Barthos Computers Blog

Looking at how technology has changed over time, and looking at what is being done to create the 3D Web, it won’t be long until folks step back and realize that this huge hardware diversity just isn’t working. Instead, centralizing and standardizing hardware could not only turn out as a better way to enter the segment, but as a more profitable way to remain in it as well.

Centralized Gaming

Back when game systems and PCs first came to market, we didn’t have a network and files moved from machine to machine on floppy disks, cassette tapes, or cartridges. Today, games are being delivered or updated over the web. The game that has the largest sustained audience these days is World of Warcraft - and this title wouldn’t even work if it were not on-line.

The world has changed a lot in the last several decades, but games are still based largely on the idea that they have to run locally, while the capability to run them remotely has increased dramatically.

A company called Teradici located in the Silicon Valley has come up with a relatively inexpensive way to put a high performance PC into a data center and remote all its functions to the desktop through a set top box. HP has a similar technology they use for PC and Workstation Blades and both of these, if applied to gaming, could break the current model of having to sell a lot of subsidized hardware to consumers before there is a market for the related game content. The part you?d sell could be profitably sold for under $100, and if we applied a subsidy to that, you?d get it free of charge with a subscription.

Given the PS2 outsold everything else (mostly because of its sub-$100 price and a large game library) in the game system segment last year, $100 or “free” is an important price point.

Going to a model like this is disruptive and people in an industry generally don’t like to take disruptive risks, though, if you think about it, that?s exactly what Nintendo did with the Wii by creating a system that wasn’t massively expensive and had a family/health gaming focus. The Wii showed that breaking the model, if only a little bit, could have huge benefits. But who would be willing to break it a lot?

Google has been buying up lots of dark optical cable (called dark fiber) over a long period of time and has in place an advertising model that could actually both subsidize the hardware and the games. HP, which probably has the leading hardware to do this, could also play here as well and both companies might be thinking of how they could use this technology as a Trojan horse to fundamentally change not only the gaming market but the PC market as well.

Since HP leads the existing PC market, such a change would have significant risks for them. But for Google, which doesn’t even exist in this segment and is interested in displacing Microsoft, there are only the risks associated with entering a segment (which once attracted Larry Ellison and Sun to a similar failed plan based on inadequate technology).

Two other technologies which could be used to create a similar eco system using existing PCs are Adobe AIR and Microsoft Silverlight. Both owe their roots to disruptive technology called Chrome, which almost changed the world a decade ago.

Wrapping up: Will centralized gaming happen?

Eventually I do think we?ll switch to something like a cloud computing model. We are increasing bandwidth dramatically and the technology capable of doing this continues to come down in price with the next big technology push coming with massively multi-processing models on both the graphics and processor side. This could move us from concepts like blade PCs, workstations, and game systems to a highly flexible server, which could more effectively perform the same function.

The sustaining problem, other than the risk of doing something really different, is latency - which starts becoming a problem with centralized resources over long distances. Though, those of us who play on-line today may find that this latency is actually much more tolerable than the latency we now have to deal with in Massive Multiplayer Games.

But, when it happens, it probably will take someone like Google who can come at the segment with a fresh perspective to make this work both technically and financially. I think we are close to having a disruptive change in several segments; we are just waiting for someone to put the parts together who has the funding, and breadth, to make it all work.

Rob Enderle is one of the last Inquiry Analysts. Inquiry Analysts are paid to stay up to date on current events and identify trends and either explain the trends or make suggestions, tactical and strategic, on how to best take advantage of them. Currently he provides his services to most of the major technology and media companies.

TG Daily

Fiber optic visual fault locators are also called visual fault finders. They are low cost, battery powered fiber test tools to find fiber imperfections, fiber breaks (fiber cutting), microbends and macrobends in fiber optic cable links. Visual fault locators come in a pen shape or handheld style with a fiber optic connector adapter to accept different connectors such as FC, ST, SC, LC or even MTRJ.

How do they work?

Visual fault locators inject a highly visual red color laser light into optical fiber cables. The red light can be switched between continuous mode (continuous wave) or pulse mode with a 1~2 Hz frequency and 60ms duration.

The light source is usually a high power, extra long life, class 2 laser diode at 635nm. Other available wavelengths are 650nm and 670nm.

The fault locater injects light into fiber cables through a built-in connector adapter. Two types of connector adapters are available: 2.5mm and 1.25mm in diameter. The 2.5mm version accepts FC, SC and ST connectors and the 1.25mm version accepts LC and MU connectors.

The fiber installation technician can then look at the length of the fiber cable and where glowing or blinking light is seen, a break, microbending or macrobending exists.

The tool can be used as a stand-alone first-line basic troubleshooting tool or in conjunction with an OTDR to pinpoint faults. It can also be used as a continuity tester.

The construction of a laser fault locater

Laser fault locater is a simple and reliable tool. It consists of laser light source, pulse modulation circuit board, light coupling lens and fiber optic connector adapter.

Applications

Fiber optic visual fault locators are regularly used for testing and finding breaks in LANs, FDDI, ATM, fiber data links and loops, telephones, ships and other vessels. Its industry applications include fiber optic networks, telecoms network and CATV network maintenance.

Manufacturer brand names and their corresponding quality

Wilcom, Fluke, Noyes, Greenlee, Ideal, Wavetek all supply high quality visual fault locators. Our preference is Wilcom’s products since they have been in this market the longest time and their products are generally very high quality.

Understanding the specifications

1. Fiber distance

The fiber distance spec tells the longest fiber length where you can still see the leakage light without difficulty. This spec is determined by the laser light power. The industry standard spec is 10km for multimode fibers and 5km for single mode fibers.

2. Wavelength

Wavelength is not a critical spec. 635nm, 650nm and 670nm will all work just fine.

3. Output power

Output power is an important spec for visual fault locators. The higher output power, the longer fiber distance it can support. This spec is usually 0.5mW coupled to single mode fibers and 2mW to free space (which means no fiber coupling, just the light output from the tester’s connector adapter).

4. Fiber mode

All visual fault locators can work with both single mode and multimode fibers. Since multimode fiber has a 50um or 62.5um core, which is much bigger than single mode fiber’s 9um core, more light power can be coupled in to multimode fibers. That translates to longer fiber distance for multimode fibers which is usually 10km. For single mode fiber, however, fiber distance is only 5km.

5. Modulation frequency: CW and 2Hz

Human eyes are much more sensitive to a blinking light than to a steady light. So visual fault locators provides two operating modes: continuous wave and pulse light.

In most cases, fiber optic installation technicians prefer the pulse light mode which turns the laser source on and off in 2Hz or 1Hz frequency.

6. Battery

Usually two AAA alkalescence batteries

Colin Yao

New release of Realtek HD Audio Drivers R1.87

Download: Realtek HD Audio Drivers R1.87
Download: Realtek HD Audio Drivers R1.87 dla Windows 2000/XP/2003
Download: Realtek HD Audio Drivers R1.87 dla Windows Vista

“We’ve reached out to a few sources to find out what’s going on. Here’s what we know, starting with the most recent information gleaned from a source close to the HD DVD camp. Surprisingly, our source tells us that exit plans for HD DVD were already in the works before the Netflix announcement this past week. The loss of Warner Brothers demoralized the HD DVD camp, and when it was clear that deep price cuts weren’t going to give HD DVD a second wind, the writing was on the wall. The only question, pre-Netflix announcement, was how to gracefully shutdown while liquidating existing product. Now that retailers and rental joints have turned their back publicly on the format, there’s nothing graceful about the shutdown plans. There’s little face to save on the consumer side.”

Read more at Ars Technica

Microsoft’s attempt to give Vista’s popularity a shot in the arm back in 2006 appears to have resulted in a shot in the foot.

As of last Friday, a class-action lawsuit against the company is moving forward, according to The Associated Press. The company is being accused of, during the ‘06 holiday season, slapping “Windows Vista Capable” stickers on PCs that would only be capable of running the most rudimentary version of the then-forthcoming OS, Vista Home Basic.

The lawsuit was filed last April in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The original suit noted that “the amount in controversy exceeds $5 million and that the size of the class likely exceeds 10,000 people,” according to the IDG News Service.

