Analyze Internet connection performance, diagnose connectivity problems! VisualRoute helps determine if a connectivity problem is due to an ISP, the internet, or the destination web site, and pinpoints the network where a problem occurs. VisualRoute 2008 is available in several specialized editions, including options for on-demand and continuous connectivity analysis, and 2-way connection testing to/from remote customer desktops or multiple points on a global network. All editions include integrated traceroute, ping tests, reverse DNS and Whois lookups, and display the actual route of connections and IP address locations on a global map.
• NEW! OmniPath™, view all paths to network destinations determined by load balancers or router configurations, compare performance of different routes. More info. • NEW! NetVu™, see a high-level view of all network routes for open trace reports, easily identify network nodes that are common to multiple routes, see routing changes. More info. • NEW! IPv6 compatibility, trace IPv6 addresses with full VisualRoute reporting.
Works on Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista
VisualRoute Lite Edition is for home users to test their Internet connectivity. • Get an instant analysis of your Internet/Intranet connection performance • Locate the source of poor network response time (or latency), poor connection quality caused by packet loss, and identify the ISP responsible • Determine if slow performance is due to your ISP or a problem on the Internet
Changes in VisualRoute 2008 12.0j: - updated compatibility with Java update 10 and Vista
K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of codecs, DirectShow filters and tools. Codecs and DirectShow filters are needed for encoding and decoding (playing) audio and video formats. The K-Lite Codec Pack is designed as a user-friendly solution for playing all your movie files. With the K-Lite Codec Pack you should be able to play all the popular audio and video formats and even some rare formats. The K-Lite Codec Pack always very up-to-date with the newest (and/or best) versions of the components. The installation is fully customizable, meaning that you are able install exactly those components that you really want. Uninstallation removes all files and registry entriescreated by the pack. It is extremely easy to make a fully customized unattended installation. It tries to avoid potential problems with existing codecs and even fixes some problems. The pack is able to detect broken codecs and filters on your system, and remove them for you. It is a very complete package, containing everything you need to play your movies. Suitable for both novice and expert users. The K-Lite Codec Pack works on Windows 2000/XP/2003/XP64/Vista.
Changes K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 4.3.1 | (2008-11-14): * Updated Media Player Classic to version 6.4.9.1 rev. 85 * Updated Media Player Classic Homecinema to version 1.1.891 * Updated ffdshow to revision 2322 * ffdshow is now able to decode E-AC3 and Dolby TrueHD audio. You must select ffdshow as AC3 decoder to be able to use that functionality * Updated DC-Bass Source to version 1.2.0 * Updated FLV splitter to version 1.0.0.5 * FLV files that contains H.264 video and AAC audio are now fully supported * Updated DivX to version 6.8.5 * Updated x264VFW to revision 1024 * Added GraphStudio version 0.2.9.0 * Removed GraphEdit * Updated MediaInfo Lite to version 0.7.7.8 * Minor changes
K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of VFW/ACM codecs, DirectShow filters and tools. Codecs and DirectShow filters are needed for encoding and decoding (playing) audio and video formats. The K-Lite Codec Pack is designed as a user-friendly solution for Playing all your audio and movie files. With the K-Lite Codec Pack you should be able to play all the popular audio and video formats and even several less common formats. The K-Lite Codec Packworks on Windows 2000/XP/2003/XP64/Vista.
There are four versions of the K-Lite Codec Pack: Basic, Standard, Full and Corporate. • Basic contains only the most essential things. It contains everything you need to be able to play the two most popular and widespread formats: DivX and XviD. With this you should be able to play DVDrips and TVrips. • Standard contains everything you need to play all the commonly used formats. This package should be enough for the average user. • Full supports even more audio and video formats. It also has encoding support for various formats. This package is for power users and people who do video editing/encoding. • Corporate Edition is a special version for use in a corporate environment. It is similar to the Full version, minus a few items, but almost just as powerful. It has a strong focus on open-source software.
