03 February 2002

__________________________________________________________________________ Windows XP PowerToys Update Is Delayed! After pulling the download for PowerToys -- a popular group of small applications that add extra functionality to Windows XP by taking advantage of hidden settings -- and promising a release by January 31, Microsoft has decided to hold off on the much anticipated update. A note on the PowerToys Web site reads, "We're sorry, because we know you like them a lot. PowerToys are currently being improved, and will be available for download in the spring." Although Microsoft has also blocked the ability to download older versions, a company spokesperson told BetaNews the team is making minor improvements and there is no need for users to uninstall the current version. Source: www.betanews.com 3:21:53 PM

__________________________________________________________________________ Some Great Windows XP Tips! Paul Thurrotts SuperSite for Windows - "Windows XP Tips" has been updated. As the dust from the holiday season settles, many people find themselves exploring the possibilities of their new Windows XP systems. While we certainly expect folks to be taking full advantage of this product already, some tips and tricks directly from the software designers should be very useful. Whether allowing people to do things they didn't know were possible or making everyday tasks that much more simple and quick, we believe some useful tips and tricks will be appreciated. Included are: Remove Interference in Movie Files Working with Album Art in Windows Media Player Managing Multiple Photos or Other Files Turn Off File Names in Thumbnail View Try Grouping Files for Effortless Manageability Add a Map Drive Button to the Toolbar Fax Tip Changing Thumbnail Options Use the Windows Classic Look Change the Start Menu Style Add Fields to the Details View of Folders Using a Folder Type as a Template Create a Personal Screen Saver Advanced Customizations Link: Windows XP Tips @ SuperSite for Windows 4:45:39 AM

__________________________________________________________________________ Fastest And Easiest Way To Create a VCD From a DVD (With Dolby Surround)? This guide tells all! Note this method uses dvdx and Panasonic plug-in. Dvdx is free but Panasonic is not. So now that's that out of the way lets get started. Quality is good! Big Link: http://www.vcdhelp.com/The%20fastest%20and%20easiest%20way%20to%20create%20a%20pal%20VCD%20with%20the%20highest%20quality%20picture%20and%20sound%20web%20page_files/ 4:40:01 AM

__________________________________________________________________________ I Need A Bootdisk - HELP! Nothing more annoying eh? You need to do something on your computer that requires a bootdisk - except you don't have one at hand... but you do have an internet connection up and running... Here's the place to save you! Link: http://www.bovistech.com/disks.htm 4:39:41 AM

__________________________________________________________________________ Nero Burning Rom 5.5.7.2 Released! Nero is a flexible, reliable, and easy-to-use application designed to write both data and CD audio to CD-R and CD-RW discs. It supports ISO 9660 images as well as ISO mode 1 and XA mode 2, and allows for on-the-fly disc recording in addition to overburning (if supported by hardware). Nero also supports multisession and mixed-mode recording, HFS, ISO/HFS hybrid, UDF, PSX, OFAS (optimal file access speed), track-at-once (TAO) and disc-at-once (DAO) writing, digital audio extraction, and more. In addition, Nero can dynamically disable automatic-insert notification, offers support for multiple languages, and works with all major models of CD-R and CD-RW drives. It also contains Nero's standalone Cover Editor for designing and printing CD covers. I think this is the best cd writing software on the market. Why not download yourself a trial copy? Visit the Nero website: http://www.nero.com/ 4:39:24 AM

