ARCHIVED NEWS
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June 2008
GPU-Z 0.2.5
30 June 2008
GPU-Z, a free graphics card information utility, has reached Version 0.2.5. The changes include a range of fixes, shared memory support, and improved temperature monitoring on RV770 GPUs.
TweakGuides Tweaking Companion
30 June 2008
The TweakGuides Tweaking Companions for Windows XP and Windows Vista have both been revised to Version 4.1 and 2.1 respectively. This is a minor revision with only a few small changes, but importantly the advice for installing and configuring AVG 8.0 Free Edition has been updated.
CPU-Z 1.46
29 June 2008
A new Version 1.46 of the CPU-Z information utility has been released. This version includes support for new chipsets.
Game Patches
28 June 2008
Nvidia Official Forceware 177.41
27 June 2008
Nvidia has released the Official Forceware 177.41 drivers for Windows XP and Vista. These drivers are WHQL certified and are only for the GTX 280 and GTX 260 series. The changelist is identical to the previous 177.35 WHQL drivers aside from two SLI-related fixes.
CCleaner 2.09.600
27 June 2008
A new Version 2.09.600 of the free CCleaner system cleaning utility has been released. This version adds support for Internet Explorer 8 Beta, improves Opera 9.5 support, and has several other minor improvements and fixes.
Game Patches
27 June 2008
Nvidia PhysX 8.06.12
26 June 2008
Nvidia has released the Version 8.06.12 PhysX driver for both Ageia PhysX PPUs and Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX, GTX 260 and GTX 280 GPUs which support GPU-based PhysX. As noted below, this driver is already incorporated into the 177.39 Beta Forceware, so the main use for this standalone package would be for Ageia PhysX owners or for people playing the latest games which use software PhysX.
Nvidia Beta Forceware 177.39
26 June 2008
Nvidia has released a new Beta Forceware 177.39 driver for Windows XP and Vista. These drivers are only for the GeForce 9800 GTX, GTX 260 and GTX 280 series graphics cards. Importantly, these drivers introduce support for Nvidia GPU-Accelerated PhysX, and as such include the PhysX 8.06.12 drivers. More details of Nvidia GPU PhysX support can be found here.
Game Patches
26 June 2008
Adobe Reader & Acrobat Security Update
25 June 2008
Adobe has released a Security Update for Adobe Reader and Acrobat 8.1.2. The update addresses a significant security flaw present in all versions of this software except Version 7.1.0, and all users are advised to implement the update.
Windows Updates
24 June 2008
Microsoft has released several non-critical updates available here. Importantly, there is also an update which resolves some reliability and performance issues on Windows Vista, available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
Game Patches
24 June 2008
Nvidia Official Forceware 175.19
24 June 2008
Nvidia has released the Official Forceware 175.19 drivers for Windows XP and Vista. These drivers are for all GeForce 6, 7, 8 and 9 series graphics cards, and contain improved performance and load times for the GeForce 8 and 9 series in some DX9 and OpenGL games due to an improved shader optimizer. They also contain a range of fixes.
Nvidia System Tools 6.02
24 June 2008
Nvidia has released Version 6.02 of the Nvidia System Tools, a collection of system monitoring and adjustment utilities - essentially an updated nTune.
ATI Catalyst Hotfix
22 June 2008
ATI has released a Hotfix Driver to improve performance and stability on the newly released HD4800 series.
Windows Security Update
21 June 2008
Microsoft has released a Security Update for Windows XP. This is actually a re-release of this update, because the original version did not fully address the issue on XP.
Game Patches
21 June 2008
Realtek HD Audio 1.96
20 June 2008
Realtek has released Version 1.96 of its HD Audio drivers.
BioShock Activation Limits Removed
20 June 2008
2KGames has removed the Activation limits on BioShock. Activation still remains in place, but the game can now be installed and activated as many times and across as many machines as desired.
Team Fortress 2 Major Update
20 June 2008
Valve has released another Major Update for Team Fortress 2. This time the update has new achievements and weapons for the Pyro class, as well as two new maps called cp_fastlane and ctf_turbine and some fixes. The update is available via Steam.
