Do NOT Override the Power Button!

The Power Button in any devices serves only one purpose, that is to switch the device ON/OFF. That’s it, that’s what people have learned over hundred of years.

When some developers try to incorporate some kind of menu which is activated when the Power button is pressed, that’s really a sign that something is wrong in their brain. You wouldn’t think this would ever come from Microsoft, would you? Well you’re wrong.

Recently my Windows Mobile based Smartphone went to Flight Mode for some reason, and I just couldn’t put it back to normal mode. I went through all the menus dilligently and still couldn’t find a way to remove the Flight Mode. Only after two days when I finally managed to get Internet connection in my hotel, I figured that the way to deactivate this mode is by pressing the Power switch button, which will show you additional menus to control the mode and other stuffs.

Oh my oh my… that is the worst device interraction that I have encountered. That’s just Brain Dead! Clearly somebody was not thinking properly!

Stupid Yahoo Messenger!

I’ve never been a fan of Yahoo Messenger! program. Don’t get me wrong, I use the YM! network regularly as most of my friends are on this network. It is the YM! application that I hate very much.

I recall that I had a really annoying experience when upgrading from older YM! to newer one (I think it’s version 6) few months back. First of all, the software just gets bigger and more bloated, with these stupid features that I found of no use whatsoever.

Then the installation process itself was no less stupid. Trusting that the installer will do The Right Thing for me, I just went through the default settings and just press Next button without thinking. Turned out it changed the default homepage of my browser, and installed these stupid browser toolbars that are just simply useless.

Recently I upgraded the YM! application to version 7.5 (and then tried with version 8), and the IM just stopped working. Everytime I open the IM window, it keeps complaining about script error and it won’t display IM at all. Quick Googling around I found that I’m not the only user with this problem, and so far no solution is found (except downgrading to version 6). Tried reinstalling several times, deleting cache/offline files/cookies/YM directory etc. all didn’t solve it.

I know this probably is not YM!’s fault, but that’s not the point. I also know that there are other IM client that I can use to access YM! network, like Trillian, Gaim, or Miranda (and I use them regularly), but that’s not the point either.

The points are:

• Yahoo has no clue of what I want (I just want IM! and that’s all!),
• The YM! application has been totally broken and Yahoo doesn’t seem to care to fix it.

So there you go. Yahoo, you’ve completely failed to impress me.

Why Do Stupid Uninstallers Need the Original Installer to Uninstall a Software

Well I don’t know why, and I don’t want to know, but certainly it’s stupid. No, it’s not only stupid, but it’s brain dead! (actually I want to use more harsh word but then it wouldn’t be polite).

There are several reason why this simply wouldn’t work:

• the program came preinstalled with your computer so you don’t have the original installer,
• you’ve lost the original CD, or the original CD is broken now since CD was bought many many years ago (I’ve been using my laptop for seven years now),
• years ago installers didn’t offer you to store the installation files locally and it didn’t store the installation files (and you’ve lost the CD/installer),
• installation files or installers can be hundreds of Megs in size so you don’t normally want to keep them just so that it can be uninstalled,
• installers sometimes do store the installation files on a folder under your TEMP directory and the TEMP directory gets cleaned up once in a while,
• and so on..

So why all the clever people in Microsoft’s MSI installer department decided that this is the best way for the users is simply beyond my comprehension. It doesn’t work for me. It’s simply STUPID. Ah no, actually it’s BRAIND DEAD!

Stupid Software Names

Recently I cleaned up my computer (it’s an old IBM x20 with PIII/600MHz running Win2K) and deleted this directory:

C:\Program Files\Funk Software\Funk Client

The name sounds quite suspicious, it sounds like its some kind of malware. So without hesitation I just hit the Shift-Del key and sent it to oblivion. Little that I know that actually this is an important software and without this my LinkSys WLAN WPC54G adapter just stopped working. Spent few hours trying to reinstall the adapter.

So why why why can’t few thousands LinkSys/Cisco engineers think of better name for their software. I still don’t know what the software does (and I don’t want to know), but I can probably suggest better names for the stupid software, like:

• C:\Program Files\Funk Software\Funk Wi-Fi Adapter Client
• C:\Program Files\Funk Software\Funk Client Some Kind of Important Software for Your WLAN Adapter
• C:\Program Files\Funk Software\Funk Client (This Actually IS NOT A MALWARE SO DO NOT DELETE)
• C:\Program Files\Funk Software\ Funk Client (I know it is a stupid name but whatever you do do not hit those SHIFT-DEL key or otherwise your WLAN adapter will stop working)

(All are valid directory names, of course)

So LinkSys/Cisco whatever, change your stupid software name!