Rainmeter 0.14
Sunday, January 22nd, 2006Rainmeter is a customizable performance meter, which shows CPU load, memory utilization, network traffic and few more things.
Download: Rainmeter 0.14
Archive for January, 2006
Pandion 2.5
Tuesday, January 10th, 2006Pandion is an instant messaging client for XMPP and Jabber networks. Pandion is designed for usability and standards compliance.Because we think security is not a feature but a necessity, Pandion automatically encrypts your connection to XMPP servers.Pandion makes it simple to use cool features like custom emoticons, avatars, and text markup.You can easily extend the functionality of Pandion by installing plug-ins. Creating your own extensions requires only some knowledge of HTML and JScript.
Requirements:
- Windows 98, 98SE, ME, NT 4.0 SP6, 2000, XP, or 2003
- Internet Explorer 5.5 or later
Download: Pandion 2.5 | Screenshots
More WMF problems for Microsoft
Tuesday, January 10th, 2006Just days after Microsoft rushed out a patch to fix a critical Windows flaw related to the processing of Windows Meta File images, two more problems with the component were flagged.
The newly disclosed issues could be a conduit for denial-of-service attacks, according to a description sent to the Bugtraq mailing list on Monday. A core function of the Windows operating system, explorer.exe, will crash a vulnerable Windows PC if a user views a specially crafted WMF image, according to the description. Explorer runs the Windows user interface, including the Start menu, taskbar, desktop and file manager.
Microsoft is aware of the problems, a representative for the software maker said in an e-mailed statement. The company had identified these issues before the report and is evaluating fixes for inclusion in the next service pack for the affected products, the representative said.
Full story: ZDNet News
Google Pack fails to impress
Tuesday, January 10th, 2006Google’s bundle of disparate applications has been described by one analyst as a ‘ragtag package’
Google’s decision to launch a desktop software bundle has left many industry observers underwhelmed and confused about the company’s long-term strategy.
Google Pack beta, which was announced during the closing keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Friday, packages Google software with other desktop applications, such as Firefox and Adobe Reader.
The software bundle also includes Google Updater, a tool that downloads, installs and maintains all the software in Google Pack, alerting users when updates become available.
Google claimed in a statement that Google Pack lets users “painlessly install all the essential software they need” and that the applications included in the package are “considered best in their class”.
But David Bradshaw, a principal analyst at Ovum, said on Monday that he was unimpressed by the product.
“I’m a bit underwhelmed with Google Pack ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù it seems like a ragtag package of software,” said Bradshaw. “I’m not sure what they’re trying to achieve with this.”
Full story: ZDNet UK
Lamark 0.10.14 Alpha
Tuesday, January 10th, 2006Lamark is an updated remake of the popular 80s and 90s benchmarking tool Landmark Speed Test by Landmark Research International Corporation.
When launched, it starts performing a continuous series of speed tests, including CPU, FPU and Memory. Results are normalized acording to an Athlon XP 2400+ where CPU and FPU runs at 2000 Mhz, and memory has a bandwith of 266 Mhz.
Quick facts
- Blazing fast program execution.
- Very low resource usage while testing.
- Small footprint, can be run from floppy disks, USB devices, hard disks, …
- Quick startup time.
Key features
- CPU speed test.
- FPU speed test.
- Memory bandwidth test.
License
Lamark 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: Lamark 0.10.14 Alpha
Macworld rumours hint at iBooks
Tuesday, January 10th, 2006San Francisco event awaits roll out of new Apple products
Most rumours about today’s keynote by Steve Jobs at Macworld in San Francisco suggest that Apple will be unveiling updated versions of its iBook and PowerBook systems.
The PowerBook laptops are likely to be the first Apple computers to use Intel processors, and are widely believed to be overdue for an upgrade.
The devices would also benefit greatly from a switch to Intel processors which cut back on power consumption and produce less heat than the Power processors currently used in Apple computers. This increases battery life and allows for greater performance.
