ARCHIVED NEWS
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July 2010
ATI Catalyst Beta 10.7a
31 July 2010
ATI has released the Beta Catalyst 10.7a graphics driver for the HD 2000 series and above. This driver provides support for Anti-Aliasing through the Catalyst Control Center for Starcraft II. The driver also contains improved performance for Quad ATI CrossFireX for Eyefinity supported configurations.
Game Patches
31 July 2010
VLC Media Player 1.1.2
30 July 2010
The free VLC Media Player has been updated to Version 1.1.2. This version contains a range of bug fixes.
SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium 2.17.0008
30 July 2010
Creative has released an official 2.17.0008 driver for most of the X-Fi Titanium series under Windows XP, Vista and 7. This driver improves the loading time of the Audio Control Panel and enables selection of other microphones. It also includes a range of fixes.
Internet Explorer 9 Beta
30 July 2010
Microsoft has announced that a public beta of Internet Explorer 9 will be made available in September 2010. The final version of IE9 is not expected until some time in 2011.
Game Patches
30 July 2010
Safari 5.0.1
29 July 2010
Apple has released Version 5.0.1 of the Safari browser for Windows. This update adds support for extensions, which can be downloaded from this gallery.
Game Patches
29 July 2010
Nvidia Forceware 259.09
28 July 2010
Nvidia has released the official Forceware 259.09 WHQL certified driver for Windows XP, Vista and 7. These drivers are a special release intended primarily for developers, providing support for OpenGL 4.1 and GLSL 4.10. Note that the new features of OpenGL 4.1 and GLSL 4.10 require a GeForce GTX 400 series or Quadro 4000, 5000, 6000, or 7000 series card in order to function.
Chrome 5.0.375.125
27 July 2010
Google has released Version 5.0.375.125 of the Chrome browser. This version has several security and bug fixes.
Logitech SetPoint 6.15
27 July 2010
Logitech has released Version 6.15 of the SetPoint software for mice and keyboards. Changes include updated control panel for standard mice and keyboards, as well as various fixes and stability enhancements.
ATI Catalyst 10.7
27 July 2010
ATI has released the official Catalyst 10.7 graphics driver for the HD 2000 series and above. This WHQL certified driver has HydraVision enhancements for ATI Eyefinity, enhanced pulldown detection, support for rotated displays on CrossFireX configurations, and GPU acceleration for VLC player 1.1.1. The drivers also contain performance improvements, as well as a range of bug fixes.
Update: ATI has also released a 10.7 Preview driver which is newer than the official 10.7 driver and provides support for OpenGL ES 2.0.
Game Patches
27 July 2010
CCleaner 2.34.1200
27 July 2010
A new Version 2.34.1200 of the free CCleaner system cleaning utility has been released. This version extends cookie cleaning to HTML5 Web Storage, and has several other minor improvements and bug fixes.
Site Update
26 July 2010
In honor of the 25th Anniversary of the Commodore Amiga computer, I've completely updated the Amiga Emulation Guide, and also uploaded a YouTube Video with some of my favorite Amiga game intros. For those of you old enough to remember the excitement which the Amiga brought into our lives back in the 1980's, you should definitely give Amiga emulation a go on your PC for a nostalgic kick.
A while ago I mentioned that I would be providing new game guides thanks to a special arrangement with a major hardware company. The good news is that this deal is still on, I finished the first guide a month ago, and a second should be forthcoming. However since the guides are to appear on the company's new site, and the launch of that site has now been delayed, you won't be able to see the guide(s) until September. I'll provide more details closer to the launch date.
Firefox 3.6.8
24 July 2010
Mozilla has released Version 3.6.8 of the Firefox browser. This version fixes a stability issue.
Game Patches
24 July 2010
Autoruns 10.02
23 July 2010
Microsoft has released Autoruns 10.02, updating this free startup software identification utility. This version fixes a bug in Autorunsc that had default to filtering out signed Windows components.
Game Patches
23 July 2010
Game Patches
22 July 2010
VLC Media Player 1.1.1
22 July 2010
The free VLC Media Player has been updated to Version 1.1.1. This version fixes performance issues with GPU decoding using DxVA2 on ATI GPUs when combined with Catalyst 10.7, as well as a range of other fixes.
Microsoft Security Essentials Beta
21 July 2010
Microsoft has released a Public Beta of the next version of Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) anti-malware. The limited beta requires registration, and is available on a first-come first-served basis.
Word 2007 Update
21 July 2010
Microsoft has released an Update for Word 2007 which contains stability and performance improvements.
Firefox 3.6.7
21 July 2010
Mozilla has released Version 3.6.7 of the Firefox browser. This version contains several security and stability fixes.
iTunes 9.2.1
20 July 2010
Apple has released a new Version 9.2.1 of the iTunes software. This version contains security, stability and bug fixes.
Game Patches
20 July 2010
Nvidia Forceware 258.96
20 July 2010
Nvidia has released the official Forceware 258.96 driver for Windows XP, Vista and 7. This WHQL driver is for the GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, 200, 300, 400 and ION series cards. It is the same as the 258.96 beta driver released recently. The driver package also contains the 9.10.0224 PhysX drivers.
