Re A Critique of Word & Co.

[Patricia M Godfrey pmgodfrey@xxxxxxxx]

Jordan wrote: "The security aspects might not be that much lousier with
98."
Actually, it's my impression that 98 is slightly safer. The Blaster worm,
for example, only targeted XP and 2K. Those of us running 98 were immune
(though not from SoBig). The problem with Internet Exploiter 5.01 is
that, according to a piece I was just reading in one of the computer
magazines, one of the really big security holes was introduced with that
version and persists in all subsequent ones. And you needn't be using IE
to access the Net to be vulnerable: just having the wretched thing on
your system (which, thanks to BBBG, you must if you're running
Windoesn't) lays you open. Not that I have anything sensitive on my
system, but I DON'T like being spoofed or used for DDoSes.
	I don't think the assassination of Netscape was anything as simple as
setting file associations. Netscape couldn't get on line, though it
could, IIRC, open HTML files on the system. Actually, that proved a
blessing in disguise, since I switched to Mozilla and like it much
better; except that since Juno doesn't recognize the existence of
Mozilla, I have to manually open it (timing it just right to Juno's
dial-up sequence) to browse the Web.
≪Just give my a reliable way ...to run a few key Win app.s from my
preferred os, ≫
Jordan, have you looked at CodeWeavers? Or is that only for Linux?
	Something else you might want to look at is HyperOs
(www.HyperOsSystems.com), a utility that lets you create several Windows
systems on the one hard drive (separate partitions, but it comes with
Partition Magic): if one crashes or gets corrupted, switch to the other.
But there is also a hardware switch that let you choose your boot disk
(and OS) with a physical switch in the front of the PC; unfortunately, I
cannot recall the name or find the (very long) ad that ran in one of my
computer mags.
	By the by, here's another Redmond gotcha: I always do a custom install
of Win, carefully leaving out Outtaluck (it was Robert, IIRC, who called
it "a conduit of disease"; précisément, as M. Poirot would say). But then
I had to install Weird (because one client insists I use it: everyone
else there can read my WordPerfect files, but they come out in some weird
font on her PC). And that put Outtaluck back on. Still, I never use it.
But presumably because I didn't install it or some other pretty-picture
"feature," I cannot get a toolbar on my taskbar. When I right-click on
the taskbar and then click toolbars, all the options are grayed out. Grr.
Patricia