Firefox Tweak Guide
20 June 2008
I've completed the major revision of the Firefox Tweak Guide for the release of Firefox 3.0. It brings together all the significant tips, tricks and tweaks for Firefox - from the very basic to the very advanced. The guide provides all the information you need to know about Firefox 3's new features, and how you can customize and use them to your advantage. Consider it a crash course in all things Firefox.
Safari 3.1.2
20 Junel 2008
Apple has updated the Safari browser to Version 3.1.2 for Windows. The latest version fixes several security exploits and has stability improvements.
Game Patches
20 June 2008
ATI Catalyst 8.6
19 June 2008
ATI has released the Catalyst 8.6 graphics drivers. This version introduces OpenGL Adaptive AA Custom Filters, OpenGL CrossFireX Quad Support, performance improvements and fixes, and removes the need to reboot after upgrading the Catalyst drivers.
Nvidia Official Forceware 177.35
18 June 2008
Nvidia has released the Official Forceware 177.35 drivers for Windows XP and Vista. These drivers are WHQL certified and are only for the newly released GTX 280 and GTX 260 series. Aside from adding support for these cards, they also contain support for CUDA technology, Hybrid SLI and Folding @ Home.
Firefox 3.0
18 June 2008
Mozilla has released the final version of the Firefox 3.0 browser - unfortunately the website is currently being flooded by traffic, so it may be unresponsive for much of today. Firefox 3 contains a range of security and performance improvements over Firefox 2, as well as many useful new features. I'm still busily revising the Firefox Tweak Guide to not only highlight and explain all the changes in detail, but to also provide all the important tips and tricks for the new features. The guide will be out shortly, but for the moment I strongly recommend that before installing Firefox 3, all Firefox 2 users backup their bookmarks, then uninstall and completely clean out all traces of Firefox as covered on Page 3 of the guide above.
Game Patches
18 June 2008
Spore Creature Creator
17 June 2008
Maxis has released the Spore Creature Creator, the limited demo version of which is free to download. This utility allows you to create a variety of creatures which you can then share online, and which you can also use in the final version of the game Spore when it is released in early September. I've put up a sample video here if you're curious as to whether it's worth downloading.
nForce 15.17 Driver
17 June 2008
Nvidia has released a new nForce 15.17 driver under both XP and Vista for most nForce 4 and newer motherboards.
Update: The RAID component in these drivers is known to cause bluescreen errors at startup on some nForce4 motherboards.
Game Patches
17 June 2008
Driver Sweeper 1.5.5
17 June 2008
Guru3D has released a new Version 1.5.5 of the free Driver Sweeper driver file residue cleanup utility. The changes in this version include an updated interface and improved Nvidia file cleaning.
VIA Hyperion Pro 5.18A
17 June 2008
VIA has released the Hyperion Pro 5.18A chipset drivers for VIA-based motherboards.
VirtualDub 1.8.1
16 June 2008
A new Version 1.8.1 of the free video editing utility VirtualDub has been released. The changes include a range of fixes, and several new features.
Site Update
14 June 2008
Now that Mozilla has confirmed that the final version of Firefox 3.0 will be released next Tuesday June 17th, and after recently completing the Mass Effect Tweak Guide, I've moved on to begin completely revising the Firefox Tweak Guide for Firefox 3.0. As always, I want to do as thorough a job as possible, so I can't promise it'll be ready by next Tuesday, but it shouldn't be too long after that before it's done.
Game Patches
14 June 2008
Windows XP Future Support
13 June 2008
Microsoft has released a statement explaining that in the wake of Windows XP retail distribution being formally discontinued this month, existing XP users should not be concerned - official support for XP will continue until 2014.
nLite 1.4.6
13 June 2008
The Windows XP installation customization tool nLite has been updated to Version 1.4.6. The latest version fixes some XP SP3 manual install issues.
Game Patches
13 June 2008
Opera 9.50
12 June 2008
The free Opera browser has had a major update to Version 9.50. There are a large number of changes, both in terms of appearance and the underlying engine. Opera 9.5 also incorporates new features such as built-in Bittorrent, mouse gestures, a built-in email client and increased fraud protection.
