TechTrax 2004 Survey Results

First, allow me to clarify that this survey is in no way scientific! But I'm sure you knew that. Secondly, since...sadly...only about 20% of our subscribers took the survey, the results have to be taken with a huge grain of salt. Guess I'll have to offer up cash next year?<grin>

But it is interesting to see these results...at least I think it is. Hopefully, many of you will agree with me. See where you fit in with the majority of users who responded and read some of the comments folks added.

Enjoy!

1. Which version of Office are you using?

• Office 2000 - 38%
• Office XP - 36%
• Office 2003 - 18%
• Office 97 - 7%
• Office 95 - 1%
• Office 4 - 0%

This one is particularly interesting to me. Just last week, someone told me that they read that the majority of Office users are still only using Office 2000. They were whining about my suggestion that they upgrade to Office 2003 with the justification that hardly anyone has upgraded from 2000!

Well, seeing these results, this person doesn't know what he's talking about! (But then...I already knew that!<evil smirk>)

Being an MVP and Office beta tester, I have the advantage of having all versions of Office on my computers. I personally loved 2000! I wasn't too thrilled with XP and, more often than not, would use 2000. But now I am in love with 2003 and use it exclusively for my own work and as often as I can convince people to upgrade when working with others.

Sales figures will surely prove our little graph is in error with the real world. But in our little part of the world, it appears that most folks are either using Office 2000 or Office XP (2002). And I suspect that many are just waiting for 2003 to be confirmed as stable before they upgrade. As someone who has been using Office 2003 since a year before it was released, let me personally assure you that Office 2003 is a cool and very stable version. Yes, Outlook got the biggest overhaul in this version. But as someone who spends about 80% of my day with my face in Outlook...that was just fine with me.

2. Which Microsoft business application(s) would you say you use MOST OFTEN?

• Word (word processing) - 27%
• Excel (spreadsheet) - 22%
• Outlook (email, used mostly in businesses) - 17%
• Access (database) - 9%
• PowerPoint (presentation) - 8%
• Outlook Express (email, used mostly in homes) - 7%
• Publisher (desktop publishing) - 4%
• FrontPage (web development) - 3%
• Project (project management) - 2%
• Visio (data diagramming) - 1%

As I said, break out the salt here. With 80% of our 5,300+ subscribers not responding, we can't look at these percentages with any real accuracy. But then again, I'll lay odds that the it may just be a fairly accurate overall look. I mean, I'm sure Word and Excel users are in the majority. And I bet Outlook is next in line with the rest falling in line in about the same manner.

In fact, let's take a look at last years results! Last year we had respondents who used these same apps in this order of popularity: (Sorry, last year I didn't bother using Excel to plot out the percentages as I did this year.)

• Word
• Excel
• Outlook
• Outlook Express
• Access
• Front Page
• PowerPoint
• Publisher

And last year, we didn't even have any Project users who responded. This year we have 2%...thanks much in part to Mike Glen's fantastic training series of articles, I'm sure!

3. Which operating system are you running?

• Windows 2000 - 22%
• Windows XP Pro - 31%
• Windows XP Home - 19%
• Windows 98 - 13%
• Windows ME - 7%
• Windows NT - 3%
• Windows 3.x - 1%
• Windows 95 - 1%
• I use a Mac - 1%
• I use Linux - 1%
• I use Unix - 1%

These results are pretty much what I figured. Last year, Win98 users were in the big majority and, at that time, I was one of you. I moved from Win98 to WinXP Pro, literally kicking and screaming. I had no interest in changing over because I felt Win98 was working just fine for me and...let's say it all together...I didn't want to waste time learning a new operating system when this one worked just fine...if it ain't broke, don't fix it!...right?

Luckily for me, Greg is much smarter than I am. So when my mother board went belly up last year, he converted my new system to WinXP Pro. I wasn't looking forward to it, but was quickly thrilled when I saw how stable it was. Now I think of all the time I've saved not having to reboot over the last year. That alone was worth it to me. But there's so much more about WinXP that has spoiled me. I hate having to go back to Win2000 when I'm at the office! Phewy! And you couldn't pay me to go back to Win98!

If you want to learn more about WinXP, be sure to check out my series on the system.

4. How many working computers do you have in your home?

I didn't spend tons of time analyzing all these results. So many are just quick overviews. In the case of how many computers people have in their homes, we had folks with as many as 9. But the majority balanced closely from 2-4 with 3 being the calculated average in that field.

