After several months undergoing beta testing, the final version of Microsoft Security Essentials is now available for download! So, if you are still running Windows without any AntiVirus protection, you can download Microsoft’s solution for free from:
Archive for September, 2009
Final Version of Microsoft AntiVirus available for download
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009Software Highlight: Download Accelerator Plus
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009Download Accelerator Plus is a file download accelerator/manager that according to its developers can increase download speeds by up to 300 percent. It features multiserver connections and can also recover from lost connections, computer shutdowns, and other errors. The program even searches for mirror sites to maximize your download performance. It integrates fully with the most popular browsers, supports proxy servers, features automatic hang up after download completion (for dialup conenctions) and more.
Download Accelerator Plus can be downloaded from http://www.speedbit.com
Software Tip: Changing from Caps to Lower Case (or Vice Versa) in Microsoft Office
Friday, September 18th, 2009If you have text that is in the wrong case, select (highlight) the text, and then click Shift+F3 until it changes to the case style that you like. Clicking Shift+F3 toggles the text case between ALL CAPS, lower case, and Initial Capital styles. You’ll be surprised how often you will use this once you get the hang of it!
Windows Vista to Windows 7 upgrades
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009Many Vista users all over the net are asking whether a direct upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows is possible. The answer is that this direct upgrade is indeed possible but not for Vista users who will buy any version of Windows 7 in a European Union country. As a matter of fact, in the EU, Microsoft will only sell versions of Windows 7 that require a fresh installation. This means that when the fresh install path is taken, users will first have to backup all data and afterwards they will also need to install all software once again. On the other hand users who will choose the upgrade path will not need to go through all that hassle but they will also face the risk of ending up with an o/s which performs slower than what could have been achieved via a fresh install.
If you are a Vista user and planning to take the upgrade path, you should also consider downloading the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor tool from:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/upgrade-advisor.aspx
After installing this tool you will get a report telling you if your computer can run Windows 7 and will also tell you if there are any known compatibility issues.
Intel Processor Identification Utility
Saturday, September 12th, 2009Do you want to be really sure that inside the new PC/notebook you bought recently, there is really an Intel Core 2 Duo running at 3.4 Ghz and not a slower cpu overclocked to run faster? Do you lack the technical knowledge to identify such a thing? Do you want to check out without invalidating the warranty? Then you need the Intel Processor Identification Utility which was developed by Intel Corporation to enable customers to check whether or not an Intel processor is being operated above its Intel rated frequency. This application can also be used to identify the Intel processors installed in a system.
The utility is easy to use and contains three tabs:
- Frequency Test tab which provides information on the operating status of the installed processors
- CPU Technologies tab which provides information on all cpu supported technologies (such as Virtualisation, 64-Bit support and SSE version)
- CPUID Data tab which identifies the Intel processor(s) in the system
The utility is available in various languages and can be downloaded from:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=N&ProductID=1881&DwnldID=7838
After the Eee-PC, comes the Eee-Reader
Thursday, September 10th, 2009Asus will soon enter the e-book reader market which so far has been dominated by Sony and Amazon. The Eee-Reader will certainly be the most technologically advanced e-reader because it will:
- open like a traditional book
- have two full colour screens
- include a web browser, a virtual keypad, speakers, webcam and microphone
- support Skype telephony
- be cheaper than Sony’s and Amazon’s readers
For more information on e-book readers click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_e-book_readers
Samsung to release an OLED notebook in Q4 2010
Monday, September 7th, 2009Samsung will most probably release a notebook with an OLED screen by not later than Q4 2010. OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode and in the coming years this technology will be mostly used in the production of digital displays.
If you want to know the advantages and disadvantages of OLED over the current LCD (Liquid Crystal Displays) then click here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_light-emitting_diode#Advantages
Also, for OLED related news click here: http://www.oled-info.com
Latest Netbook innovations
Friday, September 4th, 2009It looks like a number of manufacturers are planning to release more powerful netbooks and this is something which is desperately needed because most of the netbooks that were released in the last year offered very similar specs (like the same CPU, same amount of memory and same Intel-based graphic chipset).
However, a number of manufacturers have recently announced the following:
- Docking stations for netbooks (when used these will add extra ports including DVI/HDMI connections)
- More powerful CPUs (based on Dual Core Atom processors)
- HDMI Graphic chipsets powered by Nvidia
- Hard drives up to 320 GB
To check out netbooks which some (or all) of the above click here:
Gigabyte M1022 series:
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/notebook/Products_List.aspx?NoteBookType=Booktop&ScreenSize=10.1%22
Prime Note Cresion NA:
http://www.dospara.co.jp/5goods_pc/pc_detail.php?h=d&f=d&m=pc&mc=1070&map=8
(Note: Website is in Japanese)
Lenovo and Samsung have also announced netbooks with similar specs but at the time of writing their websites are not listing these models.
Nokia to launch Linux-based smart phone
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009Next month Nokia will launch the N900, a smart phone which is based on Linux. Until now, Nokia smart phones were based on Symbian. Nokia is marketing the new phone as representing a convergence between a computer, the Internet and a mobile phone, and on the technical side they have announced that it will include a 3.5-inch touch screen, 1 GB of application memory, 32 GB of storage, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and Wi-Fi.
For more information click here: http://maemo.nokia.com/n900
Windows 7 on Netbooks
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009Almost all netbooks which have been sold till now come with either Linux or Windows XP pre-installed, with only a few models available with Windows Vista. The problem with the latter O/S is the fact that it is too much power hungry and the combination of cpu, graphics chipset and memory available on most netbooks cannot handle Vista. However it is now very obvious that things will soon change and this will not happen because of some new CPU or more RAM. As a matter of fact it seems that the Intel Atom N270 which runs at 1.6 GHz will continue to power the vast majortity of netbooks for quite some time. What is going to change all is the O/S itself! In fact it seems that all current netbooks will be able to handle all versions of Windows 7 very easily. In order to try this out, this week I have installed Windows 7 Professional on a Samsung NC-10 with 1GB of RAM (this netbooks ships with XP), and I can confirm that Windows 7 is running on it at almost the same speed of Windows XP! I am also confident that if I had to add more RAM, Windows 7 would be much faster. This is certainly good news for the vast majority of current netbook users, but I guess that it is also bad news for netbook manufacturers, at least for those that were hoping to sell faster models to existing netbook owners!
For more information on Windows 7 click here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/features/tour.aspx
For more information on the Samsung NC10 click here:
http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/office/mobile-computing/netbooks/NP-NC10-KA01US/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail&tab=spec