Firefox 3 Release Candidate 3
12 June 2008
Release Candidate 3 (RC3) for Firefox 3 is now available on the Mozilla FTP site. However this RC3 build only addresses a bug on Apple OS X, and the Windows and Linux versions are identical to RC2.
Update: Firefox 3 RC3 is now also shown on the Official Site.
Game Patches
12 June 2008
Mass Effect Tweak Guide
12 June 2008
I've released the Mass Effect Tweak Guide, firstly to make sure that everyone understands all the in-game settings, but more importantly, so that all the major advanced tweaks which allow further optimization and customization of both graphics and gameplay can be documented in the one location. The guide is rounded out with a range of troubleshooting tips and other information which should be of great use to Mass Effect players.
Microsoft Security Updates
11 June 2008
Microsoft has released its monthly set of Windows security updates which you can get through Windows Update, or if not there by viewing and downloading them from here.
Game Patches
11 June 2008
Norton 2008 SymRegFix
10 June 2008
Symantec has released a SymRegFix utility to address major Registry-related problems which Norton 2008 users may have after installing Windows XP SP3 or Windows Vista SP1.
Game Patches
10 June 2008
Realtek HD Audio 1.95
8 June 2008
Realtek has released Version 1.95 of its HD Audio drivers.
DirectX June Update
7 June 2008
Microsoft has released the DirectX June Update. It is generally recommended that all Windows users update their DirectX for optimal performance and compatibility.
Game Patches
7 June 2008
DivX 6.8.3.9
6 June 2008
The DivX video codec has been updated to Version 6.8.3.9.
Windows XP SP3 Missing Critical Update
6 June 2008
Microsoft has confirmed that Service Pack 3 (SP3) for Windows XP is missing a Critical Update first released in 2006. In practical terms this is a minor issue as long as users run Windows Update after installing XP SP3, which should be normal practice anyway.
Game Patches
6 June 2008
Firefox 3 Release Candidate 2
5 June 2008
Release Candidate 2 (RC2) for Firefox 3 is now available on the Mozilla FTP site. Firefox 3 is the redesigned successor to the current Firefox 2 Internet browser, and this RC2 build addresses several important bugs found in the previous RC1 release. The final version of Firefox 3 is due later this month.
Update: Firefox 3 RC2 is now also shown on the Official Site.
Game Patches
5 June 2008
Windows Search 4.0
4 June 2008
Microsoft has released Windows Search 4.0, an enhanced desktop search engine for both Windows XP and Vista, with performance improvements and additional features.
Game Patches
4 June 2008
Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility 9.0.0.1008
3 June 2008
Intel has released Version 9.0.0.1008 of the Chipset Software Installation Utility, the main motherboard driver for those using Intel chipset-based motherboards.
Windows Installer 4.5
3 June 2008
Microsoft has released a new Version 4.5 of the Windows Installer software which is built into all versions of Windows. This is not an essential update but is recommended if you have had installer problems in the past.
Game Patches
3 June 2008
SoundBlaster Audigy & X-Fi 2.18.0000 Beta
2 June 2008
Creative has released a Beta 2.18.0000 driver for the majority of the Audigy and X-Fi series under Windows XP and Vista. These drivers add Dolby Digital and DTS decoding and DVD-Audio playback in Vista for cards which supported these features in XP, fix a range of application and OS sound-related issues and improve performance in OpenAL.
Intel Matrix Storage Manager 8.2.0.1001
2 June 2008
Intel has released Version 8.2.0.1001 of the Matrix Storage Manager driver for those using RAID on Intel chipset motherboards.
Site Update
1 June 2008
Just a quick update that as noted earlier, the next tweak guide will be for Mass Effect. However the game is not available in Australia until June 5, so I won't be able to complete the guide until 5-7 days after that. Shortly thereafter I will work on completing the update to the Firefox Tweak Guide, hopefully in time for the release of the final version of Firefox 3.0.
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