I’m spending most of this weekend doing "geek stuff" (while listening to Anne Litt and Weekend Becomes Eclectic, which is very much not geeky): going through my computer and upgrading and/or trying out software in the process. Basically this means checking all of my favorite applications and figuring out if I want to "upgrade" to newer versions, if they’re available. Typically I tend to download new releases as they come out, with the intention to research them and decide if I want to install them. But just as typically, I tend not to get around to it until a day like today.

I’ve been using Mozilla 1.0.1 as my primary browser for over a year (before that it was Netscape Navigator/Communicator, from 1.2 all the way to 4.79) — I intentionally passed on the 1.2 and 1.3 series, after reading about some unacceptable bugginess — but since the hat trick of new releases in the past month, I thought I should finally check them out. After some debating, I’m now using Firebird 0.7 and Thunderbird 0.3.

In spite of the lower-than-usual release numbers, both seem quite stable (although Thunderbird has some mail-retrieving quirks I haven’t figured out completely yet). I’m only on day 2 though. One thing I haven’t gotten used to is that Firebird has a separate search window in the toolbar…I’m not sure if I want to keep doing CTRL-K to get to it, because I’ve become so accustomed to Moz 1.0.1’s Google search-within-the-location-bar, and just using the location bar to do everything. So now I find myself typing search keywords in Firebird’s location bar, and then realizing (after I’ve typed a bit) that search won’t work in that window. Then I have to select the words, copy, CTRL-K to the correct window, paste, and hit enter. I’m not sure if Moz 1.4.1 or 1.5 have separate windows like Firebird. If they don’t, it might be a reason to abandon this and try one of those. Or maybe I’ll just get used to CTRL-K. Another issue is getting used to Firebird’s very different CSS rendering and default text size compared to Moz 1.0.1 and even IE6. The text is so much tinier!

[Update – 10 Nov. ’03: I’ve installed Moz 1.4.1. Apparently I couldn’t handle even two days of Firebird and Thunderbird 😉 … but 1.4.1’s mail had no problems with my IMAP accounts upon setup. Worked right out of the box, so to speak, whereas Thunderbird seems to sporadic trouble opening them. 1.4.1 also has the location bar search function. Anyway, good thing I didn’t use the installers for Fire- and T-bird, so there’s no need to hassle over the registry.]

Other upgrades:

• Got the latest LAME mp3 encoding engine (yes, I’m very behind) and in the process, got an unexpected laugh from a link on the download page.
• After years of using the "lite" version of Winamp, I finally downloaded the full version of Winamp 2.81 (blegh to Winamp 3) for its Ogg Vorbis support. (I’d tried installing an Ogg Vorbis plug-in for my Winamp 2.80 lite app, but it didn’t take.)
• Some more: XnView 1.66, CD Wave 1.91.

This time last year, my primary hard disk decided to fail. As in, not just your typical "crash," but it physically just wouldn’t initialize at all. I’d never had that sort of failure before, and I hadn’t archived my data in a long time, so I ended up losing everything that had been on that HD. What I miss most is the irreplaceable e-mails from friends and family, for their sentimental value. I mean, not the typical short messages like "Are we meeting at 7?" but the true letters. Correspondence that cheered me up immensely.

But losing my primary disk and having to rebuild wasn’t a thrill either. So, just remember to back up your data on something pretty reliable (I would not recommend Zip disks or other removeable disks of that ilk) and make more than one copy, for safekeeping at different locations. If you don’t archive that often (every day/week/month), then at least do it every time you modify or add an important project or document. It’s cheap insurance.

Yesterday I started using Mozilla 1.0.1 after I’d had one Netscape 4.79 crash too many. It had been crashing a lot more recently. I read a bunch of posts on Google Groups on Mozilla 1.0.1 and 1.1 and Netscape 7, and which one to download to try. I decided to avoid the beta Moz and the AOL-branded N7 and go with Moz 1.0.1, which also has a very useful anti-pop-up feature. I also looked into Netscape 4.8, but since it was basically a maintenance upgrade, I went with Moz to see what kind of features were being implemented (for the most part in the multiple-account IMAP and POP3 e-mail arena).

There are still some things about Netscape 4.79 that I miss, though, that aren’t residents of Mozilla. The most annoying omission is the "home" button bug on the toolbar. Even if you choose to have the button, it doesn’t show up. Apparently it’s a longstanding bug and won’t be fixed anytime soon. Another thing about Mozilla: it looks more like IE and Outlook (Express). "Go Home" is no longer CTRL-H, which I pretty much was weaned on in Netscape, but ALT-HOME. And now, if I toggle "full headers" in the mail display, the headers show up separately from the message body instead of being a part of the body. So if the headers are quite long, then the body window shrinks and I have to scroll — but scrolling won’t move the headers. Things like that. At least the bookmarks system hasn’t changed much. The thing I dislike most about IE is the favorites management. It is so difficult to look through favorites, because they don’t open in a separate (and larger) window. It’s really awful.

Anyway, I’ve been using Moz for less than 24 hours, but so far I haven’t had it crash. I still need to get used to the weird style sheet rendering and the odd text sizes, compared to IE5, IE6 and NC4.79. I do like the download times displayed in the browser status bar.