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'PC Annoyances' is misnamed. It's really 'Windows Annoyances.'
 technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

T e c h n o f i l e
'PC Annoyances' book has helpful advice, but watch out for the ringers


May 15, 2005


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2005, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2005, The Post-Standard

   Steve Bass gives Windows users many ways to make their computers behave better in the second edition of his self-help book, "PC Annoyances."
   Most of the advice in the book, published by O'Reilly ($20 from your local bookstore or www.oreilly.com), is aimed at Windows users who need help with little things -- programs that ignore your choice of settings, displays that need a better adjustment, and so on. But Bass, a longtime computer writer, also offers help for major problems, too. If you're a dedicated fan of Windows, you'll probably get a lot out of this book.
   I was especially impressed with the book's coverage of Microsoft Office problems and its advice on getting out of trouble when you're dealing with hardware.
   But the sense of authority that fills this book works against the author. When Bass writes about the best ways to combat spam, for example, I thought I'd find some great advice. But I found flagrant nonsense mixed in with common-sense tips. This was disappointing from a writer with his experience. (Bass has been writing about computers since the '80s.)
   Here are a few examples:
   Spam advice is wrongheaded
   In his chapter on e-mail, Bass praises MailWasher, which he says sends letters from spammers "back to the sender" to fool them into thinking the address they sent to was invalid. That's dumb. The "sender" is nearly always a faked address, so there is no such thing as returning spam to the "sender" in the vast majority of cases. (Your own address could be, and probably has been, used as the faked address of spam. That's how e-mail spoofing works.)
   I'm also disappointed that Bass thinks spammers care whether stuff they send out is actually delivered. They don't. In fact, they expect most of their broadcast spam to go into a bit bucket somewhere. And the kind of spammers I'm talking about would never check their returned spam (if, in fact, it actually came back to them, which it nearly always doesn't). This also means they never remove addresses from their lists.
   Outlook Express is dangerous, period
   Bass tells readers that Outlook Express, the standard e-mail program for Windows, is "not only useless, it's dangerous" in one particular way. He then goes on to tell Windows users how to use the software.
   The part of Outlook Express he's referring to is the preview pane, where messages can be read without the need to open them separately. The problem, as Bass surely knows, is that Outlook Express in fact DOES open those messages, and by doing so it acts on any virus scripts or spyware instructions hidden in the mail.
   I consider this behavior dangerous, too -- so dangerous that the only legitimate advice I can offer is to tell Windows users to stop using Outlook Express. Telling them how to fine-tune a dangerous product isn't sensible. Bass knows that Eudora, a competing e-mail program, is safer, and in fact he covers it in the book. He should recommend it instead, and refuse to endorse Outlook Express.
   Prominent browser ignored
   It is odd indeed that the author mentions an awkward and seldom used Internet Explorer extra that allows IE to display Web pages in tabbed windows while giving absolutely no mention of Firefox, the browser that millions of Windows users have adopted. Firefox's best known feature is -- you guessed it -- tabbed windows.
   Out of tunes
   At one point, the book seems oddly unaware of Apple's excellent iTunes for Windows. Bass paraphrases a Windows user as saying he wants an iPod but would need to get a Mac to use it. This is absurd. When you buy an iPod, you get a CD containing both the Windows and Mac OS X versions of iTunes. (Later, the book describes tips for Windows iTunes. What gives?)
   You really do have a choice
   "PC Annoyances" is misnamed. It's really "Windows Annoyances." (There are millions of PCs worldwide that are not running Windows. The term "PC" does not mean "Windows PC.") But this is just the tip of my own annoyance with the book's approach to what constitutes adequate computing.
   Bass makes a passing reference to the main alternative to Windows by noting that "Almost everyone jokes that the number one way to fix any PC annoyance" -- he means "Windows annoyance," of course -- is to "switch to a Mac." He then dismisses the idea entirely.
   This is an immense disservice to Windows readers. You could compare it to a book on fire safety that offers tips on the proper operation of a fire extinguisher without mentioning that when your house is in fire you should get everyone out right away.
   Nearly every day, I hear from former Windows users who happily left the computer equivalent of a burning building. Perhaps Steve Bass isn't getting the same kind of mail I get. Write to him at annoyances@oreilly.com.