5. How many school age children do you have in your home?

This one is interesting due to the fact that the clear number one answer to this question was zero! I'll assume that we're spending so much time at our computers these days, versus socializing, that the population is going down!<smirk>

6. What would you say are the main uses of your computer?

• ...mostly for email - 18%
• ...mostly for my own home business work - 12%
• ...mostly for employer business work - 9%
• ...mostly for surfing the web - 15%
• ...mostly for banking and handling other personal finances - 10%
• ...mostly for family work (photos, accounting, bills, family records) - 9%
• ...mostly for shopping on the web - 6%
• ...mostly for school (research, homework) - 5%
• ...mostly for gaming - 4%
• ...mostly for entertainment (music, movies, DVDs) - 4%
• ...mostly for chatting with friends on the Internet - 3%
• ...mostly for web development (building, running, maintaining web sites) - 3%
• ...other, please explain - 2%

As for other uses, we received comments such as: entering contests, learning software, club mailings, working with Scouts, personal research, preparing classes, monitoring newsgroups, and online educational degrees.

There's obviously a lot of learning going on with computers. Whether people are taking online classes, learning software or learning about themselves through personal research and information. And it appears that a lot of folks are figuring out how to use their computers to enhance their own careers through home businesses. Personally, it always surprises me that...you hear so much about online chatting...yet that is one of the lowest things people at least admit to doing while online. These results are pretty much the same as last year, although it appears that Home Businesses are getting more attention these days.

And it also appears that maybe more folks are trusting online banking. But that, obviously, concerns me due to all the banking scams that have been floating around email these days. If you haven't read my I'm Mad as Hell article, please do...for your own education! Personally, I've been banking online for about 8 years now! Yup, my bank was probably one of the first banks to go online. Their first access was a proprietary DOS based program that I accessed with my 14.4 modem! Real secure, I'm sure! Things have greatly improved since those days. Most every bank has online account access now. In fact, I wrote a personal check the other day for my niece's birthday and had to confess that I had almost forgotten how to write a check! Because I do all my check writing through Citibank's online service, and have for many, many years, I think I hand write a total of 1-2 checks a year!

7. Do you run an Antivirus program on your PC?

Thankfully, only 7% of the respondents don't know enough to protect their PCs with an AntiVirus program. Although, you'd think that everyone would have something running! There are so many free versions out there now, that there's no reason why anyone should be behind a computer without an antivirus program running!

Someone once complained to me that it was their prerogative as to whether they want to run antivirus or not. But in truth, if they're part of the Internet community, they're also putting others in jeopardy! Worse...those others are usually their friends. I told that person...fine, if you want to be that foolish, it's up to you. But do me a favor and make sure my email address isn't in your address book!

8. If yes (we HOPE you do!), which program/version do you run?

Norton AntiVirus seems to be in the majority with McAfee a close second, which is what, I'm sure, we all assumed. AVG runs a close third, which is what I use. Probably because they have a terrific free version. Other names mentioned are: Kaspersky, BitDefender, eTrust InnoculateIt, AVAST, and ETrust EZ Armor.

9. Did you first install your Antivirus program because your computer became infected?

Only a very few people said that they resorted to using an AntiVirus program due to actually getting infected.

10. If yes, and if you remember, what was the name of the virus that infected your PC?

The virus Stoned was mentioned the most in those few instances. Although I must say that I did crack up when I read what one person wrote about what virus infected them...they said: "everything! (state university)." Yup, I suppose if you're running a university computer lab, you have lots of fun with viruses!

11. How often do you update your Antivirus definitions?

• I use the automatic definitions installation feature - 51%
• Daily - 27%
• Weekly - 13%
• Sporadically - 4%
• Only when my program reminds me to do it - 3%
• Monthly - 1%
• I didn't know I was supposed to update my antivirus! - 1%
• Only when I hear of a new virus warning - 0%

It's nice to know that the majority of people out there, well, our readers who responded, at least, know enough to use the automatic update for their AntiVirus.

Although I must admit that I thought I had that setting selected on my computer, but a reader gently kicked me in the pants not long ago reminding me to update my antivirus after he noticed that my definitions hadn't been updated in months! He'd received my monthly TechTrax notice and saw the automatic notice at the bottom of my email. So I appreciated the fact that he made me check and correct that issue! If you assume you are running on auto pilot, you might want to just confirm that fact, too!

As for our 1% of readers who don't realize that they should update their definitions...yes, you must do this! All antivirus programs use a database of information to protect you. But your protection is only as good as the current data the program has available to it. Updated information is constantly available through the program's web site. So you need to regularly go to the program's web site and download the latest data to keep your system protected. You can do this manually or use the auto update feature that, I believe, all antivirus programs have available.

