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The Microsoft DirectX March 2008 release provides updates to 9.0c and previous versions of DirectX. This is the driving force behind PC games and multimedia on end user PCs. Downloads: DirectX Redistributable | DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer | DirectX SDK Homepage: Microsoft DirectX Link: Lunarsoft Frontpage

Version 8.3 of the AMD ATI graphic drivers have been released. This unified driver has been further enhanced to provide the highest level of power, performance, and reliability. The ATI CATALYST software suite is the ultimate in performance and stability. Display and WDM Drivers included in this bundle. The Catalyst software suite 8.3 contains the following: Radeon display driver 8.471 Multimedia Center 9.16 (Windows XP only) HydraVision (Windows XP only) HydraVision Basic Edition (Windows XP only) Remote Wonder 3.04 (Windows XP only) WDM Driver Install Bundle Southbridge/IXP Driver Catalyst Control Center Version 8.3 ATI Catalyst 8.3 Highlights: CrossFireX (Quad) S…

This pack is designed to bring a Windows XP CD with SP2 integrated fully up to date with all of the latest hotfixes released by Microsoft since SP2's release. It accomplishes this task via direct integration, where files on the CD are directly overwritten by the updated files. This method has numerous advantages over other integration techniques. Download: RyanVM's Windows XP Post-SP2 Update Pack 2.2.1 View: Changelog Homepage: RyanVM's Windows XP Update Pack Link: Lunarsoft Frontpage

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. Download: Notepad++ 4.8.1 (2.04MB, *.exe) Homepage: Notepad++ Link: Lunarsoft Frontpage

Unlocker is a Windows Explorer extension allowing you with a simple right-click on a file or folder to get rid of error message such as error deleting file or folder, cannot delete folder: it's being used by another person or program. Simply right click the folder or file and select Unlocker. If the folder or file is locked, a window listing of lockers will appear. Select the lockers and click Unlock and you are done. Important: Some website scouts spread an unfinished version, this is the real release version. Changes: Fixed bug: Delete, move and rename should work better now. Fixed bug: Non DLL handles are now listed properly on Vista. Fixed bug: List files are c…

Spyware, adware, browser hijackers, and dialers are some of the fastest-growing threats on the Internet today. By simply browsing to a web page, you could find your computer to be the brand-new host of one of these unwanted fiends! The most important step you can take is to secure your system. And SpywareBlaster is the most powerful protection program available. Prevent the installation of ActiveX-based spyware, adware, browser hijackers, dialers, and other potentially unwanted software. Block spyware/tracking cookies in Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Restrict the actions of potentially unwanted sites in Internet Explorer. SpywareBlaster can help keep your system …

Now that Firefox 3 is approaching the home stretch it is important that Mozilla starts to throw in performance improvements to really make the browser purr. Over in our forum xpgeek pointed out that a Profile-Guided Optimization (PGO) build of Firefox 3 had been created which greatly improved the performance of JavaScript in the browser. While PGO itself hasn’t yet landed in the nightly builds there have been some significant improvements to the JavaScript engine. I’m sure what most of you care the most about are the facts, and so I’ve compiled the results of the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark test for each of the different browsers. All of the tests below were perfor…

VLC (VideoLAN) is a multi-platform multimedia player. It can read DVDs, VCDs, MPEG, and DivX files and from a satellite card. It can also read a stream from a network sent by the VideoLAN Server or another source. The stream can be MPEG 2 TS in UDP or HTTP packets unicasted or multicasted on an IPv4 or IPv6 network.This is a bugfix release. VLC media player 0.8.6d and earlier versions suffer from security vulnerabilities in the Web interface, Subtitle demuxer, Real RTSP demuxer, SDL_image library and MP4 demuxer. Technical details are available in our advisories: SA-0801 and SA-0802. The usual collection of assorted changes and improvements can be found here. This release…