Changes in K-Lite Codec Pack FULL 4.3.1 | (2008-11-14): * Updated Media Player Classic to version 6.4.9.1 rev. 85 * Updated Media Player Classic Homecinema to version 1.1.891 * Updated ffdshow to revision 2322 * ffdshow is now able to decode E-AC3 and Dolby TrueHD audio. You must select ffdshow as AC3 decoder to be able to use that functionality * Updated DC-Bass Source to version 1.2.0 * Updated FLV splitter to version 1.0.0.5 * FLV files that contains H.264 video and AAC audio are now fully supported * Updated DivX to version 6.8.5 * Updated x264VFW to revision 1024 * Added GraphStudio version 0.2.9.0 * Removed GraphEdit * Updated MediaInfo Lite to version 0.7.7.8 * Minor changes
Features of K-Lite Codec Pack STANDARD: • Player : - Media Player Classic [version 6.4.9.1 rev. 85] - Media Player Classic Home Cinema [version 1.1.843] • FFDShow : - FFDShow [rev. 2202] • DirectShow video decoding filters : - MPEG-2 (Cyberlink) [version 8.1.0.1608] • DirectShow source filters : - AVI splitter (Gabest) [version 1.0.0.9] - AVI splitter (Haali Media Splitter) [version 1.8.122.18] - MP4 splitter (Haali Media Splitter) [version 1.8.122.18] - MP4 splitter (Gabest) [version 1.0.0.4] - Matroska splitter (Haali Media Splitter) [version 1.8.122.18] - Ogg splitter (Haali Media Splitter) [version 1.8.122.18] - FLV splitter (Gabest) [version 1.0.0.4] - MPEG PS/TS splitter (Gabest) [version 1.0.0.4] - MPEG PS/TS splitter (Haali Media Splitter) [version 1.8.122.18] • DirectShow subtitle filter : - DirectVobSub (a.k.a. VSFilter) [version 2.39] • Other filters : - Haali Video Renderer [version 1.8.122.18] • Tools : - Codec Tweak Tool [version 2.2.9] - MediaInfo Lite [version 0.7.7.7] - VobSubStrip [version 0.11]
Changes in K-Lite Codec Pack STANDARD 4.3.1 | (2008-11-14): * Updated Media Player Classic to version 6.4.9.1 rev. 85 * Updated Media Player Classic Homecinema to version 1.1.891 * Updated ffdshow to revision 2322 * ffdshow is now able to decode E-AC3 and Dolby TrueHD audio. You must choose ffdshow as AC3 decoder to be able to use that functionality * Updated FLV splitter to version 1.0.0.5 * FLV files that contains H.264 video and AAC audio are now fully supported * Updated MediaInfo Lite to version 0.7.7.8 * Minor changes
There is a WHQL version out there but not released by NVIDIA for some reason. Now that 180.47 is also coming out, may as well let you guys play with this.
Operating System: Windows Vista 32bit Driver Version: 180.44 Driver Date: 2008-10-25 (YYYY-MM-DD) Driver Size: 67.8 MB Driver Released by: NVIDIA MS WHQL Certificate: Setup Files Included: International Files:
UAC... 'User account control'... Whenever I do a clean install of Vista, I immediately turned this off. It seems that a lot of other users do to, and Microsoft has addressed this issue. In Windows 7 you now have a slider bar that lets you choose your level of protection. (Similar to internet explorer level of protection) There is a level... "I don’t want to be prompt whenever I change a windows settings, but i do if a 3rd party application wants to". This is a good addition to W7.
Side bar -It’s gone. W7 still lets you put little gadgets on your desktop, but there is no longer a sidebar stuck there. You can have one or two gadgets on your desktop, and not take up that valuable few extra KB of memory to load a whole side bar.
Performance -Well... it's what we all want to see, unfortunately I have noticed very little. It does boot up faster, but for me this was never an issue. I don't mind a 2 min boot up, but what I would really like to see is performance after the fact. Applications smoother and faster to load, gaming performance also. MS says that...
"We are going through a lot of pains to address this issue. Initialising fewer processes, and running them in parallel"
This means that W7 will initialise fewer 'startup' services and process than previous versions of windows. When starting wireless or network applications, the service was initialised and while this happened the application was also started. In a core2 system or equivalent this is not a problem, but if you dont have this, then it will take longer to start this application than XP/ Vista. (not sure that this is a big issue, as in 2 years most users will have at least a core2 processor)
Memory management - Each window you open in XP or Vista, requires more memory than the previous one. So... W7 has been changed so that each window you open will use the same amount of memory. Nice.
