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Microsoft is poised to release Windows Vista Service Pack (SP1) to the retail channel this week. And the final release-to-manufacturing (RTM) of Windows XP SP3 is not far behind, according to testing sources. Amazon.com has published to its site Vista SP1 availability dates of Wednesday March 19. (Thanks to Computerworld for spotting Amazon’s SP1 availability notice.) Microsoft officials have been saying for the past few weeks to expect Microsoft to release Vista SP1 through retail channels and via Windows Update in mid-March. Even though Microsoft released Vista SP1 to manufacturing in early February — and (after user protest) delivered the final SP1 bits to its TechN…

Windows Vista SP1 is available in English, French, German, Spanish, and Japanese. Other languages will be made available soon. Microsoft strongly recommends using Windows Update to download and install Windows Vista SP1 on single PCs: The download size from Windows Update of Windows Vista SP1 for x86 is 65 MB (compared to 450 MB from the Microsoft Download Center). The download size from Windows Update of Windows Vista SP1 for x64 is 125 MB (compared to 745 MB from the Microsoft Download Center). Windows Update will recognize PCs with known problematic drivers and postpone downloading Windows Vista SP1 until the PC has updated drivers or other applicable updates. Using…

Comodo Firewall Pro is the multi-layered security application that keeps hackers out and personal information in. Built from the ground upwards with your security in mind, this award winning firewall constantly monitors and defends your system from inbound and outbound attacks. Version 3.0 now features a fully fledged Host Intrusion Prevention System to protect your critical operating system files and block viruses and malware before they ever get the chance to install. Comodo Firewall Pro 3 features a friendly graphical user interface; highly granular configuration options; easily understood and informative alerts; wizard-based detection of trusted zones and much more…

IE7Pro is a must have add-on for Internet Explorer, which includes a lot of features and tweaks to make your IE friendlier, more useful, secure and customizable. IE7Pro includes Tabbed Browsing Management, Spell Check, Inline Search, Super Drag Drop, Crash Recovery, Proxy Switcher, Mouse Gesture, Tab History Browser, Web Accelerator, User Agent Switcher, Webpage Capturer, AD Blocker, Flash Block, Greasemonkey like User Scripts platform, User Plug-ins and many more power packed features. You can customize not just Internet Explorer, but even your favorite website according to your need and taste using IE7Pro. Download: IE7Pro 2.1 View: Changes Homepage: IE7Pro Link: …

Intel Corp., the world's largest maker of microprocessors, may bring the introduction of its microprocessors based on the next-generation micro-architecture code-named Nehalem forward. The decision will add pressure on Advanced Micro Devices in the market of dual-processor servers. According to diagrams that represent slides from Intel Corp.'s transition guidance documents published by VR-Zone web-site, the fist Intel's code-named Bloomfield central processing units (CPUs) for 2-way servers are set to be shipped in Q3 2008. The initial quantities will be very low, however, already in Q4 the share of Nehalem micro-architecture-based 2P server chips will increa…

FileZilla Client is a fast and reliable cross-platform FTP, FTP over SSL/TLS (FTPS) and SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) client with lots of useful features and an intuitive interface. Some of the useful features include drag and drop support, filename filters, network configuration wizard, powerful site manager, transfer queue, and it even supports resume and transfer of files larger than 4GB. When FileZilla v3 was released a built in updater was introduced. This allowed users to update their FileZilla Client faster and easier. Included are options to check for nightly and beta builds of the FileZilla Client. Changes for 3.0.8 (2008-03-13): *nix: No longer follows sy…

Comodo Firewall Pro is the multi-layered security application that keeps hackers out and personal information in. Built from the ground upwards with your security in mind, this award winning firewall constantly monitors and defends your system from inbound and outbound attacks. Version 3.0 now features a fully fledged Host Intrusion Prevention System to protect your critical operating system files and block viruses and malware before they ever get the chance to install. Comodo Firewall Pro 3 features a friendly graphical user interface; highly granular configuration options; easily understood and informative alerts; wizard-based detection of trusted zones and much more…

Computers that run the Linux operating system instead of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows didn't attract enough attention from Wal-Mart customers, and the chain has stopped selling them in stores, a spokeswoman said Monday. "This really wasn't what our customers were looking for," said Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien. To test demand for systems with the open-source operating system, Wal-Mart stocked the $199 "Green gPC," made by Everex of Taiwan, in about 600 stores starting late in October. Walmart.com, the chain's e-commerce site, had sold Linux-based computers before and will continue selling the gPC. This was the first time they appeared on retail …

