Personally, I hate the trend of software adding bloat in subsequent versions as much as I hate people saying an application is bloated just because it’s no longer a simple one-dimensional kind of program. That said, Adobe current crop of products have to be some of the worst in this sense.

At this point I’m sure nobody doubts the deserved dominance of Photoshop in the world of digital photo editing, just like Microsoft Word or Excel are your overall best bets for documents and spreadsheets despite of its cost. But when the very creators of the PDF format ship its latest reader which takes twice the amount of time for opening files than third-party software like Foxit Reader (on a high-end PC, for slower machines it can be as much as a 10x difference!) you know something is very wrong then.

But that is just one of the many examples I can give you. The Adobe installer is just damn horrible. For a moment I thought this would be limited to the Windows version of the CS3 Suite, but when I downloaded trial versions of Fireworks and Dreamweaver for the Mac, it was quite the unwelcomed surprise to see that the bloated and painfully slow installer is also used under OS X. I have to admit that adding a bunch of ‘required’ middleware like the “Extension Manager” is not something I enjoy, but I find much worse the inclusion of the stealth Adobe Updater. You may be surprised the first time this updater pops up because it doesn’t leave any traces in the Windows registry and is not listed as a startup program. So, unless you are running a full fledged firewall (which you should but there aren’t many good ones for Vista yet), the program could run and download updates without your consent. In fact it’s quite likely you won’t notice this running unless it’s taking away your bandwidth, or CPU time (bloat, remember?) or an interruption in your Internet connection happens, which will make it complain and thus become evident it was running behind your back.

Furthermore, Adobe doesn’t give you an easy way to turn this feature off beforehand, but rather you can configure it while it’s running - there’s no access through the Adobe programs’ options menus - or you will have to manually edit a configuration file (AdobeUpdaterPreferences.dat) as detailed here. Adobe, you still make really good software, but I may have to look elsewhere in the future if you make this an on-going trend.

Depending for how long you’ve been reading TechSpot you may have read a variety of comments about Apple products, from hate to well, less hate :). No, but seriously, despite of being mainly a Windows site we have tried to remain balanced and objective when time has come to report on any product, no matter if it came from Nvidia or ATI… Intel or AMD, Microsoft or Apple. We have said it like it is, and backed it up as needed and as possible. It’s what we owe to our readers.

Part of this objectivity comes from recognizing when a company is doing things wrong, and applaud their efforts when they make a brilliant comeback. For example there was no room left for fanaticism when Intel kept pushing the horrible Pentium 4, while AMD had to offer a better product in the Athlon. Likewise, how not to love the speedy and efficient Core 2 Duos nowadays.

But the discussion of the better operating system makes for a much stronger and subjective case, not to mention it’s been around almost as long as the Personal Computer itself. I can remember how Apple still had some loyal following during some of its darkest days in the mid 90s, and around the time TechSpot opened its doors in 1998, I could not help but hate the brand for its delusional claims that did nothing but mislead the end consumer.

In our eyes, Apple had no game in the computer world until the first consumer version of OS X was released in 2001. And even then it was severely lacking in the hardware department until they finally ate their own words to partner with Intel in recent years.

Which takes us to the present day, a revived Apple that is looking healthier than ever thanks to the iPod revolution along with some good long-term decision making on its computer division. The reaction from hardcore Apple fans is evident today throughout the web and even more so in the blogosphere. But like many PC users have begun to notice the fanaticism sometimes goes too far, and what you get as a result is a lot of subjective noise all-around that is certainly not helped by Apple’s own commercials.

But going back to the original purpose of this post, after a failed experiment using a Mac two years ago (Mac Mini G4 running Tiger, I couldn’t stand the slow hardware), I have decided to invest once again in Apple hardware, namely a MacBook Pro running a cool Core 2 Duo processor and OS X Leopard.

The thinking behind my decision was varied, for starters my old trusted ThinkPad T42 was needing a rest and another Vaio TX laptop I own, while very portable at 11″, is sometimes too small to get work done comfortably. Making a long story short, the MacBook Pro offered hardware that was on par with other major manufacturers ‘performance’ models, industrial design that is on par with Lenovo’s and Sony’s top models, and finally I got the choice of ditching OS X for Windows Vista or even XP, if I never found my way around it or needed to use Windows-only software. Of course, if I was going to believe all those Mac lovers out there, that could never happen.

I should add that it was also easier to swallow the $2000 spent on this laptop considering that as TechSpot’s Executive Editor, it comes handy when I can make a knowledgeable and up to date opinion on where OS X stands today against Vista or any other current Operating System, let’s face it it’s an ever recurrent topic.

