Monday, November 17, 2008

Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool 2.4: removing popular viruses

Microsoft released an update for removing popular viruses, such as: Blaster, Sasser, MyDoom, DoomJuice, Zinbos, Berweb (also known as Download.Ject), Gailbot, Nachi, etc. This tool reminds us of McAfee Stinger. Microsoft releases updates for this program every month. In addition to Malicious Software Removal Tool it is recommended to use anti-virus packs.




You can download the program here. File Size 7.3MB.

DeepDyve: New Approach to Internet Search

It seems like there is no more room for new players on the market and yet new approaches to online searching are not stopping. One of new and interesting projects is - DeepDyve. This search engine is capable of finding up to 99% of all web-pages which are not found by other search engines. These pages are not linked to any other pages and that's why they're not indexed by many other search engines like Google.

DeepDyve searches for pages depending on their content, meaning how equivalent the characters entered by the use in the query research to the body text of the web-page. Unlike Google, where maximum searching query request is only 32 words, DeepDyve is able to handle up to 25 thousand characters. Search engine scans the page, identifies equivalent fragments and then picks the articles that are most likely match the query request.

In the present time DeepDyve already indexed 500 million pages. At the moment using the search engine you may find articles related to medicine, pharmacy, patent and life science only! In the future DeepDyve will be enhanced so users may find information regarding IT, science and energy.

Anti-Virus AVG Update Deleted System File

Anti-Virus company AVG confirmed that their recent update for AVG by accident deletes important system file. Unfortunate update, identifies user32.dll as trojan and places it under quarantine. This leads to inability to restart the computer. During Windows load users receive blue screen of death (BSOD) with the error indicating that system can't find winsvr, errorc00000135.

AVG already released a solution on their website on how to fix the problem in this situation.

Programmer unlocked hidden functions of Windows 7

Rafael Rivera published a utility, called Blue Badge, which allows you to get access to hidden functions of Windows 7. These functions were hidden from users during a builder's conference.

Blue Badge utility applies nine different file changes, including explorer.exe and shell32.dll. This removes protection added by Microsoft for hiding few functions.

After applying Blue Badge users will gain access to a new control panel, dynamic desktop slide-show, etc. You can download Blue Badge for 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows 7 from Rafael Rivera's blog.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

MSI Introduces Gaming Laptop for $800

Laptops constantly lowered in cost and even now you may find huge variety of laptops with medium performance for an average price. But gaming laptops as always cost a lot, that is MSI GX630-028US calls for a unique interest-for only $800 you'll receive full mobile game system. Probably not as hard core to pull "all" modern video games, but majority of them will do more than fine.

New laptop will be released just before the school winter break and available for sale at major online stores, such as: Newegg, Amazon, MWave, ZipZoomFly, Buy. GX630-028US built-on Athlon X2 Dual-Core, 4GB of DDR2 Ram, 250GB hard drive, DVD-recorder, nVidia GeForce 9600 GT video card with MXM II module, 15.4-inch display with 1280x800 resolution. Even though the price is quite low, the model still uses exclusive MSI technology, like Turbo Drive allowing to over-clock the system by 15%. Power saving technology has been applied also based on ECO Engine.

Main specifications:
  • Ahtlon X2 Dual-Core QL-62 (2 GHz/1MB L2) processor;
  • Windows Vista Home Premium operating system;
  • 15.4" WXGA-display;
  • MXM II module nVidia GeForce 9600 GT with 512MB memory;
  • 4GB DDR2 (2 x 2 GB);
  • 250GB hard drive with SATA interface;
  • DVD-recorder Super Multi;
  • Communication: Wi-Fi adapter 802.11b/g/n, gigabyte Ethernet-adapter, analog modem, Bluetooth module;
  • Express Card;
  • Ports: HDMI, VGA, External SATA;
  • 2MP web-camera;
  • 6-segment accumulator.

