq. ft.), it delivers great audio. The video quality would depend on your DVD player and your TV set. These are not included in Rs. 62k!
• And if this, too, is out of your budget, you could opt for one of the many out-of-the-box solutions offered by manufacturers such as Sony or Philips. While both these manufacturers also offer high-end solutions, it is their low-end ones that attract their budget buyers. The Cineos HTS9800W/55 from Philips is a brilliant HD-capable set-up priced at about Rs. 60k. It includes wireless rear speakers. Among some of the better budget offerings is Sony’s DAV DZ720, which comes with five speakers, including four tall ones (so you don’t do any permanent fixtures on your walls), a DVD player and a woofer. All this comes for just about Rs. 30k – not a bad deal for a 5.1 ch system, which requires no installation time.

In most cases, the installation will be handled by the manufacturer and they will bring around three metres of cable (variable depending on your deal), but will not be helpful if you need to get casing done to conceal the wires.

The list is endless. But with these basics, you have a starting point. You could also start with a small system and build up to a big one. Collect your components and learn from your mistakes. And let me know about these mistakes.

The Power of W i d e

Nineteen inches of real estate on your desk to view all the stuff on your computer; could anyone ask for more?

Hands on Asus VW192 Monitor

The ASUS VW192, one of the newest 19- inch flatscreen monitors in the market, is a good companion for most multimedia needs. A 19- inch monitor is not really necessary for normal use, but for multimedia needs like image or video editing, the extra space a 19-inch offers over a 15-inch or even 17-inch is considerable.

In case of the VW192, there are a few more features to entice the user such as the auto adjust facility that starts as soon as you power up the monitor. Taking in the ambient light conditions and the inherent settings on your computer, the monitor powers up to give you the best colour and resolution settings. This saves you time if you have a computer that maxes out the resolution at more than 1440 x 900.

You can use the VW192 using a direct serial connector on a Windows XP machine or a DVI to VGA adapter on a Mac. The colour rendition on the Windows machine is superior to the Mac and to even fit in the higher-resolution Mac, it took some time and adjustment. The monitor also implements ‘Splendid Video Intelligence Technology’ that fine-tines the colour, brightness, contrast and sharpness of images in different video applications, and offers five preset video selection modes via a hotkey and three skin-tone options providing video quality comparable to the best TV sets.

The VW192 is a widescreen monitor with a 16:10 golden ratio and offers a wider viewing angle than most other monitors, making it well-suited for a variety of uses. The monitor also offers 5 milliseconds of response time, making it great for video viewing.

Adding to the package is the presence of two 1-watt speakers. Not much would you say, but in a monitor this sleek, they are barely noticeable. You will have to really follow directions in the manual to find them. They are not for the audiophile, but they well for the alerts and basic purposes, eliminating the need for external speakers. So, you have already freed up space with a slim TFT monitor and, now, some more because the speakers are bundled. Not a bad deal!

The VW192 not only works well, but also looks good. It has a sleek black finish with the buttons so well placed below the screen that they can be a little tough to find at times.

A small but important addition to the monitor is the cable holder to get rid of tangling wires and cables and keep desks neat. The monitor also sports a cover at the back that helps keep the cables and connections hidden from the naked eye. It may not seem important, but even when you adjust the view of the monitor, which can happen quite often, it’s a bonus not to entangle yourself in wires.

If you happen to be looking for a flatscreen, TFT widescreen monitor, the VW192 is definitely worth considering. There are many options, but the quality that this one displays is simply a cut above the rest.

Price: about Rs. 13,000 (plus tax).

Real Picture

LCD or Plasma

Choosing a television set can be quite a daunting task especially if you are looking for an LCD or Plasma. Choices abound and there are some myths about the technologies, too. Unlike what many believe, there are major differences between the two types and you can't substitute one type for the other merely on their looks.

What’s under the hood?

To be honest, there isn’t much of a hood to look under. But inside the sleek and thin exterior, plasma TVs employ a matrix of tiny plasma gas cells that are charged by precise electrical voltage to create a picture. In the case of LCD panels, liquid crystal display make up the screen. Imagine liquid crystal pressed between two glass plates to which varying electrical charge is applied to create an image. That’s an LCD television. Despite the advances made in LCD and plasma technology, however, there are experts and gamers (they really do use TVs a lot) maintain that CRT (cathode ray tube i.e. our regular TV) still offers the best quality. To the layman, however, it’s not the technology and how it works that matters too much. It is the quality of the TV that he is worried about. Both LCD and plasma TVs offer excellent picture quality. But obviously both have their pros and cons.

