Rod Quinn and I covered a wide range of topics on the December ABC Nightlife technology spot. If you missed it, a recording is available from the ABC Nightlife webpage.
We had a big range of callers and covered a lot of technology issues, including the pros and cons of Windows 8. The biggest issue though was Google changing their search settings.
Resetting Google search defaults to Australia
A number of callers asked about Google changing changed search defaults to international, so local pages are often not appearing in the results. If you want to change them back to show Australian pages, follow these instructions.
Getting your start button back
The biggest objection to Windows 8 is the lack of a start button. One of our callers Sal suggested using the Classic Shell application, which is a free download. It even adds Windows XP features to 7 and Vista.
Removing Norton Anti-Virus
One of the bugbears of buying a new computer is the number of trial programs included with the system. One of the more common ones is Norton Anti-Virus. For most users, the free Microsoft Security Essentials is a perfectly good anti-virus which leaves you with the problem of uninstalling Norton.
The best way to remove Norton is to use the removal tool thoughtfully provided by the manufacturer, Symantec.
Next Nightlife program
In 2013, the next scheduled Nightlife program is March 7, although we’ll certainly have other shows before that. If you subscribe to the feed, or follow on Twitter we’ll let you know the next appearances.
In the meantime if you have any other comments about the show, add them to the page.
Thanks Paul for the informative information you freely share on Nightlife. You are always very interesting to listen to. I look forward to hearing you again next year. I hope that you and your family have a very happy and safe Christmas! Kevin Hyde, Cabarlah, Queensland.
You too, Kevin. Have a great break.