SECURITY...

• End of mainstream Windows 2000 support approaching - Microsoft will end mainstream support for Windows 2000 on June 30 of this year. After June 30, users will have to pay for patches and hotfixes that aren't security-related. However, Microsoft will continue to offer security-related hotfixes through March 31, 2010.
• Trend Micro Virus Update Freezes PCs - Security vendor Trend Micro distributed a faulty virus definition file on Friday that slowed thousands of PCs worldwide to a crawl, the company admitted Monday. The virus definition file was released Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PDT to both the Trend Micro Web site (where users could retrieve it manually) and to the firm's automatic update servers. The file was to update Trend Micro's OfficeScan, PC-cillin, ServerProtect for NT, Client/Server Suite for SMB, and Client/Server/Messaging Suite for SMB. Rather than simply update the anti-virus files, however, the new definition brought machines to their knees by chewing up virtually every processor cycle.
• Symantec's So-So Spyware Protection - First Look - Though Norton accurately identified and blocked the StartPage and Downloader Trojans, results with the remaining spyware and adware apps were mixed. Norton ignored both Total Velocity and Xupiter, and when it alerted me to Hotbar's presence, it recommended that I not only keep the program, but also that I allow it full Internet access. Similarly, when Xupiter and Total Velocity tried to connect to a DNS server, Norton recommended that I allow full access for both.
• ICMP Attacks Against TCP Vulnerability Exploit - Attackers can send a specially crafted Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) message that will cause a denial of service for the affected systems. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could cause the affected system to reset existing TCP connections, reduce the throughput in existing TCP connections, or consume large amounts of CPU and memory resources.
• Web server hacks up by a third - Attacks on web servers and the defacement of web pages have risen by 36 per cent over the past year, according to a cyber-crime observation group. Zone-H recorded 392,545 attacks on web servers worldwide during the past 12 months, in which hackers used the web servers for their own purposes or defaced the contents.

OFFTOPIC...

• Halo 2 New Maps Early - For anyone who didn't catch word, four new Halo 2 maps are available for downloading now on Xbox Live. The maps Containment and Warlock are available for free and you can pick up Turf and Sanctuary for $5.99 or wait until June 28th and get them free.
• Lucas Confirms Star Wars spin-off TV series - George Lucas confirmed that he's working on two TV series. One will be a full 3D animation series (with 30-minute episodes) of the recent Cartoon Network Clone Wars shorts, and the other a live-action series, that will be set in the time between Episodes III and IV, but won't feature the main characters. Production is expected to begin in about a year."  (thanks Slashdot.org)

TECHNOLOGY...

• Windows XP 64-bit officially Launched - Microsoft finally launched their 64-bit operating system today with the release of Windows XP Professional x64 Edition (120-days trial) Also Microsoft's upgrade program info is now online, complete with eligibility requirments and an ordering form: "In order to be eligible to receive Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, your computer must have been ordered between March 31, 2003 and July 31, 2005 with Microsoft Windows XP Pro (32 Bit) preinstalled.  By participating in this program, your 32-bit version of Windows XP Professional will no longer be licensed. Cost for shipping and handling of upgrade is $12.00 USD for domestic shipments and $22.00 USD for International shipments plus any applicable taxes."
• Windows XP Professional x64 Edition impressions - Some other applications, however, now display strange error messages. Apple's popular ITunes, for example, pops up a dialog when run, alerting you that the application's drivers are "valid but incompatible" with this 64-bit version of Windows. Indeed, finding compatible drivers will continue to be an issue for quite some time, and Microsoft is upfront about the fact that the x64 platform probably won't be mainstream until Longhorn ships in 2006. However, XP x64 includes over 15,000 device drivers, more than any previous Windows version, and many more will be available on Windows Update in the near future.
• Microsoft discloses some IE 7 plans - In a blog entry posted Friday, a member of Microsoft's Internet Explorer development team said the company plans to support key elements of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommendations Portable Network Graphics (PNG), an image format, and Cascading Style Sheet (CSS), a Web page styling standard.
• 1Gbps Broadband Speeds In Hong Kong - Forget your measly 1mb or 2mb broadband speeds, for the Hong Kong Broadband Network company has debuted a broadband service offering a whopping 1Gbps worth of speed. Alas, this service isn't likely to reach our shores any time in the near future. The lucky net folks in Hong Kong can also get 100Mbps for $34 and 10Mbps for $16 a month. HKBN plans on adding TV services using the ultra-high speed broadband connections, with over 200 pay channels possible on each connection using MPEG-2 DVD quality pictures.
• Fuel cell pulls hydrogen out of bacteria - Researchers at Penn State and Ion Power have developed a process for fuel cells that can harvest the hydrogen produced when bacteria consume organic matter. The process can yield four times more hydrogen than the ordinary fermentation process. The process also doesn't require external oxygen and can use a wider variety of organic material, or biomass, than can be used in the fermentation process.
• Microsoft Sends Out Beta Invites for Student 2006 - The Microsoft Student Product Team has sent out invites for their upcoming beta program for Student 2006. Microsoft Student is designed to be the best homework resource tool for middle-school students on up through entry-level college. Microsoft Student 2006 includes: Dynamic World Atlas - An interactive map of the Earth, Graphing Calculator - Solve basic math, algebra, statistics, graphing equations and more, Chart Maker - Create stunning pie charts, bar graphs, and line charts!, Dictionary, Thesaurus and Translation Tools - Find just the right word, Learning Essentials - Quick access to Microsoft Office templates to help with homework assignments, Book Summaries - Complete guides that explain themes, characters and settings of classic literature, Web Companion - Provides relevant encyclopedia content based on web searches, Plus the full version of Microsoft Encarta Premium 2006. Participants will be chosen based on their survey results.

