• AMD Duron 1.3Ghz Announced - AMD today announced a new desktop processor for the mainstream PC market, the 1.3GHz AMD Duron processor. You can check some reviews at AMDMB, Tech-Report, 3DVelocity.
• Samsung retains XBox DRAM - Samsung has retained the contract to supply memory for the Microsoft Xbox games 'puter and is so pleased that it has issued a press release to celebrate.  Each box is supplied with 64MB of DDR SDRAM, assembled in four 128Mb (4Mx32) DDR SDRAM devices, so that will keep the Samsung production line busy.
• AOL not bidding for Red Hat - How I supposed, AOL Time Warner apparently is not making a bid to buy Linux manufacturer Red Hat, said sources familiar with the matter.
• Two year old bug bites Linux users - An almost two-year old bug in AMD's Athlon and Duron processors has been found to trip up Linux users. Users of the 2.4 kernel have been informed that a problem exists in the Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) video functionality when used in conjunction with an Athlon or Duron processor. The problem is that x86 systems have typically managed memory in 4Kb pages, but when the Pentium processor was introduced Intel added a feature called extended paging which allowed 4Mb pages to be used instead.
• Windows wipe utilities fail to shift stubborn data stains - Several Windows file-wiping utilities fail to completely wipe some files on Windows NT, Windows 2000 or Windows XP that use NTFS file systems, security researcher Kurt Seifried has discovered. In an advisory, security researcher Kurt Seifried details how file wiping utilities, such as PGP Wipe, BCWipe or East-Tec Eraser, fail to implement alternate data stream-wiping properly.
• SafeAudio V3 announced - SafeAudio is a 100% software-based, audio copy protection solution for music CDs, jointly developed by Macrovision and TTR Technologies. SafeAudio ensures excellent playability across all playback platforms and causes unauthorized copies to lose their entertainment value. Version 3 offers the following new features: New patent-pending "AudioLok" technologies offer increased protection and finely tunable multi-level security options, Support for multi-session CDs with third party Digital Rights Management (DRM) options, allowing "fair use" by consumers on PCs and digital audio players and an enhanced mastering, verification and testing tools requiring no change or addition to existing production lines.
• Win2k SP3 Info - SP3 is in beta testing right now and it is expected that at least one more "build" or update to the SP3 beta will be released. (there has only been a single version released to the technical beta testers so far, and that was in December). It looks clear that there will be another version sometime soon, and that MS is planning at least one more chat session with SP3 testers.
• Gainward Geforce 3 TI500 Card Review - Hexus has posted a review of the Gainward Geforce 3 TI500 Card.
• ATI R200 vs NVIDIA NV20 comparison - Just by looking at the heading, you my think that this is just a comparison review of only ATI8500LE and NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti500. In fact this review is also including the performance comparison of the four highest performance (and of course the highest price) graphic cards. These four cards are ATI8500LE(250/250MHz), GeForce3 Ti500(240/250MHz), GeForce3 Ti200(175/200MHz) and a standard GeForce3(200/230MHz).
• Kenwood DPC-MP922 Portable MP3 CD Player Review - NeoSeeker has posted a review of Kenwood DPC-MP922.
• Everglide Gaming Mat Review - TargetPC reviewed quite a few gaming products from Everglide. Everything from mats to gadgets to keep your mouse in its place. What struck my about the press release for their new Gaming Mat is that this particular mat is flexible like a normal mouse pad but it isn't made out of the ordianary materials found in mouse pads (mice pads?). What is also really neat about this product is that the mats come with pictures on them. Pretty cool way to set off your gaming area I thought. I wanted to know what material they were using with this new product and if I should consider replacing my solid plastic gaming surfaces.
• pcAnywhere Beta 10.5.1 - Symantec Corp. is seeking beta testers to scrutinize its new XP-compatible update to pcAnywhere, the company's popular PC remote control software. Version 10.5.1 adds full support for Microsoft's new Fast User Switching, a feature notably missing from the current release. pcAnywhere will be able to remotely access a Windows XP machine even through a fast user switch, an ability Symantec says that not even Microsoft's Remote Desktop or Remote Assistance can claim.
• NDIS Test Tool for Windows .NET Server Family - The NDIS Test tool tests the interface for network drivers used in Windows operating systems.
• HyperSnap-DX v4.30.00 Beta 4 Patch - HyperSnap-DX 4 is a screen capture and image editing tool for MS Windows. If you are running the last beta, leech this patch.
• PHP Nuke 5.4 Final - Download PHP Nuke 5.4 Final.
• Fantom CD v1.1.9 Build 1321 - Fantom CD is a software for reading CDs and running CD programs without a CD by creating a virtual CD-ROM drive on the hard disk using software methods. This emulator allows you to run CD-ROM applications from your hard drive or network server.
• Padus DiscJuggler v3.50.830 - DiscJuggler is the first professional software-only Compact Disc Duplication application for CD-Recordable drives. The new version features DVD writers with support for writing to CD-R and CD-RW media are now seen as compatible CD-R/RW devices, Removed Optimum Power Calibration from the beginning of the write process and fixed error  "Illegal field in command descriptor block" in the Verify process.
• WinRAR v3.00 beta 1 -WinRAR v3.00 beta 1 has just been released to public..WinRAR is a 32-bit Windows version of RAR Archiver, the powerful archiver and archive manager. The developer of WinRAR claims it allows higher compression ratios than other archiving tools, especially on executable files, object libraries, and large text files.
  This release represents a milestone in WinRAR functionality combining significant increases in compression capability, major ease-of-use additions and a dramatic drop in end-user pricing.
