Automatic Updates & IE7

Well it appears Microsoft automatic updates is again pushing IE7 on to some systems. I Usually set updates to download but ask before installing. Now IE7 is an improvement over previous versions but here is the ironic part. It won't run many web applications written with Microsoft active x and .net. Yes, I've seen it more than once. The user then needs to roll back to IE 6.

First go to the control panel and use ad/remove programs. Remove IE7. Second if you have automatic updates on you may see the yellow shield in your system tray. Click it and bring up the dialog and then choose custom install. When that opens showing the IE 7 update uncheck the box then proceed. You should get a message that the update was not installed and in that window there is a box to check which says never prompt me for this again. Check that and close. Hopefully this will stop any attempts by Windows update to reinstall IE7.

Better choices, use Firefox whenever possible. For developers quit using Microsoft tools that lock your users to IE. The problem is obvious when their own updates cause your application to fail and this has been going on for almost two years. Java is a far better developer choice.

The $200 PC

It starts today. I would never recommend for businesses but for a second home unit - why not?

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/
news/2007/11/01/via-powered-199-pc-tips-wal

WAL-MART has begun offering a $199 Linux PC powered by VIA's C7-D Processor.

The Everex TC2502 Green gPC comes with 512MB of DDR2 system memory and a 80GB hard disk.

It runs gOS operating system, which is based on Ubuntu 7.10, and, apparently, sports a friendly green front end.

Now I'm no fan of shopping at Wally World but I'll do it on a rare occasion. Now I have lots of old PC's to play with and have put Linux OS on more than one. Ubuntu is a good choice for most user.