__________________________________________________________________________ TVTool 6.0 (Beta) Ready For Download! TVTool 6.0 (Beta) is ready for download! Among other new features it has support for the Philips TV chips SAA7102 and 7108 the first time. Usually beta versions are not published. But in order to make the waiting period not any longer it is already available now. But a help file does not exist so far. TVTool was developed to replace the poor support video card manufacturers had for TV_OUT. TVTool works with most NVIDIA based cards such as TNT, TNT2, TNT2 Ultra, GeForce cards with BT86x (e.g. Viper 550, Erazor 3, Xentor 32, 3D Prophet, etc.). The main problem is the black borders around the picture on the TV screen. These can be very annoying for most applications like DVD-playback or decoding. TVTool is a completely software based solution to this problem. TVTool has many features, such as dualview, which makes simultaneous output to the TV and monitor possible. Changes in Current Version: Support for Philips TV chips Option 'Dot Crawl Reduction' resp.'Cross Color Reduction' Option 'Chroma Bandwith' Option 'Multi-Row style' Sharper image for Chrontel chips New Hotkey-Modifier Win and CTRL+ALT New hotkey 'Size toggle' Hardware detection expanded for new cards Improved user interface Homepage: http://www.tvtool.de/index_e.htm 4:38:55 AM

__________________________________________________________________________ What's Faster: Athlon XP or Pentium 4? The answer depends much on what you use it for! Grant Donachie, who sourced this link and has just seen one in action - was HIGHLY impressed! "I had no idea it performed so well, thought it was (the XP label ) all about power saving and efficiency....how wrong I am". If you are thinking of upgrading your processor, it makes sense to check this out: Link: http://athlonxp.amd.com/benchmarks/ 4:38:37 AM

__________________________________________________________________________ Security Alert! Are you being tracked by SuperCookies? Privacy Expert Richard M. Smith writes: "There is a significant privacy problem with Internet Explorer because of a design flaw in the Windows Media Player (WMP). Using simple Javascript code on a Web page, a Web site can grab the unique ID number of the Windows Media Player belonging to a Web site visitor. This ID number can then be used just like a cookie by Web sites to track a user's travels around the Web. " Windows Media Player by default apparently issues users an ID number, which is even worse than a cookie in terms of being able to track movements online. So far, no sites seem to be using the tracking, but that can change quickly. Due to the fact that Windows Media Player is bundled with the Windows operating systems, experts say you "can definitely now track 95 percent of all home users across their every site visit on the Internet." Worrying eh? Microsoft admits the feature could be used for malicious tracking, but several months ago updated Media Player to allow users to turn off the feature. Fix This Yourself: Turn off tracking by opening Windows Media Player, go to Tools - Options and unselect the option "Allow internet sites to uniquely identify your player". Then click OK. If this option is manually turned off, SuperCookies will also be disabled because Internet Explorer will generate a new player ID number for each IE session! Try this online test and get the full story here: Link: http://www.computerbytesman.com/privacy/supercookiedemo.htm 4:38:11 AM

__________________________________________________________________________ Yes Its True - Llamasoft Is Returning (Go, Go, Go!) "Llamasoft is returning! Estimated Live Date: End of March. Until then, loiter here for frequently updated progress reports and lots of crap drivel." The Hairy One's words  - not mine! Yet more details leak out of the new game... "You have to collect the images of Dolly, whilst avoiding the Al-Qaida Suicide Sheepies which hurl themselves down from the top of the screen." Great Stuff! Link: http://www.enormouscamel.freeserve.co.uk/ 4:37:42 AM

__________________________________________________________________________ BugNet Top 10 Windows XP Bugs: Certain IBM ThinkPads and IntelliStations generate an "Invalid Line" error message during Windows XP setup. Windows XP setup may appear to stop responding during the Registering Components screen. Installing Windows XP on systems that use the Intel i815 chipset and have a USB mouse and keyboard will cause the system to hang. Link: read more 4:37:20 AM

__________________________________________________________________________ Lockergnome (Of Sorts!) Bet you all know about http://www.lockergnome.com/ by now - no? Well did you know, Chris also runs his own BLOG (Personal Weblog)? Why not log straight into his root C:PIRILLO.EXE Visit: http://chris.pirillo.com/ 4:36:44 AM