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is one of the most popular solutions to provide basic security protection on home and non-commercial PCs. We invite you to join the millions of users around the world who rely on AVG's unique award-winning detection methods by downloading AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition.AVG Anti-Virus offers maximum virus protection, product customization, and free virus database updates and technical support. The core of the testing engine is a Virtual Device Driver which loads into memory on Windows startup. Download: AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition (34.3MB, *.exe) Documentation: User Manual (580.5KB, *.pdf) Link: Lunarsoft Frontpage

Although yesterday's completion of the Google + DoubleClick deal gives the combined business a big boost against Yahoo and Microsoft, Google is already planning staff layoffs. "I'm pleased to share the news that we completed our acquisition of DoubleClick today," Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt wrote in his blog yesterday, when the ink on the deal was still barely dry. "An immediate task we'll undertake over the new few weeks is matching and aligning DoubleClick employees with our organizational plan for the business...As with most mergers, there may be reductions in head count. We expect these to take place in the US and possibly in other regions as well." Bey…

Server Core in Windows Server 2008 is being hailed by many as potentially the best feature of Microsoft's latest operating system. If you're unfamiliar still with Server Core and what it can provide, prepare yourself for this version of Windows, which arrives with no GUI, no support for many types of managed code and little more than a command-line prompt for console administration. Even though the meat of the OS has changed quite a bit, the core of it remains relatively the same. This holds true for administering and maintaining your Server Core instances once they're installed. Once you've installed Server Core on your machine and completed the initial configura…

Asus predicts the Eee PC it has started selling with Microsoft Windows XP Home edition on board will outsell the original Linux-based version by a ratio of 6 to 4 in the market by the end of this year, a heady prediction considering the Windows machine costs nearly twice as much as the cheapest Linux one. The company has forecast Eee PC shipments at around 5 million units this year. Based on the 6 to 4 ratio the company predicts, Asus could ship around 3 million Windows Eee PCs and 2 million Linux ones. "A lot of people have been waiting for the Windows version," said Jonney Shih, chairman of Asus, at a news conference in Taipei on Thursday. The company is …

Now that ICANN is in the process of upgrading its root servers to handle IPv6 records, somebody has to get the word out to businesses about the benefits of the updated protocol. The Internet Engineering Task Force is hosting the "IPv6 Experience" in Philadelphia, a meeting geared largely toward generating interest in the next generation IP. One activity at the convention is an immersive exercise where IPv4 access is turned off, and all attendees can only connect to IPv6 addresses. The outcome, IETF hopes, will be an improved awareness of how IPv6 "just works," and how much more work is needed to facilitate a global rollout. IPv4 is in a critical state, and some s…

In an interview with Reuters, Microsoft shot down claims by Sony that the companies were in discussion to bring a Blu-ray drive to the Xbox 360. Meanwhile, Toshiba is expected to take a nearly $1 billion loss for abandoning HD DVD. Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for the Xbox 360, said the company was focusing on digital distribution of entertainment through Xbox Live now that no more content is being produced for HD DVD. Microsoft halted production of its HD DVD add-on and discounted remaining units last month. Toshiba is taking a major hit due to the cancellation of HD DVD, according to the Japanese business press service Nikkei. What was expect…

The Office Open XML format may or may not be ratified by the ISO, but in either event, it will still be a driving force in millions of the world's offices. So one way or the other, its senior product manager tells us, the interoperability debate will be resolved. From the outside, the debate over whether the International Organization for Standardization should formally ratify Microsoft's Office Open XML format as international standard DIS 29500 seems almost completely political. And during last month's ballot resolution meeting (BRM), the reports on how that debate was proceeding were so wild and uncorroborated as to be almost unintelligible. Perhaps the only peop…

Firefox is an award winning preview of next generation browsing technology from the Mozilla company. Firefox empowers you to accomplish your online activities faster, with a higher degree of safety and more efficiently than any other browser. Built with Tab browsing, popup blocking and a number of other seamless innovations, Firefox stands out ahead. Firefox allows you to customize the browser by using Addons to enhance the browser to your preference. Downloads: Firefox 3.0 Beta 4 | All builds (6.96MB, *.exe) View: Release Notes Source: Mozilla Firefox Link: Lunarsoft Frontpage

Internet Explorer 8 takes the Web experience beyond the page and introduces a new way to seamlessly experience the power of the Web whether you are a Web developer writing to standards, or an end user discovering a new online service. This beta release is available to everyone, but is primarily for Web developers and designers to test the new tools, layout engine, and programming enhancements.When not developing your web site, you can click the Emulate IE7 button in the command bar to browse the web like you did in IE7. Internet Explorer 8 can be installed on Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), Windows Vista, Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows Server 2008 …