• CDCheck v3.0.0.22 RC2 - CDCheck is utility for prevention, detection and recovery of damaged files with emphasis on error detection. It supports CRC files and binary compare.
• CPUCOOL 7.0.9 - New version features KT266(a)/SIS635/NForce 420/AMD760 chipset bugfixes, new cooling server for KT266(A)/AMD760, Spanish language addes, bug fixes
• Tweak XP 1.26 - Totalidea Software has released Tweak XP 1.26.
• NVmax 4.00.15 alpha 2.1 - leech it! You wanted 23.xx support so now you got it. This new version corrects many issues over ALPHA 1 released yesterday. Web driver update should be working also.
• Advanced WMA Workshop 1.55 - Pretty useful tool with Explorer-like interface, allowing you to convert WAV, MP3, OGG files to WMA 8, convert WMA 8 to MP3 and OGG, decode WMA, MP3, OGG files to WAV PCM. Tool also include built-in batch processing, supports ID3v2 Tag edition and CD Ripping.
• LAMEr v1.2beta -LAMEr is a Win32 GUI front end for the LAME freeware MP3 encoder.LAMEr takes out all the hazzle of encoding files with LAME - including ID3 tagging of the encoded files.
• Stinkys' MMC 7.5 Registry Tweaker v0.91- This useful regtool that can tweak your ATI MMC 7.5.
• Windowblinds v3.1a final -  WindowBlinds is the first utility of its kind. It extends Windows XP, Windows 98, ME, NT, and 2000 to have a fully skinnable user interface. You can change the style of title bars, buttons, toolbars and much more. It gives you total control over your graphical user interface.
  What's new in version 3.1a : fixed a bug under Windows 98 when rendering skins with 32-bit bitmaps.
• ABIT KR7A BIOS - A new BIOS for the ABIT KR7A motherboard has been released.
• Creative Audigy Drivers - Please ensure that you have installed the Sound Blaster Audigy installation CD before you run this update (AUDRVWDM.EXE). You will also need to have PlayCenter Ver 2.20 and above pre-installed on your harddrive for this update to run properly.

• Terrorist PCs cracked! - The default encryption standards on exported versions of Windows 2000 may have revealed confidential details about the movements of the al-Qaeda network. Two computers bought by Wall Street Journal reporters from looters in Kabul after it was captured by the Northern Alliance turned out to have been lifted from al-Qaeda headquarters and still contained documents relating to the terrorist group's activities. Of the thousands of files stored on the machines some of the more interesting documents, including a number that may relate to 'Shoe Bomber' Richard Reid, were encrypted using Windows 2000's standard 40-bit DES Encrypting File System. Using a cluster of computers, the Wall Street Journal managed to crack the 40-bit encryption keys. But this took five days as the computers had to cycle through over a trillion different keys.
• Intel to create new mobile chips - Intel will launch a line of new chips for mobile PCs that includes a low-cost Celeron running at more that 1GHz.
• Will we move back to dial-up? - A new study says average broadband prices are rising and will encourage consumers to keep their slower dial-up connections instead of switching. Cable broadband access prices rose on average 12 percent, from $39.40 a month in January to $44.22 in December, while digital subscriber line (DSL) service went up 10 percent from $47.18 to $51.67, according to ARS, a La Jolla, Calif.-based marketing research firm.
• Arrest Thwarts Hacker Kimble's Threatened Suicide - Just days before he claimed he would commit suicide, self-proclaimed millionaire hacker Kim Schmitz was arrested by police in Thailand yesterday, according to German media reports.
• Boffins develop exploding mobile phone - All the recent hype surrounding stolen mobile phones could be solved with a 007-style self-destruct chip which would immobilise a mobile phone at the behest of its rightful owner, according to US scientists. Researchers at the University of California San Diego, say that they have developed a porous silicon chip, treated with gadolinium nitrate, that could explode the moment it got a signal to do so, rendering the device useless.
• GURU3D is back - Guru3D.com is back on-line!
• 3DMark2001 SE Announced - 3DMark2001 Second Edition will feature support for DirectX 8.1,
  fully compatible with WinXP, a new DirectX 8.1 feature test, utilizing Pixel Shader 1.4, Updated "System Info" which can display additional system configuration info, including installed hard drives and AGP settings, optimized usage of compressed textures, support for the latest AMD and Intel processors and all reported compatibility issues fixed.
• Homemade Watercooling - Hexus has posted a howto about building your own watercooling kit.
• Top Six FAQs on Win2K Disk Performance - O'Reilly Network has posted the top six FAQs on Windows 2000 disk performance.
• Aquanox Benchmarks - The following benchmarks show how current video cards perform in the actual retail version of the game (v1.17).
• Pentium 4, Over 3 GHz - Our thanks go to a large PC vendor, who was able to give us a hand-picked processor that is particularly suited to air-cooled overclocking. The fact is, the majority of existing, available Pentium 4/2200 CPUs with the Northwood core do not run stably at the extreme clock speeds higher than 3000 MHz, no matter what tricks you use.
• AMD DDR Motherboards Shootout - Overclockers.co.nz has posted very useful AMD DDR motherboards shootout from Abit, Asus, Epox, Iwill, and Soltek.
• DVI Explained & Improving GeForce2/3 Image Quality - Anandtech has posted an article about the Digital Visual Interface (DVI) and how it is shaping up to eliminate these transmission problems when it comes to PC monitors. We'll also be talking about DVI implementations in currently available video cards, as well as how to improve your present-day analog video output if it's not so hot.