No bundled software - You will need to download them from the web. i.e. windows mail, windows writer (wordpad), moviemaker etc. Paint does come with W7, and has a little GUI (Graphic User Interface) face lift. Calculator is also there with a face lift.
Over all it does seem MS is trying to address the issues that the public has. Interesting to see what the final release will be able to do.
Vista Transformation Pack will give to your Windows XP system the new and cool look of Microsoft's future operating system: Windows Vista. The pack changes most of the system icons, skins and toolbars and also adds new enhancements to your desktop such as a dock bar or a different system tray clock. It is free and does a great job of giving machine a look similar to Vista.
It does have uninstallation options in case you decide you want to get rid of it, so there really isn’t anything to lose. However, when you install the software it has to overwrite some system files (it modifies things like the boot screen) so Windows will prompt you stating that your system files have been changed. It will ask whether you want to change them back or leave them, so just leave them if you want the system to function properly.
Features of "Vista Transformation Pack": • Boot screen • Welcome Screen / Logon Screen • New msstyles files (visual styles) • New desktop and file icons • New toolbar icons • Progress Dialogs • Sounds scheme • System Tray icons • New Wallpapers • Windows Media Player Skins
Vista Transformation Pack 9.0 Keynotes:
New 3rd-party applications ViSplore - Vista Glass explorer simulator Vista Drive Icon - adding free space percentage in your drive icon like Vista explorer Vista Rainbar - Lightweight Vista sidebar based on Rainmeter that even consume less resources than real Vista Sidebar
Improved 3rd-party applications ViStart - Files indexing for documents search, improved reliability and compatibilities ViOrb - Improved graphic and reliability (C++ re-written) TrueTransparency - Improved reliability with improved AeroStyle's glass border WinFlip - Improved stability and reliablity
New functionalities Setup personization - Allow customizing Vista experiences upon installation without access to Welcome Center Windows XP Service Pack 3 compatibilities - Now you can enjoy Vista themes after installation with Windows XP Service Pack 3 x64 compatibilities - More secured x64 installation without getting hurt by incompatibilities
There're also a lot of bug fixes and refinements in the program but let's just keep it simple with these for now. You can experience the rest later by yourself.
Changes in Version 9.0 -Added Gavatx's Vista Rainbar 4.3 (Slim) in place of Thoosje's Vista Sidebar -Added large icon resizing option for high resolution monitors -Added Personalization setup screen for configuring current user account before installation -Added running ViStart, ViOrb and ViSplore to WindowBlinds and TrueTransparency's exclusion list (prevent stability issues) -Added ViSplore project (Vista Glass Explorer for Windows XP/2003) -Added Vista Drive Icon in place of Vista Windows Drive Icon -Added Windows XP Service Pack 3 uxtheme patching compatibilities -Fixed automate 3rd-party applications optimization requirements -Fixed graphic driver detection issues in transformation package for cases that doesn't use the first slot of driver -Fixed OS detection incompatibilities with Windows Vista -Fixed possible errors when auto-configuring user account during installation without "Express Mode" -Fixed Thoosje Sidebar's auto-configuration bug on some resolutions. -Fixed uninstallation script to terminate newly added applications such as WinFlip, TrueTransparency, etc. -Fixed Vista orb positioning in "System Properties" dialog -Fixed WindowBlinds' installation detection bug in configure user account dialog -Updated Aero Style's glass border for more visibility and less distortion for both WindowBlinds and TrueTransparency -Updated AeroStyle's glass border in TrueTransparency to simulate "little-blurring-like" WindowBlinds -Updated boot screen to traditional ones without Vista flag -Updated configure user account's installed components and applications UI -Updated "Glass" sounds scheme from Windows Vista's Ultimate Extras -Updated installation branding bar image -Updated TrueTransparency to version 0.9.4 -Updated ViOrb to version 1 (C++ re-written) |-Added start orb's right click menu |-Fixed hook recovery when explorer shell is reloaded |-Fixed always on top visibility issues with some applications including ViStart |-Updated start orb graphic to for all sides compatibilities -Updated ViStart to version 2.0 build 3467 |-Added font customization feature in settings.xml |-Added indexing file search support like Vista (you can search for extension with .ext) |-Added "Reset Shell" in menu option to reload explorer along with ViStart |-Added multi-DPI Support |-Fixed Chinese characters issue with Recent Documents |-Fixed hook recovery when explorer shell is reloaded |-Fixed start menu's hooking reliability with full screen and resolution changes |-Fixed strange ActiveX errors -Updated Visual style's top taskbar background to have the same image as bottom's like Vista -Updated WinFlip to version 0.50 -Updated wording in some areas for easier understanding -Updated x64 operating systems compatibilities
AMD’s award-winning ATI Catalyst graphics and HD video configuration software delivers unprecedented control of performance and visual quality with ATI Radeon™ graphics processors. Certified by Microsoft® Windows® Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL), ATI Catalystdrivers for Windows Vista® and Windows® XP operating systems deliver stable performance and push the limits of innovation with advanced user-oriented features.