Read more: vnunet.com
jEdit 4.2
Tuesday, January 10th, 2006Edit is a mature and well-designed programmer’s text editor with 7 years of development behind it.
While jEdit beats many expensive development tools for features and ease of use, it is released as free software with full source code, provided under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
The core of jEdit is primarily developed by Slava Pestov, and jEdit plugins are being written by a diverse team of programmers from around the world.
Some of jEdit’s features include:
• Written in Java, so it runs on Mac OS X, OS/2, Unix, VMS and Windows.
• Built-in macro language; extensible plugin architecture. Dozens of macros and plugins available.
• Plugins can be downloaded and installed from within jEdit using the “plugin manager” feature.
• Auto indent, and syntax highlighting for more than 130 languages.
• Supports a large number of character encodings including UTF8 and Unicode.
• Folding for selectively hiding regions of text.
• Word wrap.
• Highly configurable and customizable.
• Every other feature, both basic and advanced, you would expect to find in a text editor.
Download: jEdit 4.2 | Screenshots
IBM looks to open source to boost patent quality
Tuesday, January 10th, 2006And gets ready to be crowned US patent king…
IBM is expected to announce today that it won more US patents than any other company and that it will participate in three initiatives to improve patent quality.
For the 13th consecutive year, IBM was awarded the most patents - more than 2,900 - by the US Patent and Trademark Office, according to the company.
IBM is also expected to detail three multi-party efforts to increase review of patent applications, in part by tapping open-source developers and collaborative software. Partners include the Patent Office and the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), an industry consortium that launched a “patent commons” for open-source communities in November 2005.
The US patent system and the quality of patents are increasingly high-profile issues in the technology industry. Patents have been the source of several lawsuits and a number of intellectual property licensing firms have emerged.
Although the contents of patent applications are public record and available to anyone, IBM has worked with the Patent Office to develop the Open Patent Review, a program to allow people, including academics and corporate technologists, to easily view the contents of filed patents and provide feedback to patent examiners.
The system will be designed so people can sign up to receive email or RSS alerts about patent applications filed with certain criteria, according to Bob Sutor, IBM’s vice president of standards and open source. IBM is also sponsoring a Community Patent website.
Full article: silicon.com
Microsoft shares tools for unlocking customer data
Tuesday, January 10th, 2006Microsoft has released free software code that lets its workers pull sales data into Outlook from customer information systems made by Siebel Systems, an internal project it hopes will inspire other businesses to build similar programs.
The software giant first discussed Project Elixir last January, in an effort to demonstrate how companies can use Web-based tools in Office 2003 to tie Outlook to other business systems from Siebel, SAP, Oracle and others. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates talked it up again a few weeks later.
Now, nearly a year later, Microsoft has released Project Elixir sample code and technical documentation to the public via its Microsoft Developer Network Web site.
A key component of the project is Customer Explorer, a program the company spent nine months and $500,000 to develop, according to a posting on a Microsoft Web site. The posting said the total was “a small price” to pay to maximize the return on its multimillion-dollar investment in Siebel. The desktop application lets 8,000 salespeople at Microsoft tap into the company’s Siebel database via Outlook, the site said.
Full article: C|net
SensorsView 3.1 build 14201
Sunday, January 8th, 2006SensorsView is a program that monitors temperature of CPU, motherboard, hard disks, voltages, and fan speeds. This program informs you about critical values of any parameters of your system (e.g. about overheating the processor or a stop of fans). You can set a threshold and correction for each parameter.
Download: SensorsView 3.1 build 14201 (Trial)
Google entering video-on-demand business
Sunday, January 8th, 2006LAS VEGAS–Google announced a service Friday that will let people rent or buy downloadable videos online, including classic and contemporary CBS television shows and NBA basketball games.
