Archive for November, 2005
Wednesday, November 30th, 2005
Apple Computer has issued “highly critical” security updates to address more than a dozen vulnerabilities in its Mac OS X operating system.
Apple released on Tuesday security patches for Mac OS X 10.4.3, otherwise known as Tiger, as well as Mac OS X 10.3.9, dubbed Panther, according to the company’s advisory.
Thirteen security flaws were found in areas related to the Apache 2 Web server, curl technology and the Safari browser. The vulnerabilities ranged from potentially letting an attacker launch a denial-of-service attack to taking control of a person’s system remotely.
“The most severe of these are the vulnerabilities found in curl and the PCRE library used by Safari,” said Thomas Kristensen, chief technology officer for security site Secunia, which rated Apple’s updates as “highly critical”–the second highest danger ranking.
Read more: News.com
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Wednesday, November 30th, 2005
metapad is a small, fast (and completely free) text editor for Windows 9x/NT/XP with similar features to Microsoft Notepad but with many extra (and rather useful) features. It was designed to completely replace Notepad since it includes all of Notepad’s features and much, much more.
metapad’s enhanced feature set includes:
Persistent window placement
Dirty file notification
Intelligent Find and Replace
External viewer support (e.g. web browser)
Usable accelerator keys (Ctrl+S, Ctrl+N, etc.)
Dual customizable font support
Optional Quick Exit (Esc key)
Configurable tab stop setting
Auto-indent mode
Go to Line/Column
Seamless UNIX text file support
Block indent and unindent (Tab, Shift+Tab)
Recent files list
WYSIWYG printing
Snazzy status bar & funky toolbar
No file size limit! (under Win9x)
Hyperlink support
User interface language plugins
Download: metapad 3.51
Posted in Utilities | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 30th, 2005
Microsoft has never released a service pack for Windows98 SE. But I made a Service Pack for Windows98 SE users. It contains all Windows98 SE updates from Windows Update site and more.
It is a self-extracting and self-installing pack like Microsoft’s update files. Thus, you cannot choice individual files. However, the pack installs only required fixes for your system. Uninstallation is possible from Add-Remove Programs. However, I don’t recommend uninstallation of the pack, if you don’t face any problem.
This is *only* for WINDOWS 98 SECOND EDITION ENGLISH. I highly recommend that you should backup your system before installing the pack. You must have at least 32 MB of RAM.
It contains only operating system updates. It does NOT contain Internet Explorer 6, DirectX 9, Media Player 9 and their updates.
Download: Unofficial Win98 SE Service Pack 2.1a
Posted in Windows | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 30th, 2005
XPlorer is a substitute for the Windows Explorer, adding multi tabbed features. So it is possible to have lots of locations opened at the same time, while we can manage them in an easy and eficient way.
Key features
- Internal file viewer.
- Internal file editor.
- File toucher.
- Command prompt here feature.
- Split files in fragments.
- Join fragment files.
- Clean unneeded files.
- Select files by wildcard selection.
- Show files by filter.
License
XPlorer is totally free, both for commercial, and private usage.
Requirements
- Operating System: Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4.0, 2000, XP, 2003 or Vista (aka Longhorn).
Download: XPlorer 0.50.111 Beta
Posted in Tools | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 30th, 2005
Windows Vista still on track for 2006 release
Microsoft plans to ship beta 2 of its forthcoming Windows Vista operating system next year, the company said in a conference call with reporters.
Although the company hadn’t published a timetable for the software release, some observers had expected the application to be released this December or early 2006. However, Microsoft is still on track to ship Vista in the second half of 2006.
Amitabh Srivastava, a corporate vice president with Microsoft’s Windows unit, said that the firm is actually picking up the development pace.
“We are accelerating development to get most features done by the end of December and all features integrated early next year,” Srivastava said.
Full story: vnunet.com
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Wednesday, November 30th, 2005
Retired after 12 years?
When Intel debuts its ‘Intel Core’ brand-name in July 2006, it will mark the end of the familiar Pentium name. Out too goes any distinction between mobile and desktop versions.
So claims Japanese-language website PCWatch. It’s not an unreasonable claim, however. According to the latest roadmaps to leak out of the chip giant, Q3 2006 will see the debut of ‘Merom’ and ‘Conroe’, two 65nm, dual-core processors pitched at mobile and desktop roles, respectively. Both are derived from Intel’s next-generation architecture, which essentially takes key elements of today’s Pentium M and combines it with features introduced with the Pentium 4’s NetBurst architecture.