HARDWARE... 

• 1GB Wintec AMP-X PC2-5400 DC kit - Low latency DDR2 does provide better performance, but not the big difference you'll see with DDR memory. Additionally, Wintec's AMP-X line is pretty darn good. Although it doesn't overclock as well with low latencies as the Corsair XMS2 PC2-4300 Pro, it still managed to provide a good yield. Of course with the Corsair, you do get what you pay for. It's much more expensive than the AMP-X we have today. Speaking of price, the AMP-X PC2-5400 1GB kit (or two separate sticks of 512MB) comes in well under $200. That's extremely affordable for DDR2 memory and cheaper than what enthusiast DDR run for.
• ATI Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP and Club3D Radeon X800 XL AGP - X800 XL remains the realistic performance board of choice for people shopping in the middle section of the high-end space. The X850 XT Platinum Edition sits as the AGP performance card of choice for the well-heeled gamer. At the time of writing, there's no AGP solution that's faster for the gamer. It's top dog.
• Hitachi Deskstar 7K400 vs Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 400 GB - When it comes to the Hitachi and Seagate drives head to head there is no clear winner, both drives prove to overcome each other in different tests. Though let's not forget about the best part of these drives, they are 400GB! Personally, I could install every game, program, mp3, etc. that I own and I likely would not come close to filling one of these monsters. These drives are aimed at the ones who need a load of hard drive space, for video editing for example.
• LG GSA-5160D - The LG-GSA5160D offered good CD and DVD ripping speeds, being an external drive. As it can clearly be noticed in the previous pages, the average speed, when ripping protected games, is satisfactory, but unfortunately, it can not create full working backups with the latest SafeDisc versions. However, with the EFM error correction enabled version, up to 2.9 can be backed up, which is a good performance in comparison to many other latest DVD burners.
• Pioneer DVR-K14L/K04L - According to our tests, the drive showed ordinary reading performance, as is to be expected by a drive for laptop use, with good CD error correction. DVD error correction is average and we didn't like the error produced with the ABEX TDR-825 test disc. The reading speed is not an issue with such drive, since it has not been designed for ripping movies or games... On the other hand, we would like to see our 90/99min discs read as well as the Advanced DAE Quality test to finish successfully. Fortunately, all of our protected Audio CDs were recognized and ripped successfully.
• Toshiba SD-R5372 -  The 5372 drive is a good CD/DVD reader, however a higher CD-RW and DVD-ROM DL reading speed would be welcomed. The reading speed for recordable media is more than adequate and support for reading DVD-RAM is certainly an advantage. Error correction with both CD and DVD media is good and especially with CD media where the drive is one of the best from the latest line of drives that have hit the market recently.
• 620W Sky Hawk Power One PSU - SkyHawk Computer Group has provided us with an excellent PSU in spite of itself. Even with the hurdles this unit had to overcome it prevailed and the EPS/ATX 12V solder-point issues are being addressed. I've had and tested many different PSU's, some of the better models being PCPower&Cooling TurboCool 510, Thermaltake Pure Silent Power 680W, and OCZ's PowerStream 420 as my reference models.
• NeuNeo HVD208 High Definition DVD Player - Aside from being able to playback upscaled DVDs without any problems, this player plays HVD movies wonderfully. Of course, if you are impressed easily and don't really care about visual quality, you may not notice the perfection that HVD brings to the screen, but for those of you who do care, it truly looks fantastic.

GUIDES... 