Bionic Commando trailer and screen shots

As you all know and if not these are new news to you, Capcom decided to take serious interest in remaking the old franchise Bionic Commando. This year retail stores received a great remake of Bionic Commando Rearmed with awesome music, quality graphics and old gameplay. In 2009 we will receive another version of this game. This time though game developers promised to deliver independent action from third-person perspective. GRIN Studio is currently working on the project.

According to the trailer, the action is quite unbelievable. The main hero is like Spider-Man, jumping on broken parts, constantly throwing rocks into flying enemy. We're not yet sure how comfortable are the controls. The game should be released on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. As a bonus you may view few additional screen shots.

Huge Help Database for Fallout 3

Planet Fallout website opened quite useful project - help database, which holds all valuable information regarding Fallout 3. Including full interactive map, open to users. So, if you've found an awesome location you may share it with the community. This database also holds quest information, weapon and monsters, etc.

Lets remind ourselves that there is no reason to rush trying to finish Fallout 3 because game developers left out the ability to come back to virtual world once you complete your quest. Thankfully, if you try to complete every mission it may take long months before you complete the game.

Online version Office 14 will support Mac and Linux

Online service Office Web which finally happens to be the new version of MS Office will work not only on Windows operating systems but Mac OS X and Linux as well. Also, users will be able to work with Office Web through iPhone. This information was officially confirmed by Microsoft.


Last month, when news about Office Web were released, Microsoft mentioned Firefox and Safari support, but will the online functions work for non-Windows users still remains a question.

Release day for Office Web has not be released yet, but we'll might see Office 14 by the end of 2009.

Friday, November 14, 2008

BlindWrite 6.1: CD and DVD burning

New version of BlindWrite has been released-one of the effective utilities for burning CDs and DVDs. Software support large variety of formats and is often updated. BlindWriter uses advanced and enhanced technology for reading/writing, also special logorithm in fixing errors. This utility will help you make back-up copies of any type of file format- audio CD, DVD-movies, etc. BlindWriter is designed to work with high-end drives and supports a lot of formats, including BlindWriter 4.x (.BWT), CloneCD (.CCD), Iso iamges (.ISO), Cuesheet/Binary (.CUE/.BIN), Alcohol (.MDS). The utility also support many foreign languages.


This version has few fixed errors.
Manufacturer: Vso-software
Distribution: shareware, $39,99
Operating System: Windows All
File Size: 6.28MB
Download from here.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Windows 7 Doesn't Support Dual Graphics Cards

Recently, Microsoft published a document "Guidelines for Graphics in Windows 7" which warns about possible problems with combination of video cards from nVidia and AMD/ATI. Microsoft openly calls nVidia and AMD/ATI an unstable technology.

nVidia Hybrid SLI and ATI Hybrid CrossFireX technologies use a combination of built-in cores and video accelerators to enhance video card performance.

Attention, Windows 7 will not support dual video cards. Reason for that (as stated by Microsoft) is technology made by nVidia and ATI are not stable and will cause unstable performance, crashes and frustration to users. Microsoft is sure that this issue will keep manufacturers from continuing distribution of such systems. Also, Microsoft warns that every re-configuration of video settings will require reboot and no one likes doing that.

When ATI Hybrid CrossFireX was tested with Windows Vista it performed very well and showed speed acceleration. No instability or errors have been reported. So why does Windows 7 experiences problems?

Note, it took only few days before Microsoft officially removed the official document off their website. Possibly they're overlooking their decision?

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Mirror's Edge Release Trailer

Mirror's Edge will be released on November 11, 2008 - new acrobatic action (parkour-like) game from Electronic Arts and DICE. Main subject completes job of a delivery personnel, delivering special information packages, jumping on top roofs of skyscrapers. The Internet already has a release trailer online and ready for viewing.

To view Mirror's Edge pre-release trailer, click here.

The main difference in the game is the first person action game. With this perspective view jumps and fighting scenes will be view differently. This year Mirror's Edge is released only on consoles, but later on the PC will catch on too.

Photo of the Day: car-tank Hummer H2T

Even though this blog is computer hardware and software based I could not help but make this off-topic post.