Notepad++ is a free source code editor (and Notepad replacement), which supports several programming languages, running under the MS Windows environment. This project, based on the Scintilla edit component, written in C++ with pure win32 api and STL that ensures the higher execution speed and smaller size of the program. Notepad++ supports the following languages: C, C++, Java, C#, XML, HTML, PHP, javascript, RC resource file, makefile, ASCII art file, doxygen, ini file, batch file, ASP, VB/VBS source files, SQL, Objective-C, CSS, Pascal, Perl, Python and Lua. Changes: Fix unicode input problem for non-western language. Add the capacity (behaviour) of keeping line hig…

This morning, BetaNews FileForum received word that Beta 4 of Mozilla Firefox was posted for testers to download...and for a short time, that's how it genuinely appeared. But as one of our readers soon found out -- and apparently Mozilla as well -- what went up in the properly named releases/3.0b4 directory was not the final public Beta 4 at all, but rather a release candidate for Beta 4 (as opposed to a release candidate for the final product). Essentially, it's the latest build for what Mozilla hopes to be able to distribute as Firefox 3.0 Beta 4. A check of Firefox's status tracking page this afternoon clearly showed the last release candidate had officially pass…

Pidgin (formerly Gaim) is a multi-protocol instant messaging (IM) client for Linux, BSD, MacOS X, and Windows. It is compatible with AIM and ICQ (Oscar protocol), MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, Lotus Sametime, and Zephyr networks. Gaim users can log in to multiple accounts on multiple IM networks simultaneously. This means that you can be chatting with friends on AOL Instant Messenger, talking to a friend on Yahoo Messenger, and sitting in an IRC channel all at the same time. Pidgin supports many features of the various networks, such as file transfer, away messages, and typing notification. It also goes beyond that and…

AVG Anti-Virus offers maximum virus protection, product customization, and free virus database updates and technical support. The core of the testing engine is a Virtual Device Driver which loads into memory on Windows startup.AVG Anti-Virus Edition is one of the most popular solutions to provide basic security protection on home and non-commercial PCs. We invite you to join the millions of users around the world who rely on AVG's unique award-winning detection methods by downloading AVG Anti-Virus Edition. AVG Anti-Virus offers maximum virus protection, product customization, and free virus database updates and technical support. The core of the testing engine is a Virtu…

As Adobe and Microsoft come out with new releases of their respective multimedia platforms, the debate rages on among developers over which is the most viable. And Flash's proponents are using Linux as their trump card. One indisputable fact for now is that, while Flash works across both Windows and Linux, the same really can't be said for Silverlight. Moonlight, a free and open source edition of Silverlight, is still under development by the Mono Project, seemingly with no end in sight. In other departments, though, Silverlight and Flash appear to keep gradually catching up with one another's strengths. Essentially, Flash was originally created for developing an…

A Microsoft technical evangelist and member of the INCITS V1 technical committee reports that after deliberating the many comments raised on Office Open XML's viability, the US contingent has voted to maintain its "Approve" recommendation. The news reflects just the US' vote on the matter, and not whether the ISO Subcommittee 34 has voted as a whole in favor of adopting OOXML as an international standard. "We all voted on what to recommend to the INCITS Executive Board for the final US position on DIS 29500," writes V1 member Doug Mahugh this afternoon. "The final outcome: We are recommending that the US maintain its Approve position on DIS 29500." Ch…

Inevitably, the other leading game consoles will need a high-resolution video disc option, and with the format war now over, there's only one option to be had. So it seems like now's as good a time as any for the two sides to talk shop. A Financial Times report this morning cites Sony Electronics US President Stan Glasgow as saying his company is presently in talks with Microsoft about the possibility of it producing a Blu-ray accessory drive for its Xbox 360 game console. Glasgow's comment was verified by VentureBeat reporter Dean Takahashi, who was also apparently seated at the table with Glasgow when he made his remarks. Takahashi reports that he raised an import…

Is Vista SP1 really the shot in the arm your Vista system needs? We've spent many hours strapped to our benchmarking system in a caffeine and pizza fuelled haze to uncover these very interesting results. We tested Vista: As it comes out of the box (RTM -- or "release to manufacturing") As it comes out of the box, with all Windows Update patches applied ("RTM patched) With the final SP1 service pack applied Testing Setup Although Vista SP1 has many documented improvements, we aimed to test a particular scenario which has proved to be a major problem for pre-SP1 users: file copy speed, particularly over a network. Our scenario was a home user running Vista…