An ‘Independent Web Advice’ Blog

Having downloaded the partially useful Google toolbar, the next step is to try other toolbars. However the Yahoo toolbar seems to conflict with the Google toolbar.

IE Toolbar Confusion
The first sign of trouble appeared when IE confused the two toolbars. Switching one off actually turned the other off.

Complete Crash
The problem then gets worse after a few days until finally IE stops working altogether! With IE not opening without immediately crashing, it is impossible to remove the conflicting toolbars.

Total Disaster
To solve the problem I reinstalled the latest IE. But it picks up information about toolbars from the existing IE installation. It does this automatically! So the conflicting toolbars are automatically installed! This means that IE7 immediately has the same conflict as the IE6 had previously. For those of us with both toolbars conflicting and crashing IE, there appears to be only one solution. Firefox.

Try it, you will love it.
Firefox has crashed on me twice in six months. Compare that to an IE crash about every two hours. What can you say? Except goodbye to IE forever!

If anyone knows how to fix the conflicting toolbars, or how to remove them when IE won’t open to give you access to the options, PLEASE PLEASE let me know.

Paul.

With over 70 million downloads of videos a day, You Tube has taken the market by storm.

YouTube is a place for people to engage in new ways with video by sharing, commenting on, and viewing videos. YouTube originally started as a personal video sharing service, and has grown into an entertainment destination with people watching more than 70 million videos on the site daily.

If you have not tried it, then take a look now. It is fascinating viewing! Highly reccommended.

I fell in love with Skype, when I finally got over the feeling of ‘what is the point of system you can only use with other skype users’.

The truth appears that Skype is really a re-seller of airtime, so that you can use Skype to call landlines at remarkably low prices. But there are great offers everywhere for that sort of thing, and often alot more convenient than Skype. So what’s up with VOIP?

The problem with VOIP is that it is a technology before it’s time. The chat features are nohing new, with hundreds of chat messengers available. It was the promise of free phone calls that really pips the interest, but the quality is simply not there yet.

Yes, its true, I can sometimes talk for long periods without interruption, but it is a stop-start type of conversation, more like talking on a radio walkie talkie, rather than on a telephone. Sometimes it is like using an old second world war radio, hissing and fuzzing all over the place.

My most recent telephone meeting was conducted over a land line, an international call for two and a half hours, that cost less than two pounds, and we managed perfectly as if face to face. Skype can not compete on the quality offered by landlines.

8MB Broadband is much better than 3MB, but in Europe speeds are in the 50mb range. I love Skype’s intentions, and they have produced a fantastic piece of software. Try it, but don’t expect too much. In my opinion, BT are holding us back. Long live Talk Talk.