As we all know speech recognition is not new to the Windows OS. The main issues I have found with speech recognition is most of the time even after you have trained your computer through the step by step process it still doesn’t work that well.

I have spent hours trying to get this feature to work properly, and some times it does. Unfortunately most of the time it isn’t accurate or efficient enough to warrant it’s use. I’m sure many of you have used it as I have only to find out it’s faster just to type the information.

With the release of Vista the speech recognition software is at least supposed to be much more efficient and accurate….Like that hasn’t been said before….. right?

Well I have used this feature in Vista and I would say it works much better than previous versions. Of course it still translates inaccurate information from time to time. I actually used the software to compose this blog entry with pleasing results, as there weren’t too many edits that had to be made….Thank goodness for spell check.

For anyone who uses this feature; you will notice improvements, but there is still work to be done before we  have hands free computing.

Microsoft’s Outlook and Outlook Express can experience many issues. The problem when addressing such issues is figuring out whether the problem relates to a program problem or user database problems.

There are many programs available that can address issues internal to Outlook and Outlook Express. Be aware that most programs that are designed to fix an issue internal to the program will not address issues related to user databases.

Determining which category your issue falls under is critical when deciding what software to buy for addressing the issue. Typically (But not Always) if you experience a program error which references a particular.exe file this would be an issue internal to the program itself.

If you experience a message which relates to the message store, email messages stuck in the outbox or address book not loading then your issue is most likeley related to a user database. You can verify this by creating a new duplicate account and testing the features.

Search the Internet for information related to your issue. This may give you a better idea of what the problem relates to. Once you have an idea of what may be causing your issue then research for a program that can address the issue.

A quick note to all. Any error internal to the program that can be addressed by a “fix it” utility can generally be addressed by the user researching information on Microsoft.com. This is not necessarily true for user, message or address database errors.

If you have purchased your copy of Windows Vista you have experienced this unique Vista feature. The sidebar can be used to add different features that are easily viewable.

For me the CPU and network activity monitor are very handy. If you have not previously experienced this feature or would like to re-enable the item simply visit the control panel and select the”Windows Sidebar” icon to configure it for start up.

You can view everything from the time, network traffic, CPU usage and much more. Many software vendors are developing applications to work with the Windows sidebar. If the feature or utility you might be looking for isn’t currently available then you might give it just a little more time as I’m sure someone will develop it.

If you would like to review available “gadgets” for the windows sidebar you can simply click here.

Cost: $29.95

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Requirements:

Windows® Vista, XP Pro, XP Home, 2003 Server, 2000 in 32 bit or 64 bit Editions.
• 300MHz or higher processor
• 256 MB of RAM
• 22 MB of hard disk space

Supported Browsers
• Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher
• FireFox 1.2 or higher
• Opera 8 or higher

.NET Framework 2.0 is required for this product. If needed it will be installed during installation.

Pros:

Driver Detective has been built from the ground up and is an industry first in providing manufacturer specific drivers for your computer. For example, if you own a Dell™ computer Driver Detective will recommend drivers specifically for your Dell™ computer model. Driver Detective is simple and easy to use with a new user interface designed to make updating drivers fast.

• New Database Design - newly redesigned database is the largest, most comprehensive database in the industry.

• New Improved Interface - The new interface was designed to be simple, smart and easy to use.

• Increased Customer Service - Contact Customer Support or Ask their staff a quick question easily from inside Driver Detective.

• Self Updating Software - Driver Detective now automatically keeps itself current with the latest version.

• Manufacturer Specific Drivers - If you own a Dell™(Or other OEM computer) computer Driver Detective will recommend drivers specifically for your Dell™.

• Industry Leading Scanning Technology - Most accurate and comprehensive Driver Scanning Engine (DSE).

• Driver Backup Wizard - Never worry about losing your drivers again, Driver Detective has a built in wizard so you can copy your downloaded drivers to a CD, network drive or USB flash drive.

Cons:

No cons to list. The software can be very beneficial to the stability of your system by providing access to updated drivers for improved performance.

Guarantee:

If we are unable to provide the updated driver that we have presented when you did the free scan for functioning hardware devices we will be happy to provide you with a refund.

Value for the money:

If you have ever attempted to track down updated drivers for devices on your computer you know how time consuming this can be. Their driver scanning engine insure correct detection of model specific information. Get a free trial, download driver detective now.

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One thing I would like to gripe about is Microsoft has seen fit to remove the GUI (graphical user interface) portion of disk defrag which lists details of the defrag process.

I don’t know about you but to me this information can be useful. Not only could review defrag details but also a progress bar which showed when the process might end. Maybe I am just a control freak.

Many operations I do require peak performance. Running these operations during the defrag process can impact performance of the other applications and effect the outcome.

I guess I will just have to start the process and walk away for hours due to the lack of information on how long the process may take. This will definitely effect my efficiency. I guess I will have to purchase a third party application so I can review details of the defrag process.

Just another instance of Microsoft thinking they know what we do and do not need.

