"I think Microsoft have totally underestimated the amount of technical support that people would need," Manek Dubash, network editor of PC Magazine, said. The customer only pays for the standard telephone call.The demand for 24-hour support is strong: Tony Ettlinger, Microsoft's head of UK product support services, said that over the weekend the company switchboard received hundreds of calls. Callers waited an average of two minutes to speak to support staff and Microsoft said calls were taking an average of 15 minutes to handle. In the US, the corporation's support lines, able to handle 20,000 calls at once, have been overwhelmed since midday on Thursday.However, despite Microsoft having aimed the product strongly at the home market, domestic users who want support outside office hours will have to pay between pounds 25 and pounds 50 by credit card for telephone help During office hours, the support is free. In the UK, 3,000 people called the company's technical support line between 9am and 5pm on Tuesday and about the same number called on Wednesday. "Anne Mitchard, senior Windows 95 product manager for Microsoft UK, said: "Our testing and that of other independent groups indicates that applications will run faster under Windows 95 than Windows 3.1, in the majority of cases."The company has also been overwhelmed with calls from new users who have had problems installing or using the new software with their existing programs.

For many people who already have their machine working with Windows 3.1, the upgrade will be more hassle than it's worth Our advice is 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. "A beginner still can't switch on a PC and understand what's going on."Sean Geer, editor of Windows User, said: "It's treacly slow. The product was launched last Thursday amid a blaze of advertising, estimated to have cost about $400m (pounds 259.7m) world-wide.Specialist magazines and many new users are unimpressed. "The group most poorly served by Windows 95 is the largest - the novice user," PC Magazine's usability editor, Joanna Bawa, said. Even new machines fitted with the powerful Pentium chip run 10 per cent slower under Windows 95.

But most of those concerned seem to be operating on the assumption that peace is probably here to stay and that the economy's prospects are bright.. CHARLES ARTHUR Technology Correspondent Unpublished independent laboratory tests show Microsoft's much-hyped Windows 95 operating system runs between 10 and 20 per cent slower than the product it replaces, Windows 3.1.Tests to be published in the October issue of PC Magazine show that with existing programs the speed of calculation falls significantly. The fact that business figures have been urging political dialogue and movement towards a settlement, and encouraging cross-border activity, has drawn angry reaction from loyalist politicians.The Democratic Unionist MP Peter Robinson, for example, attacked commercial figures as "a band of business bloodsuckers, moneyed muck-worms and government lickspittles".There is still much uncertainty: the ceasefires might not last and if they do jobs in the security sector will be lost. People will hold back until we have in place the frameworks and structures which all can recognise, respect and work with."But such sentiments have proved controversial. The ceasefires have brought peace, but genuine stability will not be achieved until they are underpinned by a political settlement.Doug Riley, head of British Telecom in Northern Ireland and chairman of the local Confederation of British Industry, said: "I am strongly of the view that if there is no political movement we will not achieve the success that we deserve on the economic front. Visits by potential investors are up by nearly 40 per cent.The thousands of visitors from the Republic, who never dared venture north until now, are a strong indicator of the potential for increased cross-border activity and business and commercial organisations are placing great emphasis on the increased opportunities.However, thoughtful observers make the point that more will be needed if Ulster is to reach its full potential. Some of this influx is due to post- troubles curiosity, but the scenic attractions augur well for the future of the tourist trade.

One short-term problem will be to build enough hotels to replace the dozens destroyed in bomb blasts.The prospects for more inward investment are immeasurably brighter. In the United States, in particular, the Clinton administration is making determined efforts to coax businesses to invest in Northern Ireland. Most immediately, tourists have already been flocking in, with holiday visitors up by more than 50 per cent. This summer French, German and American accents could be heard at the Giant's Causeway. Battle-hardened firms which weathered so much will, they say, now come into their own.A number of areas of potential growth are opening up.