27 May 2008

GeForce 8600GT vs 9600GT

It's been a very long time since my last post in this blog. Now I returned with one-to-one benchmark review of two nVidia GeForce video cards. The first one is the last year's champion for mid-range video card 8600GT and the second is current year's most favourite video card 9600GT.

There is no major improvement since last year's DirectX 10 and Shader Model 4.0 are newly equipped in 8600GT. The 9600GT also adopt the very same technology, therefore there is no graphic quality difference between these two cards, except for the speed performance.

Before going to the benchmark result, first I will show you the general comparison between these cards:


8600GT 9600GT
Core Clock 540 MHz 650 MHz
Shader Clock 1190 MHz 1625 MHz
Memory Clock 700 MHz 900 MHz
Memory Amount 256 MB 512 MB
Memory Type GDDR3 GDDR3
Memory Interface 128-bit 256-bit
Memory Bandwidth 22.4 GB/s 57.6 GB/s
Texture Fill Rate 8.64 Billion/s 20.8 Billion/s
Stream Processors 32 64
Interface PCI-E 1.1a PCI-E 2.0


In this test, I used a EVGA GeForce 8600GT OEM card and a Galaxy 9600GT Single Slot Fan card. My 8600GT actually don't run in standard speed, it was overclocked from the factory to 600MHz for the core clock. For comparison purpose, I also made a test for an overclocked 9600GT to 700MHz/1000MHz/1750MHz for its core, memory, and shader clock. Below are the picture of both cards:
EVGA OEM GeForce 8600GT
Galaxy GeForce 9600GT Single Slot Fan
And here's my PC specifications:
  • CPU: Intel Pentium D 940 overclocked to 3.60GHz
  • RAM: 2 x 1GB DDR2 PC-4200
  • Mainboard: Gigabyte GA-8I945PLGE-RH Intel 945PL chipset
  • Harddisk: 2 x Western Digital 7200rpm SATAII 160GB
  • OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic SP1
To test these cards' performance, I use the new 3DMark Vantage to test DirectX 10 and Shader Model 4.0 performance. Also, I used 3DMark06 as this program still yields relevant result and that these cards are not high-end. To test gaming performance, I used Crysis with Crysis Benchmark Tool version 1.05. For all tests, I used relatively the same display settings, with 1024x768 resolution and without anti aliasing. Here are the test results:
From results above, 9600GT obviously outperforms 8600GT significantly. With over 60% difference for 3DMark Vantage, 36% for 3DMark06, and almost 100% in average for Crysis, GeForce 9600GT is surely a worthy successor of 8600GT. It is also shown that the performance increases quite significantly when 9600GT is overclocked. However, the performance difference is subtle in Crysis, perhaps it is because of the bottleneck with my processor speed.

Although superb in performance, 9600GT is also very power consumptive, a 600W power supply is a must as this card requires additional power (using two headed molex power cable which should be attached directly from your power supply). Also, its big size makes a micro-ATX case won't fit, therefore a mid-size ATX with cleared hard-disk bay is required.

With cheap price tag, around $140 now, no wonder 9600GT becomes a very popular card for mid-end gamers who don't have much money to buy the luxurious 9800GTX or GX2. If this price is still too expensive, nVidia offers a slightly slower version of 9600GT named 9600GS (a.k.a 8800GS) is also a good choice as it only slightly different in speed but quite much cheaper. Another more expensive alternative (but still in similar price range) is 8800GT, which is more powerful than 9600GT but with a slight more expensive price.

At last, nVidia moto The perfect price and performance combination to get the most bang for your buck for GeForce 9 series is finally proven.


13 May 2008

3Planesoft Screensavers - Have You Seen Nice Screensavers Lately?

Screensavers have good effects on your computer. Not only it can suit your moods or adds more colour to your monitor or just simply makes your computer less boring, it can also helps calibrating your monitor by making your monitor project less repetitive colour scheme. That's why it is better to have screensaver for your PC.

Talking about screensavers, there are many screensavers available for Windows. Many of them are free, but if you want to get a very good quality screensavers, you might have to pay around $10-$20. Although not free, some commercial screensavers are indeed very good. 3Planesoft is a company who specialise in making beautiful 3D screensavers. They have many varieties of screensavers from nature to sci-fi. Personally I like the Earth, Lagoon, Watermill, Ancient Castle, and Nature as they look very realistic and beautiful. These screensavers are also completes with music and sound effects. However, these all comes in steep system requirements although you can customise them to lower quality settings in the options.
See screenshots below to see the proof:
To download the screensavers, go to: http://www.3planesoft.com

You can then use these registry keys to unlock the trial limitation. It contains serial numbers to all screensavers which can be downloaded from 3planesoft.com except Koi Fish and Lagoon.


08 May 2008

Powerwave 360 Shape Controller for PC Review

If no one ever heard about Powerwave, it's because Powerwave is just a small Australia based company that produces medium quality gaming accessories like gamepads and headsets. 360 Shape gamepad is one of their product. Like its name, its form is basically derived from XBOX 360 controller. Complete with dual vibration it is virtually an alternative XBOX 360 controller for PC.

Judging from its package,
complete with a well-designed box, manual, and driver CD, this gamepad doesn't look like a cheapo, considering its real price is only US$15. Out of the box, this gamepad is very comfortable to hold. With non-slippery soft textured material, it allows you to grip the gamepad longer without worrying it becomes slick as you are sweating.
About the buttons, they is very responsive if not a little bit sensitive, especially the analog sticks. Other normal buttons works very well and easy to press. However, the placement of select and start button are different from the original XBOX 360 controller. Powerwave swap those buttons to below the fire buttons instead in the centre. This odd placement sometimes makes you miss-press the fire buttons with select or start buttons.
This gamepad also has force feedback (vibration) function although not mentioned in the website. You can manually adjust the vibration power in the control panel as well. However, although this gamepad features dual vibration (left and right), it feels just like you only have a one centre vibration.