I recently attempted installation of the Vista Home Premium operating system. I first attempted this operation to see how well it performed with the minimum system requirements. Of course it wasn’t as crisp and quick as I had hoped it would be.

After testing for quite some time I turned off all the fancy shadows and features of the operating system and of course it ran better. As I added my third party applications performance began to lag once again.

Ok… time to try the installation with the recommended requirements. Just to review what the recommended requirements are I have them listed here.

1 Ghz 32 or 64-bit processor
1 GB of system memory
40 GB hard drive with 15 GB available space
128 MB graphics memory card that supports directx 9.0

Even after updating the system configuration with the new hardware… performance did improve. Of course being a tech head I do desire the as fast as possible scenario.

After reviewing my options I decided to attempt using Windows Ready Boost to see if I could boost performance. I added a compatible USB 2.0 drive with 2 GB of capacity and configured ready boost to use the device.

After testing I would have to say I would recommend to anyone that uses Vista (which does seem to be a resource hog) and needs peak performance you may want to consider using the ready boost option. Even though you cannot monitor the ready boost device performance while installed it does appear to have benefits.

As well as the performance benefits it is as well much cheaper to add a USB drive than internal system memory. I guess Microsoft knew we might need some other option to boost performance of their new os. I’m glad they decided to add this option to the operating system.

Finally Microsoft added a feature that is much easier to use than previous utilities to help parents monitor youth activities.

Although features such as this have previously been embedded into the Windows operating system it is not until now that they have been so easy to use. If you have ever configured the Internet Explorer content adviser you know what I am talking about. Another aspect to these utilities that were previously not available are the reporting features.

Microsoft has embedded all the previously available utilities into an easy to use interface and added some new unique features.

With the release of Vista you now have the following abilities to monitor and control how your children interact with the computer and the Internet.

Web restrictions.

 You can restrict the websites that children can visit, make sure children only visit age-appropriate websites, indicate whether you want to allow file downloads, and set up which content you want the content filters to block and allow. You can also block or allow specific websites.

Time limits.

You can set time limits to control when children are allowed to log on to the computer. Time limits prevent children from logging on during the specified hours and, if they are already logged on, they will be automatically logged off. You can set different logon hours for every day of the week.

Games.

You can control access to games, choose an age rating level, choose the types of content you want to block, and decide whether you want to allow or block unrated or specific games.

Allow or block specific programs.

You can prevent children from running programs that you don’t want them to run.

Finally you don’t have to purchase a third party application to monitor and control access to content. Being a father myself I can definitely say I will be interested in learning more about how well parental controls work. I hope Microsoft continues to develope this new utility.
 

Here as of late I have been writing about some of the features of Windows Vista. This article reviews the bitlocker feature.

Although this utility is not entirely new as it was released previously with Windows 2000 and has been improved upon.

The bitlocker utility can encrypt a hard drive so that if your computer or drive has been stolen the data is less likely to be accessed by prying eyes.

Although no one is quite sure how secure this utility may be as it has not been fully tested by the rest of us. Of course Microsoft will document it as a secure feature they have done so in the past.

Once the general public gets their hands on it thats when it will really be tested. As we know with previous supposed secure features this isn’t always the case.

Just like the SAM database which is supposed to secure user accounts and passwords it as well has been fooled before with those nifty Linux boot disks…The bitlocker utility may as well fall victim of such a utility.

I do have to say kuddos to Microsoft for adding the feature because it can atleast protect your data some what and may reveal itself as a well built security utility.

If you have any experiences to share about this utility…Whether it be good, bad, or otherwise please post a comment and share your experience.

Are there any other tech heads out there like me who wish deployment of better connectivity technology would move a little faster?

A month or so ago I visited a friend in Florida. While I was there his ISP was installing fiber to the house for Internet connectivity. Of course it made my mouth water thinking of the reliability and speeds he would have.

That is just totally cool that they are converting their entire network for all consumers to fiber connectivity.

After installation he purchased a connectivity package which allowed for up to 20MB download speeds and I believe 6MB upload. Now if you are an avid tech head or a system administrator you know just what that means…..no more slow uploads due to those darn limiting QOS files.

I hope this practice becomes a standard for all high speed Internet ISP’s. I dont know about you but that would enable me to be twice as productive when uploading websites or large files.

Currently I can only dream of a connection like this, but maybe…just maybe one day I will have something comparable.

I don’t know about you, but today I was having difficulties. My difficulties started with the warm weather and me being stuck inside. I am an avid motorcycle rider and this beautiful weather has my head in the wrong place.

I thought writing about it might help me get through this week.

Days like today I like to just take off on my Harley for eight hours…stop, grab a hotel and continue the ride the next day.

Unfortunately today that isn’t possible. I have way too much work to do…submit this and compose that along with research, research and yet more research.

However I guess it would be ok to take a minute out of the day and think on what I enjoy doing. It as well has put me in a good mood.

Maybe this might help cure a few of those work week blues for you as well. We can only hope!

Tomorrow my article will be more computer oriented. Have a good week and an even better weekend.