What’s best for you?

You can try to make decision based on the following aspects:-

Screen Size

Currently, plasma is king in terms of size. It’s just easier and more economical to produce plasma panels in sizes larger than 50 inches. Plasma has always led in the size to price ratio game and will continue to do so for some time. While, LCD is catching up, it’s still prohibitively expensive for consumers to buy very large LCD screens. This may change after a joint venture between Samsung, LG and Sony.

Picture

The final frontier and the reason you buy a flat panel is to get brilliant picture quality. A plasma panel currently has a better picture. It has higher contrast ratios, a more vivid image and shows blacker blacks. LCD on the other hand, can sometimes wash out colours and make dark blacks more like grey. LCD may look brighter but in terms of a pure stunning picture – plasma currently wins. Improvements are happening all the time and in due course, this should be rectified, but by then, plasma may have become the predominant choice. In addition to this, one of the major factors in favour of plasma TVs is their viewing angle. This allows viewers to sit at acute angles and still get a clear picture. But it’s not all bad for LCD TVs. LCD TVs have higher native resolutions than plasma TVs of the same size. What it means is there are more pixels on the screen and if you are one of those who like to see every minute detail, an LCD may offer more. Of course, this also depends on the source and an ordinary cable TV connection won’t let you notice the difference.

Durability

This is a no contest. An LCD panel is more robust, easier to transport and much easier to install. Whereas a plasma panel is heavier, more fragile and is mostly is mostly shipped by specialty carriers that know how to handle such delicate technology. Even installation of plasmas is trickier and best handled by professionals while most consumers can set up LCD’s themselves.

Burn- In

The biggest nemesis of Plasma continues to rear its ugly head even now. After extended periods, stationary images (say you paused a movie) ‘burn-in’ and produce an after-image ghost which remains permanently on the screen which means that even if you turn it off, a faded image of this will be visible. With new technologies such as ‘pixel shift’ and ‘wipes’ the current generation of plasmas have addressed the burn-in significantly. And if you are wondering about TV channel logos, they are translucent and don't leave the same sort of ghost behond. LCD’s have no such problem.

Screen Refresh

This is the arch-enemy of the LCD camp. In high contrast, fast motion video or when watching sports (more noticeable when watching a car race as opposed to cricket or snooker!) – you may see a blurred shadow following the action on screen. This is due to refresh rates on LCD being too slow to keep up with the fast pace of video. The current generation of LCD with refresh rates as low as 4ms have almost eradicated these artefacts but do keep in mind that it is negligible and not perfection. Plasmas have no refresh issues.

Half-Life

Half-Life is the time it takes the backlight within the TV to fade to half its original brightness. When you are looking at plasma or LCD TVs, you may come across a piece of information that says “60,000 hours” or some such number which denotes that TV’s Half-Life. In case of Plasma TVs, the accepted duration ranges between 30,000 and 60,000 hours while in case of LCD TVs, it is virtually guaranteed for 60,000 hours. If you actually convert this to days, it works out to about 2,500 days or about seven years of continuous viewing. Well, that means if you watch a movie everyday, it goes on for a whopping sixty years…

What else

Wait a little more! The running cost of a TV is something that many don’t consider. With increasing screen sizes, the power consumption will also increase and in this regard, LCD TVs outscore plasma TVs once again. LCD TVs are said to consume upto 30% less power than plasma TVs.

Also make sure that the TV you buy has HDMI in (multiple is better), true HD resolution and has good speakers built right in.

If you ask me, I will a wait a little more so that the story of the Real Picture becomes a Clear Picture!

Some approximate prices:

 

