Goodbye NOD32; Hello Kaspersky!

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Eset’s NOD32 has long been our favorite anti-virus program at NeoSmart Technologies. It’s light, fast, powerful, and pretty damn good at doing what’s its designed to do: keeping our systems clean and virus-free.

In recent years (mainly from last year though), NOD32 has fallen a bit behind in the detection rankings, but for the most part had remained a close contender and a decent choice. Virus.gr has the latest testing results (Link currently not working) as summed up in this post at CyberNet News. In the latest round of tests (and the one before that, and the one before that) Kaspersky is yet again at the top, with a 99.23% detection rate for the newly-released version 7 and a 99.13% for version 6.

Our biggest gripe with Kaspersky 6 was the terrible user interface (which relied on the uber-slow MMC with horrid integration) – plus, we were quite happy with NOD32’s excellent service for all these past years and admittedly a bit reluctant to see its shortcomings.

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Redirecting External Links to Old Downloads

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We’re trying something new with our rewrite rules, and will be redirecting links from non-NeoSmart sites for older versions of our programs to the download page for the latest program.

For instance, if a Slashdot post is pointing to EasyBCD 1.5 setup file directly, it will be redirected to the EasyBCD download page where the user will have a choice of downloading the very newest version of EasyBCD or an older version if they so choose.

We were a bit hesitant to mess around with incoming links (technically, it isn’t linkjacking since they’re all our links to begin with, but it’s dangerously close!), but the number of direct download links to old versions of EasyBCD from external sites is dangerously high – especially when newer versions contain patches for many serious issues that have arisen over time.

External links to the newest version will never be redirected. We like hotlinking, just so long as proper credit is given; and since there is no danger in a Digg post containing a direct link to EasyBCD 1.6 (which is the newest at the time of this post), it would go ahead and download directly, no intervention whatsoever.

We hope this is a good idea that will protect people from out-of-date articles and links. It’s important to be up to date no matter what software your using, and with system utilities it’s a hundred times more essential that you use the latest version available from the get-go.

Please let us know what you think, our goal is to keep our readers, members, and users alike informed, safe, sound, and happy. So post away!

Oh Web, Where Art Thou?

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It’s the 4th of July and there’s no one online to celebrate. Overnight, the web has become a ghost town as humans (seemingly all of them) ritualistically leave their online abodes once a year to perform certain offline activities. (Which is a shame, seeing as we released our first program ever on the 4th of July too!) So where do the people go? Why isn’t anyone online, celebrating?

It seems that the internet, with all its superficial relationships on Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and dozens more just can’t keep up with the fireworks display, Independence Day Sales, and other activities that people cherish – seemingly more than the internet!

But more importantly, is the web so America-centric that a holiday shared by only the inhabitants of a single country causes the entire internet to come to a screeching halt? Sure, if you go to region-specific websites, it is business as normal – but what about the rest of the (generic) web?

On this one day where all of America turns its computers off, there is less activity than on Christmas and New Years were a (large) percentage of people from all around the globe leave their online identities aside and go to visit family and friends (and party 24/7).

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Want to Permanently Disable Driver Verification in Vista x64?

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Would you like to permanently disable driver verification in Windows Vista x64? Tired of pressing F8 at every boot?

An upcoming version of EasyBCD might just do the trick – but we need testers first! In the past we’ve introduced several changes to EasyBCD that made it easier to load certain drivers on Windows Vista x64 Edition, but now we think we have something that might give your F8 key a rest for once and for all.

If you’re running a 64-bit version of Windows Vista, are currently using (or trying to) unsigned drivers, and are willing to help us test this new solution, please post a reply below… This could be your chance!

Microsoft Responds to Ultimate Extras Accusations

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This past week, accusations/complaints have been flying around the net about Microsoft’s “Ultimate Extras” (or, more accurately, the lack-thereof), an added-value package that was promised to ship for Windows Vista Ultimate Edition without much detail as to just what it is that it would contain.

