//beconfused

I love watching my requests grow longer and longer cos it just looks so dumb each time I log in.

Then

Now

Seems like I can’t already.

Probably due to an Internet Explorer favicon bug, my Windows Live Hotmail favicon turned into a Gmail favicon. Previously it was an ESPN favicon.

(My Windows Live Hotmail icon somehow turned into Gmail.)

This is not the first time I see the wrong favicon. Back then, when using Internet Explorer 6 in Windows XP, I remember encountering something like it. I guess they haven’t really fixed that bug up.

Due to a bug found in Microsoft Excel 2007, certain sets of multiplication is being displayed incorrectly to the user.

I heard this is some old floating point bug.

850 * 77.1 supposed to result in 65535. Unfortunately, Excel 2007 displays it as 100,000.

Only specific sets of multiplication is affected. Hope a patch would arrive soon though.

After a week of Ubuntu, I still couldn’t get used to the fonts. I guess I just didn’t like those fonts too much. Here is how you can install the Microsoft TrueType core fonts which include the following:

• Andale Mono
• Arial Black
• Arial (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic)
• Comic Sans MS (Bold)
• Courier New (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic)
• Georgia (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic)
• Impact
• Times New Roman (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic)
• Trebuchet (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic)
• Verdana (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic)
• Webdings

I am using Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) to do the installation.

1. Open the Synaptic Package Manager. You can find that in System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager.
2. Search for “microsoft truetype”. You can access search through the toolbar. Alternatively, you can press CTRL + F for that.
3. Right click on “msttcorefonts” and you choose “Mark for installation”. You may be prompted to install “cabextract” which is a program to extract Microsoft Cabinet files. “cabextract” is required for installation of Microsoft TrueType core fonts.
4. Click on Apply on the toolbar. Alternatively, you can press CTRL + P.

Just finish the installation and your familiar Microsoft core fonts such as Georgia, Verdana and Trebuchet MS would be back. I prefer surfing the internet with Trebuchet MS. Hope it helps.

What I dislike about Windows Live Hotmail:

The ads are simply too big. I can imagine Windows Live Hotmail looking much prettier with the removal of the ad on the top. I’m okay with ads but when the designer is planning for the application, at least take in consideration how the website would look like with an advertisement.

One look at Hotmail tells me how much advertising revenue mean to Microsoft. They are probably trying to get people to upgrade to their paid plans. I like the whole Live service bar idea but let that be on top, not ads.

This explains why I spend so little time at Windows Live Hotmail even though that supposed to be my primary mail address that’s for work.

Picture speaks a thousand words:

(There is no Useful Link.)

This method of conveying information to the user is just bad. If there really is nothing to put on the page, hide the bloody button to click on that page totally! Beats being greeted with some lousy placeholder that coudn’t even make me laugh.

Yay, who doesn’t like new software - Windows Live Messenger 8.5 is released through the Windows Live Suite. Windows Live Suite is Microsoft’s new unified installer. You can select what you want to install through their webpage. Here is a screenshot:

(Windows Live Messenger 8.5 screenshot.)

Windows Live Suite products include:

• Mail: Multiple e-mail accounts on your desktop
• Messenger: Connect, share, and make every conversation count
• Photo Gallery (Beta): Organize and share photos and videos
• Writer: Easily publish rich content to your blog
• Toolbar: Search from any Web page
• OneCare Family Safety: Help protect your kids online

I only installed Windows Live Messenger, Photo Gallery and Writer. I’m just not interested in the others I guess. I kinda got it for the sake of Live Messenger actually, love the sleek new interface.

Make sure that you do not have Live Messenger or Internet Explorer running when you do the installation. Mine fails as Live Messenger is running.

Download Windows Live Suite now.

[NOTE: The above link is a public beta. It is not clearly labeled and I misunderstood it. Windows Live Suite Public Beta includes the Windows Live Messenger 8.5 Beta 2 it seems. However, no where in the product seems to suggest that this is a beta.]