	LCD	PLASMA
SAMSUNG	Size Range: 20 to 42 inches Price: Rs.37500- Rs.360000 The smallest from the Samsung stable, the 26-inch Bordeaux, comes with a price tag of Rs.37500. The largest, the 52-inch Full HD Mosel incorporates a full hi-definition 1080 pixel screen with 12.8 billion colours and even a memory card slot, and costs Rs.360000 (46-inch one costs Rs.185000).	Size Range: 42 to 63 inches Price: Rs.85000- Rs.540000 Samsung’s 50-inch offering retails at Rs.170000 and the largest, the 63-inch LCD TV is available Rs.540000. all these TVs come with all the frills, including 60000-hour life expectancy, HDMI and HD readiness.
LG	Size Range: 20 to 40 inches Price: Rs.29000- Rs.140000 With an in-built 80GB hard drive, LG’s Time machine LCD/plasma TVs do more than just show moving images. The 42-inch LCD version, with a wide viewing angle (178/178) costs Rs.140000.	Size Range: 42 to 71 inches Price: Rs.94000- Rs.3299900 Supposedly India’s biggest Plasma TV, LG’s 71-inch plasma, with HDMI, HD readiness, 1920x1080P resolution with a viewing angle of 160°, costs rs.3299900. Smaller screens are available at Rs.94000 for the 42-inch model and Rs.460000 for a 60-inch Plasma.
SONY	Size Range: 23 to 52 inches Price: Rs.54990- Rs.499900 Sony’s 40-inch KL-40x200A with 1920x1080 resolution (full HD) and a 178° viewing angle, costs Rs.199900. The larger screen size variants cost Rs.169900 for 46-inches and Rs.499900 for 52-inch. The smallest (23-inch) LCD TV comes at price tag of Rs.54990

Today the plasma wins by a whisker – tomorrow is anybody’s game…

Sledging Sludge

Freeware to sanitize your personal computer of scrap and other sediments

Initially I will tell you where to find some free brooms to clean out the sewage. Yeah…sewage. Windows registry’s refuse, software detritus, Internet debris, fragmented data, skulking spyware/malware and other ghosts which are always heavy on the viscera of Windows PCs.

We start with the Windows registry. The registry is a database of the OS’s settings and options. It keeps track of the settings for all your PC’s hardware, software, users, and associated preferences. Whenever you alter the Control panel parameters, install software, change file associations, or rework system policies, the amendments are stored in the registry. Therefore, tuning and tampering with it can have a major impact on the workings of your PC. A clean registry makes a PC boot faster, run quicker and stay more stable. That is why umpteen registry cleansers are born unto this universe. Here are some good ones; but beware, tamper testily. Then, some cool tools to monitor hot-headed PCs.

CCleaner

OS: Windows XP

It’s a Freeware system optimization and privacy tool. Removes unused and invalid gunk from the registry (entries, file extensions, ActiveX controls, ClassIDs, ProgIDs, uninstallers, shared DLLs, fonts, help files, application paths, icons, shortcuts) to help PCs run faster. And free disk space. Also swabs traces of your online activities (temporary files, URL history, cookies, auto-complete form history and index.dat). Comprehensive backup feature.

EasyCleaner

OS: Windows XP, NT, 2000, 9.x

A very tidy multilingual proggie, that sifts through the registry for entries pointing nowhere and bogging down your system’s speed. It finds unnecessary temp files, duplicates and backups to help create disk space. The good part is that it lists everything… The choice to axe or annex is always yours. EC can tweak startup programs, gouge out invalid shortcuts, add/remove software, and devour IE’s temporary Internet files, history and cookies with it.

Eusing Free Registry Cleaner

OS: Windows Vista, XP, 2000, NT, 98

It is a decent alternative, newly refurbished, with Vista-ready claims. Advantage: An easy-to-use backup and recovery feature.

RegSeeker

OS: Windows XP, 2000, NT, 98

It combines registry cleaning with some degree of registry management. It can get dicey if you don’t know your fundas. So newbies, stay away!

Expired Cookies Cleaner

OS: Windows XP, 2000

The more you browse the web, the more cookies you collect. Each cookie has a set lifetime – from a few seconds to several years. IE hoards these cookies in various files on a hard disk, and never tries to get rid of them even after they have expired. So a disk can end up accumulating hundreds of useless cookies. ECC eradicates these expired cookie accrual – and thereby speeds things up somewhat (or a lot, depending on how much muck it trims). To keep things shipshape, use this Ute twice weekly or more.

CPU-Z

OS: Windows XP

Now some system info. CPU-Z’s a tell-all freeware that collates information on the primary devices in your PC. From the CPU’s name and number, core stepping, processes, core voltage, internal/external clocks, clock multiplier, supported instruction sets to cache information – it spells it all. Likewise for the main-board, it harvests vendor info, model and revision, BIOS model and date, chipset and sensor. Memory frequency and timings, module specifications etc. are also spelled out.

Intel Active Monitor

OS: Windows XP

More system info. As PC’s pep-up performance and shrink in size, the need to be in the know and monitor overall system health becomes imperative. This alerting utility for Intel boards works with specialized sensors on Intel boards to constantly monitor system temperatures, power supply voltages and fan speeds. You are notified the moment temperatures get too high or a fan or power supply fails.