Precision controls for power users. Tweaks for gamers and video enthusiasts. Simple wizard-assisted setup, easy multi-monitor configuration, and ultra reliable operation for working professionals. New user or seasoned expert, ATI Catalyst puts you in charge of The Ultimate Visual Experience™.
Industry-leading performance o ATI Catalyst boosts graphics performance with every new monthly release, including enhancements for popular Direct3D and OpenGL game titles.
Innovative and exciting features o ATI Catalyst includes the ATI Catalyst Control Center™, delivering innovative features and unprecedented control of performance and visual quality with ATI Radeon graphics.
Robust stability o ATI Catalystdrivers for Windows Vista and Windows XP are Microsoft WHQL-certified, and include rigorously tested Linux drivers to deliver the industry’s most stable and reliable graphics performance.
This release note provides information on the latest posting of AMD's industry leading software suite, Catalyst™. This particular software suite updates both the AMD Display Driver, and the Catalyst™ Control Center. This unified driver has been further enhanced to provide the highest level of power, performance, and reliability. The AMD Catalyst™ software suite is the ultimate in performance and stability.
The Catalyst™ Software Suite 8.11 contains the following: • Radeon™ display driver 8.552 • HydraVision™ for both Windows XP and Vista • HydraVision™ Basic Edition (Windows XP only) • WDM Driver Install Bundle • Southbridge/IXP Driver • Catalyst™ Control Center Version 8.11
Caution: The Catalyst™ software driver and the Catalyst™ Control Center can be downloaded independently of each other. However, for maximum stability and performance AMD recommends that both components be updated from the same Catalyst™ release
Caution: The Catalyst™ Control Center requires that the Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0 be installed. Without .NET version 2.0 installed, the Catalyst™ Control Center will not launch properly and the user will see an error message.
The latest version of the Catalyst™ software suite is designed to support the following Microsoft Windows platforms: - Windows Vista (32 and 64 bit versions) - Windows XP Professional - Windows XP Home Edition - Windows XP Media Center Edition (graphics driver support only)
AMD Desktop Product Family Support for both Windows Vista and XP: - ATI Radeon™ HD4670 series - ATI Radeon™ HD4600 series - ATI Radeon™ HD 4800 series - ATI Radeon™ HD 3800 series - ATI Radeon™ HD 3600 series - ATI Radeon™ HD 3400 series - ATI Radeon™ HD 2900 series - ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 series - ATI Radeon™ HD 2400 series - ATI Radeon™ X1950 series - ATI Radeon™ X1900 series - ATI Radeon™ X1800 series - ATI Radeon™ X1650 series - ATI Radeon™ X1600 series - ATI Radeon™ X1550 series - ATI Radeon™ X1300 series - ATI Radeon™ X1050 series - ATI Radeon™ X850 series - ATI Radeon™ X800 series - ATI Radeon™ X700 series - ATI Radeon™ X600 series - ATI Radeon™ X550 series - ATI Radeon™ X300 series - ATI Radeon™ 9800 series - ATI Radeon™ 9700 series - ATI Radeon™ 9600 series - ATI Radeon™ 9500 series
AMD Multimedia Family Product Support for both Windows Vista and XP: - ATI All-in-Wonder™ X1900 Series - ATI All-in-Wonder™ X1800 Series - ATI All-in-Wonder™ 2006 Edition - ATI All-in-Wonder™ X800 Series - ATI Theater 650™ - ATI All-in-Wonder™ X600 Serie - ATI Theater™ 550 PRO - ATI All-in-Wonder™ 9800 Series - ATI All-in-Wonder™ 9600 Series
Note: ATI All-in-Wonder™ boards operate with AMD's Windows Vista ready display and capture drivers under the Windows Vista operating system. However, the Windows Vista Media Center application does not support TV/Capture functionality provided by the ATI All-in-Wonder™. TV/Capture functionality is qualified to function with Snaptream's BeyondTV 4.6 for Windows Vista. Other third party solutions (such as Arcsoft's Total Media 3) may support TV/Capture with the ATI All-in-Wonder™, but these applications have not been fully tested by AMD.