Full story: Channelregister.co.uk
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Tuesday, November 29th, 2005
Trend Micro CWShredder is the premier tool to find and remove traces of CoolWebSearch – the name for a wide range of insidious browser hijackers– from your PC.
CWShredder removes these browser hijackers. CoolWebSearch installs dozens of bookmarks–mostly to porn Web sites–on your desktop, changes your home page without asking, and continually changes it back if you attempt to correct it. Furthermore, it significantly slows down the performance of your PC, and introduces modifications which cause Microsoft Windows to freeze, crash or randomly reboot.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows XP/2000/Me/98 SE
Download: CWShredder 2.19
Posted in AntiSpyware | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 29th, 2005
The popularity of Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia to which anyone can contribute, is spawning a host of complementary tools and offshoots.
One of them is called Gollum, a free Web application that creator Harald Hanek describes as a Wikipedia “browser.” The tool provides an alternate, streamlined user interface for Wikipedia that puts the search feature front and center and allows for some customization.
“In my opinion the interface of Wikipedia is too overloaded and confusing,” Hanek says on the Gollum site. “So let’s get an easy to use interface.”
Hanek, who lives in Nuremberg, Germany, originally built the program for his daughter, as a faster, less complex way to interact with Wikipedia. He later released it to the public over the Web as an open-source project and recently introduced an English version of his site.
Full article: ZDNet News
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Tuesday, November 29th, 2005
Handy Password will save your site logins and passwords, fill forms with them and login to sites automatically. Its strong password generator will drastically increase your password security and its bookmark manager will help you to organize your site bookmarks and login to sites with a single click. All the data is stored using 128-bit encryption, which secures your information reliably.
Competitive advantages:
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Bookmarks - Do three things at once: open site, fill-in login form and log into your account!!
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Saving and filling passwords into web authorization forms
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Submitting personal information into online forms
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ High Security
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ 128-bit Data Encryption
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Auto-lock protection after the indicated time period of user inactivity
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Handy Keyboard Shortcuts to make all operations fast and easy
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Master Password Protection
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Built-in password generator
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Data search and categorization options
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Easy and Quick Installation
Download: Handy Password 3.3.1
Posted in Security | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 29th, 2005
Computer code posted over the weekend can crash vulnerable computers by exploiting a Windows flaw disclosed in October.
The exploit code takes advantage of a flaw Microsoft tagged as “critical.” The bug lies in a Windows component for transaction processing called the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator, or MSDTC. Microsoft addressed the flaw in security bulletin MS05-051.
“Initial investigation of this exploit code has verified that successful exploitation could lead to a denial of service attack…and not remote code execution,” a Microsoft representative said in a statement. In a denial of service attack a computer would crash, while remote code execution would mean the attacker has full control over a PC.
Users who have applied the MS05-051 patch are protected against exploitation of the flaw, Microsoft said. The patch has been available since Oct. 11, but some users have reported problems with applying the update.
Full story: ZDNet Australia
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Tuesday, November 29th, 2005
This program intended to automatically delete all temporary Internet files, cookies, and history files when it is installed and executed. The program was developed to programmatically clear these files when a corrupt entry caused errors with Internet Explorer.
System Requirements
- Supported Operating Systems: Windows XP Service Pack 1
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 and later
Download: Clear Cache feature for Internet Explorer 1.0
Posted in IE | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 29th, 2005
Free songs more attractive to youngsters than paid-for?¢‚Ǩ¬¶
Illegal downloads are still beating legal online music in Europe, analysts have found.
A report from analyst house JupiterResearch discovered that consumers are three times more likely to get their digital music from illegal file-sharing networks than pay to download the tracks from online song shops such as iTunes and Napster, with 15 per cent of consumers using P2P sites and five per cent using the legitimate online shops.
The taste for illegal music is strongest amongst the young. Of those consumers between 15- and 24-years-old, 34 per cent are illegal file-sharers and, according to the report, have little concept of music as a paid commodity.
Mark Mulligan, analyst at JupiterResearch, told silicon.com that despite the growth in legal sales from services like iTunes, as well as legal actions against uploaders, illegal file-sharing is here to stay.
Full article: silicon.com
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Tuesday, November 29th, 2005
Google has begun testing a new click-to-call service that lets people speak with advertisers on its search results page without having to pick up the phone and dial.
A Web surfer can click a phone icon adjacent to an ad, enter his or her own phone number and then click a “connect for free” button. Google’s service calls the advertiser’s phone number and when the Web surfer picks up the receiver on his phone, he or she hears ringing as the call to the advertiser is connected, according to a Google Click-to-Call frequently-asked-questions page.
