2006

When a Windows PC feels slow, popup-heavy, or “haunted,” Task Manager is not enough. The Sysinternals Suite from Mark Russinovich answers the question power users actually have: what is running, why, and who started it? Microsoft acquired Sysinternals in July 2006, but the tools remain free, still updated, and still the first thing I reach for on a troubled machine. Process Explorer: Task Manager with X-Ray Vision Process Explorer shows: ...

In March, a small team launched twttr — a service for posting short status updates. By July it is called Twitter, and the constraint is still strange: 140 characters per post. No rich layouts, no photo albums — just short bursts of text, links, and the occasional SMS reply. Bloggers compare it to IRC for people who do not want to stay in a channel. That is closer to the truth than it sounds. ...

Early 2006 delivered a rude reminder: a picture was not always safe. A flaw in how Windows handles WMF (Windows Metafile) images allows attackers to run code through crafted files — sometimes simply by viewing them in a browser, image viewer, or Explorer preview pane. It is a classic zero-day moment: exploit code is circulating while users wait for an official fix. Why This Feels Different Previous worms often needed obvious .exe attachments. The WMF issue blurs the line: ...

Internet Explorer 6 has dominated Windows desktops for years — and for years, users have asked for tabbed browsing. Firefox and Opera shipped tabs long ago. Microsoft showed IE7 briefly in beta form last July, and the public Beta 2 Preview is expected within days. If you maintain websites or support family PCs, this is the moment to pay attention. What Microsoft Is Promising Based on beta builds and public statements, IE7 is shaping up as a real course correction: ...