Although this gamepad has some flaws, still overall this gamepad is good. Built with quite good material and has nice features like force feedback and analog controller, it is definitely worth all of your money.

See http://www.powerwave.com.au for more info.


06 May 2008

Taskbar Shuffle - Drag n Drop Taskbar Like Firefox

Have you ever thinking how convenient it is to reshuffle your Windows taskbar items using drag n drop? Or closing an item in taskbar by just clicking middle mouse button?
Now with Taskbar Shuffle, you can do that! You can now easily arrange your taskbar items (including system tray icons on the right) by just drag n drop. Additionally, you close a running programs in taskbar by just middle-clicking the icon. And the good thing is that this program is completely free!

See screenshot below to see how it works:
More information at: http://www.freewebs.com/nerdcave/taskbarshuffle.htm
To download Taskbar Shuffle v2.5, click this link: http://www.freewebs.com/nerdcave/downloads/ts2.5_setup.exe


30 April 2008

Windows XP Service Pack 3

Windows XP SP3
On the 29th April 2008, Microsoft fully released Windows XP SP 3, the latest and the final service pack for Windows XP. Although there will be no more service pack for XP, Microsoft lengthen their support for XP until 2009 and also delay the prohibition for computer manufacturers to embed Windows XP as the operating system.

Basically in this SP3, Microsoft added some new functionalities mainly to improve performance, security, and stability to the operating system. It also includes the previous updates released prior to SP3.

Important new feature is Network Access Protection (NAP) which adds compatibility to Windows Server 2008. It also updates MMC (Microsoft Management Console) to version 3.0 and MSI (Microsoft Windows Installer) to version 3.1.
Security feature additions includes Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) standard to secure wireless connection and Descriptive Security Options UI to help user configuring Windows settings.

Please note that SP3 does not include Windows Media Player 11 and Internet Explorer 7. These software can be downloaded freely from microsoft website.

Download link:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/a/e/4/ae43e777-d69b-4b96-b554-d1a2a0f40fac/windowsxp-kb936929-sp3-x86-enu.exe


26 April 2008

Total Uninstall - Totally Clean and Tidy

There are many uninstaller program in the market which can help you clean out all the traces that applications left when you uninstall them. Basically, when you use standard Add Remove Programs provided by windows, an application may left traces such as registry settings, data files, and log files. But even with a third party uninstaller, sometimes there are still hidden registry entries or files left by the uninstalled program. This may cause Windows to run slowly and hard disks to fragment. To ease this problem, Gavrila Martau has created a very handy program to totally clean and uninstall a program, making sure that there are no leftover.

Total Uninstall works simple, it creates a snapshot of your computer files and registry settings before installing a program, and compare it when the installation is completed. Therefore, when you try to uninstall the monitored program, Total Uninstall not simply uninstall the program, but also erase the entire files and registry entries created at the installation process.
Moreover, this program can also work with already installed applications. It will analyse the installed application and find all traces that the programs created. It works fast and easily, because the user interface is friendly.
Personally, I've never seen an uninstaller program like this before. It is unique and very effective uninstaller. I am impressed with its functionality and I would recommend it for anyone who want their computer runs faster yet clean.

To find more info, visit this website: http://www.martau.com/

To get Total Uninstall (v4.8.0.562), please follow this link: http://rapidshare.com/files/110244329/Tu4.8.0.562.rar


22 April 2008

XPS Documents Association Bug

XPS is a Microsoft answer for PDF, it stands for XML Paper Specifications. Although it is not very popular right now, it might overthrow PDF some time in the future. However, Microsoft has been carelessly implementing the XPS Viewer which comes with Windows Vista installation. Basically, if you don't use Vista, you will need additional .NET Framework 3.0 and Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) version 6 or later to open this document. XPS viewer itself is actually an Internet Explorer plugin which allow you to open XPS file under IE.

The problem comes when it actually does not explicitly integrate IE to open XPS file but rather it integrates with the current default browser. Therefore, if you installed Firefox and set it as default browser, when you try to open XPS document, it will be transferred to Firefox. But because Firefox cannot recognise XPS file, it will open a download dialog which resulting the file cannot be opened.

There are two solutions for this problem. The first is by changing XPS file association directly to Internet Explorer. You can do this by going to Start > All Programs > Default Programs. Then click Associate a file type or protocol with a program. Finally, find .xps extesion and click Change program and select Internet Explorer in the program list. If you have trouble associating a file extension, your Vista might have file association bug. If so, see the solution here.
The second method is by downloading a free standalone XPS viewer which you can download from Microsoft's website.

Microsoft should be more careful if they want their XPS to be as popular as PDF. Because this bug is very crucial as it happened at the very basic level.


19 April 2008

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 - Back to Sin City With Some New Stuffs

For anyone who ever played Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas last year, they will already know how intense and fun the game. Now Rainbow Six Vegas is back with a sequel, still in the same city but with some new fun additions.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is one of tactical team shooter based on Tom Clancy's franchise. You are a Bravo team leader named Bishop, the mentor of the first game's main character, Logan. You are back in Las Vegas to continue the story of the first game and to eliminate terrorist threat once and for all. For anyone who has played the first game, you will know that the main enemy is Gabriel Nowak, the former Rainbow Six team member gone bad. And once again, you will be teamed with Michael Walters, the demolition expert and Jung Park, the electronics expert.