12. Do you regularly check your manufacturer's web site for updates for any of these drivers?

• Do not update Print drivers - 23%
• Do not update Video drivers - 22%
• Do not update other drives - 30%
  
  
• Do update Print drivers - 10%
• Do update Video drivers - 11%
• Do update other drivers - 4%

The bad news is that few folks bother to update their drivers. I know I can be guilty of this, too. Again, it's a matter of not worrying about it if things are going well.

But anyone who works regularly in tech support can tell you that the majority of flaky problems can be fixed with new drivers.

Did you buy a computer that was originally running Win98 or OfficeXP...or any other older applications or operating systems...and you've recently upgraded, but now you're having problems like your screen freezes or things take a long time to open, close, switch views, etc? You blame the upgrade, right? Most likely, it's the fact that your older computer is running an outdated video driver. If you update it, free, from the manufacturer's web site, you'll most likely discover that your system runs better and errors go away.

Same goes for Print drivers. Do you still have that ancient printer hooked up to a computer that you've updated with a new system or new application and you blame the application for not being able to print to the printer? Did you ever consider the fact that maybe that program was designed to run with a print driver created in this century?

Although I desperately need to update this article, you'll find some further, basic information here: Maintaining Your Computer.

As for what other drivers do people update, we received the following comments: Motherboard, RAID system and BIOS updates, DVD-RW; Digital camera, scanners, and sound cards.

Although I leave the motherboard and bios update considerations to Greg, yes, DVD, digital camera, scanner and sound card are also items that you'll want to check for updates from the manufacturer. Updated drivers not only fix old problems, but, occasionally, also have cool new features added.

13. Do you regularly check for and install application service releases and patches?

Well, not a lot of people may bother with driver updates, but it appears that everyone knows the value of installing a patch or service release!

86% say they regularly install all updates, with only 14% who don't. Why don't they?

14. If no, you don't regularly install updates, please tell us why you don't do this:

Well, here are some of the major reasons why some of them don't...

• windows updates screwed up the operating system on one of my computers.
• Never thought to
• Inexcusable neglect
• I forget. I update when something goes amuk or I read about a security patch.
• I do this periodically (ie when I have some spare time that I'm willing to devote to this task - very rare!) rather than regularly
• Didn't know I was supposed to
• I check -- but don't always install -- because with some patches, the cure is worth than the disease -- e.g., Microsoft's draconian Outlook e-mail attachment security "fix."

True, it's easy to forget or to feel you don't have the time. And I know a lot of people wait for others to be the guinea pig and see if they have problems before installing it themselves. I've been guilty, myself, of both those excuses!

For those of you who forget, know that software developers are getting much better about designing automatic updates and/or reminders in their software. Of course, a lot of people also run to shut off those reminders because they hate being nagged! As for Microsoft, they have web pages that will scan your system for you and let you know what you're missing. You can use the links below to check your system.

• Windows Update Scanner
• Office Update Scanner

A lot of software manufacturers are creating this type of site. So be sure to check to see what other apps you can update from web pages. And if you're concerned about whether you should update or whether you trust scanning sites like this, then I'd strongly suggest you read Greg's terrific article: As the Worm Turns...Your Computer into a Zombie.

15. What type of Internet connection(s) do you use (or have available to use) in your home?

• Cable - 41%
• Modem 56.6 - 28%
• DSL - 22%
• Modem 14.4 - 0%
• Wireless - 4%
• T1 - 3%
• Modem 28.8 - 1%
• I do not have an Internet connection at home. - 1%
• WebTV - 0%
• T3 - 0%

Last year, the majority of users had a 56.6k modem with Cable running a close second. Again, although these aren't scientific results, I'm sure that it's still fairly accurate that the tide has shifted and most folks are now taking advantage of the continually advertised cable services.

For those of you who are using cable, you'll want to check out Vic Ferri's article: Cable Internet—Are You Being Capped?

And for those web developers out there who are developing all those flash and eye candy applets on your web sites, you'll want to note that there are still a big majority of folks who are running 56.6k modems! Heavy pages will cause potential visitors to bail from your site. So as they say...KISS = Keep It Simple, Stupid! And remember, more and more blind users are hitting the Internet every day. They don't care about eye candy, they want good content!

16. Do you have a home network?

A lot of people now either have set up a home network to share devices such as Internet access or printers and scanners, or they wish they had this setup. For those of you still wishing, you might want to read Greg's series of articles in Computor Companion on setting up a home network. You can access those articles through this link on MouseTrax.

18. Do you use a firewall on your Internet connection?

What is upsetting for me to see is the number of Internet users who still don't know how vital it is to have a firewall protecting them from outside attacks.