__________________________________________________________________________ Lord Of The Rings XP Theme: Running Windows XP? Got a theme manager? If not, why not try Style XP from http://www.tgtsoft.com/ Then you can run custom themes on your computer - without slowing it down I may add! I promise, you are going to love this - I have came across many nice themes in my time but none as easy to live with, look at and use as this one: Visit: http://shirelotr.cjb.net/ 4:36:16 AM

__________________________________________________________________________ Memtest86 - Is Your Computer Stable? In my opinion - this is the number one utility for testing if your computer is stable - it gives your memory chips a thorough going over! This tiny program boots from a floppy disk (no O/S required!) and begins to test your memory much more than any Windows program ever could. I recommend running it overnight for 8 hours or so before "passing" a system as 100% stable. Link: http://www.teresaudio.com/memtest86/ 4:35:35 AM

__________________________________________________________________________ Worried About Your Computer's Internet Security? Without your knowledge or explicit permission, the Windows networking technology which connects your computer to the Internet may be offering some or all of your computer's data to the entire world at this very moment. There is only one site and one person you need visit - Steve Gibson of Gibson Research Corporation Link: http://www.grc.com/ 4:35:03 AM

__________________________________________________________________________ Blitz Basic 1.71 (Demo And Retail) What is Blitz Basic? Don't let the word Basic put you off! Ever wanted to try your hand at writing video games using DirectX? Can't be bothered with C++ but wouldn't mind its speed? Blitz is an easy-to-use, yet powerful and flexible programming language designed for the sole purpose of writing slick, playable videogames! Whether you want to create action packed 3D games, 2D puzzlers, adventures, RPGS, whatever...Blitz can do it! Blitz is available in 2D only (Blitz Basic) and 2D/3D (Blitz3D) versions. Blitz3D adds a bunch of powerful 3D commands to Blitz Basic's 2D command set, while remaining as user-friendly as its 2D counterpart. Blitz is based on the popular BASIC programming language. BASIC is well known for being both easy to learn and to use, making Blitz ideal for beginners and more experienced programmers alike. Blitz is also a 'compiler'. This means that your programs are converted into ultra-fast machine code before being run for maximum game speed! Official Site: http://www.blitzbasic.com/ Blitz Coding Tips: http://www.blitzcoder.com/ Blitz Professionals: http://www.blitzprofessional.com/ 4:34:40 AM

__________________________________________________________________________ AMD CPU Information Display Utility Not to be outdone! This is AMD's utility to display CPU technical details - has yours been overclocked? This utility displays the processor signature, approximate speed, L1/L2 cache sizes, processor revision, and instruction extensions supported. The utility will display the following information: - Processor signature - Vendor ID - Approximate speed in MHz (Windows only) - L1 Data cache size - L1 Instruction cache size - L2 cache size - Processor Family, Model, Stepping - Instruction sets supported: 3DNow!, 3DNow! Extensions, MMX, MMX Extensions See the release notes for more detail Download: http://www.amd.com/usen/assets/content_type/utilities/cpuinfo.exe 4:33:30 AM

__________________________________________________________________________ Intel Processor Freqency ID Utility v1.8 Intel have released a new version of their Intel® Processor Frequency ID Utility v1.8! The Intel® Processor Frequency ID Utility was developed by Intel Corporation to enable consumers the ability to identify and, in some circumstances, determine if their Intel processor is operating at the correct and rated frequency intended by Intel Corporation. Beginning with the Pentium® processor, this utility provides consumers with the ability to determine standard CPU identification of Intel processors. In addition, supported processors can utilize the Frequency Test feature of the utility to help determine if a processor has been overclocked. Download: Intel® Processor Frequency ID Utility v1.8 4:31:55 AM

__________________________________________________________________________ Official Site Launch - Welcome To My Tech Radio .Com! The beta period is over - this site is now live! http://www.mytechradio.com/ Lots of updates are planned! Bookmark this site now! Send news or anything interesting you come across to: news@MyTechRadio.com Contact me direct: webmaster@MyTechRadio.com 3:03:33 AM