The gameplay of this game is very similar to the first one, which is good because it can create an intense full-action combat complete with some simple team coordination. You can order your team to open a door, storm a room, throw a grenade, and move to a certain position just like in Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. However, since Rainbow Six Lockdown, this team coordination and tactical choice has been much simplified. There are no more mission planning and elaborate team commands like in Raven Shield or Rogue Spear. This might be a dissapointment for someone who are interested in detailed planning and realistic condition. However, this simplification means broader acceptance for gamers because it is more action oriented and more gamer friendly. Basically the action in this game is intense without losing much tactical aspect of coordinating other team members. And about AI, both enemies and team members are very good. They can improvise based on locations and situations making their action looks real. However, there is some bug where the team members cannot pass through a door or stuck in some location. But after loading the last checkpoint, the bug is gone as the team members position are reset.
About the graphics, it uses the same Unreal Engine 3.0 as the original game. It gives a nice graphical effect complete with Shader Model 3.0 (SM 3.0) and blur motion. However, I notice that there is no improvement compared to the last year's release. Knowing that Unreal Engine is capable to do much more (See Unreal Tournament 3 or Assassin's Creed for comparison), Rainbow Six Vegas 2 graphics quality should have been improved, specifically in coarse texture details which makes it looks more like an XBOX 360 game than a PC game. However, overall the graphics looks quite nice with some special effects which suitable for the full-action gameplay experience. Note that to play this game, you will need a modern graphic card that supports SM 3.0.

While the gameplay formula and graphics quality remains the same as the first game. There are some additional features which makes this game more interesting. The most significant change is Vegas 2 includes a complete character editor which allows you to customise your character appearance from gender, face, armor, clothing, accessories, and arms. The best thing is that now you can use your own face for your main character by using an attached webcam in your PC. It looks really cool having the main character with your very own face. Other additions are the experience points known as A.C.E.S. system. As the game progresses, you will gain more experience points which allows you to unlock weapons, clothing, armor, accessories, and clothing colour / texture. Overall, the developer team has made great additional features which makes the game more fun.
Personally, I like this game even more than the first one. Although my dissapointment comes from the so-so graphics quality and almost no gameplay improvement. But with the same gameplay and some fun additions this game is superb. I would recommend this game for Tom Clancy series fans and any first person shooter gamers.

For more information, visit here: http://www.rainbowsixgame.com/


Download links (Only 2.1GB installer, Full-Rip edition and nothing lost!):
http://rapidshare.com/files/106263673/Tom.Clancy_s.Rainbow.Six.Vegas.2.Full.Rip-Team.JPN.part01.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106266874/Tom.Clancy_s.Rainbow.Six.Vegas.2.Full.Rip-Team.JPN.part02.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106269994/Tom.Clancy_s.Rainbow.Six.Vegas.2.Full.Rip-Team.JPN.part03.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106273255/Tom.Clancy_s.Rainbow.Six.Vegas.2.Full.Rip-Team.JPN.part04.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106276682/Tom.Clancy_s.Rainbow.Six.Vegas.2.Full.Rip-Team.JPN.part05.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106279739/Tom.Clancy_s.Rainbow.Six.Vegas.2.Full.Rip-Team.JPN.part06.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106309183/Tom.Clancy_s.Rainbow.Six.Vegas.2.Full.Rip-Team.JPN.part07.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106312829/Tom.Clancy_s.Rainbow.Six.Vegas.2.Full.Rip-Team.JPN.part08.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106316788/Tom.Clancy_s.Rainbow.Six.Vegas.2.Full.Rip-Team.JPN.part09.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106321054/Tom.Clancy_s.Rainbow.Six.Vegas.2.Full.Rip-Team.JPN.part10.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106325312/Tom.Clancy_s.Rainbow.Six.Vegas.2.Full.Rip-Team.JPN.part11.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106330191/Tom.Clancy_s.Rainbow.Six.Vegas.2.Full.Rip-Team.JPN.part12.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106335239/Tom.Clancy_s.Rainbow.Six.Vegas.2.Full.Rip-Team.JPN.part13.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106341666/Tom.Clancy_s.Rainbow.Six.Vegas.2.Full.Rip-Team.JPN.part14.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106346862/Tom.Clancy_s.Rainbow.Six.Vegas.2.Full.Rip-Team.JPN.part15.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106353353/Tom.Clancy_s.Rainbow.Six.Vegas.2.Full.Rip-Team.JPN.part16.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106359924/Tom.Clancy_s.Rainbow.Six.Vegas.2.Full.Rip-Team.JPN.part17.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106368334/Tom.Clancy_s.Rainbow.Six.Vegas.2.Full.Rip-Team.JPN.part18.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106376939/Tom.Clancy_s.Rainbow.Six.Vegas.2.Full.Rip-Team.JPN.part19.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106383951/Tom.Clancy_s.Rainbow.Six.Vegas.2.Full.Rip-Team.JPN.part20.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106391833/Tom.Clancy_s.Rainbow.Six.Vegas.2.Full.Rip-Team.JPN.part21.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106400081/Tom.Clancy_s.Rainbow.Six.Vegas.2.Full.Rip-Team.JPN.part22.rar


17 April 2008

NetLimiter - Control and Monitor Your Internet Traffic

Today many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) set bandwidth quota for their internet plan. Your download and upload is limited to that quota, and if you exceeds that limit, your internet speed may be shaped down or even worse, you may be charged for each excessive megabytes that you use. This is very troublesome as you would never know how much download or upload your computer (or any computer in your network) use. Although some ISP gives you the details of how much you spent from your bandwidth quota, the reports may not be very accurate nor detailed enough. Therefore you need a good network monitor to monitor how much you use Internet.

NetLimiter Pro is a program which allows you to monitor your network traffic activity. It can monitor your Internet use and LAN traffic. It gives you detailed report of your network traffic since this program is installed. You can view the reports in daily, monthly, yearly or you can customise to any time range. As the program name, this software also able to limit the connection speed for each process (or the whole program) running in your system. Therefore you can have total control of every traffic coming and going out of your computer. Additional features include information and statistics of network usage for each process and programs in your computer, detailed process information, personal firewall, and remote administration. To make specific network settings, you can specify filters and rules for each program as well.