SpeedFan

OS: Windows Vista, XP, NT, 2000, Me, 9.x

It is another tool to monitor voltages, fan speeds and temperatures in PCs with hardware monitor chips. It supports Intel Core Duo, Windows Vista 64 bit, SCSI disks and a host of other state-of-the-art silicon stud-ware. It has the ability to change fan speeds (depending on the capabilities of your sensors) according to the temperatures inside your PC, thus reducing noise. A must-download for over-clocking geeks as it lets you over-clock PCs but ensures chips do not fry.

Browser Battles

Internet Explorer 7 versus Firefox 2.0. Which is the better browser?

There is a little tale doing the rounds on the Net these days. According to this, the earliest NASA astronauts discovered that their pens would not function in zero gravity conditions as the ink could not flow down to the writing surface. Eventually, almost a decade and US$12 million later, the NASA’s R&D nerds developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on practically any surface, and at temperatures- from below freezing to over 300°C. And what did the Russians do? They just deployed pencils instead. Hah! I am not sure if this story is true or not. But it is allegorical in highlighting the difference between focusing on problems versus concentrating on solutions.

And that brings us to two mini-events that took place in October’07: the launch of Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) and Firefox 2.0 (FF2), the two dominating web browsers. IE7 has taken five years to cook (IE6 was born in October 2001). FF2 follows less than two years after version 1 and about 10 months after version 1.5 was put out to pasture. While the upgrade of IE can be called a long overdue overhaul, FF can be summed up as fine-tuning an already future-laden offering. So are both browsers finally at par? Hmmm…

Internet Explorer 7

www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/default.mspx

IE, which has steadily been losing market-share to FF, has tried hard to play catch up with its new rendition. To bring IE up to speed with the competition, the prime features that Microsoft has included in this 15MB download are: a neat Windows Vista-like user interface, much needed tabbed browsing, good integrated search, excellent RSS news-feed support, a nifty add-ons manager to promote and distribute the extras, and a useful session-saver option for tabbed windows.

In addition to this, the IE7 development team has spent the last five years squashing the IE6 bugs, enhancing web-page programming support, adding quick page zooms, working on a nice little bookmarks panel, churning out a faster rendering engine, and collating and vetting add-ons (www.ieaddons.com). On the much promised security front, IE7 has beefed up by plugging several security holes, adding an anti-phishing tool, SSL3 support and opt-in support for ActiveX.

Pause mode, for those who feel out of sync… Phishing (pronounced “fishing”) is a scam to steal valuable information like credit card, user IDs and passwords via an official-looking e-mail which is sent to potential victims pretending to be from their bank or ISP. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, an Internet security protocol used to validate the identity of a website and to create an encrypted connection for sending credit card no. and other personal data. (When you are making online purchases, check for a lock icon in the status bar (at bottom); a “closed” lock icon shows you are on a secure SSL connection.) ActiveX is a set of technologies and tools shepherded by Microsoft that helps programmers create small components or applets (self-sufficient programs, also called ActiveX controls) that can be installed and run on networks. ActiveX is viciously exploited by evil Web weevils to distribute malware, spyware and adware.

Mozilla Firefox 2.0

www.mozilla.com

With FF2, a lot of the aforementioned is a been-there-done-that case. Being an open-source project that is constantly being worked on by a global community of committed techies, Firefox has always taken full advantage of two of its inherent strengths: the speed of development and the ability to innovate. While it demonstrates no radical revamps since its last major less than a year ago, version 2.0 of Firefox polishes and perfects what it has already delivered. On some fronts, FF2 has integrated into the browser what was previously available as extensions or add-ons.

This 5.6 Meg download offers perpetual customizability, an improved user interface, excellent browser tab and form control enhancements, a first-rate in-line spell checker with multi-language support, an admirable auto-complete function for the built-in search engine box and web forms, a competent tab session save as well as reopen closed tabs capability, an outstanding PC crash session recovery function, and a refurbished themes and extensions manger. RSS integration is limited but can be enhanced via extensions like Sage (at addons.mozilla.org). Security-wise, FF2 has a built-in phishing-detection system to caution you of a “suspected web forgery”.

Endgame: For finicky mirchi-masala mongers like me, who like to tool and tinker, taste and tune, smack and squeeze power and performance, Firefox is the chosen one. For those who like your Web-meal experience pre-cooked, pre-salted, pre-set, Maggi noodles style, IE7 is the road ahead. Because all said and done, Firefox again sets the bar a few notches higher and remains the browser to beat.