Strictly speaking, this is a release candidate for the Debian installer only, but since the release includes a full set of Debian "Lenny" CD and DVD images, it is perfectly suitable for testing the entire distribution. From the announcement: "The Debian Installer team is proud to announce the first release candidate of the installer for Debian GNU/Linux 'Lenny'. Improvements in this release: improved support for live CD installation media; support for some NAS devices based on Marvell's ARM-compatible Orion chip; installer images for Netwinder have been added again; installer images for i386 Xen guests; support for hardware speech synthesis has been added; upgrade of packages early in pkgsel, for example to get available security updates for base system packages; support for loading firmware from (removable) media during the installation...." Read the rest of the release announcement for more information. Quick download links to the i386 and amd64 "netinst" CD images: debian-testing-i386-netinst.iso (150MB, MD5), debian-testing-amd64-netinst.iso (132MB, MD5).
A few days after the Linux kernel regression announced by the Ubuntu developers on October 30th, they discovered two nasty problems in the Linux kernel packages of Ubuntu 8.10, that could "help" an attacker execute malicious code as root (system administrator), or caused DoS (Denial of Service) attacks to hang or crash a vulnerable system. Even if this regression, found in the Ubuntu 8.10 Linux kernel packages, was discovered on November 5th, we wanted to inform and encourage users of the Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) operating system to update their systems as soon as possible.
The first vulnerability was found by the Ubuntu developers, and it could lead to temporarily system hangs when the user tried to mount a "corrupted" ext2 or ext3 filesystem. "If a user were tricked into mounting a specially crafted filesystem, a remote attacker could cause system hangs, leading to a denial of service." - said the Ubuntu developers.
The second vulnerability was reported by Anders Kaseorg, who discovered that the NDISwrapper package, a tool to load Windows drivers for wireless network cards, couldn't process long ESSIDs (Extended Service Set Identifier), leading to system crashes. For example, an attacker could generate malformed wireless network traffic to crash a vulnerable system by executing arbitrary code, as root (system administrator).
These Linux kernel vulnerabilities can be fixed if you update your system to the following specific packages:
Don't forget to reboot your computer after this update! About Ubuntu:
Ubuntu (an African word meaning “Humanity to others”) is the ultimate operating system, developed by an entire open source community. Ubuntu is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. It includes all the software you will need, from web browser, e-mail client and word processing, to games, programming tools and web server software. Ubuntu OS can be used at home, in a business environment, in public schools, hospitals, etc. The best part of all this is that Ubuntu is, and will always be, free of charge
David Comay has announced the availability of the first release candidate for OpenSolaris 2008.11: "The OpenSolaris development package repository has been updated to reflect the changes in snv_101 and snv_101a including major fixes to the Caiman 'Slim Install' and the Image Packaging System (IPS). This build is an initial release candidate build for the OpenSolaris 2008.11 release. For this build, the recommended minimum memory size is 768 MB or greater. Users who wish to update their system to the development build can do so using the 'image-update' facility provided by the pkg(1) command or by the 'Update All' facility of the Package Manager GUI. For important information about 'image-update', see the instructions. Important note: The development builds have undergone limited testing and users should expect to uncover issues as the next release is developed. Bug reports and requests for enhancement are welcome." Read the detailed release announcement for further information and known issues. Download (MD5): osol-0811-101a-rc1b.iso (682MB, torrent).