Tomato is a small, lean and simple replacement firmware for Linksys' WRT54G/GL/GS, Buffalo WHR-G54S/WHR-HP-G54 and other Broadcom-based routers. It features a new easy to use GUI, a new bandwidth usage monitor, more advanced QOS and access restrictions, enables new wireless features such as WDS and wireless client modes, raises the limits on maximum connections for P2P, allows you to run your custom scripts or telnet/ssh in and do all sorts of things like re-program the SES/AOSS button, adds wireless site survey to see your wifi neighbors, and more. Changes: Fixed PPPoE connect on demand. Fixed DHCP not passing current DNS address. Fixed TZO external IP check results in …

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 V…

Google, already the world's most popular spot for finding Web sites, is aiming to become the go-to place for creating Web sites too. The Mountain View-based company is taking its first step toward that goal Thursday with the debut of a free service designed for high-tech neophytes looking for a simple way to share information with other people working in the same company or attending the same class in school. With only a few clicks, just about anyone will be able to quickly set up and update a Web site featuring a wide array of material, including pictures, calendars and video from Google Inc.'s YouTube subsidiary, said Dave Girouard, general manager of the division…

RyanVM Integrator is not just an integrator. It's main purpose is to actually slipstream hotfixes and third party utilities into your Windows install disks. Integrating is simply a way to attatch setup files into your windows disk and have them install at a specific moment during Windows setup. Slipstreaming will actually overwrite older files and place itself directly into the windows installation. Changes : Improvement: ASMS files are automatically compressed. Now ASMS compression takes place after txtsetup.sif is updated. Addition: New File Menu which links to the "Unattended Parameters" threadSo that users can learn how to use the integrators switches to automate pr…

Process Explorer is much like the Task Manager found in Windows but far more comprehensive. Every process can be identified by signature verification. If you don't recognize a running process there is a feature to search for the process online through select search engines. There are options to highlight new objects, deleted objects (processes terminated), services, your running processes, packed images, jobs, relocated DLL files, and .NET processes all in their own customizable colors. Process Explorer is a very useful tool for looking at the running objects on your computer. There is also an option to replace the existing Task Manager with Process Explorer. Download:…

Autoruns has the most comprehensive knowledge of auto-starting locations of any startup monitor It shows you what programs are configured to run during system bootup or login, and shows you the entries in the order Windows processes them. These programs include ones in your startup folder, Run, RunOnce, and other Registry keys. You can configure Autoruns to show other locations, including Explorer shell extensions, toolbars, browser helper objects, Winlogon notifications, auto-start services, and much more. Autoruns goes way beyond the MSConfig utility bundled with Windows Me and XP. Download: Autoruns 9.13 Homepage: Autoruns Link: Lunarsoft Frontpage

Process Explorer is much like the Task Manager found in Windows but far more comprehensive. Every process can be identified by signature verification. If you don't recognize a running process there is a feature to search for the process online through select search engines. There are options to highlight new objects, deleted objects (processes terminated), services, your running processes, packed images, jobs, relocated DLL files, and .NET processes all in their own customizable colors. Process Explorer is a very useful tool for looking at the running objects on your computer. There is also an option to replace the existing Task Manager with Process Explorer. Download:…

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: Enhance Shortcut Mapper - all the commands (including plugins commands) can be assigned to a shortc…

Sun Microsystems today confirmed it has completed its acquisition of MySQL, and announced all MySQL products are now part of the Sun worldwide sales and support network. In addition, MySQL CEO Marten Mickos officially joined Sun as the new senior vice president of the company's database group. Sun announced just six weeks ago it would spend $1 billion -- $800 million in cash and $200 million in assumed options -- to purchase the open source database company. The move will help Sun better compete with Microsoft, Oracle and IBM in the database market, which continues to be a lucrative market. According to Sun and MySQL, more than 100 million copies of the database …