Basically, there are
three versions of NetLimiter, first is the Monitor version (Free), which only allow you to monitor your internet bandwidth and produce statistics report. The second is NetLimiter Lite (US$16.95) which allows you to limit your network usage. The third one is the most complete one, NetLimiter Pro ($29.95) comes with a personal firewall and other additional features which gives you more control in limiting and monitoring your network bandwidth. See http://www.netlimiter.com for more details.

Overall, NetLimiter Pro is a very good programs to control and monitor your computer network use. About the basic functionality, it has done a very good job by providing very detailed report for each process in every program and comprehensive connection speed limiter. NetLimiter Pro is also complete with many useful features such as personal firewall. However, these additional features also mean a drawback, that is this program consume quite large memory space (around 12MB).
I say that this program is suitable for everyone whose computer connected to a local network and for whom Internet speed is limited by bandwidth quota.

Screenshot:

To download NetLimiter Pro v2.0.10.1, click this link: http://rapidshare.com/files/108132915/NetLimiter2.0.10.1.zip

Then use this registration data to register:
Registration Name: PALACE
Serial: R2XJV-ZBWB7-XMG9J-MECVG-A2BEA


14 April 2008

Assassin's Creed for PC is out!

Assassin's Creed is a third person action game set during the Third Crusade, precisely year 1191. The player is an assassin (the word is derived from Hashshashin faction which really exist at that period) named Altair. His objective is to maintain peace in middle east by killing nine people who are promoting the war. Actually the story is rather sci-fi as the real story happens in present day, which involves a young man named Desmond. He was being analysed in a secret laboratory by scientists as his "brain" contains valuable information from the past. Apparently, his ancestor is no other than Altair himself. As soon as Desmond's memory is analysed, it unravels the adventure of Altair which in we actually play in the game.

In this game, you will explore three large cities in the middle east, including Jerusalem, Damascus, and Acre. To show that "Large" here means really large, running from one edge to another edge of the city is a tiresome activity. There are also several smaller cities that you can explore including the assassin's fortress base in Masyaf.

This game includes very detailed interactions to the world. You can jump, leap, and run to any building in addition to disturbing, eaves dropping conversations, and even killing anybody you see. You can also ride horse in this game as travelling from city to other city is very far in this game. And there are some bonus achievement to be unlocked by collecting bonus flags spread across the land.

There are variety of small missions that you have to accomplish in order to reach your main objective in each level. I found that each missions is very entertaining. Some of the missions force you to eliminate enemies where you can use sword, throwing knife, hidden knife, and even bare hands. Other mission is to save innocent people, eaves dropping conversation, pickpocketing, disguising as a scholar and many more! In addition, the PC version includes several additional missions that you can take like merchant stand destruction, archer assasination, and time attack which makes this game even more fun.

In terms of graphic quality, I would say that this is the graphically best PC game in this year besides Crysis. It is very detailed, sharp and the environment is just vast. The lighting and shader effects quality is superb making it looks very realistic. However this beauty can only be enjoyed with a speedy rig, considering its high system requirements. But you can always tune several settings down if you face some low framerates with compensation of some graphic quality.
See some screenshots below for some proof:

Overall I say that this game is very great, fun, addictive, and graphically great! I would recommend this game for everyone especially for Thief game series fans.

Here's the proper download links:
http://rapidshare.com/files/106014904/ACTHEAST.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106015166/ACTHEAST.r00
http://rapidshare.com/files/106015692/ACTHEAST.r01
http://rapidshare.com/files/106015302/ACTHEAST.r02
http://rapidshare.com/files/106016394/ACTHEAST.r03
http://rapidshare.com/files/106015532/ACTHEAST.r04
http://rapidshare.com/files/106015428/ACTHEAST.r05
http://rapidshare.com/files/106016695/ACTHEAST.r06
http://rapidshare.com/files/106016046/ACTHEAST.r07
http://rapidshare.com/files/106015807/ACTHEAST.r08
http://rapidshare.com/files/106016178/ACTHEAST.r09
http://rapidshare.com/files/106016391/ACTHEAST.r10
http://rapidshare.com/files/106017276/ACTHEAST.r11
http://rapidshare.com/files/106017056/ACTHEAST.r12
http://rapidshare.com/files/106017358/ACTHEAST.r13
http://rapidshare.com/files/106016754/ACTHEAST.r14
http://rapidshare.com/files/106017045/ACTHEAST.r15
http://rapidshare.com/files/106018432/ACTHEAST.r16
http://rapidshare.com/files/106017961/ACTHEAST.r17
http://rapidshare.com/files/106017990/ACTHEAST.r18
http://rapidshare.com/files/106019155/ACTHEAST.r19
http://rapidshare.com/files/106019263/ACTHEAST.r20
http://rapidshare.com/files/106018493/ACTHEAST.r21
http://rapidshare.com/files/106019783/ACTHEAST.r22
http://rapidshare.com/files/106023109/ACTHEAST.r23
http://rapidshare.com/files/106019951/ACTHEAST.r24
http://rapidshare.com/files/106020095/ACTHEAST.r25
http://rapidshare.com/files/106020654/ACTHEAST.r26
http://rapidshare.com/files/106020339/ACTHEAST.r27
http://rapidshare.com/files/106020459/ACTHEAST.r28
http://rapidshare.com/files/106020954/ACTHEAST.r29
http://rapidshare.com/files/106021331/ACTHEAST.r30
http://rapidshare.com/files/106022569/ACTHEAST.r31
http://rapidshare.com/files/106021401/ACTHEAST.r32
http://rapidshare.com/files/106027177/ACTHEAST.r33
http://rapidshare.com/files/106024218/ACTHEAST.r34
http://rapidshare.com/files/106022704/ACTHEAST.r35
http://rapidshare.com/files/106022679/ACTHEAST.r36
http://rapidshare.com/files/106022970/ACTHEAST.r37
http://rapidshare.com/files/106023660/ACTHEAST.r38
http://rapidshare.com/files/106023428/ACTHEAST.r39
http://rapidshare.com/files/106023842/ACTHEAST.r40
http://rapidshare.com/files/106023849/ACTHEAST.r41
http://rapidshare.com/files/106023390/ACTHEAST.r42
http://rapidshare.com/files/106024342/ACTHEAST.r43
http://rapidshare.com/files/106026289/ACTHEAST.r44
http://rapidshare.com/files/106023658/ACTHEAST.r45
http://rapidshare.com/files/106024171/ACTHEAST.r46
http://rapidshare.com/files/106024016/ACTHEAST.r47
http://rapidshare.com/files/106024443/ACTHEAST.r48
http://rapidshare.com/files/106026211/ACTHEAST.r49
http://rapidshare.com/files/106025115/ACTHEAST.r50
http://rapidshare.com/files/106025625/ACTHEAST.r51
http://rapidshare.com/files/106025345/ACTHEAST.r52
http://rapidshare.com/files/106026355/ACTHEAST.r53
http://rapidshare.com/files/106025030/ACTHEAST.r54
http://rapidshare.com/files/106024776/ACTHEAST.r55
http://rapidshare.com/files/106026105/ACTHEAST.r56
http://rapidshare.com/files/106026745/ACTHEAST.r57
http://rapidshare.com/files/106027312/ACTHEAST.r58
http://rapidshare.com/files/106026473/ACTHEAST.r59
http://rapidshare.com/files/106026815/ACTHEAST.r60
http://rapidshare.com/files/106026960/ACTHEAST.r61
http://rapidshare.com/files/106026680/ACTHEAST.r62
http://rapidshare.com/files/106027169/ACTHEAST.r63
http://rapidshare.com/files/106027693/ACTHEAST.r64
http://rapidshare.com/files/106027362/ACTHEAST.r65
http://rapidshare.com/files/106027699/ACTHEAST.r66
http://rapidshare.com/files/106027138/ACTHEAST.r67