• Memory Database - Ever wondered which memory chips are used on which manufacturer's modules? This database tells you.
• Dusting Your Computer - Everyone knows dusting your computer can help it run cooler. This article describes why, and shows the significant reductions in CPU and hard drive temperatures I experienced.
• Windows XP Setup Simulator 1.0 - Windows XP Setup Simulator is a program that teaches you how to install Windows XP, without having to worry you will mess up your hardware or software. It just simulates installing Windows XP as if it was the real setup. It reproduces every step exactly as it is in the real setup, and it does not restart your computer. This program can also be used as a guide for learning how to install Windows 2003, because the steps are very similar. The package also includes an e-book that explains every step of the Windows XP Setup and some other Windows XP Basics. You can also find the simulation with every step explained in several languages. Download At Source
•  ATI Catalyst Control Center in Windows x64 - Here're some instructions on how to get the ATI Catalyst Control Center running in Windows x64!

SOFTWARE...

• AVG Anti-Virus plus Firewall Beta version - AVG Anti-Virus provides advanced virus detection methods and components including heuristic analysis, generic detection, scanning, and integrity checking. The new firewall is an integral component of AVG Anti-Virus plus Firewall and is accessible via the AVG Control Center. Safeguarding the computer on which it is installed, the firewall helps to maintain privacy and protects personal identifiable information from being sent from your computer without your permission.
• CSVed 1.3.3 & uniCSVed 1.1 - Alos new is the uniCSVed version which "is an Unicode compatible CSV editor. When running under Windows XP and 2000 uniCSVed enables Unicode mode. uniCSVed has the same features as CSVed."
• Real Alternative 1.37 - Real Alternative will allow you to play RealMedia files without having to install RealPlayer or RealOne Player. Supported are: RealAudio (.ra .rpm), RealMedia (.rm .ram .rmvb .rpx .smi .smil), RealText (.rt), ReadPix (.rp). It also supports RealMedia content that is embedded in webpages.
• QuickTime Alternative 1.46 - QuickTime Alternative will allow you to play QuickTime files (.mov, .qt and other extensions) without having to install the official QuickTime Player.
• VisualRoute 2005 9.0b (shw) - VisualRoute (download) delivers the functionality of key Internet "ping," "whois," and "traceroute" tools, in a high-speed visually integrated package. VisualRoute automatically analyzes Internet connectivity and performance problems, displaying the results in an easy to understand table and on a world map
• Windows Universal Tweaker v0.4 - This small wizard utility (download) is capable of the following actions: Internet Cache files and Temporary files cleanup, Tweak Windows Memory management settings, Tweak Connection and MTU Settings, DNS cache cleanup, DNS cache bugfix, Reduce Windows boot-time, Disable Windows ZIP Folder, Disable Distributed DCOM and NetBios (Port 445) completely, Disable uncritical Services.
• Style XP 3.03 (shw) - Style XP (download) is theming software that helps customize the way your Windows XP, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Tablet PC, or Server 2003 system looks. Style XP can manage and rotate themes, visual styles, backgrounds, and logons, which are freely available at ThemeXP.
• DirectX Tweaker Public Beta 2b - The DirectX Tweaker is a tool that acts like an interface between DirectX and/or Direct 3D and the program that originally uses the Direct 3D interfaces. This allows to change or log all actions of the Direct 3D interface. At present, this functionality is given for DirectX 8 API and DirectX 9 API..
• FileZilla 2.2.13b - FileZilla (download) is a fast FTP and SFTP client for Windows with a lot of features. FileZilla Server is a reliable FTP server. This minor updated fixes bug when connection freezed after SSL Initialization.
• DVD Region+CSS Free 5.84 - DVD Region+CSS Free enables you to watch and copy any region code CSS-encrypted DVD movies on any DVD drive.
• BlindWrite Suite 5.2.14.150 (shw) - Blindwrite Suite (download) is the best set of tools to reproduce or clone any CD, even protected ones. Blindwrite Suite is the most powerfull tool to create a perfect copy from your original CD for personal private copy
• CloneDVD2 v2.8.2.1 - This new version (download) fixes Error message "DVDManager 5 .. " when writing files to ISO Image, CD or DVD with certain DVD titles, e.g. Zone of the Enders Vol. 3 (UK) or Coffee and Cigarettes (German). This error occured with self made Video DVDs as well.
• K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 1.30 - download
• ATI Tray Tools 1.0.2.625 - Ray Adams has released a new version of his tweaker for Radeon cards.
• NVIDIA Linux drivers - download: NVIDIA Linux drivers 1.0-7174 IA32 | AMD-64/EMT64
• Creative 64-Bit Audio Driver Preview - Creative have released some Beta Creative 64-Bit Audio Driver (the name of the file is drivers-amd64-041805.zip / mirror) For SoundBlaster Live/Audigy/Audigy 2 Series for Windows XP 64-Bit Edition Operating Systems April 18, 2005.