[Download Squad] 4 New Entries: Ask DLS: Business Week declares IM dead - what do you think?

Ask DLS: Business Week declares IM dead - what do you think?

Filed under: Internet, Social Software, Ask DLS

On Sunday, Business Week published an article stating "It's the end of instant messaging as we know it." In columnist Douglas MacMillan's mind, integrated chat features on sites like Facebook and GMail have signed the death warrant.

Oh really? That's kind of interesting, because there's a lot of evidence that IM is alive and kicking.

Taking a quick look at some stats on Download.com, I notice that these apps still seem to be pretty damn popular. Pidgin has more than half a million downloads to date. Since Trillian was added to the site, it's been downloaded almost 37 million times.

The latest release of Live Messenger 14 is well over 400,000 in just two months - and these numbers don't take into account the numerous other mirrors for these (and numerous other IM) apps.

Continue reading Ask DLS: Business Week declares IM dead - what do you think?

Ask DLS: Business Week declares IM dead - what do you think? originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How to log on to Windows XP automatically

Filed under: Windows, Productivity, Microsoft, Freeware, How-Tos

While in in many cases it would be a security risk, having your Windows XP computer log in automatically can be useful. For example, I have my Windows XP instance running under a virtual machine on my Mac. The easiest way to do this would be to use the Administrator account and simply leave the password blank. However, this has two distinct disadvantages: you can't log onto a domain with a machine that is not using a password, and you cannot have a machine configured this way accept Remote Desktop connections.

I have no need to use Remote Desktop to access my virtual machine, but since my XP instance needs to access a Windows network, I do need a password set. In the past, the easiest way to configure your machine to automatically log on was to use TweakUI powertoy for XP, where there is a setting under Logon for configuring automatic logons.

But there's an even faster way do do this.

On the machine that you want to configure to auto-login, click Start, Run, then type "control userpasswords2" (without the quotation marks) and press enter. In the window that pops up, click on the user account that you would like to automatically log in, then uncheck the "Users must enter a username and password to use this computer" checkbox. You will now be asked for the password for this account. Set it, click OK and OK, and you're done.

How to log on to Windows XP automatically originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang to resign

Filed under: Internet, News, Yahoo!

It hasn't exactly been a good year for Yahoo!. Earlier this year, the company rejected Microsoft's offer to buy Yahoo! for $33 a share. This week, Yahoo! stock is selling for about $10 a share. Silicon Alley Insider estimates that the search company is out $2 billion dollars because of this misstep.

It's probably not fair to put all of that on CEO Jerry Yang's head. After all, the current economic downturn is taking its toll on everyone. But the Yahoo! board of directors has announced that it is searching for a new CEO. Once a replacement is found, Yang will step down as CEO and resume his role as "Chief Yahoo!," which is a ridiculous job title that's basically a corporate strategy job. He'll also remain on the board of directors.

Yang's resignation raises a lot of questions. Who will replace him as CEO? Will the move bring Microsoft back to the table, or has that ship sailed? Could Yahoo! be looking for a new buyer or a strategic partnership? Who wrote the book of love? Yeah, maybe not that one.

Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang to resign originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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To-Do Desklist is a simple, free GTD app with nice visuals

Filed under: Text, Windows, Office, Productivity, Freeware

Jay recently reviewed MiniTask, an ultra- simple to-do list application built on the Adobe Air platform. If you're like me and would prefer to avoid installing yet another oversized Adobe product on your Windows PC, take a look at To-Do Desklist.

Like MiniTask, you can add an alarm to an item and hotkeys are supported for adding new tasks and showing your to-do items. Desklist also allows you to assign priority and add extended notes to tasks.

Alerts can be displayed in any corner of your screen, and they're fully skinnable. The program comes with light, dark, and sky themes built in, but you're free to set your own background color or image and change the display font. You can also tweak opacity settings for the alerts.

The full task window allows you to filter items by priority. When your list gets lengthy, it's a helpful way to make sure you're focusing on critical tasks.

I'd like to have option to hide alerts (like MiniTask) or collapse task items, but for simple lists, Desklist is still a good option. It's freeware for Windows only.

To-Do Desklist is a simple, free GTD app with nice visuals originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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