I have been using the MacBook Pro for about a month now, and my experience has been mixed. The hardware is indeed beautiful and while I was expecting more from the LED lit screen, it’s still very very acceptable. There are small details that add to the overall experience like the backlit keyboard, the magnetic power connector and double finger scrolling, all in one portable package that is also the closest I have ever got to the performance of my custom-built desktop PC.

There are a few drawbacks that for the most part are inherent to every laptop that offers this kind of performance, so I won’t bother mentioning those. In the software side, I came across more than one surprise though.

Whatever you have heard about OS X Leopard’s ability to put Windows Vista to shame is probably not true… at least not from my perspective. In the first 24 hours I experienced two hard crashes, and in the first week I came across a reportedly software bug that locked my keyboard from functioning after waking up from sleep (it forces you to restart). So perhaps Tiger was more polished than Leopard is, and those early reviews that told you otherwise are pure bull.

Not to put the latest incarnation of OS X down, there are a number of things that work much better in the Mac than in Windows, like Spotlight - now that is powerful search that works - but I’m afraid it’s still an above-average consumer platform with flaws here and there, and a far cry from an Apple’s fanboy dream claims.
But my evaluation of the MacBook Pro’s hardware and software is far from over, this is an experiment I may actually be able to pull off (forgive my Windows roots), and hopefully it will also open the door for further Mac-related coverage and perspective at TechSpot for a very valid and growing consumer base.

Although not all of us are cut to be extreme Windows tweakers, there are still a few small hidden tweaks most people are familiar with and feel comfortable enough changing. Take for example the shortcut arrows in Windows. Those have been around since Win95 I believe, and not even in Windows Vista is there an obvious way to remove them.

In fact, because XP users can rely on the free Tweak UI they can access to this setting without recurring to a third party application. But there are still no PowerToys for Vista, so third parties is what we have for now.

So, I was recently trying a few different Vista “tweakers” to see what they were capable of, and while none offered anything particularly interesting, one of them decided to remove the registry entry for the shortcut arrows completely, rather than changing its value. The result? An empty list of Favorite Links (those useful shortcuts on the Windows Explorer sidebar).

If this has happened to you, don’t worry. Just download a trusted application that will correct it for you, namely Vista Shortcut Manager, a.k.a. FxVisor by Frameworkx. This small application will let you configure the shortcut arrow overlay while also fixing whatever any other program did to your registry entry.

On a side note, if you are into deeper tweaking you may want to check out TechSpot’s own Windows Vista Memory Tweak Guide.

Switcher is an Expose clone for Windows Vista. You may remember I recommended the beta version just a few weeks ago, new in the final version are a few stability fixes and reportedly some performance improvements as well. If you have no idea what Switcher or Expose are and what they can do for you, check out this post.

I have yet to try this updated version but I still wanted to bring the update to you ASAP considering I have endorsed it in the past as the best implementation of Expose-like functionality for Vista. Forget about Flip3D, and ease your use of Alt+Tab with this smart application switcher.

If you thought the release of Mac OS X 10.5 was the big news for Friday, think again. In the wider PC world, or in PC gamers’ world for that matter, the release of the eagerly awaited Crysis sounds like more exciting news. The demo came unannounced after a delay early this month, but it’s now out there so what are you waiting for?

The demo includes the complete first level, dubbed “Contact,” which will give you roughly 45 minutes of gameplay. In addition, Crytek is packing in the CryEngine 2 Sandbox game editor, giving the community the opportunity to get familiar with the tools they will have at their disposal before the actual game ships on November 16.

As a side note, Nvidia has released new Forceware beta drivers (169.01) that are optimized for use with this SP demo. If you ask me it’s ridiculous how you need to upgrade drivers every time a new major title is released, it happened with Bioshock, UT, and now Crysis. But anyway, pick your OS and download here.

PS: In all fairness, the release of Leopard are exciting news. Certainly the #1 candidate for the most polished and user-friendly OS currently available.

Many of you probably remember the earlier days of the web when the browser dominance wars took place between Netscape (which enjoyed a majority share) and Internet Explorer.

One of the many things I remember is how I used to prefer Netscape which was a more elegant browser and hands down the better overall program on its early versions. It wasn’t until years later that IE took over while Netscape remained stagnant and slowly faded away.

It was all about 28.8k modems and the eternal wait that took for opening graphic-intensive sites. You actually had enough time to go get some something from the fridge, or just stare at the beautiful “loading” buttons…

Because Firefox is completely skinnable and there’s a huge community behind it, you won’t even have to mess around with any files, I picked the three best Netscape themes from the official add-on site for you to try out:

• Foxscape: This is by far my favourite, resembles the looks of the old Netscape 4.8 that uses the throbber (loading) buttons you see above.
• Modern Aluminum: This is a port of Netscape 7.x, all silver buttons with a more subtle look.
• Netstripe: This is a new official skin developed by the guys behind the new Netscape 9 beta browser. It’s a very nice green-ish theme, and a good excuse not to try the actual Netscape 9 browser that also uses the Mozilla (Firefox) code as a base.