Google Image Search
17 July 2010
Google appears to be making changes to its Image Search feature. As of yesterday I now notice that searching for images in Google looks like this in Firefox. At the moment I don't get the same view in Internet Explorer, so Google hasn't rolled out this change completely as yet. I've updated the Google Customization Guide to cover the quick method of reverting back to the old Google Image Search view if you do not like this change - see the bottom of the guide for details. If this change becomes more widespread I will include other methods as they become available.
Game Patches
17 July 2010
Game Patches
16 July 2010
Game Patches
15 July 2010
Platform Update Supplement Beta
15 July 2010
Microsoft has released a beta Platform Update Supplement for Windows Vista. This supplement provides fixes and improvements to graphics, media foundation and print functionality. To install this supplement you must have the original Platform Update installed on Vista SP2.
Game Patches
14 July 2010
Microsoft Security Updates
14 July 2010
Microsoft has released its monthly set of Windows security updates which you can get through Windows Update. Alternatively you can view and download them individually from here - click the 'Released' column header once to sort by date.
Winamp 5.581
14 July 2010
The free Winamp media player has been updated to Version 5.581. This version contains a range of fixes.
Game Patches
13 July 2010
Nvidia Beta Forceware 258.96
13 July 2010
Nvidia has released the Beta Forceware 258.96 driver for Windows XP, Vista and 7. This WHQL candidate driver is for the GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, 200, 300, 400 and ION series cards. It adds support for the new GTX 460 card, includes Nvidia 3D Vision Surround technology and performance increases for the GTX 400 series, and contains a range of bug fixes. The driver package also contains the 9.10.0224 PhysX drivers.
Windows 7 SP1
13 July 2010
Microsoft has released a public beta of Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Windows 7. This Service Pack does not contain any major new features for Windows 7, it is primarily a compilation of existing updates. The documented changes for Windows 7 include additional support for communication with third party federation services, improved HDMI audio device performance, corrected behavior when printing mixed-orientation XPS documents, change to behavior of 'restore previous folders at logon' functionality, enhanced support for additional identities in RRAS and IPSEC, and support for Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX). Full details of what SP1 contains are here. The final version of SP1 is expected in the first half of 2011.
A-Squared Free Ends
11 July 2010
Emsisoft has unfortunately ended support for the A-Squared Free anti-malware scanner. When updating A-Squared Free it will automatically be disabled and you will be required to upgrade to the Emsisoft Anti-Malware 5.0 package. Upon switching to Emsisoft Anti-Malware, you will need to select the free trial option, which will continue for a period until the program falls back to a more basic malware scanner functionality similar to A-Squared Free. This is actually ideal because I do not recommend enabling the background guard features of this or any other anti-malware software.
To configure Emsisoft Anti-Malware for minimal intrusion, set the Emsisoft Anti-Malware 5.0 service to Manual, remove the a2guard.exe background guard startup item, and then go through and highlight and click 'turn off' for the File Guard, Behavior Blocker, and Surf Protection protection features - these will become automatically disabled once the trial period expires in any case. Under the main menu click the Configuration option and you can then also disable auto updating, scheduled scans and the various popups the program generates, and further refine the options to suit your needs. Once configured in this manner, you can use it to perform manual scans in much the same way as A-Squared Free.
While this move by Emsisoft makes using their product much less convenient, as recommended in the TweakGuides Tweaking Companion, Microsoft Security Essentials is my anti-malware package of first choice as it is the least intrusive. The main reason for using Emsisoft Anti-Malware is for the purpose of periodically doing manual scans of your system and also using it to confirm any suspected false positives by MSE.
Update: You can skip the trial period completely if you select the 30 day trial and register with Emsisoft, then enter your login details and select the Freeware license option.
CPU-Z 1.55
10 July 2010
A new Version 1.55 of the CPU-Z information utility has been released. This update provides support for new chipsets.
Game Patches
10 July 2010
Realtek HD Audio 2.50
10 July 2010
Realtek has released Version 2.50 of its HD Audio drivers.
DivX 8.1.0
10 July 2010
The DivX video software has been updated to Version 8.1.0.
Windows 64-bit Adoption
9 July 2010
Microsoft has released new data sourced from Windows Update showing that as of June 2010 the 64-bit version is being used on 46% of all Windows 7 installations, 11% of Vista installations, and less than 1% of XP installs.
Java Runtime Environment 6.21
9 July 2010
Sun has released an Update 21 to the Java Runtime Environment 6.
Game Patches
9 July 2010
Game Patches
8 July 2010
Game Patches
7 July 2010
Game Patches
6 July 2010
Chrome 5.0.375.99
3 July 2010
Google has released Version 5.0.375.99 of the Chrome browser. This version has several security and bug fixes.
Game Patches
3 July 2010
Game Patches
2 July 2010
GPU-Z 0.4.4
2 July 2010
GPU-Z, a free graphics card information utility, has reached Version 0.4.4. Changes include the ability to show temperatures in °F, support for new chipsets, as well as other improvements and fixes.
Opera 10.60
1 July 2010
The Opera browser has been updated to Version 10.60. This version has a range of new features including geolocation services, offline web applications, web workers and .webm support, along with security and stability fixes.
Nvidia PhysX 9.10.0224
1 July 2010
Nvidia has released the 9.10.0224 PhysX drivers for Nvidia PhysX-capable GPUs.
Game Patches
1 July 2010
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