New control panel

I have updated the template for all of my dedicated servers to reflect the look of my company's web site: the Isle of Wight Web Hosting Company.

So if you have a hosting package with me please log in and take a look.

The template will work with any dedicated server account through Donhost or Webfusion and if anybody would like a copy please let me know.

The width of the main section is designed for a 1024 x 768 monitor or larger.

Time to kill off Vista

Vista needs kicking into touch. It is slow, it demands permission at every step like an insecure child and it still has the truly ridiculous inability to sort files by modified date without unnecessary persuasion.

Its sleep function is temperamental and programs freeze for minutes on end if the wind is from the wrong direction.

But most of all it has been replaced.

Windows 7 is everything that Vista should have been. It is stable, it is highly compatible with software and hardware, it runs faster on the same machines than Vista and it is pleasing to the eye.

Although still in Beta, the Windows 7 is more ready for the mass market than Vista is after two years of its sorry existence. Microsoft should make 7 available the minute it has finished the Beta stage and let both Vista and 7 Beta testers upgrade seamlessly. There are going to be bugs but it has to be better than the present operating system Microsoft want you to buy with your new PC.

What's cool about Windows 7?

• It works.
• It works quickly.
  
• It can join networks without having to get eight different settings just so.
• It doesn't demand attention every second.
• It goes to sleep when asked.
  
• You can order files by modified without faffing.
  
• The task bar has been streamlined similar to quick launch icons. Very effective use of space, borrowing from Mac OS X a little - but in a more subtle way.
  
• If you drag windows to the left or the right of the screen they will maximise to half the screen without having to adjust them to fit exactly.
• The transparency of the Aero interface has been stepped up a fraction to be more like the latest versions of Linux.
• Desktop gadgets can be places individually where you want them.
  

Windows 7 is ready. Bring it on.

Which OS is fastest

I have just done a highly unscientific experiment as to which operating system is the fastest to boot up from scratch, get a network and display my home page.

If it was a properly valid exercise then all machines would be identical in power, but they aren't.

First up is my main computer. It runs Windows Vista Home Premium on a dual 3.2 GHz processor with 4GB of RAM. It has the 2008 version of Norton Antivirus.

After 60 seconds it loaded the Windows Corporation logo and loading bar. After 1 minute, 25 it asked for a password. 1'39'' brought up the desktop, with the computer instantly connected to the wired network. iGoogle loaded after 2 minutes and 3 seconds. If I used the sleep facility I could bring it back to life in 14 seconds to a usable state.

Next I tried my JVC mininote 8 inch laptop - invented before netbooks were all the rage; but with more functionality. It's a good five years old but perfectly good running XP or Ubuntu Linux. But I decided to be cruel to it and put Windows 7 (Beta) on it to see if it works. It does work, depite the 512 MB of RAM not being enough to reach the required system requirements.

The little machine booted Windows 7 in 1'43'' but took an obscene 4'43'' to get a web page loaded. However the hybernate facility on Windows 7 appears to draw no energy out of the computer so can be used as an alternative to shut down. I re-awoke the laptop from hybernation in 1'21'' to view a web page.

A desktop computer with a pair of 2 GHz processors and 1 GB RAM booted Windows XP Pro in 42 seconds and loaded Google in a total of 1'30''.

A laptop with a single core 1.8GHz processor and 2GB RAM loaded a desktop in 1'12'' and got a web page in 1'27''.

Both the XP machines have AVG 7.5 installed.

The XP laptop also runs Ubuntu on a different partition. This took 1'34'' to load a desktop and 2'15'' for Firefox to display a web page. No anti virus is installed on this machine.

Finally, the old codger of a Mac I bought on Ebay a few weeks ago. This PowerMAc G4 has a 450 processor and 192MB RAM and is about 8 or nine years old. It runs Mac OS X, 10.3.9 - Panther. It booted the desktop fully in 57 seconds with Google loading in 1'45''.

So the winner is: Windows XP; loading a browser in a minute and a half on two seperate machines, but a lifetime achievement award has to go to the Mac which was ahead of a computer running a processor 15 times more powerful with 40 times more memory.

To make the experiment more valid I need to install the Beta of Windows 7 on a different machine and time that. It's not fair expecting it to work on an oldish laptop.