Joost stands for Joost van der Plas, director of the "Small Business" department within UPC. Joost should stop spamming — if I don't respond, that might be because I don't want to respond.

"But while I was typing this email, I realised that you probably still have an ordinary internet connection, ADSL for example. That's why I decided to print out this email and send it to you by regular mail. That way it will probably arrive sooner, and you can benefit from this sharp business deal sooner."

Nice one offending my choice of internet connection as a selling point. They are so not getting my business!

Last week, I got an unexpected envelope from Microsoft in the mail, containing the Windows 7 RC install cd, so I wouldn't have to download it. It seems to me they really want people to try out their new Operating System. Not enough people asking for it maybe?

Anyway, after installing, I ran into the same old connection problem: Windows 7 can't find the internet[1].

While with the previous Windows 7 version (beta) it was "simply" a matter of 'local access only' which I could change to 'local and internet access' with a couple of tedious workarounds, this RC version gives me only these two connections: IPv6: no internet access, IPv4: no network access.

Switching off and on either IPv6 or IPv4 has zero effect here.

After waiting a day or two and restarting the computer, Windows 7 (which of course has also wiped out the dual boot menu with Ubuntu[2]) still shows the same things. Strangely enough, it does show my other Windows computer and my router, and when I log into the router, I get to succesfully ping sites on the internet. Clearly, Windows 7's network troubleshooter which tells me some cable must be loose, is not very well informed.

After all the trouble with connecting to the internet in Vista and the Windows 7 beta, and now the seemingly (?) permanent impossibility of connecting using the RC version, I'm fed up. Totally had it. I've now started the execution of my new plan:

1. format entire hard disk (don't want any Windows 7 traces hiding anywhere)
2. install Windows 98, so the kids can properly play their older games, and I have a native IE6 test space for web work.
3. install Windows XP, for more modern games and testing in IE7.
4. install Ubuntu, for web testing and kids surfing.
5. find a nice biohazard symbol on the web, print it out, and glue it to my brand new Windows 7 RC disc, so I can't make the same mistake again!

Bye bye Windows 7, you're not compatible with me.

[1] Who'd have thought that the world's most used Operating System could so easily misplace a thing as large as the entire Internet...
[2] Why can't Windows play nice with others and acknowledge installations other than older Windows systems? While Ubuntu politely asks how much disk space is available for it, Windows just says "I see a hard disk. Must be mine, all mine!"

See the woman with the child? You'd think she just came out of the store after shopping for clothes or something. Well, these days you can never be sure of anything — what if she just bought that child? Unlikely you say? Look at what I saw at the top of the escalator on the 1st floor inside the store:

As I said — you can never be sure of anything these days!

In London it's even better (or worse, depending on your point of view) - enough snow to stop tubes, buses, trains and planes.

But.. what do we get here in Holland? Yup, nothing. Some half-hearted promises by the weather forecast people, but really, as you can see on this picture I took of the path behind my house, this was the best we got:

And it was gone in 2 hours as well :-(

Today I installed Windows 7 beta on a new computer, and when I tried to access the internet with it, the same problem came up: "Local only". Naturally I went looking for answers online (no, not from the new pc!), but all I found was a description of the problem, and people offering all kinds of solutions that simply don't work. However, in the end I ran into an old page that describes how to solve it in Windows Vista via regedit, by removing IPv6 altogether. Luckily I read "remove IPv6" before I read the 'via regedit' part, and I went into the network settings and removed IPv6 by unticking a box. It worked straight away, my network now says "Local and Internet access", and I can surf the Internet without a problem.

Step by step:

• click the Start button
• click "Control Panel"
• click "Network and Internet"
• click "Network and Sharing Center"
• click the link "Local Area Connection"
• click the button "Properties"
• untick the box in front of "Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)"
• click the OK button
• close the Local Area Connection popup
• observe the value of Access type. This should now be Local and Internet.

I'm not sure exactly why that change makes the difference. I can tick the box again, and the internet connection will remain in place. Also, while the box was unticked, I changed users and found the other user's account to have "Local only". I then *ticked* the IPv6 box, and the effect was the same: Local only changed to Local and Internet.

Of course I can't promise it will work for everybody, as I only tried it out on my own setup, and I did it in Windows 7 beta, not Vista. Please let me know in the comments whether this worked for you or not, so maybe we can determine exactly which combination of settings does and doesn't work in the whole setup.

Update:

Following the comments of Lorenz and Joe Vinas, I've tested it myself, and this seems to be the actual cure: disable and enable the network adapter. I think Lorenz is right, my fix of switching off or on IPv6 probably just causes the network adapter to restart. Still indeed, although it's a cure, it's not really a solution. It should not be necessary to restart the network adapter!

This screenshot below is from their FAQ:

(click for full image)

I think they lied.

How does Hyves take care of your privacy?

To protect your privacy, you can determine for each section of your profile whether it is visible to nobody, friends, friends of friends, Hyvers, or everybody. I think that's a good system. The same options are available for "who can search the Hyves site and find me by my surname". This really is a good thing. If you set that to "Hyvers", it enables you to be found by old school friends who already have a Hyves account, while not attracting any attention from outsiders. Even if the rest of your profile is closed for anybody but friends, at least people will be able to contact you via the site to ask for your approval to become friends on Hyves.

So, what's the problem then?

The problem is, that Hyves decided to change the rules. Per 30 January, they will let Google find Hyves members by their surname. Including all the people who had set their preferences to let only Hyvers find them by their surname. Several members have expressed their concern in comments on Hyves HQ blog, but the answer remains the same: "we can't please everyone, and you can opt-out if you like, so there is no problem". The repeated requests to make it an opt-in instead of opt-out and to give one single good reason why it is opt-out instead of opt-in, are simply ignored or rebutted with "we don't see the problem".

This isn't all though. They also have not officially informed their members of this fact. It was mentioned in the blog of Hyves' PR man Raymond Spanjar, but while that post was briefly featured on the Hyves homepage, it is now only linked in the sidebar, hiding inconspicuously between other non-important links. Most Hyves' members aren't even aware that 30 January will see their Hyves profile linked to their surname in Google, even if they had specifically set "only findable by Hyvers".

Bad form Hyves, very bad form.