NOTE: If you have downloaded the previous version of Reloaded release which contains damaged data files (Crash when entering Jerusalem). You should download the entire repacked and fixed package above.


12 April 2008

Glass Effect Button with Photoshop

If you have ever seen Windows Vista (especially when Aero effects turned on) or Mac OS X, you might already seen many glasslike buttons in the taskbar or menu. Now, in this tutorial we will learn how to create those cool buttons in a snap with Photoshop.

  1. After creating a new image (I used 300px x 100px resolution), fill the background using Paint Bucket Tool (G) with grey colour.

  2. Select Rounded Rectangle Tool (U) then draw a Black rectangle with Radius of 5px in the center of the image.

  3. Now, with the rounded rectangle layer selected, go to Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options. Check on Stroke, then change the stroke colour to bright grey and change the size to 1px.

  4. We will now adjust the glow settings on the button. With Layer Style window still open, check Inner Glow then change the colour to White and the size to 1px. After that, check Outer Glow and change the colour to White and size to 3px.

  5. Still with Layer Style window opened, click on Gradient Overlay. Change the gradient colour to settings like image below. Note that you can change the gradient to any colour you like. Make sure that the Angle is 90°.

  6. Create a New Layer. Then select Rectangular Marquee Tool (M), then select the button half-up like image below.

  7. Hold Ctrl+Alt+Shift and click the layer thumbnail of the rectangular shape layer. See image below for details. Now the last selection marquee will be subtracted to match the rounded rectangle size.

  8. With the new layer selected, reduce the selection size by going to Select > Modify > Contract > 1 pixels.

  9. Fill the selected area with White colour using Paint Bucket Tool (G) and set its Layer Opacity to 20%. See image below for details.

  10. Now you can enter some text into the button then you're finished!


10 April 2008

PPC Tablet Suite - Remotely Control Your PC Using PDA

PPC Tablet Remote Control Suite is a software developed by A & A Computer Services. It is a very unique software which allow you to control your PC using your PDA. Basically, it is a software installed in a Windows Mobile PDA then connected to a Windows PC which can emulate mouse and keyboard commands.


Things you can do with PPC Tablet Suite

To connect your PDA with your PC, you can use Wi-Fi, cable (with ActiveSync), or Bluetooth. Once connected, you can turn your PDA as the computer's mouse or keyboard (just like touchpad in a laptop), controlling your iTunes or Windows Media Player, transfer files, browsing the Internet, do PowerPoint presentation, or even viewing your computer screen in your PDA. Basically, it can control everything in your PC using your Windows Mobile PDA. PPC Tablet Suite supports Pocket PC 2002 to Windows Mobile 6 as the client system and Windows 9x to Windows Vista as the host operating system.

This software maybe similar to Z2 Remote2PC or any VNC software which allows you to control your PC using another computer or devices. But the difference is that mainly this software doesn't show your computer screen (although you do that in Display Feedback mode) like other PC remote control software did, it just emulates input devices which used to control your PC.
I found that actually this software controls your PC even better than other graphical VNC software. Because it does not emulates computer screen, it is faster and more stable, just like using a traditional remote control over your PC.

There are many ways you can control your PC. First, you have to select a layout which suitable to your needs. For example, if you just want to control Windows Media Player in your PC, you should select Windows Media Player layout profile. It will provide you a buttons layout optimised to control WMP in your PC. It also includes a layout editor to create custom buttons layout with different input commands.


Profile selector and layout designer

However, PPC Tablet Suite have some annoying bugs. One of them is that it has a very short connection timeout. Usually it takes some time to connect and authenticate PDA to the PC when using Wi-Fi, but because of the short connection timeout, I found myself trying to connect many times before it finally successfully connected. Another problem is that there is a weird bug which cause frequent errors when trying to change the current layout to different one. But still, I say that this software is very good, perfect for doing PowerPoint presentation or for anyone who wish to control their PC remotely.

Visit http://www.aacompserv.com to find more info about PPC Tablet Suite.

