Hmm. I don't have Firefox installed on the laptop. Now I have to decide if I want that new single badly enough to install Firefox and hunt for the plug in, or if I'm willing to wait for the release of the single ...

Ooooh, speaking of Firefox, there's a wonderful addin called Foxytunes that will let you control iTunes from a bar on the bottom of your Firefox window. Since otherwise I end up switching back and forth quite a bit, this is so very useful....

I could never get Foxytunes to work properly, at least not in a way that made it more convenient than just opening iTunes.

Ok...question for a friend.

My friend J, well, actually, you don't need to know the details. She's pretty sure that someone installed spying software on her computer...or some sort of keystroke monitor. She's run spyware, but isn't getting anything on that. Is there other things she can check? How can we figure out what's going on? The person that would have done this is VERY tech savy and could probably get around a lot of things.

Jilli, there may be a Firefox plug in to do that...

If anyone finds one, I'd like to know about it because I'm installing a flash jukebox on my band's website and would like to see if this plug-in defeats the anti-downloading measures I've taken.

Also, Jilli -- did you ever download "On the Amazon" from my server? I sent you a couple of emails about it.

Val, my low tech solution would be to backup =data only=, then wipe the disk, then reinstall the operating system and all programs one by one.

The Next Windows After Vista Will Demand Radical Rethinking From Microsoft

While it's putting the finishing touches on Vista--a near-final test version could arrive this week--Microsoft is at work on the next major version of its most important product, a system code-named Vienna that's supposed to introduce a whole- sale reworking of the Windows desktop. Before that, a tune-up of Vista, dubbed Fiji, is in the works.

But post-Vista Windows will break with the past only if Microsoft can figure out how to do things differently. Here are the challenges the company faces as it works on Fiji, Vienna, and whatever follows them:

Faster delivery. First and foremost, Microsoft must figure out how to deliver Windows features faster. If it takes another five years to deliver the next major upgrade to Windows, Microsoft's golden goose is cooked.

More Web functions. Microsoft must increase the operating system's value by delivering many of its functions on the Web, in ways that can be updated as PC users' needs change. The Web can be a fabulous delivery vehicle for a modern operating system, but Windows has to get smarter about handling data and programs that live online. Windows Live and Office Live are part of the answer, but Windows itself needs to become Webified.

A partially web-based Windows OS? Is the writer of this on crack? (It came from InfoWeek .)

I haven't had time to read the whole thing....

Windows is pretty much a clusterfuck at this point. The code horribly complicated, with "more than 50 dependency layers", over 50 million lines of code, and thousands of developers. It's difficult, probably impossible, at this point to fix bugs in the code without introducing new ones.

A lot of people, not just the one pundit you quoted, are suggesting that Microsoft do what Apple did; create a newer, much simpler operating system, and run older versions of the OS inside a virtual machine for compatability.

I would be very surprised if MS didn't have one or more skunkwork projects along those lines working in secrecy.

Tom, insent (a couple hours ago....)

I would be very surprised if MS didn't have one or more skunkwork projects along those lines working in secrecy.

MS has a huge R&D dept., right?