• Nomad 3 Preview - Firstly, the Nomad 3 comes standard with a 20GB hard drive. Larger capacities might roll out later in the year, but 20GB should be more than fit the bill for most users. You know how long it would take to transfer 20GB through USB? Too damn long. And yes, the Nomad 3 has a USB port. More at gear.ign.
• Gainward Ti/500 XP GeForce3 - First off, consider that you have a cherry picked, bin sorted GeForce3 core to work with. It comes at a standard clock of 240MHz. Then add a cooler with a decent sized fan, and razor thin cooling fins to keep the heat off. Then use RAM heatsinks on 64MB of quality 3.8ns DDR RAM which comes at a default clock of 500MHz. What does this all add up to?
• PocketPC 2002 Updates -  Microsoft  has released MSN Instant Messenger for Pocket PC 2002 - English(US) and
  Terminal Services Client for Pocket PC 2002 - English(US).
• Microsoft Network Security Hotfix Checker v3.3 - HFNetChk can be run from WinNT/2k/XP systems, and will scan either the local system or remote ones for patches available for the following products: WinNT 4.0, Win2k, WinXP, IIS 4.0/5.0, SQL Server 7.0/2000 (including MSDE), and IE5.01+.
• AVP Weekly Update - This will update the Kaspersky Anti-Virus (AVP) virus databases to the latest (January 18, 2002).
• McAfee update - Both McAfee VirusScan 4.x/5.x DAT file update 4181 & VirusScan SuperDAT has just been released. The SuperDAT file will not only update your DAT files, but will update the scanning engine as well.
• Opera v6.01 beta build 1026 - This is an in-development, beta version of Opera. Opera is a user-friendly, versatile, and fast Internet/intranet browser that also includes a newsreader. The keyboard plays an integral role in surfing, which can make moving around the Web easy and fast. You can run multiple windows, even at start-up, and special features are included for users with disabilities. Opera supports CSS, Java (through the Sun Java plug-in), JavaScript SSL (128-bit), TLS (Transaction Layer Security), and more.
• Songs-DB v1.1 alpha 2 - Songs-DB is FREEWARE manager for music files. It means that it manages MP3s, WMAs, WAVs and others. The main task for Songs-DB is to take care of your collection stored on harddisks, CD-ROMs or other media, so that you can always listen to the music you like.
• Macromedia Shockwave Player v5.5.1 -  Leech this baby here.
• DVDx v1.7 - DVDx allows you to convert DVD to VCD2.0 or SCVD1.0 in one step (Including multiplexing, splitting). It produces good quality movies in MPEG1/2 format and you don't need to have 5GB or more free on your hard disk. DVDx has been designed especialy for unexperimented users, it is a simple and intuitive program. You only need Nero to write your VCD/SVDC.
• AVI2VCd v1.3.13 Encoder - Freeware Avi2vcd is an mpeg encoder with only one purpose: Encoding VideoCD 2.0 compliant mpeg streams. Avi2vcd can create all 3 valid VideoCD streams: FILM (23.976 fps), PAL (25 fps), and NTSC (29.97 fps). The horizontal resolution must be 768 pixels or less, the vertical resolution must be 576 pixels or less. Audio need not even be present, and if it is, can be stereo or mono, 8 or 16 bit, and any of the following sample rates: 8, 11.025, 12, 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, or 48 KHz.
• Easydivx v0.791 - Easydivx is a all in one rippack or graphical user interface program for vStrip, MPEG2AVI, AC3DEC Normalize, VirtualDub and MicroDVD menu. It includes all required programs.and works with!
• DVDSubber beta 4 build 502 - DVDSubber subtitling engine is more powerful than the standard DVD Video format, where DVD subtitle are limited to 4 colors, DVDSubber give you access to more than 16 millions colors. You can even add effect to the subtitle like a shadow or an outline to enhance readability.
• Easy CD-DA Extractor v4.6.1 build 3 - With Easy CD-DA Extractor you can make great-sounding direct digital copies from audio compact discs. It has many great features : easy-to-use user interface, MPEG Layer-3 (MP3) encoder and decoder, Windows Media(tm) Audio (WMA) encoder and decoder, Windows Audio Compression Manager compatible.
• Registry Healer v3.1 - Registry Healer checks registry for: invalid path references, empty registry keys and invalid font references. So it's better than nothing :P
• GeForce Tweak 3.2.1 - Johannes Tuemler has just released version 3.2.1 Final of his extremely popular GeForce overclocker/tweaker.
• ATI kills dev driver updates? -  ATI sent along an email that unfortunately they can no longer provide access to this secure site. Due to leaks of developer only drivers in the past month we must limit access...blah..blah.
• Radeon Series WinXP Driver 6018 Leaked - This is the 6.13.10.6018 driver dated January 8, 2002. The driver allows to adjust Anisotropic Filtering adjustments (2X to 16X) in DirectX and OpenGL tabs.
• ATI Radeon Beta for Win9x - The latest leaked ATi Radeon driver in question is dated 01/08/2002 (8th of January 2002) and its full version is 4.13.9012. So far there is no information with regards to its performance.
• Hercules KYRO Drivers - Hercules KYRO/II Driver 14.028 for Win9x/ME, Hercules KYRO/II Driver 14.028 for Win2k, Hercules KYRO/II Driver 14.028 for WinXP.
• ASUS A7V266 BIOS - ASUS have posted a new BIOS v1006-03e for the A7V266 motherboards: ASUS A7V266-E bios 1006-03e, ASUS A7V266 bios 1006-03e, ASUS A7V266-M bios 1006-03e.