To download PPC Tablet Suite v4.1.1, please use this link: http://www.4shared.com/file/43136608/4799943b/PPC_Tablet_Remote_Control_Suite_v411.html cKHl\{=


08 April 2008

Visual Studio 2008 - The Easiest IDE Strikes Again

Microsoft Visual Studio has been popular as a user friendly and easy to use IDE (Integrated Development Environment). It features simplified interface and offers many help as well as comprehensive documentation for programmers to learn. Now in the current release (previously codenamed "Orcas" or Visual Studio 9.0), it's designed to built applications rapidly and even easier than the previous versions.

Equipped with .NET Framework 3.5, it now supports Windows Vista like interface and the development of Office 2007 as well as Office 2003 add-ins. For dynamic websites development, Visual Studio 2008 now supports AJAX. Moreover, it now also supports application development for Windows Mobile 6 based devices (Smartphones or PDAs). The main languages used in VS2008 are C#, Visual Basic, and C++. J# is no longer supported in this version.

There are several versions of Visual Studio 2008. Just like VS2005, Microsoft provides free version of Visual Studio suite which is called Express edition. Comprises of basic functions of the IDE, it gives access to beginner programmers to learn and build basic applications ranging from Windows applications, 3D Games, web applications, and even hardware development. Visual Studio Express also has complete support to MSDN Library, samples, and many plugins (like Facebook development plugin and P2P toolkit) which makes learning to code even faster and fun.
The second version is Standard Edition. It has all the features of Express edition with many additions (like more controls and tools, Language Integrated Query support, refactoring, reverse-engineering protection, and much more) enabling developers to build complex applications quickly.
The third version is Professional Edition. It is basically a Standard Edition with more complete features including smart device application development support, Microsoft Office add-ins development, ASP.NET with AJAX and many more.
The last version which is the most complete is Team System Edition. It is divided to five version: Architecture Edition, Database Design, Development Team, Test Edition and Team Suite. Team System basically is an integrated Application Life Cycle Management solution which allows all members of the development team to work efficiently together. From all of Team System versions, the most complete one is Team Suite that includes all of the other four versions capability.
For complete Visual Studio 2008 versions comparison, please download this data sheet: http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/f/e/5feb6914-bcdf-432f-81c7-e386812b086a/VisualStudio2008-ProductComparison-v1.07.pdf


Visual Studio 2008 clean interface

Looking at VS2008 interface, it still looks very similar to VS2005. Therefore users of the previous versions of Visual Studio should face no difficulty in learning VS2008. Personally, I like the MSDN supports which helps me a lot in coding and learning Windows API. Also, I would say that VS2008 has the most excellent debugging system I've ever found compared to other IDEs. I also like how IntelliSense code automation works, it really saves my time when developing applications. Moreover, now with The Game Creators SDK and XNA Game Studio Express, you can develop 3D games for Windows and XBOX360 easily.
Try Visual Studio 2008 now by yourself to see how easy to develop program!

Link for Express Edition (All-in-one including C#, Visual Basic, C++, and Web Development): http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/B/5/8B5804AD-4990-40D0-A6AA-CE894CBBB3DC/VS2008ExpressENUX1397868.iso

Link for Professional Edition 90-day trial (3.3GB): http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=7701859

Link for Team Suite 90-day trial (3.82GB): http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=7701860

Serial for Professional / Team Suite Edition:
PYHYP-WXB3B-B2CCM-V9DX9-VDY8T*

* Use the serial by going to Add or Remove Programs in XP or Programs and Features in Vista > Select Visual Studio 2008 > Uninstall/Change > In maintenance mode enter the serial above and click Upgrade


06 April 2008

Asus Eee - Affordable, Compact, and Stylish Laptop

When the first time I saw Asus Eee series ultra mobile personal computer (UMPC), I would say that it is very stylish and compact, but actually I'm thinking the most is its price. I thought this kind of stylish UMPC would cost more than US$1500 like the pocket sized UMPC OQO Model 02. But then when I saw the price tag, I was completely wrong. It is really "affordable", meaning it only costs you around US$350! Compared to other more expensive UMPC like HTC Shift or Samsung Q1, Asus Eee looks more like a laptop than a standard UMPC.

Asus Eee PC uses a tweaked-down Celeron M 900Mhz processor equipped with 512MB or 1GB of RAM. Altough it has slow processor, this computer starts quite fast with only 20s before you can open your first application.

For data storage, it is equipped with a shock-proof flash drive with capacity ranging from 2GB to 8GB. I say this storage capacity is too little even for a compact laptop or UMPC, however you can always use an external harddisk for more storage.

By default, Linux Xandros OS (a linux distro which has Windows look and feel) and OpenOffice.org 2.0 are installed, which in my opinion is enough for basic computing. But if you want to run Windows applications, you also have an option to upgrade it to Windows XP.

With 7" display and 800 x 480 resolution, the LCD screen looks quite clear and sharp. But with this small resolution, you might find trouble with some application windows drawn off the screen. And if you want a bigger screen, you can hook it to any analog monitor with its D-Sub connector.

Weighing only around 0.92kg including battery, it is very portable yet its battery can lasts up to 3.5 hours. About the audio capability, Asus Eee comes with complete Hi Definition audio and speakers with external 3.5mm speaker and mic jack. Additionally, it has Wi-Fi and ethernet port for internet connectivity and an optional integrated webcam for video chat or photo.

