Avatech - Computers, Technology, Games, Movies, Airsoft Guns and More!: April 2008

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!

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.

After creating a new image (I used 300px x 100px resolution), fill the background using Paint Bucket Tool (G) with grey colour.
Select Rounded Rectangle Tool (U) then draw a Black rectangle with Radius of 5px in the center of the image.
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.
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.
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°.
Create a New Layer. Then select Rectangular Marquee Tool (M), then select the button half-up like image below.
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.
With the new layer selected, reduce the selection size by going to Select > Modify > Contract > 1 pixels.
Fill the selected area with White colour using Paint Bucket Tool (G) and set its Layer Opacity to 20%. See image below for details.
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:

Download this keygen.
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.
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:

After you have downloaded the script, extract Auto3.exe, Install.cmd, and Nero8_2.2.au3 files to any folder.
Copy your Nero 8.2.2 installation files (including the executable) to the same directory where you extract the script.
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