Web Hosting Blog From Pixel Internet » Microsoft

WordPress Finally Drops Support For Internet Explorer 6

Steve — Mon, 30 May 2011 18:25:15 +0000

As Microsoft continues encouraging people to stop using Internet Explorer 6, yet another high profile web service – the hugely popular WordPress – has now officially dropped support for the outdated internet browser.

IE6 has caused a huge amount of compatibility issues for numerous developers, designers and online services (not to mention security issues for users), but despite this nearly 12% of people round the World were still using the browser in April of 2011.

WordPress.com announced an end to IE6 support earlier last week, with a spokesman telling the press that it was down to “increasingly complicated coding to make the WP dashboard work with IE6″.

WordPress users running IE6 will still be able to log into their WordPress dashboard, although they’ll now be greeted with a message warning them to update their browser:

The dropping of IE6 compatibility will be included in the next WordPress update (WordPress 3.2), which is expected to be fully rolled out sometime next month.

On top of the end to IE6 support, the new WordPress update will feature an improved, redesigned dashboard as well as a new ‘distraction-free’ writing mode. You can find out more about the 3.2 update via the WordPress.com website, or by downloading the 3.2 beta version now.

Microsoft’s New Cloud Based Office 365

Doug — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 15:56:05 +0000

The first beta version of the latest incarnation of Microsoft’s Office suite was released yesterday, Office 365. With the growth of cloud based services since the last release, this new 365 version has been brought up to date with an array of new online collaboration tools.

According to Microsoft, they have been considering integrating hosted applications since 2003/4 when they began making strategic investments in this area, but it has taken up until now to put them into practice. Dispite what Microsoft claim, many poeple are going to see this as a reactive move to new, free cloud services like Google Docs.

Microsoft’s first forray into this area was the BPOS Suite (Business Productivity Online Suite), a bundled version of other Microsoft products, that wasn’t a great success. Now they’re ready to have another go with 365, a combination of the old BPOS and Office 2010. With 365, Microsoft is attempting to create a cloud based turnkey business solution. The difference between 365 and all others suites before is the integration. When first installed it displays an Intranet style page with all your options (depending on your package level). From there you can download and install all your programs with a simple one click wizard, making it a very simple process. Through your explorer page you can also access email, calendar, contacts, and chat, as well as functionality from other online suites (SharePoint etc).

The first reviews of the Beta suite have indicated that it is just that, unfinished. Many of the reviews written about this software recognise the potential of having an all in one cloud based office and email solution, but so far the beta has shown up several problems. As with all beta’s, it is an unfinished program and will certainly be improved, but all signs show that Microsoft could well be onto a winner with 365.

Windows 7 Tips And Tricks

Steve — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 08:00:12 +0000

With a new version of Windows comes all the ‘fun’ of learning the in’s and out’s of it. Thankfully, Windows 7 seems like a more polished version of Vista with only a few tweaks, rather than the big jump from XP to the first very buggy version of Vista, which no-one really liked.

It may only appear to be on the surface that Micosoft have been working, with the new ‘aero’ windows and the ridiculously named ‘superbar’ replacing the taskbar, but dig a little deeper and there are some great hidden features and shortcuts that haven’t been advertised. So, without further ado, I bring you the top tips and tricks for Windows 7:

As well as the new ‘snap’ feature, whereby windows will automatically snap to the full or half screen size by dragging the window to the top or side, there are shortcuts that do the same, and more:

Windows + Arrow keys (up, down, left, right) – As part of the snap options, you can fill a screen with the touch of a button by pressing Windows + Up, or snap it to the right and make it half size with Windows + Right. A really handy tool, especially if you’re using more than one monitor.

Windows + Shift + Arrow keys – Adding the shift key in presents another set of options. Win + Shift + Right or Left moves the window between sides of the screen (or between monitors), whilst Win + Shift + Up/Down maximises the window vertically or minimises it completely.

Windows + + (the plus key)

Windows + – (the minus key) – These enable the magnifying tool, allowing you to zoom in to varying degrees on either the whole desktop of a section of the screen.

Windows + Home – This minimises everything apart from the active window you are working in.

Windows + E – New explorer window.

Windows + P – This allows you to quickly change your display set up, be it multiple extending your desktop, duplicating it or connecting to an external source such as a projector.

Extra Control Panel – With the new control panel, not all the options are present that were in the last one. If you really feel you need access to all those little options you used to have, simply create a new folder and name it:

Everything.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

This will give you access to over 250 different options from power to networks and sharing, troubleshooting to the action centre. You can also replace ‘Everything’ with whatever you want the folder to be called.

Windows + T – The replacement for the old Alt + Tab combination, Windows + T cycles through your open windows and gives you a little preview.

Windows + Space – This make all of your current windows transparent, so you can see the outline of them but also the desktop behind. The windows re-appear when you let go of the windows key.

Aero ’shake’ – if you have loads of windows open and you need to minimise them all quickly, grab the front window and give a shake. All the rest will minimise automatically.

Power Efficiency Reports – If you’re running Windows 7 on a laptop, you can maximise the battery life by using a hidden built-in tool that looks at what processes you’re running an makes recommendations to improve them.