Looking at the gas prices jumping up and down, gas eating machine like Hummer still uses its popularity to fulfill interests of lovers to ride whenever and wherever. During a SEMA 2008 presentation, which is on at the very moment in Las Vegas, modified Hummer H2T brought the most attention to itself, which has caterpillars instead of wheels. Mechanical-engineers said a switch to caterpillars instead of wheels doesn't add performance or maneuverability of the car. Although, the attention this bad boy gets is more than an average vehicle.

Interesting that any driver these days is capable of switching his wheels to caterpillars on the car or ATV. Mattracks company is specialized in setting up and configuring such modifications.

You have to agree that Hummer H2T is more attractable on caterpillars than wheels, and yet the question remains, why does it need the extra wheel at the back?

What do you think?

Friday, November 7, 2008

GTA 4 is booming according to Japanese charts

According to Famitsu data, the game Grand Theft Auto 4 for PlayStation 3 is at the top of the charts becoming one of the most sold games in Japan for previous week. The same version of the game for Xbox 360 took only fourth place. Second place took the new Valkyrie Profile: The Accused One, third place took LittleBigPlanet (PS3). Exact quantity of the games sold is currently unknown.

The most sold games in Japan since October 27 until November 2nd of 2008:

  1. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3);
  2. Valkyrie Profile: The Accused One (DS);
  3. LittleBigPlanet (PS3);
  4. Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360);
  5. Wagamama Fassion Girls Mode (DS);
  6. Pokemon Platinum (DS);
  7. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue: Spec III (PS3);
  8. Rhythm Tengoku Gold (DS);
  9. Chocobo's Dungeon DS+ (DS);
  10. Wii Music (Wii).

Hanwang N510: 5" book-reader with feather input

Chinese Hangwan Technology (Hanvon) company, specialized in identifying hand-written-input presented their first 5-inch electronic "reader", built-on E Ink Vizplex Display technology. The device uses electra-magnetic feather for input and electra-ink technology.

According to various sources, N510 model requires very little power, has SVGA-display (800x600) with 180 degrees view, and 11mm thickness. The N510 supports formats: TXT, HTML, PNG, JPG, PDF, XEB, CEB, MP3, MTXT. Including one SD slot with 1GB capacity, and mini-USB port. Manufacturers ensure that even in sun-light the display screen will remain readable.

The cost is approximately $300.

Windows 7: The Fastest OS from Microsoft?

Many users have heard and asked questions about the new Windows 7, is it true? Is it actually coming out? The answer is, yes. Even though Windows Vista hasn't been out for year yet Microsoft made an unofficial announcement indicating that they are currently working on a new operating system, called Windows 7. The new system is expected to load as fast as the calculator, and even if it doesn't its safe to say that Windows 7 will definitely be faster than current Windows Vista. To prove that, here are some pictures testing three operating systems and their load time, the OS are: Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows XP.

The testing machine was equipped with Intel Core 2 Duo 3.16 GHz and 4GB of RAM, Windows Vista managed to load in 34 seconds. At the same time it took Windows 7 and Windows XP only 27 seconds to load, which is satisfying. We can hope that with time Microsoft programmers will manage to build a system which will load in 15 seconds.

Express5800 - not a cell phone from Nokia!

Similar name as the new cell phone ExpressMusic 5800 from Nokia received a new miniature desktop computer manufactured by Japanese NEC company. 2.5-kilogram device Express5800 51Ma is not only attractable because of its compact ability but the noise is level is quite low too, only 22 dB.


Users are offered two configuration choices: Intel Celeron Processor 550, 512MB of RAM, or Core 2 Duo T9300, 1GB of RAM and DVD-recorder. Both choices include 160 GB hard drive capacity and Windows Vista Business operating system.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Practical: How To Download Free Movies

This is the practical guide to download free movies online. Few simple steps will get you up and running in no time. Let's begin.

In this guide I will use the movie title "Step Brothers (2008) with Will Ferrell and Adam McKay.

