Good Old Microsoft (Not)

They've done it again haven't they?

My computer downloaded the new Internet Explorer last night (taking so long I had to leave it on all night) and now tabs no longer work as they should. You can open new tabs ok and you can right-click a link and open it in a new tab, but just clicking one opens it in a new window.

Head for the options page and there is no longer an option to open links in a new tab. Duh! One of the best things that came with Version 7! Do they just not test or do they just not think?

Oh - and it refuses to open this blog for some reason. I only managed to post by opening one of my other blogs and then going to Blogger's Dashboard to post from there. So hey - you will see this before I do!!! (Unless you get the same problem...)

Although I suspect the problem is with Bravenet's counter as the page opened ok but then a message came up before I had a chance to view the page.

Once you click the Ok button the page that has already opened... disappears...

The pop-up window is what I get when I click the Diagnose Connection Problems and is pretty much what I'd expect...

Come on Microsoft - try harder! I'm reminded of an earlier version of Microsoft's Word which if you typed "Microsoft boffins" suggested you should mean "Microsoft buffoons"...

UPDATE 5:00pm

Well well... I'm now getting here ok and whilst at first I got here and the counter wouldn't load but now all appears well.

Had an email from my mate Alex to say the blog hasn't opened for him in IE for a week or so. If he hadn't gone on to say he was using Firefox to open it I'd have been tempted to think that was his way of tactfully avoiding having to read it but good man him!

Oh and after the negativity in the title, let's hear it for those hard-working nice people at the mighty MS! Good Old Microsoft... (by the way... can you fix it so that links targetted to open in a blank window can be directed to a new tab again please? You know it makes sense...)

Canon 350D Download Problem

Yippee! At last I've managed to find a solution to a really niggling problem.

When I got the new computer it had Windows Vista and as with any new operating system I expected to find a few things that didn't quite work properly. One of these was the downloading of images from my camera, a Canon EOS 350D. I visited the Canon website and downloaded the driver they have on there and it downloaded, installed and opened up automatically when I connected the camera and switched it on. Lovely!

Except that it totally and utterly refused to do anything from that point onwards. It didn't download any photos from the camera. It didn't give me any error messages. It didn't want to close... I kept having to do a three-finger salute and force the software to close, turn off the camera, remove the flash card and insert that in a card reader.

I muttered and gnashed my teeth at Canon for having such a grotty driver and tried at intervals to download it again only to go through the same frustrating palaver.

Then tonight, having done it all yet again, I did a Google search and came across a blog entry by a chap called Tomek Onyszko from Warsaw in Poland.

He had also had the same problem and found out (I know not how) that you could solve it by going into the camera's menu (tools menu 2) and under the connection setting, change it from PC Connection to Print/PTP.

Tomek, thank you! I hope you see this because your own blog does not accept comments unless you are signed up to whatever it is you have to be signed up to to make comments. And I hope that by proliferating the advice someone else benefits. And I hope Canon pull their bloody finger out and tell people that the driver only works if you do this!!!

Look! New photo of puddy cats from recently re-connected camera!!!

And just to prove that I really did find out just this minute, tonight, sitting all alone in the Jurys Inn in Newcastle... here I am...



Large version of the photos: Well... you can have one of the cats anyway...