I have been using the Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 for over a year now and I love it! Unlike ordinary keyboards, the keys aren't cramped together and the soft cusion at the bottom of the keyboard makes typing feel comfortable. I bought it for about £40 at PC world (UK) and I believe its a great investment.

The keyboard comes with a couple of multimedia keys at the top such as play, volume up, volume down, keys at the top. It also comes with 5 programmable keys to launch any programs you want. There is also a "Web/search/mail" key which you can program as you wish. However, to use the programmable keys, you will have to install intellitype, Microsoft keyboard software. On a plus side, the program use very little RAM/Processor power. However, the keys of the keyboard is positioned differently from other conventional keyboards so it would take a little to get use to. However, it is designed so for comfortable typing. So far I don't have any strained wrist and the "downward slope" seagull design is way better than the upward sloping design.

In summary I belive that the Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 is a great investment and everybody should get one!

Although it looks cool, I hope I can jump directly to the desktop and skip the "welcome screen".

In summary, Windows 8 looks totally different from previous Windows OS's. However, a couple of question pops to mind:

• How about security programs? Would they be running when a user is in the tablet like welcome screen?
• How about password managers? Would they be allowed to run in IE10 in the welcome screen?
• Would the welcome screen be too much of a resource hog that it slows down the entire PC?
• Can I skip the welcome screen and go directly to the desktop?
• Is Windows 8 more secure than previous OS's?

Update: Microsoft has previewed Windows 8 at the COMPUTEREX 2011 event at Tapei: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/windows7/videoGallery.aspx?contentID=win8_preview1&WT.z_convert=Share

The picture of the right shows the "welcome screen" which according to the previews would be the new start menu. I might be wrong. However, I do not like what I am seeing in the previews. IT looks like Windows 8 would be tablet centric. I do hope there is a way to disable it and bring back the old start menu back. I also hope I can skip directly to the desktop.

Tell me what you think about Windows 8? Leave your message in the comment section or visit the relevent forum discussion post (note in order to participate, you would need a MyOpera account).

Review of Internet Explorer 9

This is my FIRST post using Internet Explorer 9! It certainly is snappier than Internet Explorer 8. Pages load faster. Another feature that I like is HTML5. Now I can do anything that Firefox and Opera users could. Plus HTML5 video is a great thing as it doesn't rely on Flash or any other plugins (which can be found to be quite buggy).

The interface looks cleaner. I also certainly like the tear tab off feature (chrome also do this). However, I'm not so convinced of the pin to desktop as doing that will make some of ad ons (like Norton Safe Web and Norton Identity Safe for passwords/WOT) to not work. Essentially, the tabs oppened by those pin to desktops are in my opinion less safe. Also, please note, activex filtering can block usefull apps like WOT or Norton safe search from loading.

Internet Explorer 9

Another thing is that IE9 notifies you at the bottom of the page rather than at the top. For example, in the bottom screenshot, IE9 is notifying me of a popup.

Fix it: Unmuting Internet Explprer 9 (Enabling the "pop up and clicking sound") and enabling "Quick Tabs" in Internet Explorer 9

Another thing I fogot to ad is that IE9 disables system sound by default. So all those of you familiar with the popup sounds, would have to enable it manually. Go to Gear menu, internet option, advanced and look for "play system sound" under accessibility (see screenshot):

In addition, QuickTabs is disabled by default in IE. To enable that go to gear-->Internet options-->Tab settings.

Check on "Enable Quicktabs." Then restart the browser.

Despite the mainly positive feedbacks, I have one complaint. Internet Explorer deletes favorites without first asking for confirmation. In Internet Explorer 8, if I click delete, it would ask whether I wanted to delete it or not. But in IE9, it just deletes it. Also, unless you delete favorites using the star favorite menu rather than the organize favorites using Ctrl+B, the deleted favorite will not end up in the trash bin.

Read more...

I've just received the following "optional" update through Microsoft Update system.

Microsoft - Other hardware - Microsoft Hardware USB Keyboard Download size: 174 KB

You may need to restart your computer for this update to take effect.

Update type: Optional

Microsoft Other hardware software update released in December, 2010

More information:
http://winqual.microsoft.com/support/?driverid=20403531

Help and Support:
http://support.microsoft.com/select/?target=hub

However, when I install it, every time I restart the PC, it tries to "install" the Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 drivers. Usually, PC remembers the installation and you do not have to re-install the driver every time you unplug the keyboard or restart the PC. This update, for some reason, forces the PC to install the drivers and download the "keyboard" configuration ever time you restart or unplug/replug the keyboard. Reinstalling Intellipoint does not work! Its pretty annoying this installing thing.

In the end, I just did a system restore to the point BEFORE the update and hid this update.

Edit: Apparently this update has been pulled by Microsoft. It no longer appears in the hidden update.

Update: I have published an update to this blog post. Click here to read more.

I found out that the release of the driver update is coupled with the release of a new version of IntelliType, Microsoft's software to customize your keyboard. The software ALREADY include the driver that Windows Update wants to update. Go to http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/downloads and chose the Microsoft hardware product you have. Then chose the operating system that you have (make sure to correctly identifying whether your PC is 64 bit or 32). After download the IntelliType sofware and installing it. After installing the new version of IntelliType, the update will go away.

32 bit or 64 bit

To find out if your computer is running a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows in Windows 7 or Windows Vista, do the following:

If your computer is running Windows XP, do the following: