Microsoft

I'm reading an answer you gave regarding the missing menu bar that disappeared on the top after downloading the new version of the Microsoft Internet Explorer Web browser. I had the same problem. But I couldn't do what you said, because the option of the Tools menu was not there in order to generate the drop-down command to restore the words and icons at the top. So, I removed the 7 and went back to 6. Will I really suffer without 7? Can I keep 6 or will it be replaced? My Internet provider is Comcast and they are offering the download to 7. - Sharon Pane You have two choices when using Microsoft Windows.

Even if you have firewalls and up-to-date anti-virus and anti-spyware programs installed on a PC, there are other ways for your personal information to make it into the wrong hands. "Applications leave traces of information behind. That information can be telling of certain things," said Mike Irwin, chief operating officer for Webroot Software Inc. in Boulder, Colo. "For people that know where to look, it provides a distinct visibility into specific aspects of computer usage by the user."

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- Calling it a milestone in digital music, Apple Inc. for the first time sold songs yesterday that can be freely copied or played on any number of devices. Apple's launch of a new version of its online music store, called iTunes Plus, marks the first time a major record label has removed digital rights management, or DRM, software protections on downloadable music. Apple and EMI Group - whose artists include the Rolling Stones, Coldplay, Norah Jones and Frank Sinatra - announced in April that they were working on dropping DRM while at the same time improving the quality of recordings.

WASHINGTON -- The European Union's second-highest court upheld yesterday a 2004 antitrust ruling against Microsoft Corp.'s dominant operating system that led to a $689 million fine. Other American companies that dominate their markets, such as Apple Inc. in digital music, Google Inc. in Web search and Intel Corp. in computer chips, also might feel the sting. Antitrust experts called the decision by the Court of the First Instance a landmark ruling that validated the aggressive approach recently taken by the European Union's competition commission - especially when compared with the Bush administration's more hands-off approach to regulating companies that exploit their market dominance.

NEW YORK -- Aiming to "wow" millions of computer users, Microsoft Corp. launched its Vista operating system for consumers yesterday with a series of flashy Manhattan events and midnight sales at stores around the world. Two months after arriving for business customers, the first major Windows upgrade in more than five years promises consumers a slicker 3-D look, improved security and search tools, and a host of multimedia and entertainment features. While promoted by Microsoft executives as an enormous step forward, many reviewers have been more reserved, calling Vista better than the current XP system and full of subtle improvements, but not a revolutionary advance.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google Inc. unveiled yesterday its boldest move yet to challenge Microsoft Corp.'s flagship Office brand of business computer programs. Google is positioning its Apps Premier Edition as a low-cost alternative to Microsoft's Office, which has about 450 million users. Google's software bundle is to be sold for a $50 annual fee per user. "With Google Apps, our customers can tap into technology and innovation at a fraction of the cost of traditional installed solutions," said Dave Girouard, vice president and general manager of Google's enterprise division.

If you think black history is just about slavery and Martin Luther King Jr., think again.Microsoft's Encarta Afri-cana puts the software giant's popular electronic encyclopedia format to outstanding use in a comprehensive, fascinating volume on Africa and people of African descent.It offers more than 3,000 articles and 2,000 photos, videos, maps and charts. Video clips include several 360-degree views, and there is a text-to-speech reader for the visually impaired.The two-CD volume was edited by Harvard University professors Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Kwame Anthony Appiah.

WASHINGTON -- Bill Gates isn't the only Microsoft employee who has proved to be less than eager to help government attorneys get answers in their sweeping antitrust investigation.Take Carl Stork, who was general manager of Microsoft's Windows team from 1995 to 1997. When being questioned by government attorneys before the trial, Stork acted as if uttering the words "Internet browser" were a bad omen, even though it stands at the center of the case.Like the evasive Microsoft chairman in his pretrial deposition, Stork was sensitive to the semantics because the company maintains that the browser, the software that enables users to navigate the Web, is part of the Windows operating system.

THE antitrust trial against Microsoft will conclude this week, with each side offering closing arguments in the landmark case. But the maneuvering that will end in a judgment or a settlement has barely begun.Much now turns on what the Justice Department thinks could be done to Microsoft that meshes with the Clinton administration's antitrust doctrine. The trustbusters are in a curious position.Although the Justice Department's case has been light on evidence of Microsoft's monopoly power, it has left much of the media howling for Microsoft's blood.

WASHINGTON -- A Microsoft Corp. executive acknowledged yesterday that major operators of Internet Web sites had to agree not to promote Netscape Communications Corp.'s Internet browser as the price for receiving featured placement on the Windows desktop.Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates mandated that if companies such as the Walt Disney Co. and Intuit Inc. wanted "top level" marketing agreements, they "would be promoting Microsoft's Internet Explorer preferentially to Netscape Navigator and any other leading browser," Will Poole, Microsoft's senior director of business development, testified at the company's antitrust trial.