Do you know that there are tons of people out there who run scanning devices that search the Internet looking for connected computers that don't have firewalls? Yup! And when they find one, they know the user isn't wise enough to know what they are doing...because if they were, they'd have a firewall!

Maybe you figure it's not important, because you don't keep important, personal information on your computer. You don't do banking on your computer, so there's no access cookies on your system that hackers could get to steal your money. Okay, but did you know that these folks can easily install software onto your computer without you knowing it. And if you're connected to the Internet with a 24x7 type access, such as cable or DSL, they can then use your computer as a zombie system to appear as the source for all kinds of spam? Or worse...child pornography! They certainly don't want to be shown as the source for this type of activity! So they find users who don't know what they are doing and use their computers to ship out their trash. And when the authorities track down the source—they end up knocking on your door!

Some computer geeks recently ran a test and discovered that it only took about 20 minutes of being online, unprotected, before their system were locked into by hackers! See this article for details: Microsoft will deliver better security any day now.

Don't be a fool...protect yourself from becoming a victim to abuse. There are lots of free firewalls out there or use the one in Windows XP, if you have that version. Note that the new update of Windows XP, SP1 (service pack 1) will have a new Security icon easily accessible in the control panel. Within this consolidated area you'll be able to easily find important security settings, including your Firewall, which, I believe, will be turned on by default. Yea! You can read more about WinXP SP1 here: Windows XP Service Pack 2

And if you don't understand what a firewall does or want more details about using one, see Greg's Firewall article from last month.

19. If you are using a firewall, what is it's brand? (who makes it?)

As for what firewalls are you using, it appears that the one that comes with WindowsXP, Zone Alarm and Norton (Symantec) are the most popular. Some of the different answers we got were:

• Microsoft
• Black Ice
• Zone Alarm
• Linksys Router
• Norton Personal Firewall
• McAfee
• draytek vigor200e
• UNK
• Netopia Router
• Netgear Router
• Actiontec
• Foss
• D-Link
• astaro
• Kelleher
• Netopia R910 VPN Firewall/Router

20. If you do use a firewall, is it software running on your computer  or is it a separate hardware device?

Most of these being software firewalls versus hardware.

21. If you are using Windows 98, 2000 or XP, do you use the Internet Connection Sharing feature to allow other computers on your network to use the Internet?

Okay, so we don't like to share!

Maybe that's because, as we saw with the kids section, we don't have people in the house with which to share? Or maybe, we don't want our spouses knowing what we're doing?

Whatever the reason, only 24% of respondents share devices through home networks. 70% don't share and 6% have no idea what we're talking about!

For those of you who don't understand that you can share devices, such as everyone making use of that one color printer or connecting your Internet to one computer and letting everyone else get out that same door, you might want to check out Greg's home networking articles for more information.

22. Do you have a scanner?
23. Do you have a color printer?
24. Does your computer have a DVD drive?

These were all pretty much the same results and all fairly high. Yes, about 80% of those responding all have scanners, color printers and DVD drives on their systems these days.

25. Did you buy your PC in order to do home video/electronic photography?

Alternatively, only 20% of the respondents admit to purchasing their computer to take advantage of video or photos. I'm sure many more do use it for that reason, but there's so much to use a computer for these days, I guess this question isn't as relavant as it was a year ago when we wondered about this!

Of those of you who do use a lot of computer photo equipment, most are using USB ports, which has become a terrific convenience to use.

27. If you use your PC for video, which software suite do you use for editing?

As for what programs you're using for video editing, we see these mentioned:

• Microsift
• Pinnacle Studio
• Premiere
• Serif MoviePlus / Nero 6
• Nova Video Explosion Deluxe 1.5
• TMPeg
• Ulead Photo Impact

If you record to DVDs, you might want to check out Greg's article on that subject.

28. For photography, which software suite do you use for editing?

When it comes to photo editing, there's, obviously, a bigger list from which to choose. These are the ones folks listed in our survey, with the most popular being Adobe PhotoShop and Paint Shop Pro, in that order, followed by (in no particular order)...

• photodraw
• ACDSee 5
• vivicam/vivitar came with camera
• Kodak
• FinePix
• PhotoShop Elements
• Adobe Elements 2, IrfanView, Kodak EasyShare
• Sarif Photo Suite;Draw and Page, both Sarif
• Canon software (came w/camera)
• Microsoft Picture It
• U-lead Photo Impact, CompuPic
• ArcSoft, ACD Foto Canvas, GIMP 2
• LView Pro and MicroGraphics

29. Do you use a screen reader to assist you when using your PC?
30. Do you use voice activation to assist you when using your PC?
31. Do you use any special fonts (enlargements) or special screen colors to help you view your monitor better?

Across the board, about 20% of the respondents use some type of screen reader, voice activation or large fonts. I know TechTrax does have a fair amount of readers who have special needs, such as being blind or physically disabled. And those folks are using computers more and more each day to access the outside world when their bodies make it difficult to do it on their own. Computers are opening up the world to more and more people each day!

32. Do you regularly have to reformat and style complex MS Word documents created by users who don't know how to proper use formatting and/or styles?

Wow...lots of folks out there reformatting messes for other people! And I would like to personally thank all of you who offered up your email to me by consenting to discuss the problems we have with formatting these types of documents.

I'm not exactly sure how I plan to query you further at this point. I was originally thinking of just asking you a series of questions. Maybe it would be worthwhile to start a user group to discuss these issues regularly? Although...maybe you folks aren't interested in hashing over these problems on a regular basis? Guess that should be one of my first questions?

Whatever we decide, know that I will be in contact with you all shortly after this issue is published. First to thank you and then to see how we can best commiserate and whine about those people who give us their junk to format! "Arrgghh, he used shift+enter at the end of every line!"<smirk>

34. Have you entered your email requesting a regular subscription notice from TechTrax?

Now for my favorite part of the survey, TechTrax!<grin> Turns out 98% of the people who took the survey are already regular subscribers to TechTrax and, although many have just come on board over the last year, most have been reading TechTrax for a year or more. Many since the beginning! I guess that means that most of you who filled out the survey are our more loyal, lifers? Thanks so much for your vote of confidence! We love you, too!<smile>

35. Which department in TechTrax do you think you read the most often (your favorite)?

As for which department you like best in TechTrax, it's obvious that most folks find the Office department the most useful, as it does cover so many applications. But it's also great to see that so many of you love it all!

• Microsoft Office - 35%   
• I read the entire issue each month - 30%
• Operating Systems - 10%
• Technology - 5%
• Escapes - 4%
• Welcome (opening page) - 3%
• Accessibility - 2%
• Assessment Tests - 2%
• Cool Web Sites - 2%
• Feedback to TechTrax - 2%
• The Soapbox! - 2%
• Using the Internet - 2%
• Web Development - 1%

36. Have you ever taken any TechTrax Assessment Tests?

As for my own curiosity, it turns out that about 20% of you have taken an assessment test. Wanna bet most of you took the Valentine's compatibility test!<snicker>

37. What programs or technologies do you wish you had time to learn?

This question is always interesting. And yes, we do try to help you out by finding folks who can teach you about the things you want to know more about. Last year folks said they wanted to learn more about web development and programming...and we were lucky enough to find folks like Aaron Forbes and David Bartosik to teach you more about web development, as well as folks like Greg Chapman, Mark Thorpe, Jonathan West, David Horowitz, Ray Blake and now Matt Billock to show you all types of ways to program solutions.

So let's see what types of major things you want to learn now...

• PhotoShop
• Web site building
• access
• Quickbooks
• Java, VB, VBA
• Object Orieented Programming & Linux
• Graphics Programs
• AutoCAD
• ASP, WIndows networking, Windows 2000 server administration
• .net
• Excel, VBA, XML, programming
• VB, Visual C++, Access Excel (last two I know a bit but would love more)
• MS Excel Formulas
• servers
• Frontpage (or Web design)
• Remote desktop
• XML, XSLT, ASP
• Visio
• C++
• Visual C#
• Flash, more about Photoshop
• Photoshop, Qarbon Viewlet Builder,
• All the Office programs in detail rather than superficially.
• Publication design, Illustrator, can't figure out resolution issues
• vba
• MySQL, XML
• Dreamweaver / Flash
• Digital photography
• Project Server, etc..
• PowerPoint, Excel, ezines and ebooks
• Programming Web Services, and interacting with them via Microsoft C#
• VBA/ADO
• C, C++, .NET, ASP, PHP
• Digital video
• vbscript
• Linux
• MS Office

Alright now...allow me to comment on some of these items.

First, to the people who want to learn MS Office...where the heck have you been? Click the TechTrax Archive button above and choose MS Office as the department to see all the articles we have there. We've been teaching you office apps in hundreds of articles for two years!<smile> And if you need help with Office problems, Linda Johnson runs a premiere Office user support group! Also notice the Training button above in TechTrax. There you can find alternative resources for more formal learning.

And for those of you wanting to learn VBA...well, did you realize that Mark Thorpe has been teaching Excel VBA for what, 4-5 months now? And he's a great teacher...he taught me when we worked together! So get your butt over to his articles and start learning! If numbers aren't your thing, I have a Word AutoForms and Beginning VBA course available in many formats, including many free lessons that you can find on MouseTrax.com. I also have a free Word VBA user group that consists of about 300 terrific people who enjoy helping each other learn. And Ray Blake has been showing lots of Access code, as well as David Horowitz who has been dealing with some Word and Outlook coding.