When Windows Vista was originally released just over a year ago Microsoft commissioned Principled Technologies to compare the overall responsiveness of Windows Vista to Windows XP SP 2 for some common business and home tasks. With the release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) Principled has updated their results. Principled Technologies concluded the following when comparing business scenarios: Overall, Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP performed comparably on most test operations. Performance differences between the two operating systems were typically less than a half second. Significant differences of over a second occurred on only nine of 128 measures; Windows …

A widespread, international outage on February 26 affecting users of a number of Microsoft’s Windows Live services affected those not already logged into Microsoft’s Web services via Live ID, according to Microsoft. But exactly why so many of its services were inaccessible for most of Tuesday is still not something Microsoft is discussing. According to a statement attributed to Samantha McManus, Windows Live product manager, which Microsoft e-mailed to me at 5 p.m. EST on February 26: "Earlier today, an issue began that has caused some consumers worldwide to experience difficulty logging in to their Windows Live ID accounts. The issue is purely impacting the log-i…

Thunderbird is a fast, flexible e-mail client. You can quickly search through your e-mails, worry less about spam thanks to the spam filters, and even customize how you view Thunderbird. Thunderbird works with most Firefox add-ons as well, adding more content to your e-mail client. Thunderbird makes the e-mail experience fun again. Download: Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0.0.12 | Other Systems and Languages Changes: Release Notes Source: Mozilla Thunderbird Link: Lunarsoft Frontpage

No move by Microsoft to share information with its competitors will ever be taken at face value, and certainly yesterday's new Interoperability Principle will come under very close scrutiny. Is this the opening of the floodgates the EC has been demanding? In incremental, measured, if slow steps, Microsoft has made some efforts to comply with directives from the European Commission to make its software and protocols more interoperable with products from other manufacturers. Yesterday, the company surrendered one more boundary between its interoperability policy and the EC's dream situation, making a huge chunk of the information it published in response to the EC's orde…

On Wednesday evening, February 20th, the full Moon over the Americas will turn a delightful shade of red and possibly turquoise, too. It's a total lunar eclipse—the last one until Dec. 2010. The Sun goes down. The Moon comes up. You go out and look at the sky. Observing the eclipse is that easy. Maximum eclipse, and maximum beauty, occurs at 10:26 pm EST (7:26 pm PST). A lunar eclipse happens when the Moon passes through the shadow of Earth. You might expect the Moon to grow even more ashen than usual, but in fact it transforms into an orb of vivid red. Why red? That is the color of Earth's shadow. Consider the following: Most shadows we're familiar with are b…

Recuva is a freeware Windows utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. This includes files emptied from the Recycle bin as well as images and other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera memory cards or MP3 players. It will even bring back files that have been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses. Changes: Changed version tab information. Improved Rogue.Infector detection. Packaged new database. Downloads: Recuva 1.11.257 | Portable Source: Recuva Link: Lunarsoft Frontpage

RogueRemover FREE is an application that can remove rogue antispyware, antivirus, and hard drive cleaning applications with ease. Rogue applications provide false information about the safety of your computer as well as, give erroneous scan results or put their own malware on your computer. RogueRemover FREE has the ability to completely remove WinAntiSpyware/WinAntiVirus, SpyAxe, VirusBlast, VirusBursters, as well as a number of other rogue applications. Changes: Changed version tab information. Improved Rogue.Infector detection. Packaged new database. Download: RogueRemover FREE 1.24 on MajorGeeks Source: Malwarebytes Link: Lunarsoft Frontpage

Analysts say that the more secure, stable and reliable Windows XP is, the less reason businesses have to upgrade to Vista in a hurry. The upcoming release of Windows XP Service Pack 3 will further slow the rate of business adoption of Windows Vista by extending the life of the older operating system, some analysts say. Microsoft quietly released Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release Candidate 2 to the masses Feb. 19. But the company finds itself in a Catch-22, given its need to provide comprehensive security to protect its large installed base of business customers still running XP while, at the same time, encouraging those customers to upgrade to the new Vista operatin…