Anti-Windows Catalog

What is the Anti-Windows Catalog?

"Safe Computing" means preventing computing problems before they can happen. On modern versions of Microsoft Windows, safe computing includes using Windows' built-in safety features, like the NTFS file system, Automatic Updates, the built-in Firewall (or a NAT-capable router for Windows 2000), and Limited User (or Restricted User in Windows 2000) access.

Way too many products don't work with these safety features enabled. Many of these products only came out in 2003 and 2004 -- months since Windows XP's release. This suggests the designers simply don't care, or don't have the resources or the permission to test their products in a safe computing environment.

The Anti-Windows Catalog is a catalog of these products that don't work with safe computing. If you want to prevent computing problems before they happen, you should not use anything listed here. Remember to look for competing products in Microsoft's Windows Catalog as well.

The Anti-Windows Catalog is also user-edited, so the products you find here were actually tested by their users. The Catalog lets these companies' customers become their critics.

To help you search for these products, the Catalog lets you search by a partial name, a partial manufacturer's name, or a partial category name. Searching categories for "game," for instance, should produce a list of all game products.

You can add entries to the Catalog, too. Sign up and go wild.

Acknowledgements
I suppose some kudos are in order. These people influenced the design of this site greatly.

• Will Kovacs is Pan-Am's at-large ASP programmer. He provided the groundwork for the Catalog.
• The designers of Everything2 created a model worthy of imitation. While this Catalog isn't E2, granting visitors editorial access to it is a very important part of its legitimacy.
• Pan-Am's clients provided the needed inspiration. These people have to deal with the listed companies' bad design on a daily basis.
• Microsoft Corporation really does try to keep your computing experience trouble-free. They wrote the book on designing for Windows, after all. It's too bad they don't follow it sometimes.
• In addition to Pan-Am's clients, you are the reason this Catalog exists. I hope you use it well.

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