Fabio Erculiani has announced the release of Sabayon Linux 3.5.1: "Sabayon Linux has released an update for the 3.5 branch. The primary focus of this release is to provide a version that is current with the Entropy repository for the 3.5 branch. This will alleviate the updating that is currently necessary after installing Sabayon Linux 3.5. Since this is primarily a maintenance release, Sabayon Linux recommends that users who already have an installed version of Sabayon Linux 3.5 wait for the release of Sabayon Linux 4.0 to update their installations. Distribution features: Linux kernel 2.6.26 with extended wireless, laptop (UMPC, like Eee PC), file system (Unionfs, Aufs, Squashfs, ext4, NTFS-3G) support; out-of-the-box hardware detection, input devices, GPUs, wireless; outstanding easy-to-setup 3D desktop, gaming support, thanks to Compiz Fusion 0.7.8 and a set of free top-tier games included or available; X.Org server 1.4.2 (7.3), KDE 3.5.10, GNOME 2.22.3, Entropy 0.23.8." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details. Download: Sabayon-Linux-x86-3.5.1.iso (4,168MB, MD5, torrent), Sabayon-Linux-x86_64-3.5.1.iso (4,199MB, MD5, torrent).
With Windows 7 pre-Beta Build 6801 out of Redmond, it was only natural that DirectX 11 would follow. And this is precisely what happened. Having served Milestone 3 Build of the next iteration of the Windows client, Microsoft is also moving forward with the graphics technology included by default with the operating system. The transition from Vista to Windows 7 is synonymous with the evolution from DirectX 10.1 (in Vista SP1) to DirectX 11. At this point in time, the first taste of the next version of the DirectX suite of multimedia application programming interfaces (APIs), namely DirectX 11, is available for download via the November 2008 DirectX Software Development Kit.
“Included in the November 2008 DirectX SDK is a technical preview of Direct3D 11 and associated components and tools. Direct3D 11 is an update to Direct3D 10.1 enabling new hardware features as well as improving the breadth of configurations supported by Direct3D. As such, Direct3D 11 enables developers to create applications and games that work on Direct3D 10, Direct3D 10.1, and Direct3D 11 hardware when it becomes available. With the addition of WARP and Direct3D 10 Level 9, Direct3D 10.1 and Direct3D 11 have the ability to target fast software rasterization and Direct3D 9 hardware,” Microsoft revealed.
According to the software giant, the November 2008 DirectX SDK package for Windows 7 pre-Beta Build 6801 and Windows Vista SP1 brings the evolution of Tessellation; Compute Shaders; Multithreaded Rendering; Dynamic Shader Linkage; Windows Advanced Rasterizer (WARP); Direct3D 10 and Direct3D 11 on Direct3D 9 Hardware (D3D10 Level 9); Runtime Binaries; D3DX11; Completely Updated HLSL and Direct3D Compiler; D3D11 Reference Rasterizer; and D3D11 SDK Layers.
“Don't mix Beta DLLs with their correspondingly named non-beta DLLs,” Microsoft warned. “The Direct3D 11 Technical Preview in the November 2008 DirectX SDK provides a dxgi_beta.dll that is different from the dxgi.dll included in Windows Vista. Developers should not use interfaces from one of these DLLs with the other as it may cause issues that are difficult to track down. The recommendation is that if you are using a beta DLL, don't link to the correspondingly named non-beta DLL.”
The November 2008 DirectX Software Development Kit is available for download here.
The November 2008 DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer can be downloaded via this link.
DirectX End-User Runtimes (November 2008) is up for grabs here.
Analyze Internet connection performance, diagnose connectivity problems! VisualRoute helps determine if a connectivity problem is due to an ISP, the internet, or the destination web site, and pinpoints the network where a problem occurs.