With Google Video Store, which the company said will be “available soon” at video.google.com consumers will pay $1.99 to download and view, for an unlimited time, episodes from last season’s “Survivor” series, as well as episodes of 300 older TV programs like “I Love Lucy,” said Peter Chane, senior business product manager for Google Video. The announcement was made in conjunction with a keynote address by Google co-founder Larry Page at the Consumer Electronics Show here.
Also for $1.99, people will be able to rent, for 24 hours, recent episodes of popular TV series from CBS like “NCIS,” “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and “The Amazing Race,” Chane said. National Basketball Association games shown on TV can be downloaded for permanent purchase within one day of broadcast for $3.95, he said. Classic NBA games will also be available.
Full article: CNET News.com
Yahoo goes mobile
Friday, January 6th, 2006Yahoo’s e-mail, instant messaging, photo and other services are now available on mobile phones and PC-connected TVs, as well as on personal computers without using a browser.
Yahoo Go, which the Internet company launched Friday, is a set of communications and media applications, including Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Messenger, Photos, calendar, address book, Web and image search, news, sports and finance.
The services will be preloaded on Nokia Series 60 mobile phones and available in 10 countries worldwide. They will also be available to Cingular and AT&T customers in the United States, Yahoo said. Additions and updates to the information in the applications will be automatically synched between the mobile phone and the user account on Yahoo servers.
Yahoo Go TV, which will be available before April, will make entertainment-related services available on any PC-connected TV through a small downloadable application on the PC. The services include local and video search, including access to content from CNN and MTV, movie trailers, information on movie times, TV shows, user ratings and weather, sports scores, stock data and news from My Yahoo. The service will be free but will have ads, a Yahoo spokeswoman said.
Full article: C|net
Security Update for Windows XP (KB912919)
Friday, January 6th, 2006A remote code execution security issue has been identified in the Graphics Rendering Engine that could allow an attacker to remotely compromise your Windows-based system and gain control over it. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
System Requirements
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Supported Operating Systems: Windows XP Service Pack 2
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Windows XP Service Pack 1
Gates shows off Vista in CES keynote
Thursday, January 5th, 2006LAS VEGAS–After months of touting Vista’s geekier side, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates on Wednesday highlighted features of the new version of Windows designed to appeal to the average consumer.
During his keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show here, Gates demonstrated new photo-editing tools and a revamped media player designed to improve the way that Windows tackles the most commonly used media files. Gates also showed the improved remote-control experience that will be part of the Media Center edition of Vista.
Gates began his speech by noting his recent appearance, along with his wife, Melinda, and U2’s Bono, as Time magazine’s “Persons of the Year.” He said there were other strong contenders. “Probably if there had been one more hurricane, Mother Nature would have been on the cover,” he said. “For a lot of reasons I’m glad that didn’t happen.”
As he usually does at CES, Gates offered his vision of the digital future. His demonstration illustrated a typical day from the future, which began at home with an on-demand video clip and included a look at a map that showed the location of his family members. After heading into the office, he used three large flat-screen monitors to take part in a videoconference.
Finally he headed to the airport with just his cell phone. At the airport lounge, his cell phone connected to a screen and he instantly had a full desktop to work on. The phone could even connect to a nearby camera. “The phone is very different. The idea of a meeting is very different,” Gates said.
Full article: ZDNet News
Baby ASP Web Server 2.7.2
Thursday, January 5th, 2006This program was build as an alternative for Microsoft’s IIS. The main goal was to design a simple web server with support for ASP. Setting up Baby ASP Web Server is very easy: copy the executable to a directory of your choice, set the directory of your webpages and it’s ready to run!
Features:
- Multi threaded.
- Real time server log.
- Configure directory for webpages (same for all connections).
- Configure default HTML page.
- Support for GET, POST, and HEAD methods (form processing).
- Sends directory listing if default HTML is not found in directory.
- Native ASP support (Request, Response, Server, QueryString and Form collections, Session, etc).