While we are on the topic, I wanted to share another tip on customizing Firefox. You can also change (only) the throbber (that is the name given to the “loading” circle displayed by default on Firefox). You can create your own JPEG/GIF files and tell Firefox to use those instead. Here is a good guide on how to do that and yet another link for an already coded add-on that adds a spinning Firefox logo.

Missing from my Switcher 2.0 post yesterday was an explanation of what Exposé is. I guess some people are just too lazy to follow some links, but then again that’s not uncommon, after all why should you care?

In the particular case of Exposé I believe some movies are worth more than a thousand words…
Here’s an introductory video of Exposé’s original implementation in Mac OS X :

Also the guys at DownloadSquad posted a video of Switcher 2.0 working on Windows, this was after they got word of its release from my post yesterday:

Mac fanboys and even some so-called Windows fanboys will praise OS X like there is no tomorrow… all while bashing Vista in the process, of course.

In my personal experience Vista is not as bad as some people say, while XP with its rocky past, today seems to be solid enough. Apple’s OS X offers a nice overall environment and while it’s still missing some appeal for me to become a switcher, I have to admit it’s got one particular feature I would love to get in Windows: Exposé!

Ever since I upgraded to Vista I have waited for developers to come up with an Exposé-like application to replace the good looking but useless Flip3d. Well, it’s been over six months and I have tested a bunch of implementations… some would simply crash, others would become system hogs (and eventually crash), this went on and on for months.

Until now. Microsoft employee Bao Nguyen has been working on such an application for months on his free time (as a hobby project, not Microsoft directed). He already used to have the better Exposé application out there with Switcher 1.0 but it was still a bit buggy and not fast enough to really use and enjoy. Earlier this week he silently launched a beta version of Switcher 2.0 and I have been playing with it for a few hours now. It’s finally here, Exposé for Windows that actually works like it’s supposed to!

I’m happy to report Switcher 2.0 (beta - download here) feels very solid, it’s very customizable in both looks and function and runs fast enough for daily use and abuse. At least on my desktop system running Vista (Athlon X2 4400+, 2GB, GeForce 7800GT) it runs just fine, even playing videos and updating windows in real-time. Excellent job, great free application!

You have to give it to Valve, the creators of Half-Life and the equally successful Half-Life 2 sequel, not only these guys develop great games, but their focus on detail and execution has really paid off.

It’s good being Valve, after all they have kept on capitalizing big on Counter Strike for the past few years despite of the fact it wasn’t their own creation. But hey, they did create the mod tools and put them out there for gamers to use and expand their game platform (at no cost). They later relaunched the original HL bundled with Counter Strike, since then other similar successful game bundles have followed up until now that they bring the Orange Box.

It’s a beautiful concept, really. Half-Life 2: Episode 2 took way too long to be finished, and Valve knew that. The episodic series momentum was gone for many, so now instead of launching a rather short good game for $30, they have packed it up with the long time coming vaporware-returning-from-the-dead Team Fortress 2, and guess what, it’s another great game. Not to be outdone with that, for the usual retail price of $50, they are giving away the original Half Life 2, the additional pack HL2 Lost Coast, HL2 Episode One, and a sneak peek next-generation FPS single player experience they call Portal.

The Orange Box was just released today through the Steam distribution system and should be available from retail stores as well.

Execution… have to give it to them. From the popularity observed during the Team Fortress 2 beta and the established base of Half Life fans, this looks to be yet another winner for Valve.

On a follow-up to my post yesterday about basic security programs you should be running under Windows XP, ever since I upgraded to Vista I revisited those program choices which for the most part remained the same with the exception of the free ZoneAlarm firewall…

In general, Windows Vista’s security is tighter and services such as Defender are more integrated into the OS. During the first couple of months, AVG’s anti-virus did not like Vista and it was common to find certain programs not working correctly until updates were released, even more so security suites that have to deal more directly with the core of the OS. ZoneLabs makers of the ZoneAlarm firewall took its time until the program was ready for Vista and it wasn’t until recently that it was made available on its free form as well (not part of the paid full suite).

Well, in short the experience I had with the latest build of ZoneAlarm for Vista was horrific. I noticed slowdowns and strange behavior from the OS that simply wasn’t there before. In other words, a far cry from the seamless integration and speed seen with the XP version.

If you come from XP and want to install ZoneAlarm in Vista… just don’t do it.

The good news is that Vista’s built-in firewall has proven sufficient for me so far though it does not feature outbound traffic monitoring. It’s time to look for an alternative full-featured free firewall if you are running Vista.