Unlike voice over Internet Protocol, a technology that sends voice transmission over the Internet, this service appears to connect two parties over the regular phone lines. However, Google declined to provide more details, including the specifics of the technology employed.
“We won’t share your telephone number with anyone, including the advertiser,” the FAQ states. “When you’re connected with the advertiser, your number is blocked so the advertiser can’t see it. In addition, we’ll delete the number from our servers after a short period of time.”
Full article: CNET News.com
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Monday, November 28th, 2005
Mupen64 is a n64 emulator desgined to be multi-OS. It has been developped on/for Linux originally but the emulator has already been ported succesfully on Windows and MacOSX for example. Actually the program can be easily ported on all OS supported by the SDL library.
In its current state, the emulator is highly compatible and use a plugin system. With the correct plugins (“correct” can be computer dependent), it can achieve nearly perfect graphics and sound in many games.
The biggest problem of this emulator until now was its speed but now it’s progressively changing with a totally new core and there’s still a huge room for improvements. Anyway if you have a fast machine, you should already be able to get many games running fullspeed.
Download: Mupen64 0.5 | Screenshots
Posted in Games | No Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2005
Since visual styles development in Longhorn series before Vista is in its limit so there’ll be no more updates for those visual styles. So next release from now on will be only Vista ones. In this release, you’ll get 3 awesome Vista visual styles with could be called as “master-piece” of Vista’s work.
Download: Vista Visual Styles Pack 1.0 [Techconnect Magazine]
Posted in Desktop | No Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2005
TrackerV3 is an Advanced File System Explorer. It comes with a Windows Explorer-like interface but a far broader scope: you get much more information and you get it all on the fly, plus variously enhanced functionality and ease of use, extended file find, reporting features, multimedia preview, and ASCII/binary file view.
The program design follows a Keep It Simple philosophy: the interface is kept as plain and intuitive as possible, and does not confront you with an overload of buttons, toolbars, or menus. Since it closely adheres to the look and feel standards known from Explorer, you’ll need no time at all to start working, and only a few minutes to get familiarized with the additional features. Contrary to other Explorer replacements, TrackerV3 is very small, very fast, and uses very little memory resources. But there’s a lot of power under the hood…
TrackerV3’s core mission is Finding Files. Hence the name.
View: features | Requirements: Win98/NT/Me/2000/XP* Free for non-commercial use only.
Download: TrackerV3 4.20.0078
Posted in Desktop | No Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2005
Nearly four years ago, Microsoft’s Bill Gates ate some humble pie and declared that they must do much better with their security issues and launched the Trustworthy Computing Initiative. One and a half years later, the company launches Windows 2003 Server with fewer vulnerabilities and extremely defensive default settings. Another year goes by and Microsoft releases Windows XP SP2 with many new enhanced security features. Almost 4 years after the launch of Trustworthy Computing, I found myself wondering why am I staying up till 4:00 AM to deliver an emergency set of instructions (Home and Enterprise) to my readers because Microsoft felt it unnecessary to patch a flaw six months ago that was originally low risk but mutated in to something extremely dangerous.
Full article: blogs.zdnet.com
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Monday, November 28th, 2005
MCS CPU Benchmark V5, is the latest version of the CPU performance benchmark program from MCS Studios. This unique program provides an accurate and consistent assessment of the performance of your processor in general home environment usage. MCS CPU Benchmark V5 can be easily obtained and it is easy to install and run.
It have a lot of additional stuff like CPU Monitor, CPU Optimizer module and processor features. Besides, it shows full information about the CPU and system resources, including the processes list.
MCS Studios CPU Benchmark is freeware.
Download: MCS CPU Benchmark V5 5.0.0.3
Posted in Hardware | No Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2005
Europeans scrap over just 300,000 boxes
Speculation abounds that only 300,000 Xbox 360s will be making their way to Europe for the launch of the console on 2 December.
In a weekend interview with German financial publication Euro am Sonntag, Chris Lewis, Microsoft’s regional vice president (EMEA, Home and Entertainment Division) is quoted as saying that analyst predictions of 300,000 Xbox 360s being shipped to Europe on launch day “were not far removed from reality.”
Click Here
Lewis continued, saying that it’s possible the Xbox 360 will sell out on launch day in much the same way as it did on the day of the US launch on 22 November, when all units were sold out within two hours of stores opening.
Full article: The Register
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