• CD creator burns copy-protection efforts - As major record labels unveil a new breed of CDs designed to prevent Napster-style piracy, Dutch consumer electronics maker Philips, the co-creator of the CD, is refusing to play along..
• FBI Issues Net Terrorism Warning, Italy Finds Hackers - An FBI official today confirmed that the agency has issued a warning that possible terrorist activity is on the horizon involving the Internet. The warning comes shortly after Italian authorities identified - but did not arrest - six young hackers who launched attacks on computer systems at the Pentagon and NASA.
• VIA parades go faster Athlon XP chipset - VIA has launched a new integrated chipset for the Athlon XP. It's called the VIA ProSavageDDR KM266 and the numbers at the end indicate that is supplied with 266MHz DDR DRAM i.e. it's got fast memory. The chipset is built on an S3 core, and the spec includes "effective AGP 8X bandwidth graphics and ultra fast ATA-133 at ultra-competitive price points".
• Alcatel Speed Touch Home ADSL Modem (DoS) - Alcatel Speed Touch Home ADSL Modem (firmware version 8706) contains a security vulnerability that allows internal attackers to cause the modem to crash, by simply scanning it using NMap By scanning your Alcatel Speed Touch Home ADSL Modem from its internal network address (10.0.0.0 subnet) it is possible to cause the modem to crash.
• Intel has PCI bugs in chipsets too - Both the Intel 850 and the 860 chipsets have bugs that affect IDE drives which means, for example, your ATA 100+ drive only manages around 80Mb burst rate and no higher.
• XP 2500+ to have .13 micron core - Reliable sources close to the AMD action tell The Inquirer that the XP 2500+ will use a .13 micron core but that the 2200+ will use .18 micron technology.
• GeForce4 Specs Again  - The Ti 4600 is to support 8x AGP, with a 300MHz core and 350MHz memory, while the 4400 supports 4x AGP, with a 275MHz core and 300MHz memory, reports said. Both cards include 128MB of DDR SDRAM.
• Corsair XMS PC2400 DDR RAM Review - PC Stats has posted a review of Corsair XMS PC2400 DDR RAM.
• SiS645 Based Mainboards Review - X-bit Labs reviewed three SiS645 based mainboards: ASUS P4S333, ECS P4S5A and MSI 845 Ultra.
• Asus V7700 GeForce 2 TI Review - Hardware Extreme has posted the review of the Asus V7700 GeForce2 TI: "Asus, a name that will first remind us all as one of the highest quality motherboard and video card manufacturers has done it again with their new value for money, GeForce 2 Ti graphics card. Asus as well as almost every other video card manufacturer released their version of the GeForce 2 Ti around the same time, you will have many options to choose from. Each company has put extra effort in making their video card shine to be the best. Asus has definitely done a good job at this. Let us see if they have accomplished it. "
• Intel Pentium 4 Northwood Overclocking - It is almost proven that the P4 Northwood is so overclockable and clock speed of 3Ghz and above is possible with good cooling methods. We have yet to see a Northwood overclocked to 4Ghz but with the pace going on now perhaps we can see one in the near future. Among the highest clock speeds so far are P4 [email protected], P4 [email protected], P4 [email protected] etc.
• Cooler Comparison Updated - Three of the new additions this time have 80mm fans - two super-quiet Arctic Cooling models, and one ultra-loud OCZ Goliath with a ridiculous Delta super-fan on it. Bringing up the rear is TaiSol's humble CGK760, which puts a much more sensible fan on a high-quality heat sink and turns out to be excellent value for money.
• nForce Chipset Review - HotHardware have finally completed their first look at NVIDIA's eagerly anticipated nForce chipset, and have posted our findings for all to see!
• Microsoft .NET Framework SDK - The Microsoft .NET Framework Software Development Kit includes the .NET Framework, as well as everything you need to write, build, test, and deploy .NET Framework applications—documentation, samples, and command-line tools and compilers.  Download 131MB
• Exchange 2000 Admin Patch 5770.21 - This patch resolves problems that were found in the Exchange 2000 Admin since SP2 was released.
• ClearTweak 1.1 For WinXP - ClearTweak Freeware allows you to change the contrast setting of the ClearType setting for Windows XP.  ClearType is designed to enhance LCD displays. It may appear slightly blurry on standard desktop monitors. To use ClearType, you must have a video adapter and monitor that support a color setting of at least 256 colors. Best results are achieved with High color (24-bit) or Highest color (32-bit) support.
• Go!Zilla 4.1 - Go!Zilla grabs any url you want and takes over. Schedule your downloads for low traffic periods, categorize them and even resume a broken download where you left off.
• Logitech Mouseware v9.42.1 build 66 - Logitech Mouseware v9.42.1 build 66 is an automated self-installer of Logitech MouseWarer. This release of MouseWare features support for Windows XP. Also included in this release is WebWheelT. MouseWare uses a CHM-based Help file and Internet Explorer 4.01 or higher must be installed to view the Help file correctly.

• Six arrested in anti-hacking swoop - Six Italian youths aged between 15 and 23 have been arrested in connection with almost 600 website defacements. Identified as part of a group known as Hi-tech Hate, the hackers made headlines last summer after they went on a defacement spree protesting against the G8 summit in Genoa.
• Hackers target Solaris hole - Researchers caught at least one intruder breaking into a 'honey pot' through a 'buffer overflow' flaw that could give a vandal complete access to a computer.
• DVD Crypto Defendant Appeals To California Supreme Court - A former Indiana resident who is being sued for participating in an online forum dealing with digital video disc (DVD) decryption, on Tuesday formally asked the California Supreme Court to rule that he cannot be compelled to stand trial in California.
