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Readers, I believe a brief update is on the cards; a  few things have changed lately. I’ll attempt to keep you updated with the major changes:

MyWindowsPC

  • ReCaptcha is being used on members’ blogs to cut spam comments for them (thanks for the suggestion Christopher.)
  • MyWindowsPC Help, the official MyWindowsPC help blog has been updated and given a new name.
  • Members’ posts are now being featured on the front page.
  • The site activity feed is now being parsed to the sidebar of Windows Guides.

Windows Forums

  • We have a new moderator: randomchaos, who joins the Windows Forums team.
  • rsvr85, a Windows Forums moderator, who writes lots of guides for the forum is now writing for Windows Guides.
  • I’ve deleted/deactivated over 1,000 members over the last month or so who haven’t logged in for 6 or more months or who managed to bypass the spam filters. I only did this to increase security and cut spam.

RichR.org

  • I’ve updated my portfolio site with some jQuery goodness, which I decided I’d learn last weekend. I love jQuery… almost as much at Protoype. Next weekend I want to learn how to use MooTools.
  • RichR.org is now on the first search results page on Google for the keyword Rich Robinson–something I’ve hoped for, for a while (considering my name is very common.)

Windows Guides

  • We have two new Authors: rsvr85 and Adam.
  • We’re taking applications for new, voluntary, authors/contributors.
  • Translation of Windows 7 – The Pocket Guide, into 24 different languages is coming along well and I am currently working on version 1.0 of the book.
  • Both the PC Maintenance Handbook and PC Security Handbook are now available.
  • I’m currently working extensively on older guides, on this site, and doing the following:
    • Standardizing notational conventions.
    • Bringing guides up to date.
    • Responding to user feedback and making guides easier to follow.
    • Interlinking posts in a more intuitive way to help readers progress from one concept to another.
    • Reorganizing article structure to help guides fit into a broader spectrum of concepts.
  • I will be spending more time focusing more on quality and completeness in my writing; thus, over the next few months, the frequency of my posts will drop to about three per week.
  • We gave away Windows 7 Home Premium last week.
  • I’m getting rid of the (annoying) in-text links on Saturday.
  • I will be starting an email newsletter soon so you can choose to get a daily email, a weekly-monthly digest, or both. (I’ll launch this with a promotion that I haven’t been creative enough to plan yet.)
  • I’ve moved everything from http://www.mintywhite.com/ to http://www.mintywhite.com. I did this to keep the URL size down and the /tech/ seems a bit pointless now.
  • We’re using a new comments system by JS-Kit (although I “broke” it yesterday by moving everything from /tech/ to / — I will fix this today fixed.)
  • We have a “Re Tweet” button (which is now showing 0–zero–tweets for every post because of the /tech/ to / move.)
  • The site now sports an unobtrusive toolbar at the bottom of each page. So far, people are using it a lot–so it’s staying for now :)
  • There’s a featured content gallery on the front page of the site.
  • The categories are slightly more granular now. i.e Windows 7 is broken down into four different subcategories:
  • I’ve started a basics section (more about this soon.)
  • I’m working on a new Software reviews section. I’m going to review (and re-review) programs and let you, the readers, rate the programs.
  • As part of the reviews section, you can now search for software by genre:
  • To accommodate the new sections and greater granularity, I’ve redesigned the toolbar at the top of the site. Site analytics tells me you are using the toolbar a lot, so it’s staying for now.

Social Networking and Contact

To focus my online social efforts, I’ve retired/frozen the following accounts:

  • Digg
  • Plurk
  • Stumbleupon
  • AIM
  • Yahoo
  • MSN
  • ICQ
  • Google Reader article sharing

I am keeping and focusing on the following networks:

  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Feedback?

I believe that’s all for now. Thanks for reading and I hope you’re as excited about the future as I am! What would you like to see? Let me know in the comments.



About Rich

Rich is the owner and creator of Windows Guides; he spends his time breaking things on his PC so he can write how-to guides to fix the problems he creates.