See table below for full specifications:

Model Name Eee PC 8G Eee PC 4G Eee PC 4G Surf Eee PC 2G Surf
Display 7" 7" 7" 7"
Intel CPU & Chipset
Operating System Linux
Windows XP compatible
Linux
Windows XP compatible
Linux
Windows XP compatible
Linux
Windows XP compatible
Color Pure white/ Galaxy black Pure white/Blush pink/Sky blue/Lush green/Galaxy black Pure white/Blush pink/Sky blue/Lush green/Galaxy black Pure white/Blush pink/Sky blue/Lush green/Galaxy black
Ethernet Communication
WLAN
Memory 1G (DDR2) 512 MB (DDR2) 512 MB (DDR2) 512 MB (DDR2)
S.S.D. Storage (Solid-State Disk) 8G 4G 4G 2G
Camera - -
Audio Hi-Definition audio
Stereo speaker
Microphone
Hi-Definition audio
Stereo speaker
Microphone
Hi-Definition audio
Stereo speaker
Microphone
Hi-Definition audio
Stereo speaker
Microphone
Battery 4 Cells, 2.8~3.5hrs* 4 Cells, 2.8~3.5hrs* 4 Cells, 2.8hrs* 4 Cells, 2.8hrs*
Weight 0.92 kg 0.92 kg 0.92 kg 0.92 kg
* Specification changes are subject to different models
* Actual battery life will depend on actual operations and configurations
* Product contains software under GPL license agreement

Of course, for such a small device, you cannot expect a powerful computing power or playing 3D games. But for basic computing like browsing, using office programs, chatting, playing movies or music, this UMPC is more than enough. My complaints are that because of its small size, there is no DVD-Drive which makes installing program harder, also you can only have a very small keyboard and touchpad which makes it hard to navigate and type, and at last it has several screen resolution compatibility which perhaps in the future Asus can upgrade Eee PC with bigger resolution (at least 1024px). With its small size, you can carry this computer anywhere, perfect for doing presentation or doing your daily work and with its super cheap price, it would be a good computer for beginners.



To find information about Asus Eee series, go to: http://event.asus.com/eeepc/microsites/en/index.htm

Also, check its community website at: http://www.eeeuser.com/


05 April 2008

Project64 - The Best Nintendo 64 Emulator So Far..

Back in 1996, Nintendo released a console with advanced 3D graphics to compete with Sony Playstation. Although not as popular as Sony PSX, Nintendo 64 proves to be a superior console in terms of graphics and hardware than Sony PSX. It supports add-ons cartridge like Expansion Pak and Rumble Pak to enhance the current system hardware. Some of Nintendo 64 games are really huge success like Super Mario 64 and Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

Nintendo 64 productions has been stopped now and its games are really hard to find. Thus the only way to play those old games (assuming you don't have the console) is by using an emulator software. There has been many projects trying to emulate N64 hardware on PC such as 1964, Nemu64, Project64, UltraHLE, etc. I've found that Project64 (currently version 1.6) is the best of all, it can emulate almost all N64 games with very minimum problems. With current PC, you should be able to play N64 games with good framerate. Project64 also supports Expansion Pak and Rumble Pak emulation which can give higher resolution on some games and enable Force Feedback on gamepad. It supports many audio, video, and controller plugins where each plugins may have some good additional features (like rendering N64 graphics in DirectX 8 or 6, antialiasing support, multiple gamepads support, etc.) See screenshots to see how Project64 run N64 games:

Star Wars Episode I: Racer fully playable in Project64

The bestselling Super Mario 64 on PC

Still Project64 is not perfect. Some of the games still have issues with sound, graphical glitches, and even some of them refused to run. But these problems are minimum in the latest build. So, if you want to feel the nostalgia of good old Nintendo 64 games, try Project64 1.6 emulator now freely downloadable here: http://www.pj64-emu.com/downloads/startdown/34/

For more information, additional plugins, or beta versions, please follow this link: http://www.pj64-emu.com/


04 April 2008

Serif WebPlus X2 - Drag n Drop Web Editor for Everyone


Since the spread of the Internet to all over the world, more and more websites are created everyday. But formerly, only professional website designer can create such complex and elegant websites, but now, Serif, a UK-based company which known with their "Plus" software has created a very easy web editor named Serif WebPlus. With WebPlus, everyone can create professional looking websites within minutes! No need to have any coding knowledge like HTML, CSS, or JavaScript. Just drag n drop like you do in Microsoft Word.

Serif WebPlus allows you to create personal page to e-commerce websites easily, designed to be simple with clean interface concept, a combination of Microsoft Office with Adobe Photoshop, it is very intuitive and user-friendly. You can create a website in two ways, first by selecting a pre-designed template (there are around 30 customizable templates) or by creating your website from a blank template (See screenshot below). Everything in WebPlus is what you see is what you get (WYSIWIG), therefore what you created in the design page is what actually will look like in your browser. You can drag and drop almost everything to the site page, you can manipulate pictures in your page, change text by just double clicking it, put videos with just several clicks, automatically create navigation bar, and much more!

Template selector contains professional templates for many occasions

Now with its latest version X2, you can embed YouTube videos, create Flash animated galleries and podcasts, photo filter effects and much more! And if you need more than a simple website, WebPlus also has supports creating quite complex website like forum, blog, e-commerce website (with database and PayPal support). In addition it also supports advanced functions like search functions, JavaScript applets, forms, secure login, and search engine optimisation. However, if you are a professional website designer which prefer coding, you might want a more powerful web editor like Adobe Dreamweaver or Microsoft Expression Web Designer.

Despite its simplicity, WebPlus can create quite complex websites using many built-in automated scripts

Personally what I like in WebPlus X2 is that it has very low learning curve, with only several minutes you can create a powerful and good looking website. I also like its photo filter and 3D effects, it's just like Layer Style in Adobe Photoshop. Another good feature is navigation bar editor which allows you to create a dynamic and nice rollover navigation menu without writing any JavaScript code. Not very simple that everything is automatic like many website builders did, I must say that WebPlus is quite a complete website builder which is highly customisable, enough to create simple to semi-complex website.
To see how WebPlus performs in reality, here's a sample website completely built by me for a health drink company using Serif WebPlus: http://www.golden-noni-juice.com

Keep it as simple as possible, but not simpler. Therefore, this software has drawbacks, one of them is that
it can only embed some custom HTML to a part of the page but does not allow you to edit the HTML code (as the software is intended to be simple). Another drawback is that the number of files and size produced by WebPlus is quite large, so it is not recommended to create such a complex website. But overall, I say well done to Serif by creating a really easy website editor and I would recommend it for anyone who wants to try creating a webpage, or even a beginner website designers who want to focus on graphical design and not HTML coding.