• AI UK Cellular Chat Service Goes Live - A text chat technology based on nascent artificial intelligence technology has launched on three of the U.K.'s cellular services and is set to go live on others in Europe later in the year.
• Tiscali sat service goes live in March - Tiscali is set to launch its broadband satellite service in the UK on March 1 - a month ahead of a similar offering from BTopenworld. Those signing up will have to pay L230 to take part in the three-month test. After that, they can either hand back the equipment or cough up L650 to continue using the service.
  Monthly subscriptions for the two-way satellite service runs at L59.99 a month.
• GeForce4 MX Specs - Hardware.fr has posted some specs of Abit's and Leadtek's upcoming GeForce4 MX-440 based graphics cards on a hardware distributor's site:  ABIT GeForce4 MX-440: NVIDIA Geforce4 MX-440 GPU clocked at 275 MHz, 64Mb DDR at 250Mhz; Leadtek GeForce4 MX-440: NVIDIA Geforce4 MX-440 GPU clocked at 275 MHz, 64Mb DDR at 200Mhz. Both cards are listed as being available in February!
• GeForce3 Ti200 128MB card from Chaintech - Chaintech is going to release new version of its GF3 Ti200 based card - G321 (64MB version is G320). Take a look at the specs and key differences form the previous version:
  GeForce3 Ti200 GPU, 128 MB DDR, dark brown PCB (will be standard for all Chaintech high-end products),
  'gold' accessories (also new standard for Chaintech high-end products) - heatsink and fan, back-panel bracket , TV-out, DVI.
• PlexWriter 40/12/40A Benefits - Plextor, one of the leading companies for the development and production of CD-ROM drives, CD-Recorders and CD-ReWriters is expanding its range with the PlexWriter 40/12/40A, which writes CD's at 40-speed, rewrites at 12-speed and reads at 40-speed. The PlexWriter 40/12/40A is the ideal instrument for both professional and private users who want to copy CD's, archive large files, or create multimedia productions.
• Windows XP Nuker? - A code baseline to test the UPNP DoS has been released. The DoS consists in sending a UDP packet to port 1900 with a NOTIFY request. This request has a URL that XP uses to open a TCP connection. Windows XP does not sanitize this request so whatever URL and port could be specified. Once the TCP connection is opened, a Chargen code fills the XP memory and the machine gets into an unstable state with a 100% of CPU utilization.
• Visual Studio .NET Exclusive for MSDN Subscribers - The final release of Visual Studio .NET, the next-generation development tool, is now available for download by MSDN subscribers. Visual Studio .NET provides the tools to rapidly design and build Web applications, Windows-based applications, and XML Web services. Key features enable developers to increase productivity while creating applications that can span platforms and devices. Find out more about the powerful features of Visual Studio .NET.
• Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 Fix List - Listed beneath are roughly 800 fixes currently being rolled into Windows 2k SP3. The number beneath refer to Microsoft Knowledge Base articles.
• Norton Antivirus Virus Definitions Update - Symantec has released a new virus definitions update for Norton Antivirus.
• Kaspersky Anti-Virus v4.0 Final - Chaps at Kaspersky.com has finally uploaded a new version of their Scanner on their public FTP:  Personal Edition v4.0 / For Personal Pro Edition v4.0.
• FATX Explorer - A nice tool for accessing Xbox files in Win32, has a GUI!
• Xbox DVD Breakthrough? -  Someone wrote a program which repeats the sequence of ATAPI commands, so he can read the DVD. It works! However it works only for that game which he inserted when he created the log.
  For other games the values send to the DVD in the MODE SELECT are different. It's like each game has different password. This passwords is based on data received by READ DVD STRUCT command. For that there must be some logic/algorithm in the BIOS. It would be easy to figure it out when we have the decrypted BIOS. (How are you guys doing on that in the BIOS department?)
• DUP-DVD v2.0.4 - DUP-DVD is a powerful tool to convert a DVD movie to SVCD/VCD - easily, quickly, effortlessly.
• HyperSnap-DX v4.30.00 Beta 3 Patch - This beta adds the new "Button Capture" function. The default hot key for it is Ctrl+Shift+B, to be consistent with other hot keys, but if used often, it is more practical to reassign that hot key to a one key selection, for example F8 function key.
• Customizer XP 1.6 - Customizer XP is an integrated suite of programs that can help you to tweak your Windows 2000/XP to its fullest potential performance or just keep it running like new. It offers a wide range possibility to customize and optimize your Windows program. Whether you want to tweak your Windows registry, cleanup your harddisk, or increase your multimedia and 3D games performance, Customizer XP will does it all for you!
• Intel Application Accelerator - This new version fixes delay when resuming from S3 power management state, and fixes HCT 10.0 Public Imports test fails. Leech Driver v1.1.2 Build 2084 for Win9X/ME/2k/NT/XP
• ClearTweak Version 1.1 - ClearTweak allows you to change the contrast setting of the ClearType setting for Windows XP.
• Radeon RefreshFix v0.91 Beta - A new version of the Radeon RefreshFix v0.91 Beta has been released.
• VIA 686 sound and VIA 8233 sound WHQL drivers - MSI have released some new WHQL passed drivers for
  all VIA VT8233/VIA 686A/686B/VIA 686A/686B based chipset mainboards - VIA 686 sound driver for WinALL and VIA 8233 sound driver for WinAll for use only with VIA 686A/686B southbridge motherboards.
• SiS 650/740 VGA WHQL drivers - For Motherboard with on-board SIS 650 VGA (changes VGA driver resolution default to 800x600/16): WinXP 6.13.01.2050, Win2K 5.13.01.2050, Win9X/ME 4.13.01.2050.