In Friday’s ruling, U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman certified the class action suit but whittled down the scope of the original version “to focus primarily on whether Microsoft’s ‘Vista Capable’ labels created artificial demand for computers during the 2006 holiday shopping season, and inflated prices for computers that couldn’t be upgraded to the full-featured version of Vista, which was released at the end of January 2007,” The Associated Press reports.

The Home Basic edition of the OS certainly doesn’t deliver the Vista experience users were likely anticipating. For starters, it’s incapable of running Aero, Vista’s flashy UI. In fact, if you take a look at Microsoft’s comparison of the different flavors of Vista, you’ll see that this low-end variant of the OS can’t do much of anything.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, some of the most damning testimony against its alleged practice comes from within the company itself, according to Computerworld: “An unnamed employee wrote in an e-mail, for example, ‘Even a piece of junk will qualify’ to be called Windows Vista Capable. And Mike Nash, now a corporate vice president for Windows product management, wrote in an email message, ‘I PERSONALLY got burnt…Are we seeing this from a lot of customers?…I now have a $2,100 e-mail machine.’”

As of Friday, Microsoft was still reviewing the judge’s ruling. Back in April, however, Microsoft spokesperson Jack Evans defended the company’s actions saying that Microsoft “conducted a broad effort to educate computer manufacturers, retailers, and consumers about the hardware requirements to run different versions of Windows Vista,” according to the IDG News Service.

Whether or not Microsoft successfully fights the lawsuit, the whole case exemplifies to me just how much of a power-hog Vista is compared to XP. Machines released in late 2006, emblazoned with “Windows Vista Capable” stickers, lack the resources to run a useful version of the OS. On top of that, hardware vendors such as HP and Dell found it challenging – if not impossible – to build machines that complied with the Energy Star 4.0 specification and ran Vista well (i.e. beyond the bare minimum capabilities of Home Basic).

Beyond the impact this stunt has on customers’ bank accounts, it certainly doesn’t have eco-friendly ramifications. End-users who bought those machines and still want to run Vista will either have to upgrade their hardware themselves or, more likely, purchase new, more powerful machines. Either approach is pretty wasteful. And I can’t help but wonder just how many otherwise useful machines we’ll see retired before their time if Microsoft moves forward with its plans to prematurely pull the plug on XP and foist Vista on customers?

Source: weblog.infoworld.com

When you try to install an update from Windows Update on a computer that is running Windows Vista, you may receive the following message:
configuring updates stage 3 of 3. 0% complete
After you receive this message, the computer reverts to the screen that displays the same message. Additionally, the update is not installed successfully, and the computer restarts.

To resolve this problem, use the following methods in the order in which they are presented.

Method 1: Start Windows Vista by using the Windows installation media, and then select the “Repair your computer” option
Method 2: Start the computer in safe mode, and then use the Repair or System Restore feature
Method 3: Rename the Pending.xml file, and then edit the registry

See more …

Santa Clara (CA) - Nvidia will be launching its next-gen 9-series graphics cards tomorrow, February 21. Reviews of the sub-$200 cards are scheduled to surface at 8 am EDT and we will get a better idea why we should care about Nvidia’s new volume enthusiast card.

Graphics enthusiast will get plenty of reading material for breakfast when all major hardware review sites will be dishing out the news and numbers about the GeForce 9600 GT. We just received confirmation from Nvidia partners that they are good to go with their mainstream part, which is designed to make Nvidia?s G92 technology a bit more affordable.

At least for now, the “Nvidia delays this and that” stories should be put to rest. Of course, the high-end GeForce 9800 GX2 remains a different story.

The GeForce 9600GT will continue the debates on Internet forums with questions whether the G9x architecture translates into the GeForce 8 or 9 series - and why Nvidia continues to confuse its customers. In 2008, it seems, the trend is to put two product numbers on one product (and its variations). The G92 is used in 8800GT, GTS 512 MB and 9800GX2 cards, while the G94 is used for the 9600GT.

The G94 is still a DirectX 10.0, which means deferred rendering engines will have issues with MSAA.

Depending on the vendor, 9600 GT cards will be priced between $169 and $189.

TG Daily

Microsoft’s recent pattern may signal that the XP service pack release is imminent.

Two weeks after it last handed a new build of Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) to several thousand invitation-only testers, Microsoft Corp. has posted that version for public downloading.

“We’re broadening the availability of the release candidate in order to receive further user feedback prior to the release of Windows XP SP3,” a company spokeswoman said in an e-mail Tuesday afternoon. Windows XP SP3 RC2 became publicly available last night. (Read PC World’s initial impressions of this service pack.)

On Feb. 7, Microsoft seeded Release Candidate 2 (RC2) with the 15,000 or so testers who had been working with SP3 for several months. At that time, the company said nothing about taking the version public.

This is just the second time that all Windows XP users have had the chance to try out SP3, the last scheduled major update to the six-year-old operating system. The only other public posting was of SP3 RC in December.

Microsoft, however, followed precedence Tuesday. Earlier this year, it did the same thing – sent code to its beta testers, then released it to all comers – during the run-up to finalizing Windows Vista Service Pack 1. In fact, although Microsoft has stuck to the vague schedule of delivering XP SP3 some time in the first half of 2008, Vista’s pattern may signal that the XP service pack release is imminent.

Microsoft seeded the RC Refresh build of Vista SP1 on Jan. 11, then two days later posted it for public download. Twenty-two days later, it called a wrap on SP1, saying the code had met its RTM (release to manufacturing) criteria.

Another Vista indictor – the posting of revised release notes just days before SP1 went RTM – may also hint at XP SP3 be finished sooner rather than later. Tuesday, Microsoft published the first version of the XP SP3 release notes to its Web site.

Microsoft said that the SP3 RC2 download would be posted on the Microsoft Download Center. A link to it may also appear on this TechNet page.

Once SP3 ships, the next major milestone for Windows XP is June 30, when the popular operating system is slated to fall off the reseller and retail availability list.

PC World

Mountain View (CA) ? Google is painting a scary scenario about potentially dangerous websites on the Internet: More than 1.3% of all search queries are now directing users to at least one malware site ? and only seven out of ten threats are caught by the best security applications available today.

Google limited its research (PDF) to pages that contain so-called drive-by download web pages, which are installing and running malware on client PCs without user action. According to the company, such drive-by downloads are now hiding in more than 3.4 million URLs on more than 181,000 web sites. The research results also suggest that more and more search results provided by Google point to malware sites: While less than 0.3% of search queries contained a link to at least one malware site one year ago, the rate has gone up to about 1.3% at the end of the year.

From the top 1 million web site addresses listed in search results, Google found about 6000 to be malicious ? which means that, on average, 0.6% of the most popular web pages in Google search can lead to malware exposure. The most popular malicious web page has a rank of 1588 of 1 million. Most malware sites (67%) are hosted in China, followed by sites in the U.S. (15%), Russia (4%), Malaysia (2.2%) and Korea (2.0%).

The company’s researchers also found that antivirus software may not be sophisticated enough to reliably protect users from web threats: Google found a 70% malware detection rate for the best anti-virus engine with the latest set of definitions. “These results are disturbing as they show that even the best anti-virus engines in the market fail to cover a significant fraction of web malware,” the reports states.

“Merely avoiding the dark corners of the Internet” will not protect users from malware exposure, Google believes. State-of-the-art anti-virus engines are lacking in their ability to protect against drive-by downloads. While this is to be expected, it does call for more elaborate defense mechanisms to curtail this rapidly increasing threat.

Google said it examined about 66.5 million URLs for this report.

Microsoft Outlook is an email client (Mail User Agent to some) which I’m sure you know what it does. If not, let me try to explain it as simply as possible. Email clients are programs or application’s which retrieves emails from the web server and downloads it onto your desktop.

Now with that out of the way, did you know that you can lose your mails because of your email client? This is a big deal as email is now a large part of communication both in the corporate world and the private/home user.

How can you lose your emails?

When you use email clients, you risk losing your email just like any other data on your desktop. Here is a list:

- Virus attack
- Corrupted partitions/volumes
- Deletion/Format
- Hard Disk Crash
- Theft/natural disaster

In Microsoft Outlook versions 2003, 2002, 98 and 97, once Outlook’s PST file size goes above 2gb, your emails, or rather, the PST file, gets corrupted.

- PST corruption

Installation of anti-virus/anti-spyware

Prevention of viruses, spyware and basically all malware is important as they cause your system and programs to become sluggish, unstable and perform undesirable operations.

And since when you use Microsoft outlook, your emails will get affected as the mails on the server gets downloaded onto your computer.

- Install anti-virus/anti-spyware and update frequently

Anti-virus/anti-spyware is available widely and should often be updated for the latest updates and patches.

Use it to scan you computer, and to scan ALL emails if they contain attachments.

Never download anything directly to your computer unless you are certain of the reliability and credibility of its source.

For a detailed view of how to remove viruses, refer to this article on removing viruses

Backup

The most reliable way to prevent the loss of your Outlook emails is to backup your PST file. To do this, simply copy your PST to another storage media (such as your thumb drive) or another drive on the same computer.

The PST file can be found by simply opening the search function (go to start menu and you can find the search function there) and copy and paste this term into the search box ” .pst ” without the double quotes.

Wait for the search finish. The default .pst file name is outlook.pst. Then just copy and paste the .pst file onto your backup media. Backup frequently, as you may never know when the outlook files (or any other important files for that matter) gets accidentally deleted, formatted or corrupted.

Computer Maintenance

Although this should already part of your routine, it bears reminding again. You should maintain your system by defragmenting, running scandsk and so on. This is basic maintenance for your computer as it can help prevent file system problems. It also enables your system to run smoothly and prevent system slowdown.

Here is a slew of other maintenance tips for you to look into

Outlook housekeeping

Yes, even in outlook, you need to do some basic maintenance. This is done to prevent your .PST file from getting corrupted.

Before outlook 2003 (and in earlier versions of outlook 2003), the .PST file limit was set at 2GB. If the .PST file size exceeded this limit, it would be very difficult, if at all possible, to retrieve any data from the .PST file as it would get corrupted.

When you are doing housekeeping, you are trying to keep this limit down and at the same time, helps in organising you mails so that they are easier to retrieve when you need to read them again.

How do you do that? Simple.

Delete all the old mails that you do not need, and remember to empty the trash. Categorise all your mails accordingly. For example, all your work folders should be in a separate folder from you personal emails and so on.

Create a NEW pst file

Another way to keep control of your PST file size is to create another .PST file. Of course, don’t create a new .PST file for the sake of creating one.

Have separate .PST files for business and personal mails. To create this a new .PST file, simply open outlook and follow these steps:

1.Go to File menu, to New, and then click Outlook Data File

2. In the next window, you should see two options. Simply choose Office Outlook Personal Folders file. In Outlook 2003, there is an option to increase compatibility with older outlook versions, choose the Outlook 97-2002 Personal Folders File option. Click Ok

3. Then choose an appropriate location to save your new .PST in. Choose a location, and the type in the filename of your new .PST file.

And there you have it. A new .PST file, all ready for use.

In actual fact, prevention of lost Outlook mails is not hard. However, you need to be constantly maintaining your system and backing up your mails which take up precious time. It is a necessary step to take to prevent you from losing all your precious emails.

Suhaimi Baruddin is currently employed as a writer, designer,researcher and data recovery engineer at Adroit Data Recovery Centre’s laboratory, which is located in Singapore’s Science Hub.
With the necessary tools, parts and experience, ADRC strives to spread the word about data recovery, and help people recover data which means so much to them.

Adroit Data Recovery Centre Pte Ltd

In order to expand your World of warcraft character to its greatest potential, you are going to need plenty of gold. There is no getting away from the fact that leveling up your character, their professions and their equipment costs an awful lot of gold and for the vast majority of wow players this involves investing a great deal of time. Not only does this reap small rewards but it also costs a great deal of money because time spent in game means money spent on subscriptions. It is possible to purchase gold online but this is not only costly but you also risk having your account shut by Blizzard for breaking their terms and conditions.

Gold Secrets is a guide on how to make vast amounts of gold with the smallest amount of effort, all of it done in a completely legitimate way meaning you will never risk having your account shut down. Months and even years have been spent playing wow and learning all the secrets behind earning gold as well as all the best places to visit to find the most expensive equipment drops. Hundreds of the best players on wow have given their expertise to Gold Secrets on how best to make money which has all been included in the guide. Once you have the information, you will realize how easy it is to make up to 200 gold per hour with the least effort, leaving you more time to simply enjoy the quests and spend time with your friends.

http://www.squidoo.com/wowgoldsecret

Several artists are experimenting with offering new releases on USB devices packed with extras like videos and ringtones.

NEW YORK (Billboard) - When the Mars Volta put out its latest album, “The Bedlam in Goliath,” in January, the act gave its hardcore fans an option that is becoming increasingly popular – and creative.

Instead of a CD or digital version of the Universal album, fans could buy a $30 USB drive designed like a Ouija board planchette. The device comes with a digital-rights-management-free version of the album and the promise of more bonus materials in coming months. Users simply plug it into their computer’s USB drive and then listen to the album or download it into their music library.

The Mars Volta joins a growing number of recording artists who have experimented with USB releases in recent months, among them Jennifer Lopez, Ringo Starr and Matchbox Twenty.

More are expected in coming months. Austin-based All Access, the company behind USB releases from Matchbox Twenty and Starr, has signed deals with EMI, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group to make USB bracelets for other artists.

“The selling point to the labels is a really good one – it’s a marriage between merchandise and music so that people will at least buy it instead of stealing it because they want the merchandise,” All Access CEO Chris Guggenheim said. “It’s the only for-sure non-stolen product.”
Higher Manufacturing Costs

At this point, the releases are offered more as collectibles to build fan loyalty than as sources of revenue.

The cost of putting an album out on a USB drive is pricier than releasing it on a CD, partly because bands aren’t placing bulk orders and partly because flash drives cost more than discs. Guggenheim said that bracelets generally cost $5 to $7 per unit. But costs can rise to $17 per unit or more for flash drives with more memory and other additions.

Universal doesn’t expect to make money on the 2,000 USB units it put out for the Mars Volta release or on the 2,000 USB units it will put out for Erykah Badu’s February 26 release, “Nu AmErykah,” Universal senior vice president of digital business development Cameo Carlson said.

But it does expect to keep fans connected to both acts. Those who buy the Mars Volta USB stick get a new extra on the 29th of each month, ranging from bonus tracks to wallpaper. Badu will create new bonus features throughout the year for those who buy “Nu AmErykah” on USB.

“It’s not for everybody,” Carlson said. “It’s for the hardcore fan that wants tons of pictures, who really wants something more and the opportunity to get new stuff every month.”

For bands, USB drives offer a cooler way to get their music to fans in a souvenir package that fans can wear or carry with them, giving the band free promotion.

Starr wore a wristband containing his latest album, “Liverpool 8,” to the Grammy Awards, getting attention for the release that a CD jewel case certainly wouldn’t. Guggenheim said that about one wristband is sold for every three CDs of Starr’s album.

In October, Matchbox Twenty released its latest album, “Exile on Mainstream,” on USB bracelets, putting out an initial 25,000 units. Manager Michael Lippman said that “tens of thousands” have been sold.
Room For Extras

“USB is going to be the future,” Lippman said. “You don’t have to download it on a computer, you put it in and it comes up, (and) there’s plenty of room to add additional material.”

Some indie bands have turned to USB drives for releases because they can order fewer units and spend less money than they would for an order of 1,000 CDs, said Ed Donnelly, president of Los Angeles-based Aderra, which makes drives for Barenaked Ladies, Jars of Clay and indie bands like Los Angeles’ Killola. Acts can place orders for as few as 100 USB drives preloaded with their album and other goodies.

Along with the songs from the album, Matchbox Twenty included its first video, behind-the-scenes footage, pictures and an Internet link to the band’s site.

Based on the success of its album sales on USB, the band is selling bracelets of its live show at concerts during its current tour. All Access replicates the bracelets after a concert in minutes. The bracelets are quickly sent to the merchandising booths, where fans can buy a recording of the show they just saw as they leave. Each bracelet costs the same as one of the band’s concert T-shirts.

Barenaked Ladies, considered the pioneers of USB releases, put out “Barenaked on a Stick” in 2005, a 128 MB flash drive loaded with 29 previously released songs plus videos and other content. The band followed it up with souvenir flash drives at its 2006 concerts in support of “Barenaked Ladies Are Me.” The concert USB keys came loaded with the new album, live tracks, ringtones and videos for $25.

Willie Nelson, Jars of Clay and the Black Crowes also have sold USB bracelets at concerts.

Bands typically sell the drives to 5 percent of their audience at a show, depending on how tech-savvy the crowd is.

Reuters/Billboard

I had a bunch of people internally ask me why Windows Server shows it’s version as Windows Server 2008 SP1 (for brevity - WS08). I will explain it, but I wanted to use the Writer feature that allows me to insert pictures. Who says anything beyond notepad is a waste of time. Actually, that’s me usually…

The history here goes back to problems we had form the split we had when we broke Windows XP from Windows Server 2003 (WS03) way back in 2000.

At the time we had Windows 2000 (Win2k) out in the market & it was being very well received. Especially on the client side which was doing well with corporate desktops. At the same time in the consumer side, we had Windows ME. I never worked on WinME, I have never installed it, & I know nothing about it except what people have told me. “I removed what i really think. If you meet me, feel free to ask".

Mid 2000, we had a combined release on the rails but the pressure to do a client release for consumer got high. So we forked WinXP from what was to become WS03. On one side, I think we did exactly the right thing. We met the dates required from OEMs for WinXP & closed down the server release in exactly the right way. I believe the longevity of WS03 in market was because we did a load of right things in the end game. I sill think what we knew when we released WinXP in august 2001 it was a great product. It’s just that the world changed 2 weeks later…

One aside here - in WS03 we created the Security Development Lifecycle & ran the first one in early 2002. For WinXP we did it for SP2. I’ve always believe WinXP sp2 was equivalent to a full release of Windows. I really had nothing to do with SP2 - Todd Wanke who had worked for me on WS03 ran it & his main dude on SP2, Mark Harris, came to work for me after that on WS03 R2. None of this security stuff was fun when we first did it. I have always believed it was a 10 year job & 6 years on, i still think so. It is a cultural change that had to go very deep.

Anyway, back to the story. This meant that WinXP & WS03 were totally divergent codebases. They had to have separate patches, GDRs, Service packs blah blah blah. The matrix of releases became a nightmare.

After WS03, I took my sabbatical & moved to Server. We looked at what was happening, realized we had some stuff that we wanted earlier than Longhorn was going to be released & decided to do WS03 R2. That was a different type of release because we had a rule that if you were changing something in the core (ie in what had already shipped), it had to come in via a service pack - you can’t go changing stuff willy nilly. So changes fro WS03 that required core changes were made in advance in WS03 SP1.

At the same time other people wanted to get the client out earlier than server. …again. So the folks doing Vista closed the client release down. My guys ran server as a project kinda on the side until Vista released. After that, Alex Hinrichs along with the servicing folks drove the WS08 release out.

This means the that the Service Packs are shared, that patches get released at the same time, etc etc. I believe it is incredibly simplified for customers. The other thing is the servicing stack is now smart enough to not download stuff you don’t need. This means if you have a Vista system & the service pack has fixes to Active directory, the Vista system does not get the directory update downloaded to them. Vice versa - if there was ever the need for a fix to media player (shock horror, who ever heard of the need to fix security issues there), you don’t get it on server unless you install the Desktop Experience pack.

So, it’s called SP1 - in retrospect i should just say its called that so you don’t have to wait for SP1 for it to be right like people have before. The first Service Pack for WS08 will be called SP2.

Finally, I am looking forward to the launch in LA on Feb 27. It’ll be awesome.
http://www.heroeshappenhere.com

blog:iainmcdonald

Spider Solitaire ( www.spider-solitaire-download.com ) is one of the most popular solitaire card games in the world. It is often named Classic Solitaire Game and “the King of all solitaires".

Spider Solitaire is a lot of fun and has to be learned like any game. At first glance, this challenging and time-consuming game seems to be too complicated. But spider solitaire is a very easy game to play once you get the hang of it.

Not every game of Spider Solitaire can be won, but you have a better chance of winning if you plan your strategy carefully. Below you will find several simple rules that can increase your chances of winning Spider Solitaire.

1. Build sequences of cards by following suit
Whenever you have a choice, prefer building in suit ("natural builds"). Natural build may be moved as a unit to be built elsewhere. This allows you to expose a hidden face down card, which you may now turn over, or expose an empty pile.

2. Try to expose hidden cards whenever possible
Uncovering hidden cards leads to a new set of possible moves. Besides, it is a way to get empty pile.

3.Try to make empty piles as early as possible
Move cards from tableaus that have fewer cards. Use empty piles as temporary storage when rearranging cards sequences into ?natural? builds as far as possible. Move cards to empty spaces to turn over more cards.

4. Build on higher cards first
Among the “out of suit” builds, start with those of highest rank. The reason for this is apparent. You can not move ?out of suit? build as a unit to another pile. So this build is of no use except as a temporary storage for cards from other piles. If we start with low card, the build will be finished with an Ace very quickly and then it will be useless. Starting from higher cards allows us to get maximum advantage from it.

5. Get as many cards exposed and arranged in suit order as possible before dealing the next 10 cards from the stock
Otherwise your chances of winning are significantly reduced.

6. As soon as you remove a suit, arrange the remaining cards into “natural builds”
Use empty piles as temporary storage when rearranging cards.

Spend some time practicing this strategy and soon you will find yourself beating Spider Solitaire faster and more often.

By: Boris Sandberg

Do you know what to look for in anti-virus software? You just bought yourself a new computer! Can’t wait to get it out of the box. Maybe you have had a computer before and maybe this is your second or third computer. And, you don’t want to have all those problems you hear about.

This is the time to think ahead and go for a positive online experience. You should realize that while you are unpacking your new machine, there are people all over the world who are plotting to spoil your computer with maliscious, well-thought out plans. Your computer will endure attacks moments after you go online. This is why we all have to use antivirus protection. You and I just have no choice.

The single most important program on your computer is your anti virus program. And, it should be a really good one. Everything on your computer, from your valuable software, your work, to your personal financial records is constantly at risk. I will explain some of the features you should look for in anti-virus software.

Most of us make our choice on price alone. That is, after we use the product that comes with our computers. This is not the way to choose something so important. You need to look at several products before making your decision. Look at your available options. Start with the anti virus software that came with your PC. You can get started by getting that software up and running. Don’t try to postpone using anti-virus software.

After a period of time, your software needs updated. While you are online, your software should be allowed to make daily updates. It is very important to make the first update as soon as your new computer is online for the first time. It is very likely there have been a lot of new threats and viruses introduced since the computer left the factory. Updating the software is the best way to keep your computer protected against these new online dangers.

As you use the software that came with your new computer, it is a good idea to make a list of what you like ? and don?t like ? about it.

Is it easy to update?

Is it user friendly?

Is it easy to see any problems?

Does the software notify you if the update could not be completed?

Are updates made available on a daily basis?

Now, you have a basis for establishing what to look for in anti-virus software. Read all you can online to get even more information. Some anti virus companies make their software available in trial versions, so be sure to check out a number of different products before deciding which one best suits your needs. Some of the best is free, without a trial. Take some time to get the best protection you can for your computer. And, periodically back up your files. A little planning can make your computer experience an enjoyable experience.

By: Alton Hargrave

All our hopes and dreams have been recognised.

You all remember that American spy satellite that was headed for earth at an alarming rate? Well, you might remember, we at Toms UK and IRL were all for the missile approach. Shoot the thing down and be done with it.

The satellite was expected to hit Earth in the first week of March and at first officials were saying that everything would be alright. Most of the Satellite would burn up on re-entry and that was that. “But, what about the bits that don’t” people asked. We were assured that there was nothing to worry about. There?s so much ocean around that the likelihood anything would hit land would be very slim.

Then, news came about that it might hit North America and everything got a bit serious [a wise man (we’ll call him Dave for arguments sake) once said, “what goes around, comes around” -Ed]

The satellite is outfitted with thrusters containing toxic rocket fuel. Hydrazine is a bit dangerous and can cause harm to anyone who comes into contact with it. Officials say there is about 500kg (1000 pounds) of it on the satellite.

Yesterday, President George Bush ordered that an attempt be made to shoot down the satellite with a Navy missile.

Basically they’ve modified some Navy missiles, which they’re going to shoot from a cruiser. However, they have no way of knowing if the missiles will make it to the satellite.

It has yet to be revealed when the attempt to take out the big piece of junk will take place but General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the window for opportunity would open in the next few days and once open, would last for about a week.

Pentagon officials have said that they?re not quite sure as to how successful this kind of operation could be as it’s the first of its kind.

Watch this space. No pun intended.

tomshardware

Web icon set to be discontinued

Netscape lost ground to Microsoft’s internet Explorer
The browser that helped kick-start the commercial web is to cease development because of lack of users.

Netscape Navigator, now owned by AOL, will no longer be supported after 1 February 2008, the company has said.

In the mid-1990s the browser was used by more than 90% of the web population, but numbers have slipped to just 0.6%.

In particular, the browser has faced competition from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE), which is now used by nearly 80% of all web users.

“While internal groups within AOL have invested a great deal of time and energy in attempting to revive Netscape Navigator, these efforts have not been successful in gaining market share from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer,” said Tom Drapeau on the company’s blog.

Browser wars

Netscape was developed by Marc Andreessen, co-author of Mosaic, the first popular web browser.

Mosaic was written while Mr Andreessen was a student at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois in 1992.

Firefox was created by many of the Navigator developers

After graduation he set up Netscape Communications Corporation and began development of the Navigator browser. The first version was released in 1994.

It was quickly a success and dominated the browser market in the mid-1990s.

But other companies followed its success, notably Microsoft, which bundled its Explorer software with its operating systems.

This culminated in a highly-publicised legal battle, which saw Microsoft accused of anti-competitive behaviour.

Although the settlement saw Netscape gain many concessions from Microsoft including the ability to exploit IE code, it has been unable to gain back its market share.

The demise of Navigator was compounded in 2003 when AOL, which bought Netscape in 1998, made redundant most of the staff working on new versions of the browser.

Many of the staff moved to the Mozilla Foundation which develops the popular Firefox browser. This browser has a 16% share of the browser market.

Fade away

Although a core team has continued to work on the secure browser - it is currently on version nine - AOL has decided to finally pull the plug.

“After 1 February, there will be no more active product support for Navigator nine, or any previous Netscape Navigator browser,” wrote Mr Drapeau.

“We feel it’s the right time to end development of Netscape branded browsers, hand the reins fully to Mozilla and encourage Netscape users to adopt Firefox,” he said.

Users of the browser will no longer receive security or software updates after the date.

Old versions of the browser will still be available for download, but will no longer be supported.

Microsoft is expected to launch a new version of IE in 2008, whilst the third version of Firefox is currently available as a beta, or test version.

BBC

Mozilla releases the third beta of Firefox 3, eight weeks after it made the last major milestone for its open-source browser.

Mozilla Corp. released the third beta of Firefox 3 Wednesday, eight weeks after it made the last major milestone for its open-source browser, and right on a schedule it set a dozen days ago.

Mike Beltzner, Mozilla’s interface designer, touted additions and enhancements to Beta 3 in a post to the company’s Web site Tuesday, touting several new or enhanced security features, an improved download manager, one-click bookmarking, offline application support, faster page rendering and new progress on plugging the browser’s noted “memory leaks.”

Not Ready for Prime Time

As he has previously, Beltzner discouraged casual users from trying the new code. “We do not recommend that anyone other than developers and testers download the Firefox 3 Beta 3 milestone release,” he said. “It is intended for testing purposes only.”

Mozilla has already committed to at least one more beta before Firefox is allowed to move on to release candidate stage. A week and a half ago, however, Beltzner declined to set a release schedule for the next beta, saying then only that: “Our goal is to do a quick turnaround on Firefox 3 Beta 4.”

More Than 1,300 Changes in Beta

In its release notes, Mozilla trumpeted the fact that Beta 3 includes more than 1,300 changes made since mid-December’s Beta 2, and boasted that its developers had also plugged over 50 new memory leaks in the last eight weeks.

Firefox has long been criticized by users for consuming increasing amounts of memory the longer it remains open, to the point where the browser hinders overall performance on the computer. The company made leak-plugging a top priority, particularly after a member of the Mozilla board of directors said late last year that memory problems would make it tough to compete in the mobile browser market.

Firefox 3 Beta 3 also uses an XPCOM cycle collector that, said Mozilla, “completely eliminates many more [leaks].” The cycle collector, which periodically checks memory usage and tries to free any unused memory, has been in play since last summer, but as Beta 3 development has proceeded, more of its code has been written, or rewritten, to support the collector.

One noted addition to Firefox 3, however, is still buggy. Places, a souped-up bookmarking and browser history management tool that was once slated for Firefox 2, does not yet allow users to shuffle bookmarks by dragging and dropping. According to notes from a Tuesday Firefox 3 status meeting, Places is stuck.

“Cannot drag-and-drop items across different views/menus,” the notes read. “This is blocking on resolution of platform bug 389931, which is a P1 [Priority 1 – Ed.] blocker regression from the thread manager rewrite, and seemingly unowned (no response from owner since July 2007). This is the cause of much weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Firefox 3 Beta 3 can be downloaded for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux in 32 languages from Mozilla’s site.

Gregg Keizer, Computerworld

Chertsey (UK) - Electronic Arts has set a launch date for Spore, the anticipated computer and Nintendo DS game from “Sims” creator Will Wright.

Spore was first announced a couple years ago, and is the first major project for Wright since his phenomenal success with the Sims franchise.

It allows players to create their own creatures, their own environments, and even their own planets. The goal of the game is to successfully manage a universe through five phases of evolution.

The game will launch simultaneously on PC, Mac, Nintendo DS, and mobile phone platforms, on September 7.

Last year, Electronic Arts announced a partnership with TransGaming to use the Cider Portability Engine as a way to more quickly port PC games to the Mac platform. Since then, EA has released several titles on both formats simultaneously, getting rid of huge delays that previously plagued the Mac community.

Attacks against just-patched PDF bugs may come from infected Web ads
Attackers have been exploiting one of the recently-revealed vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader for at least three weeks, security researchers said today, with one estimating the infection count at “many thousands” so far.

On Tuesday, Adobe Systems Inc. acknowledged that its popular PDF viewer sported several flaws, and patched them that same day. However, it has yet to spell out the exact number or nature of the bugs.

But one of those vulnerabilities has been actively exploited since at least Jan. 20, said researchers at the SANS Institute’s Internet Storm Center (ISC) and VeriSign Inc.’s iDefense unit. According to Raul Siles, an analyst with ISC, a malicious PDF (Portable Document Format) file has been spreading a Trojan horse from a server based in the Netherlands. The first evidence of the attack, said Siles, came in a Jan. 20 message on an Italian message forum from a user who noted that three of his PCs had been infected, and the attack was traced back to the Dutch IP address.

Siles quoted e-mail he received from iDefense researchers, who said that the malware, a variation of the “Zonebac” Trojan horse, disables a slew of antivirus programs and modifies search results and banner ads.

On Friday, iDefense issued three security advisories that provided more information about some of the vulnerabilities that Adobe patched last week. Crediting iDefense researcher Greg MacManus with finding and reporting the bugs last September and October, the advisories said that the vulnerabilities were in Adobe Reader’s handling of JavaScript and in how it refers to libraries that provide encryption and signature verification.

One of the two advisories that cited JavaScript flaws said there were “multiple stack-based buffer overflows in JavaScript methods” within Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat, a more advanced application that sells for $299 and up. “Exploitation of these vulnerabilities would allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code as the current user,” the iDefense advisory said.

The Jan. 20 attack mentioned on the Italian forum exploited one of those JavaScript vulnerabilities. Presumably, the proof-of-concept exploit that Immunity Inc. researcher Kostya Kortchinsky crafted last week also took advantage of one of the iDefense-reported stack overflows. Immunity labeled the revised, fully-functional exploit as “JavaScript Stack Overflow” when it released it to CANVAS Early Updates subscribers on Thursday.

Symantec Corp. weighed in as well when one of its researchers, Hon Lau, said that the attacks in progress might have originated from malicious ads on hacked sites or from compromised legitimate sites that redirected users to a rigged PDF file via JavaScript or an iFrame. Attackers may also try to trick users into opening PDF files attached to spam, he added.

Although Lau did not cite specific figures, he put the victim tally as “many thousands” and warned users to patch Adobe Reader and Acrobat promptly. “It appears that this PDF-based attack has been quite successful affecting many thousands of users throughout the world,” Lau said on the Symantec security blog Saturday.

Lau also speculated that details of the vulnerabilities had leaked before Adobe could patch them. “While it appears that the vulnerabilities were disclosed in a responsible manner, i.e. [the] vendor was informed and allowed to patch before official announcement, the swiftness of the exploit appearing in the wild could suggest that leaks had occurred,” Lau maintained.

On Thursday, Adobe added a security advisory to its Web site, but the new alert did not provide any additional details on the vulnerabilities it had patched. In the advisory, Adobe credited iDefense’s MacManus, as well as researchers at Google Inc., Fortinet Inc., 3Com Inc.’s TippingPoint unit and Security-Assessment.com, a New Zealand-based security consultancy, for reporting the bugs.

The new Reader 8.1.2, which can be downloaded from the Adobe Web site or retrieved using the updater bundled with Reader, targets Windows and Mac OS X users. Adobe does not yet have a patched Version 7 of the application, but it said one would be made available at some point.

Computerworld

Redmond (WA) - Microsoft beta testers and volume licensing customers are getting early access the Vista SP1: The service pack is now available via the manufacturer?s Volume License Services (MLVS), according to several reports published today.

Kurt Shintaku was first to report the availability of Windows Vista SP1 RTM to volume customers via download from Microsoft. According to the website, x86 and x64 versions have become available today. A post in Neowin.net’s forums indicates that beta testers may have had even earlier access with the SP1 RTM release carrying a February 6 release date.

The official release comes somewhat as a surprise, as Microsoft previously indicated that it will delay the rollout a few weeks, apparently to give hardware vendors time to adjust their products to the new software and, if necessary, to provide new drivers.

“The key learning over the last year is that when we change the operating system, it takes time to let the ecosystem make sure that the hardware and software that they build works well with Windows Vista,” wrote product manager Mike Nash on the Vista team blog.

Microsoft said it will not be offering the online update to end-users until Vista SP1 PCs are shipping in mid-March.

Source TG Daily

Microsoft’s newly released Service Pack 1 may solve some of the performance glitches that have annoyed Windows Vista users and discouraged others from adopting the OS, but it doesn’t appear from our initial tests to be a panacea.

In our first tests of the service pack, file copying, one of the main performance-related complaints from Vista users, was significantly faster. But other tests showed little improvement and in two tests, our experience was actually a little better without the service pack installed than with it.

Service Pack 1 was released to manufacturing yesterday, and officially sent out to reviewers today (Service Pack 1 was also unofficially unleashed today on BitTorrent, too). Service Pack 1 will be available to users in March, as a download; Microsoft plans to have SP1 integrated into Windows Vista at retail as well, but could not give a timeline on how quickly the update will be included in the retail version of Vista.

We’ve already covered many aspects of SP1 in previous looks at the initial SP1 beta last fall, and the more recent SP1 Release Candidate that became available in January. A quick recap: Though many of SP1’s benefits lie hidden within the bowels of the OS (such as support for standards like Extensible Firmware Interface and Extended File Allocation Table), SP1 is packed with performance enhancements as well. According to Microsoft, more tangible improvements include improved performance when copying, compressing, and extracting files, improved boot and power down times, improved network performance, and other performance-related fixes.

I took the RTM of Vista Service Pack SP1 down to the PC World Test Center this afternoon and unleashed it across a variety of systems to see how it performed. These tests are preliminary and informal ones; the PC World Test Center is working on additional testing, and we’ll post additional information–and update this story–as it comes available.

Service Pack 1: Installation

For my installation and file copy tests, I installed Service Pack 1 on a fairly high-end system: Polywell’s $4000 Poly P3503-3DT, a model packed with a 3-GHz Core 2 Extreme QX6850 CPU, 4GB of memory, and Windows Vista Ultimate Edition.

The first thing I noticed during the installation process was Windows Vista’s friendly warning that the installation might take an hour or more. My experience was, pleasantly, far from that: The installation process required just 27 minutes, less than half of what I experienced with the first beta of SP1 back in September 2007. Your experience may vary greatly, depending upon your system’s configuration, though: A Dell Inspiron 1420 notebook (with 2.2-GHz Core 2 Duo T7500 CPU and 2GB of memory) required just 30 minutes to complete; but two other, less powerful systems took far longer to complete the installation.

SP1 required three reboots in all. During a good portion of the installation time, about 18 minutes, Vista reported it was just preparing the configuration, before actually proceeding with the installation.

File Copy: Performance Notably Improved

I performed a series of tests before and after installing SP1. The first test was a file copy test, identical to the one I performed on the beta last fall. I did three passes, copying 1.9GB of files (562 JPEG images) from a 2GB Kingston SD Card to the PC.

Pre-SP1, the file copy averaged 384 seconds; post-SP1, the copy process showed a noticeable improvement, averaging just 348 seconds to complete the same task. That’s a 9 percent improvement, a difference you’re likely to notice.

I’m encouraged by that improvement. It’s not life-altering when you’re talking about just 2GB of data, but if the performance improvement holds across larger data sets, that will be a big boon to anyone copying data in the Vista environment.

Some Results Slower

In addition to the file copy test, I timed several passes of system startup and shutdown, with a waiting period of at least five minutes prior to shutdown. Here, I saw virtually no change in the system’s pre-SP1 and post-SP1 performance. Pre-SP1, startup time averaged 58 seconds, and shutdown time averaged 8 seconds. Post-SP1, those times were virtually unchanged: Startup time averaged 55 seconds, while shutdown time averaged 7 seconds.

Finally, on two additional systems, I tried some extra informal tests, to get a feel for whether the performance boosts were pervasive. Both tests–neither of which are conclusive–actually showed the opposite, unfortunately.

The first test was on an Acer VM460-UD2180C system running a 2-GHz Pentium Dual-Core E2180 CPU, 1GB of memory, and Windows Vista Business: In two passes of copying five 500MB files into a .Zip archive using WinZip 10 (a third-party compression app), the pre-Vista SP1 result was actually slightly faster than the post-SP1 result: 372 seconds to 386 seconds.

The second informal test–copying multiple files into a disk image file using Nero 7 Ultra–was on a Gateway GM5632E running a 2.4-GHz Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU, 3GB of memory, and Windows Vista Home Premium. This time around, too, the machine took about 3 percent longer after I installed SP1 than before.

More Testing to Come

Based on my informal tests conducted in the first hours of having Vista Service Pack 1 in hand, it’s hard to draw any hard and fast conclusions. However, these mixed results do show some promise–and also show that your experience with SP1 may vary depending upon the system configuration. Our Test Center will perform further, and more in-depth, testing of Vista Service Pack 1 to determine to what degree Microsoft has succeeded in fixing some of the flaws and frustrations in its operating system.

Source: Melissa J. Perenson, PC World

Mozilla issued 10 patches for its Firefox browser, including three for critical vulnerabilities
Mozilla issued 10 patches on Friday for its Firefox browser, including three for critical vulnerabilities. The latest version of Firefox is now 2.0.0.12. One of the critical vulnerabilities, MFSA 2008-06, is a problem in the way the browser handles images on certain Web pages.

It’s possible to exploit the flaw to steal a person’s Web browsing history, forward that information, then crash the browser. It may also be possible to run arbitrary code on a machine, Mozilla said.

A second critical vulnerability can enable a privilege escalation attack or remote code execution.

The last critical problem involves a memory corruption flaw that “we presume that with enough effort at least some of these could be exploited to run arbitrary code,” Mozilla said.

Also notable is a fix for a problem with Mozilla’s “chrome” protocol, which is the term Mozilla uses for its user interface. The problem involves some of Firefox’s add-ons, or applications that users can download to extend browser functionality.

The vulnerability would let an attacker determine what applications are installed on a person’s PC, which could give clues to how the machine could be compromised, Mozilla said. However, a victim would have to be lured to a special malicious Web page designed to take advantage of the flaw.

Source: infoworld.com

Redmond (WA) ? We knew it was going to happen? Microsoft?s Windows vista Service Pack 1 has already been leaked onto Bittorrent sites around the globe. The release to manufacturing (RTM) version was announced just a few days ago on the Vista team blog, but the software is now available on sites like thepiratebay.org.

File sizes range from 400 to 800 MB and are currently getting hundreds of simultaneous downloads. Judging from the post dates, the files were uploaded within the past few days.

On February 4th, Mike Nash of the Windows Product Management Group posted on the Vista team blog that the service pack had been released to vendors. SP1 should solve many of the problems early Vista buyers have been experiencing including slow file transfers and frequent crashes. ?Copying or moving files around your PC, your home network or your corporate network should now be much faster – up to 50% faster in some scenarios (according to our internal tests),? said Nash.

Nash adds that SP1 will be available through Windows Update in mid-March. Automatic updating will start in April.

Of course thepiratebay.org isn?t new to Vista Service Pack 1 postings. In the past months, beta versions of the pack have received very good traffic from early (brave?) adopters.

Source: TG Daily

New version:

The Sysinternals Troubleshooting Utilities have been rolled up into a single Suite of tools. This file contains the individual troubleshooting tools and help files. It does not contain non-troubleshooting tools like the BSOD Screen Saver or NotMyFault.

More info: Sysinternals Suite
Download: Sysinternals Suite

Chicago (IL) - Over the past several years, we have heard several stories that both Intel and AMD are supporting various BitTorrent search engines and trackers, since these sites actually provide a great evaluation platform of computing platform performance.

It isn?t particularly difficult to imagine why AMD or Intel would support these which in fact receive more traffic than a lot of tier one sites. However, this kind of support is usually kept under wraps, mostly to stay politically correct. In an interesting exception, administrators of IsoHunt.com, one of largest torrent search engines have announced that AMD donated two quad-core processors based on Barcelona core to them.

With a lot of talk about TLB-errata and allegations of instabilities, there is no better way to test various micro-code updates than on highest-load environment such as one on world’s 159th largest website (at least according to alexa.com).

We wish IsoHunt.com crew all the best in stretching AMD’s Quaddie legs.

Source TG Daily

Windows Vista Service Pack One is ready to ship, Microsoft says. PC manufacturers and consumers can expect the update in March. Microsoft has said that SP1 includes Vista OS improvements including reliability, security and performance. For a first look at those improvements read PC World’s review of beta SP1.

Unlike some of the reports and speculation from last week, Vista SP1 is not officially available today. Microsoft said that it will be available to new volume licensing customers beginning March 1. Existing Vista consumers will have to wait until mid-March, Microsoft says, when the download becomes available through Microsoft’s Windows Update Web site. Windows Vista users who have their systems configured to receive automatic updates will get SP1 automatically delivered in mid-April, Microsoft says.

One small catch is that Microsoft will not offer the update to a small subset of Vista PCs that have been found to have “problematic” device drivers. Those drivers, Microsoft says, were not installed properly initially and when Vista SP1 is installed OS problems ensue. For those systems, “if Windows Update determines that the system has one of the drivers we know to be problematic, then Windows Update will not offer SP1,” according to the Windows Vista Team Blog.

No word on how many systems are impacted by this driver flaw. Microsoft says the fix for those systems is to reinstall the driver in question, however does not indicate what software program(s) create the driver problem.

Also over at the team blog, Mike Nash of the Windows Product Management group gets further into everything SP1 is looking to fix, including software compatibility and security. Many of the updates were made as requested by the consumers with the Customer Experience Improvement Program, Online Crash Analysis, and Windows Error Reporting.

Source PcWorld

Markham (ON) - More and more we see graphics cards manufacturers touting the GFLOPs capability of their cards, hinting to the potentially enormous processing power that is hiding in those graphics processors. But those numbers, which recently hit 1 TFLOPs, aren’t exactly comparable with TFLOPs rankings on the Top500.org list, since there are different instructions and there are different ways to calculate these numbers. An example for this dilemma is AMD?s RV670.

Graphics cards manufacturers come up with their peak numbers are derived when GPUs are confronted with the most simple instruction, which can run through all of AMD?s (ATI’s) 320 number-crunching processors and Nvidia’s G80 and G90 all 256 units.

When AMD launched its most recent GPGPU part, the FireStream 9170, there were a few of questions floating around, especially the one about its capability to support the double-precision FP64 format. (AMD’s official product page is located here) The product details for the FireStream 9170:

AMD states that it can achieve a peak of around 500 GFLOPs for single-precision FP32 format. However, with a general demand of double-precision FP64 support in academia and science and AMD’s claim that the new Firestream can support this format, teh obvious question was how quick this card would be.

We spent some time with professors and developers over the past weeks, and heard that they would be perfectly happy if the GPGPU chip would be able to perform DP FP64 calculations 10x slower than FP32, just to be able to have results in double-precision FP64. The potential performance of a multi-GPGPU box would still be a good value for many applications, at least in applications that do not require significant memory amounts only a traditional supercomputer installation can offer.

AMD’s Dave ?Wavey? Baumann (of ex-Beyond3D fame) told us that while AMD’s RV670 chip is supporting double-precision units, it does not feature individual units for FP64, but uses the FP32 units to do FP64 calculations over a number of cycles. And yes, this process takes time. Depending on complexity of operation, the best case scenario is around half the original SP FP32 performance about 250 GFLOPs; in a worst case, the performance should be about a quarter of its FP32 performance ? or about 125 GFLOPs. Dave told us that the chip usually averages out somewhere in between, which is actually quite a feat for a chip that does not feature native FP64 units.

At the end of the day, if you’re running double-precision FP64 on AMD’s FireStream 9170 board, you should expect to get between 100 and 250 GFLOPs (realistically, expect the former number). It will be interesting to see how AMD and Nvidia will implement FP64 handling in near future, but for now, expected performance numbers should prove more than tasty to take the plunge and start development of accelerated applications on GPGPU hardware.

Source TG Daily

Review - Corel is about to release a new version of its ?Draw? graphics suite, which is one of the very few remaining complete graphics suites on the market. Now in its 14th generation, it hasn?t lost its original look and feel and remains the most convincing PC graphics product for ambitious consumers and graphic artists.

Sometimes at the beginning of this decade, just when Corel went through a tough time, the company?s core product somehow lost its appeal. It was Draw that had made Corel famous in the early 90s and it was pretty much Draw that carried the Ottawa-based firm through that decade. But, beginning with version 6, Draw became visibly bloated and Corel looked like it had lost its focus. I personally felt the reasons for an upgrade to a new version were fading and that is why my most current Draw package in use is still v10 (released in 2000).

Version 14, in Corel language ?X4?, has made its way to the Gold Master disc a few weeks ago and I had a chance to take a first look over the past week. Here?s my impression.

What you get

Besides the core product of the graphics suite, the CorelDraw vector graphics software, there?s a new version of the photo editing application Photo Paint, an updated version of the screenshot tool Capture, a new Bitstream font manager (Draw now integrates the font identification tool WhatTheFont), Trace (which converts bitmaps into vector graphics), the Service Bureau Profiler to prepare graphics for professional prints, a Duplexing wizard and a new online collaboration software called ConceptShare. Included are also a font collection and 10,000 clipart images.

If you aren?t familiar with CorelDraw, this package basically delivers a professional vector graphics software that is comparable to Adobe?s Illustrator and comes with basic desktop publishing (DTP) capabilities as well as a consumer-oriented bitmap editing application (Photo Paint) that is not quite as flexible and powerful as Adobe?s Photoshop. I?ll be focusing mostly on CorelDraw in this article, since it is the main reason why users - Corel says that its customer base ranges from design professionals in print and advertising to ?occasional graphics users? - will buy this package.

The full version of CorelDraw Graphics Suite X4 sells for $429 MSRP.

What you don?t get

Up until version 4 (released in 1993), the suite included a fantastic Chart creation application called ?CorelChart?; it is somewhat surprising to me that this software has never been brought back to life since then. A presentation component called ?Show? was also part until version 4 and has been integrated more or less in Draw since then. Draw is an excellent software to create presentations, but interestingly, the new X4 can only import PowerPoint files, but not export into this format.

Also noteworthy is that the DTP software Ventura, which was part of CorelDraw 5, is still sold by Corel as a separate program for $599 (full version). So, if you are interested in creating simple newsletters, Draw is a sufficient solution, but if you are looking for multipage newsletters and more, Ventura or competing software such as Adobe?s InDesign is what you should be looking for.

Click here for see Look and feel of CorelDraw X4, New features

Microsoft-Yahoo combination could reshape Internet landscape; few changes in the short term

A combination of Microsoft and Yahoo could reshape the Internet landscape for millions of Web users: Would the two companies join their online portals? Could they rethink the desktop computer to integrate Web content more directly?

The changes are potentially huge, but probably not in the short term.

Microsoft executives did not indicate Friday exactly what they would do with Yahoo’s brand if their bid, now valued at $42 billion, is accepted. But analysts expect the combined companies to preserve many of their separate free services, like instant-messaging and e-mail programs.

A more likely medium-term change is that some of Microsoft’s Web content could fade away or get added to Yahoo, which has a vast collection of news and features aggregated from other providers.

Microsoft’s Web properties, including its Yahoo-like MSN portal, aren’t exactly slouches: They rank third, trailing only Yahoo and Google, in total visitors. But while Yahoo still is profitable, Microsoft’s online services are a consistent money loser. The MSN search engine is a laggard, even with recent efforts to soup it up under Microsoft’s online umbrella it calls “Live.”

Having Yahoo in its tent could give Microsoft a rationalization for abandoning its unprofitable online elements.

“I think MSN folds into Yahoo,” said Ian Campbell, CEO of Nucleus Research. “It would be foolish to keep that separate.”

Perhaps the biggest change Microsoft and Yahoo could achieve together would be creating a better way to combine the Web and desktop computing _ not to mention cell phones, TVs, cars and any other gadgets that might someday plug into the Internet.

Consumers who access the Web on cell phones and handheld computers might be the first to find something new as a result of a Microsoft-Yahoo combination. Devices that run Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system could be better integrated with Yahoo content and possibly yield new services, like social networking functions.

New ideas will be key to compete with Google’s Web presence. After all, people don’t “Microsoft” or “Yahoo” anything. Microsoft in particular tends to be tolerated more than loved. Google is also leading development of an alternative cell-phone operating system it calls Android.

Eventually, a teamed-up Yahoo and Microsoft might be able to rethink the PC desktop _ where Windows still runs 90 percent of the world’s PCs _ so that Internet data such as stock prices, sports scores and weather are automatically baked in.

“We all have our home page because we have a concept of a home page,” Campbell said. Before long, “we may not have a home page _ it might just be the background of my desktop. There’s no reason why Microsoft can’t push this another level.”

Microsoft might also use Yahoo’s online strengths to galvanize Web-based versions of some of its powerful desktop software applications, like Word and Excel.

Open-source rivals and Google are threatening to bite into Microsoft’s lucrative Office software franchise with free versions of those kinds of “productivity” software. Microsoft is developing Web-based versions of its own, but slowly.

Now Yahoo could be the face through which Microsoft offers those online applications. Perhaps one day a Microsoft-fueled package of “Yahoo Apps” will go up against “Google Apps.”

Even with these possibilities, analyst David Mitchell Smith, a vice president at Gartner Inc., believes the biggest change from a Microsoft-Yahoo deal probably will be the one most Web surfers don’t notice. That will come as the companies try to broaden their ability to deliver ads all over the Internet, wherever it reaches.

It’s necessary because being the most popular online destination _ as Yahoo already is _ is no longer enough. The explosion of blogs, video sites and other user-generated content has made our Internet travels more wide-ranging. As a result, the biggest Internet companies now need their ad networks to reach far beyond their home portals. Google has mastered that. Microsoft and Yahoo have not.

“I think that’s really what it’s all about,” Smith said. “It’s about advertising. It’s about search.”

Source: Newsweek

Many of us know what it is like to have a computer problem and lose all our important files. In many cases, this does not necessarily mean absolute tragedy. Don’t despair. There are ways to retrieve lost files. One great option is to pick a good data recovery freeware. Often, this is a good idea but there are also some important considerations that you should have in mind when using recovery freeware.

Who Should Try It

Freeware may be the best option for you but only under certain conditions. It is important to remember that for some cases, freeware may work best. There are still however, some occasions when they may not exactly be everything you hoped for. In some situations, there is no absolute certainty that you will get back everything that you have lost.

Data recovery freeware is often best used when files have been lost or damaged because the system user has made a mistake. Freeware also works great when a virus is the cause of data loss or damage. It is very important that you take the time to assess your problem first before attempting to use any software to help recover lost data.

The best thing about data recovery freeware, should you decide to choose this option, is that you wouldn’t have to shell out thousands for it. You can try it for yourself and see if you can get good results. If you choose the right one, then there is a great chance that it can easily solve your data loss problems.

Even when paid services for data recovery are eventually required, you can always try freeware first. Some people do this and then only progress at a later time to employing experts for a fee when more complicated recovery work is required.

Who Shouldn’t Try It

It’s tempting to try data recovery freeware upon suffering data loss of any kind. This isn’t such a good idea though. You shouldn’t try it under certain circumstances. You may have to find another way to recover your files in cases when freeware is not advisable.

Freeware probably wouldn’t make a dent in your data loss problems if the cause of it is hardware damage. Try to check first if your problem stems from computer hardware problems. Data recovery freeware is only truly advisable when your concern is related to software issues.

Using freeware for data recovery is also inadvisable if you have to follow an installation procedure before it can run. This obviously means you have no chance at all of getting your data back. Freeware should be able to function by using only certain Internet services or a disc.

These days, you can get freeware from a lot of sources but you shouldn’t take the risk with an unknown program. The best way to find a good program that actually works is to ask people who have used them. Ask for recommendations from those who have actually used the freeware you have chosen.

Where You Can Get It

By simply entering ‘data recovery freeware’ into a search engine’s search box you are bound to get some items that you may be able to use. If you are unfamiliar with any of the programs listed, you can head off to technical forums, blogs and website to get some good user reviews, advice and tips about the particular software that you have found.

Data recovery freeware is obviously the cheapest (hey… it’s free), but not always necessarily the best option to use for your computer data recovery. So what is the best option? For more advice on data recovery services and procedures, visit www.datarecoveryfreeware.net right now.

Article Author: Elliot_Bryce

Mozilla bumped up the threat ranking for an unpatched Firefox bug to “high,” but promises a quick fix.

Mozilla Corp. bumped up the threat ranking for an unpatched Firefox bug to “high” Tuesday, but promised a fix is coming in Version 2.0.0.12, now slated for release on Feb. 5.

The company’s head of security, Window Snyder, confirmed that the browser, when running any of more than 600 add-ons, can be exploited to steal “session information, including session cookies and session history.”

Snyder’s acknowledgment followed an update by Gerry Eisenhaur, the researcher who first reported the Firefox problem. “There seems to be some confusion about what exactly the severity of this vulnerability is,” Eisenhaur said on his hiredhacker.com blog. “This is not a chrome privilege escalation, but it [is] worse than just leaking some variables. I created another demo to read the sessionstore.js file. This will display information regarding your current session, [including] windows, tabs, cookies, etc.”

Last week, when Eisenhaur broached the subject, Mozilla rated the threat as only “low,” but began working on a patch. Yesterday, Snyder said a patch would be included with Firefox 2.0.0.12, a security update currently scheduled for a Feb. 5 release.

“Firefox is not vulnerable by default,” Snyder added Tuesday. “Only users that have installed ‘flat’ packed add-ons are at risk.”

Her caveat may be a moot point for most Firefox users, however, since such add-ons are legion. For example, a partial list posted on Bugzilla, Mozilla’s bug management database, runs to more than 600 Firefox extensions, including YouTube-It and Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer. Snyder urged add-on authors to update their extensions by packaging them as .jar (Java Archive) files to make them immune to the vulnerability.

Alternately, Firefox users can install the popular NoScript extension to block exploits, regardless of which add-ons have been installed.

Source: Computerworld