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Comments

  • Steve Shoreman

    WoW!! All that should keep ya busy for a while Rich! Hahaha! – The new Software section sounds a good idea though, being as you believe in/promote the idea of good “freeware” programs on MW…… and about time too!

  • Steve Shoreman

    WoW!! All that should keep ya busy for a while Rich! Hahaha! – The new Software section sounds a good idea though, being as you believe in/promote the idea of good “freeware” programs on MW…… and about time too!

  • Ben

    I love the new look of this site! I especially like the homepage:)

  • Ben

    I love the new look of this site! I especially like the homepage:)

  • Christopher

    Wow! A lot going on. Thanks for the mention for the reCAPTCHA and my blog update.

  • Christopher

    Wow! A lot going on. Thanks for the mention for the reCAPTCHA and my blog update.

  • Nicholas J West

    All the new changes are brilliant, and the site is much better (though the content made it awesome before!), I must say that the toolbar at the bottom and the new posting techniques are the best parts! Love the site, may it continue indefinitely!

  • John Poston

    I’ve recently purchased a MacPro and I want to install a Windows OS system on it as well because of software I’ve purchased for the PC, I don’t want to buy again for the Mac.
    Does it matter which one? Windows XP or Windows 7?
    And how difficult is it to do and use?
    Thanks,John

  • John Poston

    I’ve recently purchased a MacPro and I want to install a Windows OS system on it as well because of software I’ve purchased for the PC, I don’t want to buy again for the Mac.
    Does it matter which one? Windows XP or Windows 7?
    And how difficult is it to do and use?
    Thanks,John

  • Nicholas J West

    All the new changes are brilliant, and the site is much better (though the content made it awesome before!), I must say that the toolbar at the bottom and the new posting techniques are the best parts! Love the site, may it continue indefinitely!

  • Rich

    John this is the place to learn! I say go for Windows 7 all the way. You can win a copy here.

  • Rich

    John this is the place to learn! I say go for Windows 7 all the way. You can win a copy here.

  • John Poston

    Thanks Rich for the heads up on which to use

  • John Poston

    Thanks Rich for the heads up on which to use

  • Tony Poupa

    Love the re-design, so much more usable. The old design wasn’t bad either! Especially love the focus on Windows 7. I’ve been using the betas and RC for months now and always find myself coming back to your site for more info on how to tweak and customize it. The e-books are chock full of good info too, so keep up the great work you are doing. I’ll be back…

  • Tony Poupa

    Love the re-design, so much more usable. The old design wasn’t bad either! Especially love the focus on Windows 7. I’ve been using the betas and RC for months now and always find myself coming back to your site for more info on how to tweak and customize it. The e-books are chock full of good info too, so keep up the great work you are doing. I’ll be back…

  • Nico Maybituin

    I was quite surprised when I saw the changes! The site has definitely improved. I really like the gallery at the front page!
    I have a suggestion, if it’s not too much, maybe you could redesign the toolbar to make it more Windows-ish. It’ll make the site more aesthetic in my opinion.

  • Nico Maybituin

    I was quite surprised when I saw the changes! The site has definitely improved. I really like the gallery at the front page!
    I have a suggestion, if it’s not too much, maybe you could redesign the toolbar to make it more Windows-ish. It’ll make the site more aesthetic in my opinion.

  • Rich

    Nico, which toolbar? The top one or the bottom one?

    If the top one, are you thinking something like on the forums?

  • Rich

    Nico, which toolbar? The top one or the bottom one?

    If the top one, are you thinking something like on the forums?

  • Angad

    The changes look amazing! :)

  • Angad

    The changes look amazing! :)

  • Lance Reichert

    Just thought I’d let you know that richr.org does not show up on any of the pages generated by a search on StartPage (formerly IxQuick).

    Lance ==)———————-

  • Lance Reichert

    Just thought I’d let you know that richr.org does not show up on any of the pages generated by a search on StartPage (formerly IxQuick).

    Lance ==)———————-

  • Rich

    “show up on any of the pages generated by a search on StartPage (formerly IxQuick).”

    Erm, what’s that?

  • Rich

    “show up on any of the pages generated by a search on StartPage (formerly IxQuick).”

    Erm, what’s that?


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