• SiS AGP Chipset Driver - This new driver patch USB issue that WinXP may not detect USB device after power on :
  Win9x v6.0.2091.0, Win2k/XP v6.1.2091.0
• ASUS 23.12 Detonators Removed - ASUS removed the new NVIDIA WHQL reference v23.12 drivers from their servers. Reason is said to be the still active "Infinity bug/loop". :-o
• Logitech MouseWare & iTouch Keyboard Drivers - Logitech has released: MouseWare 9.42.1 Build 66 and iTouch 1.83.

• Xbox may spawn entertainment hub - Some analysts say the new "HomeStation" console will handle e-mail, video recording and gaming. Yet others say the alleged plans aren't even close to becoming reality.
• Windows Media Player 'Super Cookies' Could Help Track Users - According to Richard M. Smith, the unique identification number assigned by default to every Windows Media Player user can be captured from the user's system registry using a simple script in a Web page.
• Solaris hole opening way for hackers  - The CERT Coordination Center of Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute in Pittsburgh, Pa., said in a bulletin today that it had received "credible reports" of Sun Solaris systems being compromised by hackers with the help of a vulnerability in unpatched versions of a CDE component known as the Subprocess Control Service.
• Server flaw leaves XP users at risk - A fault on a Microsoft domain name server has prevented users from downloading a software patch for Windows XP leaving them open to serious attacks. Microsoft engineers created the problem as they attempted to update software on a server. Since then, the glitch has prevented users from downloading software updates.
• F-Secure fixes scanner glitch - F-Secure has discovered a bug that can cause system crashes on Windows machines loaded with its antivirus software. In real life, the flaw is very rare - only three customer sightings in a year. Today the company has issued a fix.
• AOL warns of ICQ attack risk - The buffer overflow vulnerability affects versions of America Online's popular ICQ instant messaging software prior to version 2001b, which was released October. Only versions for Microsoft's Windows operating system are vulnerable.
• USB 2 arrives in Linux test version - Linus Torvalds, founder and leader of the operating-system project, releases the newest version of the core software.
• Thrustmaster Ferrari Force Feedback Racing Wheel Review - With the recent rise in popularity of driving games, there has been great demand for a higher level of realism. Titles that come to mind are the Need For Speed series, the Nascar series and the Formula One series. While these games can be fun to play with a gamepad or keyboard, let's face it, playing a racing game using the arrow keys on your keyboard is no where near as fun as using a full sized racing wheel with pedals and a gear stick. Come join TweakTown as they take a look at the latest edition to the Thrustmaster range, the Ferrari Force Feedback racing wheel.
• Intel Pentium 4 DDR Chipset Roundup - Last week, Intel has unleashed their new Pentium 4 processors based on the 0.13 micron Northwood cores with 512KB of L2 cache and towards end of this month, Intel is going to conduct a price cut on their existing 0.18 micron Pentium 4 processors. We can expect the demand for Pentium 4 processors (Northwood and Willamette) to go up that in turn more people will start searching for a board to go with it.
• Pentium 4 overclocked to 3.5GHz! - Some Japanese guys have overclocked a Pentium IV 2.2GHz to a whopping 3.5GHz, using some nitrogen cooling.
• Ultra ATA/133 and 66 MHz PCI Comparison -  While the eternal argument between SCSI and IDE users will never cease to be, it's becoming quite clear by looking at today's market that IDE hard drives are gaining a larger market share than ever before. While SCSI drives still continue to dominate the server / workstation markets, IDE hard drives are continually drawing die-hard SCSI users over to the IDE side. IDE hard drives are starting to achieve SCSI-like levels of reliability and performance, and with the proliferation of onboard IDE RAID devices, setting up a high-speed RAID-0 IDE RAID array has become a popular alternative to single high-speed SCSI drives.
• ISA Server SP1 - ISA Server SP1 includes fixes to provide an even higher level of reliability and stability. Microsoft strongly encourages ISA Server customers to install SP1 on all computers running ISA Server.
• Visual FoxPro 7.0 SP - Microsoft have released Visual FoxPro 7.0 Service Pack.
• SSL Key Password Retrieval Tool - Administrators can now retrieve that password that IIS 4.0 requires you to use to create a certificate signing request, and then later to install the certificate. Not only is this password pointless, but it is stored in plain text in the IIS 4.0 metabase. The program will display the key common name and password tab delimited to STDOUT.
• Drive Rescue v1.8beta - Freeware Drive Rescue can Find any lost and deleted data on your drive (e.g. hard disk) even if the partition table is lost or the hard disk has been quick-formatted. Lost Data, that is the result of a system crash can also be recovered.
• The Pocket PC 2002 SDK - The Pocket PC 2002 SDK (66MB), in conjunction with the Microsoft eMbedded Visual Tools 3.0, deliver a complete development environment for creating applications for Pocket PC 2002 mobile devices based on Microsoftr Windowsr CE.
• 7-Zip 2.30 Beta 11 - This new version features archive testing feature for GUI version, now 7-Zip can use more than 256 MB of RAM in all Windows versions, new localizations: Bulgarian, Chinese Traditional, Latvian, Slovak and some bugs were fixed.
• EasyDivx v0.782 - Easydivx is a all in one rippack or graphical user interface program for vStrip, MPEG2AVI, AC3DEC Normalize, VirtualDub and MicroDVD menu.