1. First, download BitComet by clicking here.
2. Run and install BitComet application. For visual guide and instructions click here.
3. Open IE (Internet Explorer) and go to http://www.mininova.org/ or just click the link.
4. In the search box type "step brothers" without quotes, like this:

5. In the results list find the title that best matches the query search and with most seeders/leechers, like this one:

6. Click the title "Step Brothers[2008][Unrated Edition]DvDrip-aXXo" and press the download torrent button:

7. When BitComet window pops-up it will list which files are going to be download, simply click OK:

8. You are done, just leave your computer for the night and let it download the movie.

Thats it. This is a simple and quick guide to downloading movies online. The same concept applies to games, software, application, music, pictures, online books, etc...

Note: At the end of the movie title it says 'aXXo', this is the uploader. aXXo and KLAXXON are well known uploaders. They upload quality DVDripped movies, if you would like to search movies uploaded by them (which I recommend doing) simply type their name in the search box.

How To Download Free Movies

Over the past month I've spent quite a lot of time on computer related forums and Q & A (questions and answers) websites. What I noticed is that a lot of people keep asking the same question, "How to download free movies? or How to download movies for free?" After numerous posts I realized that I can't re-type the same explanation to different users asking the same question as it becomes tiring and frustrating. But, I am here to help, so I've decided to write a brief summary on how to download free movies.

I'm not a fan of reading long posts or articles so I'm going to keep this guide as simple and to the point as possible. Without a further delay, lets begin.

1. How do I start?

To begin you will need to decide on a movie title you would like to download. For example, lets use "War" which came out in 2007 with Jet Li and Jason Statham. A little history: It has been a while since majority of websites switched to P2P Networking. P2P Networking allows multiple network connections at the same time to share information in between. P2P - stands for Peer-to-Peer Networking. P2P Networking allows you to connect almost directly to the file's source and download from there. If more then one person with a network has exactly the same file downloaded you will be connected to them also and your download speed will increase. Almost all large websites have switched (or switching) to a 'torrent' based system.

2. How torrent websites work?

In the beginning, there was a major website suprnova.org and many users visited the website but most of them downloaded a movie, game, music albums and then left which caused other people longer download time. Torrent websites consist of 'Seeders' and 'Leachers'.

Seeders - are users that have full file you want to download, they are the main source.
Leachers - are users that are downloading files from seeders.

Basically the more users are seeding (sharing) a file the faster your download speed will be. Because a lot of people download the file they need and then vanish torrent sites have a built-in system which requires registration and track your downloads and uploads. Initially, once registered you start of with a ranking score of 1.0, everything depends on the website settings. Ranking system has been developed to maintain download:upload proportion. For example, if you download a movie 1GB and disconnect from the network your ration is 1:0. This leaves the main user seeding the file on his own again, to raise the ration you have to let other users download from YOU 1GB of data to make ration 1:1. That way not only your rank goes up but you help seed the file which means more people will download the movie faster and more people will start sharing. That's how P2P Network lives on.

3. What do I need to work with torrent files/websites?

There are quite a few applications that handle torrent files. Torrent - simply is a file that connects you and the source together, the website is there to help you find each other. First application that I'm in favour is BitComet, and second is BitTorrent. It doesn't matter which one you choose, both of them work fine, its just that some torrent sites prefer one software over the other.

To download BitComet click here.
To download BitTorrent click here.

4. What are some popular torrent websites to start with?

Personally, I start my search with Mininova and so on, here is the list:

There are hundreds and thousands of torrent websites on the Internet, but I prefer these three before all other. If the file you are searching for is nowhere to be found on the above listed websites you may simply query the search in Google. For example, "war 2007 torrent" without quotes, the search results will bring up all websites where the keywords (war, 2007, torrent) are found on one page, most likely its the download page.

5. Done!!!

That's it, you are done. This was mostly an informative or theory like explanation on how to download free movies and you didn't waste your time reading because now you know what most of the terms and titles mean when you click this link and start the practice guide.

Vocabulary:

  • torrent - file which connects user wishing to download a file with a source where the file is located
  • seeds - number of people who already download the file and currently sharing it with others
  • leachers - users currently downloading the file