Sony's EDGE-y Vaio T350 Laptop

This, unfortunately, isn't an unusual experience in the world of Windows security software. I routinely hear from readers who find that somehow, in some twisted way, the programs that are supposed to keep them safe are instead "protecting" them from making use of other software they've paid good money for.

That's a huge problem for all concerned. It's bad enough that users wind up thoroughly flummoxed by their own software, but what if they decide that security utilities are more trouble than they're worth?

Google Earth Gone?

I'm positive that of the first questions I'll get in today's chat will be about what happened to Google Earth, the program I reviewed two Sundays ago.

For much of last week, this free program has been unavailable to new users. Visitors to desktop.google.com/download/earth/index.html, instead of seeing a button to click for the download, got this message: "Google Earth downloads temporarily delayed Thanks for your interest in Google Earth, but we're sorry we can't offer you a download right now. As you know, Google Earth is in beta, and we're still building out our ability to take on new users. We're making good progress, and expect to be able to accept new downloads shortly, so we recommend you check back daily at earth.google.com. We hope to be able to welcome you and other new planet surfers soon."

By Thursday, the program was once again available. But this experience still ranks as one of the less pleasant surprises I've had in this job. I'm used to some sites being overwhelmed by demand, but not this one. Google running out of bandwidth is like McDonald's running out of hamburgers. It Cannot Happen.

So what went wrong? Google spokeswoman Eileen Rodriguez explained in an e-mail: "We've received an overwhelmingly positive response on Google Earth, and as a result, we're working to manage the demand of new downloads and at the same time provide users with an optimal experience using Google Earth. We've continued to enable and disable the downloads since the release and are also working to make enhancements on the backend."

I'm sure that the volume of cartographic goodness downloaded by Google Earth users is leaving Google's servers feeling a little tuckered out. But if Google is getting swamped just serving up copies of this program's installer, maybe it should think about distributing that via BitTorrent.

Questions? Comments? Send them to rob@twp.com.