• GetRight v4.5c - GetRight is a program to help you download files from the Internet. Most people have already experienced the problem, when you're downloading a file suddenly the download interrupted because of some problem. GetRight solves this problem by allowing you to resume a download. If you got part of the file before the problem, GetRight will restart the download in the middle so it only gets the rest of the file, without having to restart from the beginning. This new version implements mostly bug fixes and other nice smaller improvements.
• Resource Hacker v3.3.4 -  Resource Hacker is a freeware utility (Win ALL) to view, modify, rename, add, delete and extract resources in 32bit Windows executables. It incorporates an internal resource script compiler and decompiler.
• ICQ 2001b Beta v5.18 Build #3659.2 - This latest version features as usually some bugfixes over the last version.
• Windows Messenger v4.6.0073 -  Download: Messenger v4.6.0073 WinXP US/English, Messenger v4.6.0073 Win98/ME/NT/2K US/English.
• Radeon Refresh Rate Fix 0.90 - Leech this bastard here. (you can discuss this tool in the forums)
• Realtek RTL-8139 WHQL v397 Drivers - Realtek has released new WHQL drivers for the Realtek RTL-8139.
• Asus Detonators v23.12 - Asus has released nVidia detonator drivers 23.12 for their nVidia based video cards:WinXP / WinME/9x.

• No let-up in warez crackdown? -  Federal agents have not arrested any members of the "DrinkOrDie" piracy ring, but roughly 30 people, including an executive of a major company, have retained lawyers to negotiate settlements with the government, said Allan Doody, who is overseeing the anti-piracy effort. There is an another article at CNET.
• 2600 Magazine Seeks Another Opinion In N.Y. DeCSS Case - Lawyers for the New York-based "hacker quarterly" 2600 magazine have asked that the full 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals reconsider a decision by three of its judges to uphold a ban on publishing software code that can unlock encrypted video on DVDs.
• Worm poses as Microsoft update - A new worm masquerading as a software update from Microsoft is capable of deleting all files on the hard drive of an infected computer but has so far spread very slowly.
• Details On Severe IE Hole Posted Online - Instructions on how to exploit a critical security hole discovered last month in Microsoft's latest Web browser were posted today on the Internet, raising concerns that malicious code may soon appear that takes advantage of the flaw (some explots: local files, JS Pop-Up DoS, and more).
• Has Ericsson Got Nokia in a Color Bind? - The world's largest mobile phone maker is so shocked by how successful rival Ericsson's recent launch of its tiny T68 has been, say published reports, that it is planning its own color-screen handset.
• ATI R300 details out - According to TheInquirer.co.uk, the card is an NV25 killer while ATI's lower market model the RV 250 which many assumed to be an NV17 killer now has large speed advantages over Nvidia's offering.While clock speeds are still under waraps, the RV250 will be spawned from the R200, currently branded as the Radeon 8500.
• GeForce3 Production Stopped? - Nope :P Xbit-Labs have  received an e-mail from Andrew Humber, NVIDIA European PR Manager, who told us that the information about the discontinuance of GeForce3 chips production taken from the Ukranian web-site was incorrect. At the same time, Mr. Humber didn't deny that the GeForce4 based graphics cards will start shipping right after the chips announcement on February 5, 2002.
• A Comparison Of 13 LCD Monitors - Tom's Hardware Guide has posted a comparison of 13 LCD monitors.
• ATI RADEON 8500 Extreme Overclocking Experience - XBit-Labs managed to find 7 individual regulators on ATI RADEON 8500: 5 of them were responsible for powering the graphics core and memory.. In comparison with NVIDIA GeForce3 based cards, which are usually equipped with only 2 regulator chips, increasing Vcore and Vmem on RADEON 8500 seems a really difficult task. But as they found out later, it will be no obstacle for a true overclocker :) 
• Microsoft releases new Office tools - Instead fixing holes in MSIE, Microsoft launched new tools for linking its Office desktop software into its growing .Net Web services plan :P
• Network_Sucks - connections monitor - Network_Sucks is a as the name says, a network packet sniffer. The program runs under Windows 2000, NT and Windows XP and it has many features: Filtering rules,  Interface selection,   Auto DNS,  DNS caching, Advanced log system, Decoding ability, Advanced protocol description, Editable protocol list,  .DLL support.
• Clean LimeWire - Clean LimeWire is the parasite free version of LimeWire that hit the Net in its official release version on January 5th. A file trader on Zeropaid described it accurately when he said "basically they take the source code from Limewire.org, strip out any adware/spyware/banner ad/trojan/anythingelseyoucanthinkof, and then recompile it".
• Eraser v5.3 - Freeware Eraser is an advanced security tool (for Windoze), which allows you to completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns.
• XMovie v1.9.5 - XMovie is a reference movie player for MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MP3 audio, MP2 audio, WAV, AIFF, AC3 audio, Quicktime and DVD's on Linux boxes.
• Opera 6.01 beta (build 1022) - This beta features: Clear visited links in the Delete private data dialog will now also clear the visited date in bookmarks,  Merged in HTML-banner support changes from main-branch,  fixed crasher in ouniansi.dll initialization,  Fixed find in page, now searches backwards and finds multiple matches in the same textblock,  Tuned the behavior of the font switcher, and many more...
• Fantom CD 1.1.8 build v1314 - Fantom CD is a software for reading CDs and running CD programs without a CD by creating a virtual CD-ROM drive on the hard disk using software methods.
• Windows Commander 5 RC1 - Windows Commander is a file manager program for Windows. It offers multiple language support, search, file comparison, directory synchronization, quick view panel with bitmap display, ZIP, ARJ, LZH, RAR, UC2, TAR, GZ, CAB, ACE archive handling plus plugins, built-in FTP client with FXP, HTTP proxy support, and more.