For more information, please visit http://www.serif.com/webplus/webplusx2/


02 April 2008

Remove Nero 8 Annoying Activation

Since Nero 8, the developer has created a patent activation system to prevent it being cracked. It constantly connects to Nero server and check if the serial number is authentic or not. If your serial number is not registered (a.k.a. made by keygen), then any program in Nero 8 suite will refuse to run.

Until today, there are three ways to cope with this problem. First is by using ordinary Nero 8 keygen and delete some of the files which Nero used to contact to home server. Here's how todo that:

  1. Download this keygen.
  2. When installing Nero, apply the serial number when asked with the generated from the keygen. If you have installed Nero 8 before, then you have to change your serial number by going to Nero ControlCenter > License > Add.
  3. After Nero 8 is installed, go to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Nero\Shared\NL3\. There you will find NeroPatentActivation.exe and NeroUpgrade.exe. Delete these files and you're done!
The second method may be easier, you just have extract and to run this script before installing Nero 8 suite. Here's the details how to do that:
  1. After you have downloaded the script, extract Auto3.exe, Install.cmd, and Nero8_2.2.au3 files to any folder.
  2. Copy your Nero 8.2.2 installation files (including the executable) to the same directory where you extract the script.
  3. Run Install.cmd, it will install your Nero 8 suite. After finished installing, you'll have a fully working Nero 8 without activation problem.
The third method is the easiest. You need to go to Nero website at http://www.nero.com, then go to Store > Shop Online. Buy the software! ;-p


31 March 2008

Affordable Virtual Machines Benchmark

I've written an article about virtual machine (VM) for Windows before. I reviewed VMWare Workstation 6.0 and Virtual PC 2007 at that time. Now I returned with some benchmark of affordable VMs software popular in the market.The virtual machines included in the test are:

Here are the screenshots of each VM:

I didn't include VMWare Workstation because it is very expensive and not considered affordable. Moreover, this review is intended for hobbyist and beginners who only use VM personally not for IT professionals. Unlike the VMs mentioned above, VMWare Workstation is considered resource intensive and heavyweight, therefore it needs rather high-end computer to run.I tested these VMs based on its performance (shown by PCMark05), features and application compatibility. I used the same system when testing these VM, and here's my system specs:
  • CPU: Intel Pentium D 940 Overclocked ~3.60GHz (with Intel Virtualization enabled)
  • Memory: 2 x 1GB Samsung DDR2-533 (512MB Allocated for VM)
  • Video Card: EVGA GeForce 8600GT 256MB
  • Hard Drive: Seagate 40GB 7200rpm ATA133 (Where virtual machine hard drive image is located)
  • Host OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic SP1
  • Guest OS: Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
Firstly, to test each VM performance, I used Futuremark PCMark05 v1.2.0. Even though all of the VM cannot produce a complete result due to lack of 3D support, I simply test some values like HDD speed, graphics performance, web page rendering, text editing, file activities, and AV encoding. For comparison purpose, I also give the host OS result as well.


*Note that blue coloured value means the best.

About basic features, each VM has its own pros and cons, below is the summary:
Virtual Machine Table 2

For me, the most important for VM feature is that it can run broad range of applications for supported OS. Too bad that none of these software can support Direct3D (However VMWare Workstation support DirectX 8.1) therefore no Direct3D game / applications can run. Shared folder is essential where you can access the host machine files from guest OS and it should have quick access. Another important feature is USB emulation so that you can simply use any USB device in your VM. While Drag and Drop ability makes copying files from host to VM become very convenient.


To see applications and multimedia compatibility, I tested each machine to run Adobe Photoshop, Windows Media Player, and Planescape Torment. The result is that every VM here can run Adobe Photoshop smoothly, there are no glitch in the cursor or while editing and saving images. All VM also passed Windows Media Player test, where each VM has to play a 3 minutes DivX movie. Although it can play media files nicely, Windows Media Player in Virtual PC cannot play media files directly from host OS. You must copy it first to the local guest OS disk in order to play.
The last test is to run an old game called Planescape Torment, it is basically a 2D RPG game and should be enough to test these VMs (considering none of them can run 3D games). The result is that Virtual PC can run it perfectly in full screen or windowed without any artifacts or oddity. In the other hand, VirtualBox can run this game perfectly but only in Windowed mode because as it is converted to full screen, there will be a black border surrounding the small game window. It is because of VirtualBox does not support changing host resolution (See screenshot below). The worst is Parallels Workstation where there are many graphical glitches in windowed and fullscreen and the sound is not working. Here's some screenshots:


Planescape Torment run in small but full screen in VirtualBox


Graphical glitch (near character photos) in Parallels Workstation 2.2

Talking about guest OS compatibility, Parallels Workstation is the most complete, followed by VirtualBox. VirtualBox and Parallels supports Windows, Linux, and Mac as the host system where Virtual PC only supports Windows and Mac. The compatibility may be the main problem for Virtual PC as it basically only supports Windows (and with little Linux support) as the host OS.

All the above VM are actually comparable in performance and all of them utilizes Virtualization technology which supported by many modern processors (can increase around 5% performance). Actually all of these VM are good and each of them have their own special features, therefore the choice depends on you. If you like your VM to support many Windows applications and games, I would recommend Virtual PC. If you need many type of guest OS and have a stable fast VM, you can try Parallels Workstation. And if you want a free VM but supports USB emulation and many basic features, you can use VirtualBox and so on.
At last, if you seek features than these virtual machines, the best choice is VMWare Workstation 6.0 because not only it includes all the features these VM have, but also additional advanced features such as debugging and of course faster performance. However it comes with expensive price (US$189) and high system resources.

Download links: