Question: Harry says, "I can’t get Flash to load on my computer. Can you help?"
Answer: Great question because I've had several calls on this one lately. I've even had problems with it myself. I've had so many questions on it, I've created a step-by-step article with links and put it in the Forums. I really think that their website may have been malfunctioning, but I'm not sure. The first thing to check is whether you have the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows. This is a piece of information that you might want to hang onto for future reference if you find it. If it's 64-bit Vista or Windows 7, you have versions of Internet Explorer that are both 32 and 64 bit. The 64-bit version says so in the title. I hate to keep coming back to that, but it'll be an issue for a while longer yet. If you're sure you're running the 32-bit version of Internet Explorer, the best thing you can do is check out the show notes because the fix is kind of involved. The show notes are on the web, but I'll have a link to this particular article at daconsult.com.
Cool Site: Windows7News: I've been doing a bunch of ramping up for Windows 7 lately as you can imagine, and if you're getting a new computer for Christmas, it'll have Windows 7 on it. If you want to know a great site to find out more about what's going on with Windows 7, check out windows7news.com. This site has news about Windows 7, sure; but it also has a lot more. You'll find guides on how to use Media Center, tips, tricks, and tweaks for it. You can download wallpapers, watch videos, or download themes for Windows 7, Vista, and XP. There are frequently-asked-questions pages and a forum where you can get your questions answered. You'll find rumors and utilities too.
Cool Gadget: Windows Movie Maker 2.6: This week's gadget is a software gadget. It also happens to be free for the download. For Windows 7, Microsoft chose a more minimalist attitude: there's no included email program, and they also didn't include a video editing program. Windows Live Movie Maker can be downloaded and is good for putting clips together and posting them to YouTube, but it doesn't do much in the way of editing the clips you have. By far, the best version of Windows Movie Maker is the one that comes with Vista Home Premium and Ultimate, but some systems can't run it. So Microsoft made a version of it called Movie Maker 2.6 that they've made available for download. It won't install on Windows XP though, sorry.
It's All "Geek" To Me: Virtualization: This week's word is one you may not have heard much about yet, but you will over the next year or two: Virtualization. When you see that term, think about a simulator. Normally, we're talking about a simulated computer. This used to be impractical, but computers today are much more powerful than they were 3-5 years ago. One physical computer that you can touch, with virtualization, can appear to be three or four different computers because many of them are running as simulated computers. That way, instead of a business buying four inexpensive servers, for example, they can buy one that's a bit more expensive and with virtualization, make it appear to be four servers. And it looks that way flawlessly. Microsoft distributes some of its trial software as simulated computers. The "Windows XP Mode" of Windows 7 is an example of this technology in action. This is definitely part of the future of computing.