Mary Wolf was jogging around her adopted hometown of Annapolis when she turned a corner and discovered Clay Street, a community long blighted by poverty and crime, just steps from the State House and downtown Annapolis' restaurants and tourist attractions. The former television producer, who had run a successful computer literacy center in Washington, saw a need and wanted to open a center there in Annapolis. She didn't get much of a response. "People said, 'This will never work. Things never last on Clay Street.

Lower electricity rates next winter Residential customers of Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. can expect electricity rates to be lower next winter compared with the past one that resulted in increased complaints about higher-than-expected utility bills, state energy regulators said Thursday. The new projections are based on bids for electricity for two-year power contracts that begin Oct. 1. The recent bids from an auction completed Monday reflect lower wholesale energy prices. The actual rates will be released by June 1. However, BGE residential customers will pay $16 more on average for their annual bills from June to May 2010.

Starbucks to close 7 Maryland stores Starbucks Coffee Company said this week it is closing 195 stores across the country, including seven in Maryland, as consumers worried about the economy continue to cut back on luxuries such as gourmet coffee. In the Baltimore area, the Seattle-based company will close a store at Westfield Annapolis mall as well as the location at 300 N. Charles St. in downtown Baltimore. Starbucks has more than 200 stores in Maryland. Andrea K. Walker China's reserves at $1.9 trillion BEIJING : China's central bank says its foreign exchange reserves rose 16 percent year-on-year to $1.954 trillion by the end of March.

$59.99 for Microsoft Xbox 360. Rated Teen *** (3 STARS) Halo was originally planned as a real-time strategy game, but series creator Bungie didn't make Halo Wars, the first nonshooter in the series. Instead, it was developed by strategy veterans Ensemble Studios, the company behind Microsoft's Age of Empires and Age of Mythologies games. Ensemble was shut down by Microsoft after Halo Wars was completed. The studio's end is disappointing, especially given the quality on display here. Halo Wars - to be released today - takes place 20 years before the discovery of a Halo installation in the first game.

Carrollton Bancorp due funding of $10.6 million Carrollton Bancorp, the parent company of its namesake bank, said yesterday it will receive up to $10.6 million from a federal program designed to spur lending. Carrollton, which is moving its Baltimore headquarters and operating center to Columbia in the first quarter, said it received preliminary approval from the U.S. Treasury under the government's $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program, which sets aside $250 billion to inject cash into banks in exchange for shares.

The reviews are in on Microsoft's newest TV ads, which began airing Thursday night. Taking on Apple's "I'm a Mac. I'm a PC," campaign, in which the PC looks out of touch and clumsy, the Microsoft ads include celebrities such as Eva Longoria Parker and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, plus numerous Microsoft employees and regular people. With the refrain, "I'm a PC," each person adds something about themselves: I'm a PC, and I wear glasses. I'm a PC, and my name is Roger. The upshot: All kinds of human beings use PCs. My favorite is writer Deepak Chopra's, "I'm a PC and a human being.

Bill Gates is retiring, sort of. He is still only 52, and he is going off to spend more time guiding the world's richest philanthropy, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He will still be Microsoft's chairman and largest shareholder, but yesterday was his last day as a full-time worker at the software giant, marking the unofficial end of his career as a business leader. And what a career it has been. Gates has been an animating force behind the personal computer revolution, helping to build a global industry and engineer blockbuster products such as Windows and Office.

Though Microsoft has been uncharacteristically tight-lipped about the next version of Windows, tentatively code-named Windows 7, the company recently gave the world a peek at one of its key new features - multitouch technology. Sound familiar? It should. It's the same concept used in Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch. Oh, and let's not forget the trackpad gestures featured on the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models. But before rushing to accuse Microsoft of ripping off another Apple idea, I must point out that Microsoft demonstrated multitouch technology last year with its tabletop "Surface" product.

Microsoft Corp.'s Internet search engine will become the default search program on all personal computers sold in the U.S. and Canada by Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's biggest maker of the machines. The Windows Live Search tool bar will be installed on PCs starting in January, Microsoft said yesterday. The software also will direct users to Hewlett-Packard's sites, including its photo service Snapfish. Microsoft's search engine, the third most popular, will replace Yahoo Inc.'s as the default on Hewlett-Packard machines.

SAN FRANCISCO - Billionaire investor Carl C. Icahn is weighing whether to use the stake he has amassed in Yahoo Inc. to launch a proxy fight to unseat some of the Internet pioneer's board members after Microsoft Corp.'s failed bid for the company, two people familiar with the matter said yesterday. Icahn has purchased about 50 million Yahoo shares, roughly 4 percent of the company, since Microsoft pulled its $47.5 billion offer for Yahoo, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were confidential.