For you admin types who want to learn more about servers, be sure to check out articles by Greg Chapman and Dennis Roche. Granted, most of those articles are more for the established admin versus the newbie trying to learn. But maybe we can whine a little and get them...or some talented admin out there<hint, hint>...to write some more basic network/server articles to teach we weenies who want to learn (me included!).

As for those of you who are interested in VBA/ADO, ASP/ADO and Dreamweaver/Web Site development...all I can tell you at this point is that one of the reasons that I'm taking a few months away from TechTrax is because I'm working on courses for each of these three subjects. The VBA/ADO course will be first...linking AutoForms to Databases. But I hope to get them all out in the next couple months. You can keep an eye on my TechCourses page for details. But I'll announce it when I do finally get them all out of my head...where they are currently nagging at me!

Quite a few of you mentioned you wanted to learn QuickBooks. Well, good news. I work with a guy who knows the program quite well. He's a little off the wall<smirk>, but fun and quite quick witted. Luke Rush joins our team this month with a tease to let you know that he promises to be back in September to start a series of lessons on QuickBooks.

And Danielle Teska, a wonderful artist and recent college graduate also joins us this month. She will be teaching you graphic design. In fact, she's currently getting more training at a big publishing house in New York. But she'll be back here in September to show you how to use programs like Photoshop.

And on the MVP side of things, we've also just picked up Terri Stratton who knows all about Tablet PCs and those aspects of mobile computing. Personally, I'm on the edge of purchasing myself a Tablet PC...I just don't know enough about them. So I know I'm very excited about having Terri join us so I can learn all about this very cool new technology...that we'll all be using in the near future, I'm sure!

As for all the other items, like C++, .NET, PHP, et al...maybe we'll get lucky and someone out there reading this happens to be skilled in these areas and would like to share his/her knowledge with us all by joining the TechTrax team to begin writing lessons in those subjects? If you think you would like to become a TechTrax author, click the Feedback button above and let me know. We're all volunteers here, so you won't get paid...but we'll make you famous!<wink>

38. Please tell us what you think is the BEST thing about using computers:
39. Please tell us what you think is the WORST thing about using computers:

These questions can be fairly obvious to many of us. Learning—good, spam—bad! But beyond my Young Frankenstein impersonation, I look for some of the more interesting, insightful and intriguing answers. Last year I was quite moved by a quadriplegic who uses computers to bring the world to him. Someone, who I believe is still a subscriber?

There are many comments I could make about many of the comments below...but I'll leave them to your enjoyment. Although, I do find it interesting that you find so many of the same things under the good and bad categories, including porn! So as someone recently said to me...it's a matter of relativity!

Good

• The leisure time freed up by having a device that can perform most menial-labor tasks for us
• You can research any subject
• it's made the world seem a lot smaller, since talking to someone half a world away is only as far away as a few mouse-clicks and keystrokes.
• Making life easier
• Access to information 24/7; handles repetitive stuff easily
• They keep me employed.
• Getting and editing your work faster and BETTER. And by not using up pencils, Think of the tree's we've saved!<g>
• Makes a career out of a hobby.
• Bank account access
• The ability to communicate and solve problems with people from all over the world.
• It beats the h*ll out of pen and paper. Anyone who ever drew and revised flowcharts by hand knows exactly what I mean!
• Free Porn
• The ability to keep track of my schedule! I'm lost without having access to my scheduler. It keeps track of things long
  after I've forgotten - handy that way.
• I don't have to write with a pen.
• More rewarding than TV;
• They can do ANYTHING! Just wish I could be as smart... But wait! I AM just as smart 'cuz I'm the one making that
  computer do anything! Cool.
• I love to puzzle and that what it is all about
• On a personal level it's because it's made it easier to keep in touch with family and friends with email and instant messaging.
• the challenge of figuring out why it won't do what I want
• Research tool - I no longer subscribe to magazines. I do take a few that are offered free and sent to my work.

Bad

• I tend to focus on what it is doing rather than making it part of life.
• Microsoft's "we know what's best for you" attitude in its products.
• Being regarded as a computer expert by the rest of the family and having to spend ages sorting out their mistakes or problems.
• Porn on the internet
• SPAM
• Cost of software
• Time waster
• when it doen's boot or a window's system file becomes corrupt or lost and you have to format and clean install to get it up and running again.
• This is largely a philosophical viewpoint, but arguably the increase in leisure time may be the worst side effect of the
  computer. The increase in free time actually puts more stress on the owner as they try to find things to fill up this new
  time, and they end up stressed and high-strung.
• sitting at desk all day
• Security concerns
• they're time-wasters. I hardly ever re-typed or re-formatted a typewritten letter. Now, because I can... I do...
• You can spend to much time researching any subject
• You don't think anymore all you do is let the compter do it, also it is very addictive
• The WWW (World Wide Wait)
• a million diversions
• Nothing
• Microsoft no being open source so the REAL brains of the world could seriously patch up the "Holes" in the operating
  system. I don't think it will be four months before a "Hole that need patching" will show up when Longhorn is released. I'm guessing next decade! 2010
• Network administrators
• Typing, but I have not found voice recognition very helpful.
• Having to waste time on protecting it and getting rid of spam.
• Powerpoint (scourge of the modern world, and source of all evil)
• a million emails a day
• All those wires snaking all over my table. Yeah, yeah, I could go wireless--when I win the lottery.
• Driver support from manufacturers that don't care, and the price of software (That's why mostly FOSS is good for me). I just wish the microsoft OS line were more affordable for the people who don't need to pay a car payment worth just to use it.
• The worse thing about using computers are the fact that you have to be very careful about where you go on the internet. There are so many people out there who would gladly use computers illegally.
• Probable detriment to eyesight.
• Dealing with people who refuse to master computer technology
• Crackers, those idiots with nothing better to do than to try to infect our computers with viruses.
• The on-slaught of viruses and how some pass them on because they need to educate themselves on how to protect themselves.
• Reliablity of operation - they are always breaking down! Why? "It was working yesterday" "I haven't changed anything" "It has crashed" "It just freezes" "My machine has locked up" etc etc etc etc ................................... I am a support engineer, did you guess!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And now...for the Million Dollar Questions!

But first, a personal comment as a developer and support professional...while you read these comments, many of which are conflicting...think about what YOU would do if you were responsible for these issues...how would you solve them!

One side wants more features...another wants less bloat. One wants things to work more automatically by default...another complains that MS is too controlling because there are too many automatic defaults! And everyone wants the developers to work harder to make the products even better...but everyone also wants it all to cost a lot less!

What's a mother to do!

40a. What I would like to see changed, related to Microsoft is:
(Note, again there are lots of similar answers, so I'm picking a few either one of the majority or some of the more usual items to post here.)

• Microsoft Excel
• Being able to change the default save location in OUTLOOK instead of having to use My Documents
• Easier integration with other programs
• Making their products more affordable
• none
• more stable browser
• Caps Lock
• Complete Reveal Codes
• Reduce vulnerbility to viruses!
• Licensing
• better integration of the products.
• Powerpoint - Make it easier to change templates for individual slides.
• I would like to see Word become more like WordPerfect.
• Old documents get confused by retained hidden coding. I would like to see them remove and replace old coding rather than allowing the old coding to remain in the background to sneak out when it so desires.
• Office, the Taskpane removed
• not responsive to user needs
• Visual Studio .NET
• All products, improve reliability and security
• easier registry management
• HELP FILES are getting less intuitive
• Smart Tags
• Better tutorials
• cost
• Nothing specific
• One program for spreadsheets, word processor, databases, e-mail, etc
• I am pleased with Microsoft Products. I have been a Microsoft fan for many years and they seem to keep getting better!
• Get rid of the drawing canvas

40b. Give a BRIEF description of how you'd like to see this item changed:
(Note...many of these specific comments about things that should be fixed to work in these apps, ARE things that do work or were fixed! So if you don't see your comments here, I'd suggest you ask about these issues in a user group or through TechTrax Feedback, because many of the answers are out there, you just need help finding them. Sorry I don't have the time/space to be more specific here.)

• Making their products less expensive
  
  
• I'd like them to lower the price, especially of their development tools like Visual Studio.Net.
  
  
• Consistency in short cut keys
  
  
• Finish the job of software development before release - it like cars - send them to the market and let the new owner discover the bugs,
  
  
• I'd like a more open licensing scheme. The current scheme in place from Microsoft assumes guilt on the part of the user, which is unconstitutional regardless of how true it may be for some.
  
  
• sorry. I am quite happy with these products
  
  
• No clue. I now know enough about the computer to be
  dangerous.
  
  
• BETTER SECURITY
  
  
• make them cheaper. I live In Israel and it is a fortune to buy each time their is a major update and you know the new
  version.
  
  
• I'm all for open software, but MS directories should NOT be open to other software writers to add/overwrite their own files.
  
