Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Self-Important Software
Why does some software think its so important that it can cover up your desktop and refuse to hide while its doing its job (or just while its loading)? Anybody who's ever used AVG Anti-Virus should have noticed that every time it finishes a virus database update, it insists on telling you with a dialog box that won't hide, even when a window behind it has been selected. Who does it think it is? And its not like I'm directly using it at the time - it updates itself in the background, so you can be quite happily using another program when bang! this window pops up right in the middle of what you were doing, and you have to click exactly on the OK box to get rid of it. You can't just select another window.
Another problem is splash-screens (the windows that appear when you load a program with that programs logo and copyright info - all the stuff you don't care about). When you've got a slow PC, programs can take 10 seconds or more to load, time with which you can be doing something else on your computer. So why do some programs insist on showing a splash screen that you can't get rid of? You're forced to sit there for 10-20 seconds, unable to use your computer, because this program thinks its so important it can cover your screen with its title and not allow you to get rid of it until it's loaded. Ad-Aware is a culprit here (though it is a good free program so I'll slightly forgive it). As I think of more, I'll add them here. Does anybody else know of any?
And finally, programs that insist on loading themselves into the system tray every time you turn your computer on. Why on earth does Quicktime need to be in my system tray? I use it approximately once every blue moon, but every time it insists on loading itself and extending my system tray to even further reaches of my desktop, just so it can start 0.2 seconds faster than if it had to load from scratch. Go away!
Another problem is splash-screens (the windows that appear when you load a program with that programs logo and copyright info - all the stuff you don't care about). When you've got a slow PC, programs can take 10 seconds or more to load, time with which you can be doing something else on your computer. So why do some programs insist on showing a splash screen that you can't get rid of? You're forced to sit there for 10-20 seconds, unable to use your computer, because this program thinks its so important it can cover your screen with its title and not allow you to get rid of it until it's loaded. Ad-Aware is a culprit here (though it is a good free program so I'll slightly forgive it). As I think of more, I'll add them here. Does anybody else know of any?
And finally, programs that insist on loading themselves into the system tray every time you turn your computer on. Why on earth does Quicktime need to be in my system tray? I use it approximately once every blue moon, but every time it insists on loading itself and extending my system tray to even further reaches of my desktop, just so it can start 0.2 seconds faster than if it had to load from scratch. Go away!
