Windows

SEATTLE -- Microsoft makes it look so easy.Next year, the computer software giant will publicly unveil the new version of its popular Windows program, code-named Chicago. The cash registers will open and money will start pouring in. Big money.As much as $1.3 billion within two years, says Michael Kwatinetz, a respected New York analyst.By now, the computer industry has largely accepted the notion that Chicago, which will be sold as Windows 95, will be a marketplace hit.That's amazing considering: 1)

Not all sports collectibles are cardboard or baseball-related. They are not always small, either.A case in point is an unusual item available from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.For $500, plus a maximum shipping charge of $150, the dedicated basketball fan can own one of the "windows" that once hung in the Hall of Fame's Honors Court.There were 140 "windows" in the original Hall of Fame, one for each inductee. When the Hall of Fame moved to its present quarters in 1985, its new Honors Court did not have windows.

If you're shopping for a computer this season, you'll find a lot of machines with labels that say "Windows Media Center Edition." If you buy one and don't know what you're getting, you could be in for a surprise - good or bad. Windows MCE, as it's known in the trade, is software designed to turn a suitably equipped PC into a friendly, family room multimedia center that can play video and music through a TV or home stereo. It can also serve as a digital video recorder, much like the well-known TiVo.

When Microsoft issues a major bug fix for Windows, the smart-money players usually wait a while before installing it. They assume that the bug fix, known in the trade as a "Service Pack," has its own share of bugs, and they're willing to let the eager beavers find out if it contains any disasters waiting to happen. Unfortunately, Microsoft's first major Service Pack for Windows XP, released Sept. 9, is more urgent than usual. Along with dozens of patches for published security flaws - most of of which are obscure or were discovered only in lab tests - Service Pack 1 plugs a previously undisclosed hole in Windows that's potentially devastating and easy for hackers to exploit.

Old windows always pose a dilemma in a rehab.Windows get a lot of wear. If they're original to the house, they may be battered, broken, warped or cracked, and they're almost certainly drafty, energy-wasting monsters. But replacing them with new, energy-efficient designs will destroy a major element in the historic fabric of the structure.And if you live in a designated historic district, you may not be allowed to replace them anyway.So what do you do? You rebuild them.At least that's what we are doing to the eight windows that adorn the facade of the 19th century townhouse we're working on. It's not just that the windows are old, they're also special.

Simply put, I am going to link several computers in my home and home office to share the high-speed cable Internet access that we have. My main computer and two of the other three have Windows 98 installed. The fourth has Windows ME installed. I have heard people say that ME is the preferable OS for networking several computers - less problems. True or false? True, and then some. Windows ME previewed the improved automated small-networking wizards ultimately built into Windows XP. It makes such a difference that I sometimes marvel that any of us ever got a small network running saddled with the Windows 95/98/NT system, in which one needed to move from command panel to command panel setting things like network protocols, binding order, primary and secondary addresses and other steps.

It's one thing to write glibly of the vast and exciting array of window choices out there for the lucky rehabber -- and quite another to choose the right windows for a particular house.The Window Dilemma: It's a monster that lurks somewhere in most rehabs.The house we're working on, a four-level brick row house on a hill overlooking the harbor, has 30 windows. Some of them were damaged, some of them were blocked up, some of them are historic and quaint, some of them are new. Every single one of them needs something.

About 4 million of you purchased Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 98 operating system, and I'm still not sure why. That rather skimpy upgrade to Windows 95 was absurdly overpriced at $89. But lots of you paid it, so it's no surprise that Microsoft would try again, Thursday, with Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me. But this time it's different. There's a lower price - $59 for Windows 98 users, $89 for all others - and, this time, value for the money. Some rubbish, too. For a glimpse of Microsoft at its worst, there's the built-in Movie Maker software, Microsoft's response to Apple's marvelous iMovie video editing software, available free with all new Macintosh computers.

Three Anne Arundel County men were arrested and charged with smashing the windows of at least a dozen vehicles in the communities of Edgewater and Riva, police said.Police allege that the suspects selected cars at random and shattered windows with a large flashlight before being caught early yesterday morning.According to police, officers were investigating a complaint in Edgewater about a shattered car window when a second complaint was broadcast over the police radio.In both incidents, witnesses told police that a small red vehicle was involved.

When you spend a week on a real vacation - far away, in the sunshine, where the biggest news on TV is a California cop attacked by a pack of Chihuahuas - you begin to think that nothing really happened while you were gone. But something did indeed happen between Christmas and New Year's, and thanks to the holiday lull, you probably didn't hear about it, either. So listen up: There's a newly discovered and particularly nasty security flaw in all versions of Microsoft Windows dating back to Windows '98. And for the moment, there's nothing Microsoft can do to help you - so you're on your own. The flaw allows programmers to execute malicious code on your computer when you view a booby-trapped graphic known as a Windows Metafile.