• Intel Processor Frequency ID Utility v4.0 - 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.
• Gainward ExperTool v2.81 - Gainward have released a new version of their ExperTool v2.81.

• Gigger worm can format Windows PCs - Gigger, a new JavaScript-based virus, has escaped into the wild. It attempts to delete files from a computer and format user's disk drive on restart and antivirus vendors are characterising it as high-risk.  Gigger, which uses a combination of Microsoft Outlook and mIRC to spread, is not spreading widely, but its destructive potential has prompted Symantec to issue a strongly worded warning about the worm.
• AMD Set To Release Duron 1.3GHz - According to the Inquirer, AMD looks set to release a Duron 1.3GHz before the end of January.
• GeForce 4 Specs - GeForce 4 Ti600 - GPU Speed: 300Mhz, Memory Speed: 600Mhz 3.3ns Hynix 128Mb, Pipelines: More -> That's all NVIDIA said to Burton Boy.  Basically it's a pumped up NV2A XBox GPU.
• Four Speaker Sets Compared - Altec Lansing's 4100 system looks great. Creative's FPS1600 system's dirt cheap. Creative's Inspire Digital 5700 has a huge feature list and what looks like a huge bass driver - but isn't. Logitech's Z-560 actually _has_ a huge bass driver (by computer speaker standards), but it also seems to have some misleading specifications, which become apparent once you pull it to bits. Read more.
• ATA/133 Controllers Comparison - X-Bit Labs compared the performance of three today's ATA/133 controllers available. Namely, they took a closer look at Promise Ultra133, HighPoint HPT372 integrated into the mainboard and the M1535D+ South Bridge of ALi MAGiK 1 chipset. Find out which one is the best so far!
• Build Your Own Mini-PC For The Office - Tom's Hardware Guide has written an article howto about building your own mini-PC.
• PHP-Nuke 5.4 Beta - PHPnuke.org has released a new beta version of its PHP-Nuke web portal system.
• pcAnywhere 10.5.1 Beta - pcAnywhere is the world's leading remote control software. This new beta features
  improved Windows XP support.
• AVP Update - The latest Kaspersky anti-virus Cumulative Database Update has been released.
• BearShare v2.4.0 -  BearShare is designed to let you share files with everyone on the Internet, and download files that other people are sharing.
• Napster 3.1.2.7 Leaked - The new Napster pay service has been leaked and Ibelite.com got it :). This is the Napster pay service but it is free while in beta stages. It has a whole new interface, which is clean and easy on the eyes, a major improvement from before. But finding those music files you want to listen to is going to be a lot harder on this new version, everyone check it out and let us know what you think.
• IM Chat Talker v3.00 - This program enhances instant messaging by providing text-to-speech capabilities. It's designed to be used with the world's most popular IM software. IM Chat Talker works with AOL 7.0 Client, AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger Service, Yahoo! Messenger, Netscape Messenger, ICQ, and now Odigo.
• Athlon XP 2000+/ P4 2.2GHz Reviews: Athlon XP 2000+:PC PowerZone, Firing Squad,  Hexus,   SimHQ, Athlon XP 2000+ vs P4 2.2GHz: Tech-Report,  Ace's Hardware, Extreme Hardware, AnandTech, X-Bit Labs,  P4 2.2GHz: Hot Hardwares, Digit-Life, Tech Hard, SimHQ, Hexus.
• Promise Raid Performance Patch for VIA chipsets - VIA Arena has posted a Promise Raid Performance Patch for VIA chipsets.
• USB 2.0 Support for Win2k - LittleWhiteDog.com informed us that they posted an updated driver (though it's still BETA) which adds USB 2.0 support to Windows 2000. (mirrors)
• Radeon Omega Drivers - Omegacorner.com have released new Radeon Omega drivers (1.1.11a). These candies are compatible with all ATI Radeon Cards (All In Wonder Radeon, All In Wonder Radeon 8500, Radeon 7000/VE, Radeon 7200,  Radeon 7500/LE, Radeon 8500 Mobility Radeon)
• Abit KR7A BIOS 6N - Abit has released a new BIOS for the KR7A series.

XBitLabs.com have managed to find some interesting info on the features of the new chipsets from NVIDIA, which are due in the beginning of next year. We are talking about NV17 and NV25, of course The rumors say that there will be two models in the GeForce4 family and three models in the GeForce4 MX family:

• GeForce4 Ti 1000. This is the fastest graphics cards built on GeForce4 chip working at about 300MHz frequency. The card will have AGP 8x interface and 128MB DDR SDRAM memory working at 700MHz.
• GeForce4 Ti 500. This is a bit slower solution with around 275MHz chip frequency and 600MHz memory frequency. Although it will have AGP 4x interface, the card will still come with 128MB graphics memory.
• GeForce4 MX 460. This is the eldest representative of the GeForce4 MX family. It will probably have 4 rendering pipelines and DirectX 8-compliant T&L unit. The amount of DDR graphics memory used (with 128bit bus) will be cut down to 64MB, and its working frequency will be reduced down to 550MHz. The core will work at 300MHz.
• GeForce4 MX 440. These cards will go with 64MB DDR SDRAM with 128bit access bus. The memory working frequency will be 400MHz and the core frequency – 275MHz.
• GeForce4 MX 420. According to the available data, this GeForce4 MX version will be targeted for the Low-End market that is why the cards built on it will have 64MB SDR SDRAM memory working at 166MHz. The core will work at 250MHz. Besides, It looks as if there were only two rendering pipelines in this modification.