- Cookie support (including ‘arrays’ and enumeration!).
- SSI (Server Side Includes) support.
- Statistics: total connections, successful and failed requests and more.
- limit: 5 simultaneous connections.
Download: Baby ASP Web Server 2.7.2
Skype cuts out the computer
Thursday, January 5th, 2006Netgear handset connects directly to a router
Netgear has unveiled the first Skype handset that enables users to place phone calls without a computer.
Skype handsets using USB cables or a Wi-Fi connection have been available from a range of vendors including Taiwanese firms Wistron and Accton. But they all require software running on a computer.
The Netgear model is the first to allow users to place phone calls without the need for a PC by connecting directly to a router.
Read more: vnunet.com
FTP Wanderer 2.8
Thursday, January 5th, 2006FTP Wanderer is a multithreaded FTP client with the look-and-feel of Windows Explorer, and makes moving files between the Internet and your computer as simple as local file manipulation.
?Ǭ? Full drag and drop support from and to Windows Explorer.
?Ǭ? Connection wizard.
?Ǭ? Upload/download multiple files simultaneously.
?Ǭ? Fully customizable user interface.
?Ǭ? CERN proxy support.
?Ǭ? Bookmark remote folders (Favorites).
?Ǭ? Resume support for download and upload.
?Ǭ? Sophisticated transfer manager where uploads and downloads are performed in the background so you can continue browsing while the application up or downloads your files.
?Ǭ? Download/Upload complete directory structures (including files) in one operation.
?Ǭ? Windows 9x/XP style right-click menus.
?Ǭ? Intergrated local file browser for easier file management.
?Ǭ? CHMOD support for changing permissions on UNIX servers.
?Ǭ? Support for very large files (64 bits)
?Ǭ? Move files and folders to another location on the server.
Download: FTP Wanderer 2.8
Experts: Sober time bomb's under control
Wednesday, January 4th, 2006The Sober attack expected later this week is unlikely to have much effect on company systems, antivirus experts predicted.
As reported last month, machines that were infected by Sober in November have the potential to download malicious code from certain Web sites and then launch a new wave of viruses on Jan. 5 or 6.
But experts from antivirus companies F-Secure, Websense and MessageLabs all agreed on Wednesday that this Sober attack is unlikely to cause many problems, because systems administrators and antivirus companies have had time to prepare for it.
F-Secure raised the possibility that there might not even be an attack, as Internet service providers could block access to the malicious Web sites.
“There might be no attack at all. As everybody knows about the attack, the virus writer may lay low and attack at a later date,” said Mikko Hypponen, director of antivirus research at F-Secure. “The ISPs involved can actively block malicious postings. It’s more likely the attacker will lay low or be blocked rather than succeed.”
Websense agreed that the Sober attack likely won’t have a major effect.
“Sober has been mitigated pretty well. I would be really surprised if there’s still a problem. I don’t see it being a big issue,” said Dan Hubbard, the senior director of security and research at the company.
The worm time bomb is contained in a variant of Sober that hit systems in November, clogging e-mail servers and stalling messages sent to Microsoft’s Hotmail and MSN e-mail services.
Full article: CNET News.com
Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall 4.2.3.912
Wednesday, January 4th, 2006The Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall helps you control how your computer exchanges data with other computers on the Internet or local network. Even if you have a router that has a built-in firewall, you will still benefit from using Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall on your PC(s). It’s the principle of “belt-and-suspenders” which is a strongly recommended strategy to deal with these ‘Internet Bad Guys’. The Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall also prevents your PC from attacks initiated by other PC’s on your network that might have been compromised.
Kerio Personal Firewall 4 requires 10 MB of disk space for installation and runs on desktop editions of Windows 2000 and XP. Kerio Personal Firewall 4 DOES NOT run on Windows 9x, Me, NT, 2000 Server and 2003 Server.
Free for non-commercial use.