  
• All third party software/drivers etc should be placed elsewhere. Likewise with the registry. This way, you would have a definitive version/location of Windows, which would be easier to maintain.
  
  
• I'm fed up with bad software/programming, that leaves its garbage all over my PC.
  
  
• That all Office applications (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, Outlook) have a more consistent object model and
  ease of data exchange.
  
  
• I would like to see a 'novice' template user activated in each program, with simplified tool bars, menus and only one way to do stuff. Yeah, right.....
  
  
• I would like to see updates that work ... not just a bandaid approach to patching holes all the time. Oftentime one patch destroys another function in the program. Then you need another patch to fix that ... It seems to me that Bill Gates has the money to put out a better product.
  
  
• I have exactly what I need from every Microsoft product.
  
  
• More consistency across products. Easier navigation. Easier to search.
  
  
• Here's my pet peeve: in Excel to perform a find/replace it's ALT/E, ALT/F, ALT/R, ALT/A... in Word it's ALT/E,
  ALT/F, ALT/P, ALT/I - it's like the guys at the Microsoft office don't speak with each other. That ought to change.
• Licensing of individual copies is too cumbersome. Requirement to call MS in the event of a hard drive loss a needless intrusion. MS too controlling.
  
  
• I believe my biggest gripe about Microsoft is the way they try to "help" the user with things that are maddening to
  someone with at least a basic level of proficiency. Examples: the adaptive drop-down menus, that disgusting paper clip monster, and automatic hot links. Remember, these are just some examples. I know how to get around these and most others. What bothers me is the attitude that Microsoft's software will have (or even default to) things that,
  collectively at least, are aimed at people who are barely able to function with a computer. Worse yet, most of these assists are either annoyingly cute or are more hindrance than help.
  
  
• They need to make using a Windows OS or the applications safe and secure WITHOUT my intervention. all i have to do to drive a car safely is fill it with gas, change the oil and otehr fluid, get it tuned up occasionally, and wear my seatbelt. Computers need the same ease of upkeep.
  
  
• Microsoft seems to be forgetting that there are still LOTS of people needing help. Help files do not tell the whole picure. For instance, I went searching for a listing of MergeFormats and can not find a conclusive listing.
  
  
• Improved integration with Excel. Many Slide decks that I build are based on excel spreadsheets, but importing those
  sheets directly to Powerpoint results in (at best) a cheezy- looking spreadsheet-on-slide presentation, and at worst
  completely garbles the data. I'd like to give a presentation a"powerpoint" look, with "excel" power behind it.
  
  
• I love smart tags and wish they were even more available in every app! Accross apps is the key here.
  
  
• Get rid of those stupid smart tags once and for all.
  
  
• I find the built in and on-line Help difficult to use. More robust examples of how and when to use certain advanced
  features would be appreciated.
  
  
• How do you perform survival maintenance on old systems (say, my mom's WIN 98)? Microsoft seems to have left
  Windows Update by the wayside.
  
  
• I would like to see more "Step-by-Step" enhanced tutorials included with the programs.
  
  
• Make Word more stable, and give us the ability to remove list templates from the docs.
  
  
• Microsoft has at least acknowledged security should be a priority. They have been doing a good job of realizing that,
  but need to do better. Thier OS should install secure by default. It keeps getting better, but I still do not understand
  why they put a firewall in Windows XP but did not turn it on by default. I would be willing to bet most users did not
  even know it was there. They are working hard at increasing their own security and the awareness of their users. They
  need to keep at it.
  
  
• It should be altered to allow computer users the freedom to set up their own computers to do what they want them to do. NOT as MS people think it shoud be. Also include applications that can talk to each other half-way decently and put all data files in one location instead of a host of locations. Address books are data, e-mail is data, etc.
  
  
• I'd like the spell/ grammer check tho be truly British English, rather than the mish-mash currently in use which frequently makes little or no sense.
  
  
• I would like to see Same as Previous turned off as the default. Small, but I am overwhelmed with this question and lack in time to sufficiently respond.
  
  
• I would like to see a task wizard or something that walks the user step by step through the process of creating a template. Kind of a template for a template type thing.
  
  
• NO ACTIVATION
  
  
• I would like Microsoft to make it easier to find SELF help. Sometimes, an error as it displays on the screen is not
  searchable in the MS Knowledge Base. Often, logical expressions don't return desired results. Cryptic error messages don't always provide clues as to what's going on.
  
  
• Overall, best thing Microsoft could do would be to reliably develop and release secure, bug-free product rollouts. The
  parade and quality of patches we have today is absurd. Some days, I'm tempted to wipe the box clean and not re-install any of them.

That's all folks! Hope you found something in here either useful or thought provoking.