The response by the community can be easily described: No one is happy with Ultimate Extras – but a lot of people are happy with the advantages Ultimate Edition provides over the other SKUs. In short, it’s a matter of how you define “Ultimate Extras.” Are they extra utilities/features for Windows Vista Ultimate Edition or are they the stuff that Windows Vista Ultimate Edition gets extra?

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Windows XP’s Repulsive “Hidden ToolTip” Bug… Fixed!

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(UPDATE: ToolTipFixer 1.0.1 released with fixes for some bugs)

Press Start | Programs; and right-click on “Accessories,” then press “Open.” Close the window that opens up, then go to your taskbar (next to the system clock) and hover over an icon, what do you see?

Ever since Microsoft invented the Windows Shell with explorer.exe back in the days of Windows 95, there’s been a bug that’s gone from one version of Windows to the next; and with each upgrade it became worse and worse – until Vista where it only rears its ugly head every once in a while instead.

Everyone that has used a Windows PC must have seen this bug before – it’s that ubiquitous (not that Microsoft would admit it for 10 long years):

The infamous hidden tooltip bug

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Mono Doesn’t Get Enough Credit

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Reading through the daily Techmeme headlines, there was a story that would make any Windows’ developers’ hearts stop: “Microsoft Hosts Demo of Silverlight on Linux”

Beat. Beat. Beat. Beeeeep. Beeeeep. Beeeeep. <click>. Beeeeep. <wait>. Beeeeep. <read>. Beat. <relax>. Beat. Beat.

OK, so maybe that’s a bit of an over-exaggeration, but not by much. Microsoft demoing Silverlight on Linux? What has the world come to?! But the subtitle on the PC World article cleared things up: Microsoft France invited the Mono team to demo their own version of Silverlight that runs on Linux. Now that makes more sense.

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Just How Big is Opera 9.5 (Kestrel) Going to Be?

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Opera is an awesome company. If you were wondering where most “innovation” in the world of web browsers came from, you need look no further. Many of the features that other browsers like to claim as their own actually originated in Opera; from in-line search to tabbed Windows, Opera had all of these and many more way before Internet Explorer and Mozilla/Firefox ever knew they existed.

Opera 9.20 introduced a really nifty feature that, having tried it, you’ll find impossible to go back. Simply put, the “blank” tab page is a group of 9 screenshots of your top-nine most-visited sites. It renders the concept of “favorites” obsolete – because most people have this-is-a-good-resource-if-i-ever-need-it favorites and i-visit-this-site-every-single-day favorites. It’s a waste of time to go through the favorites menu (even the cool, new IE7 favorites sidebar/widget/utility) to find that site you visit every other time you turn on your browser, and Opera addresses this issue by making those pages just a new tab away.

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Do You Still Have a Vista (Prior to Beta 2) Installed?

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If you still have Windows Vista Beta 2 (Build 5384.4) or earlier – we need your help!

We’re looking for someone with a working Vista x86 beta install to send us a couple of small files for comparison purposes in order to get this last feature in EasyBCD 1.61 wrapped up before we can release it. If you think you can help, please send us an email at EasyBCD@NeoSmart.net and we’ll get back to you ASAP.

Thank you!

SetPoint 4.00 and Vista USBPort.sys BSODs

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These driver problems with Windows Vista and various manufacturers just keep going from bad to worse. Whether it’s a graphics card, printer, or mouse; Vista seems to BSOD right, left, and center at the slightest provocation.

If you’re using Windows Vista and you’ve been getting a ton of blank blue screens (more on that later), and you just happen to have a Logitech USB mouse or keyboard with Logitech’s “Vista Compatible” SetPoint 4.00 installed, then that’s most likely to blame.

Not having written drivers ourselves, we can’t honestly and fairly point the finger of blame at any party in particular. It’s very possible that either Microsoft or Logitech is to blame for this, but you never know.

If you know how to analyze BSOD dumps (btw, blank BSODs won’t create kernel memory dumps, make sure you have “small memory dump” selected); you’ll find that the WinDBG (or whatever debugging tool you choose) points its stubby little fingers at USBPort.sys and Win32k.sys – both stock Vista components.

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