To do this, type ‘cmd’ into the search box, then when the cmd icon appear, right click on it and ‘run as administrator’. In the command line type ‘powercfg -energy -output \Folder\Energy_Report.html’. After Windows has examined your computer for a minute or so a screen of recommendations will appear.

Desktop Slideshow – as well as coming with loads of stunning wallpapers, Windows 7 has another great feature, that of a desktop slideshow. Simply right-click on any empty part of the desktop, select Personalise > Desktop Background, then select the images you want. You then choose how often the images cycle, select shuffle and voila!

Google Backsup Europe’s Case Against Microsoft Browser

Tanya — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:23:36 +0000

The European Commission has received backing from Google as to whether they should investigate the dominance of Microsoft in the browser market. Currently Microsoft has a majority (over 85%) market share of the browser market. Google has its own web browser named chrome, which is only 6 months old.

After receiving a complaint from another rival Opera, the European Commission has decided that it will investigate whether Microsoft has gained a competitive advantage unfairly by using its operating system to ship out its browser, which is Internet Explorer.

After their initial findings, the European Commission arrived at a conclusion that Microsoft had gained an unfair competitive advantage in the web browser market, which means that Microsoft has been in violation of the European law since 1996.

Microsoft has been given notice that it has to respond to the European Commission by late March. This could mean that Microsoft starts unbundling its web browser from their operating system in hope of escaping any punishment.

By backing the case against Microsoft Google hopes to build a strong case against Microsoft and its abuse of power in the web browser market and thus stop Microsoft continue abusing its power in the browser market.

Microsoft has been trying to prevent Google’s growth by increasing their spending on their own search engine so that it could become more popular thus leaving Google behind. However this has not turned out well because Google is still miles ahead of any of the search engines.

The battle between Microsoft and Google has occasionally been fought in the courtrooms. Last year (2008) Microsoft raised serious anti-trust issues against Google’s plans to combine its adverts with Yahoo. The battle between these two business giants has continuously become more intense with each passing year and there is no slow down in sight.

Another rival of Microsoft, Mozilla has offered to help the European Commission with its current Investigation into Microsoft’s unfair dominance in the web browser market. Mozilla are the makers of Firefox, which is the second most popular web browser behind Internet Explorer (which belongs to Microsoft).

So the question is will the European Commission actually be able to stop Microsoft from being able to bundle its popular web browser with its operating system Windows or not? The impending decision is going to have a very large effect on the subsequent success of Microsoft and its Windows product on the whole.

Microsoft considering thousands of redundancies

Doug — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:42:48 +0000

Microsoft’s 3,000 employees in the UK face losing their jobs as the software giant is considering a plan for multiple redundancies to help ease the pressure of the credit crisis. As much as 17% of its global workforce could be sacked over a short space of time and it would be the first mass lay-off in the company’s 32 year history. Across the world, up to fifteen thousand jobs could be at risk.

Microsoft have refused to comment on the situation and there is no guarantee on where the company will be making the cuts. Considering that customer expenditure has slowed there is no real surprise that Microsoft sales have dropped accordingly. According to analysts the sales of their operating systems, Windows XP and Windows Vista have dropped dramatically and they have therefore been forced to drop the price of some of their commercial software such as Microsoft Word and Excel.

Microsoft are due to report their earnings for the final three months of 2008 on January 21st however it is predicted that they will announce plans to cut down on jobs within the next couple of weeks.

IE has been hacked!

Doug — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:46:46 +0000

It seems that Microsoft are in the thick of the news at the moment. The global computer company have just released a statement saying that the Internet Explorer browser is un-safe to use due to a hack. The hack is focused on pulling personal data from users as they navigate onto infected websites. It is reported that almost 10,000 sites are infected with the malicious code and Microsoft are urging people to switch to any other rival browser such as Firefox or Safari for their own cyber safety.

The hack originates from China and it is reported that only a group of Chinese sites have been affected however this is predicted to grow very quickly. It is also stated that all versions of IE including, IE 5, 6 and 7 are all prone to this cyber attack. So watch out!

Microsoft launches ‘softwear’

Doug — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:12:20 +0000

In all honesty I don’t think anyone saw this one coming. A Microsoft clothing range! The aim of launching

this new clothing range is to re-capture the geeky fashion of the 1980′s when people first caught eye of Microsoft. One of the t-shirts features a mug shot of Bill Gates, with seven other designs, embellished by ‘retro logos’. The range of t-shirts will be available in selected computer stores for Christmas for about £10. Microsoft are quoted as describing the clothing line as ‘fashion that taps into the nostalgia of when PCs were just starting to come into people lives’.

The original advertising campaign featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld failed to inspire people to go out and buy Microsoft products so this is their latest attempt to try and get people to buy brand products.

Of course you can expect a retaliation from Mac users. The original Mac adverts featuring Michell and Webb were very well done and have only cemented their reputation as reliable, efficient and fun machines. Let’s see how these t-shirts get on!

What is ASP? What does ASP stand for?

Doug — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:33:07 +0000

Active Server Pages. (This might be a little confusing because ASP also stands for ‘Application Service Provider’). ASP is a Microsoft technology that runs inside Windows 2000 or Windows XP. To run on Linux Heart Internet have deployed Java System Active Server Pages or an emulated ASP provided by Sun One (also known as Chilisoft ASP).