Dr. Bill | The Computer Curmudgeon

I love CCleaner! It is a very useful utility that does JUST what I want it to do, and no more… gotta love that! Anyway, it has a new interface, has been re-written from the ground up, and is still just as cool!

CCleaner 2.0 Features!

“Features of CCleaner 2.0:

* Complete rebuild in C++
With the requirements for a portable version, 64-bit compatibility and Windows Vista increasing against the limitations of the old architecture. We decided to rebuild the entire CCleaner application in highly optimized C++.
* Faster analyzing and cleaning
Each scanning process was rewritten from scratch and fully optimized. The result being a noticeable speed increase in all areas.
* Portable
CCleaner can now run from a USB thumbdrive and be installed/run on a computer without a complicated setup process.
* Compact
The rewrite removed all external file dependencies, so the main EXE is now half the size of the original program and support files.
* Redesigned User Interface
The original CCleaner user interface was looking a little dated, so the GUI was redesigned with a modern look, but without sacrificing speed or usability. New icons were created for the interface and the main program icon was updated with a more modern style.
* Exclusions
It is now possible to specify files, folders and registry keys to ignore from the cleaning process.
* Loads of little tweaks
Too numerous to mention them all separately, we’ve tried to improve CCleaner in all areas.”

ReactOS, as I have mentioned before, is an open source version of Windows… it is designed to be binary compatible with Windows, and it is not quite ready for prime time yet… but it is getting there!

ReactOS 3.3

Here’s some screen shots:

ReactOS Screen Shots

“As we have previously made you aware, we skipped the 0.3.2 release due to massive problems with old incompatible drivers resulting in blocker bugs we couldn’t resolve within the scheduled release time. With these issues now resolved, and along with a extensive amount of additional improvements, we are presenting the next minor release – 0.3.3. This is still labeled as alpha-stage release, so do not set your expectations too high: translating into a non-programmer’s language alpha-stage means: ‘You are lucky if it actually installs and runs for you outside of a virtual machine’. Kernel development came to a point where most of the base modules are largely compatible with NT5, and with these now working well, the kernel as a whole is now starting to expose compatibility bugs in other parts of the OS which is where the focus of development has moved to. The Win32 subsystem is in the beginning of a total overhaul to make it completely compatible with NT5 which may introduce various drops in application compatibility from time to time, however in the 0.3.3 release it has had a positive impact on stability and compatibility with Win32 applications. As a generic result of these internal changes, the system feels a lot more stable in comparison to previous releases, and could be run on a real hardware (though usual limitations still apply – no USB, no SATA, no NTFS support).

Summing up most important changes for this release:

* Kernel improvements bringing many areas closer to NT 5.2
* Improved hardware support
* Stability increase in many core modules, especially win32k
* Many changes to base system drivers, aimed at increasing compatibility and stability
* Rewrite of a number of kernel modules is finished, others are bug-fixed to improve stability
* Win32 application support : fresh screenshots say more than written words
* A download utility (unofficially called ‘ReactOS Package Manager’) now contains a set of applications (open source and shareware apps) which you can install right away in ReactOS with one click of a mouse. And those apps will actually work!
* Improvements to many of the core user mode applications and control panel applets”

Wow! A very hot place has frozen over. Sun Microsystems, that once sold only their own software and hardware (notably Sun Solaris) is now selling hardware with Windows 2003 Server installed!

Sun Becomes a Windows Server 2003 OEM

Sun Microsystems and Microsoft have significantly expanded their existing relationship in an agreement that makes Sun a Windows Server 2003 OEM that will sell, pre-install and support that server software across its entire server hardware line. Windows Server 2003 will be available on Sun x64 systems within 90 days, and Sun will also provide other utilities and value-added software offerings to server systems carrying Windows Server, John Fowler, the executive vice president of Sun’s Systems Group, said at a media briefing on Sept. 12. ‘Our entire server line will be available to come with Windows Server 2003 preloaded, and we are already open for early orders. Many of our customers want to use Sun’s platforms together with Microsoft Windows to solve their most difficult business computing problems,’ he said. Sun has become a single source for Solaris and Windows on the its x64 systems and storage products, and customers can now take advantage of the virtualization benefits of Windows and Solaris on Sun’s energy-efficient x64 systems, he said.”

Super Mario Bros. is 22 years old today. Wow… who’d thunk it?

Super Mario Bros.

“Super Mario Bros. is a video game released by Nintendo in late 1985 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Universally considered a classic of the medium, Super Mario Bros. featured bright, expansive worlds that changed the way video games were created. Often wrongly credited as the first scrolling platform game (there are at least a half dozen earlier), it is the first console original in this genre to feature smooth-scrolling levels, which made it a landmark in home videogaming. Super Mario Bros. is listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as the best-selling video game of all time,[1] and was largely responsible for the initial success of the Nintendo Entertainment System, as well as ending the two year slump of video game sales in the United States after the video game crash of 1983. It has inspired countless imitators and was one of Shigeru Miyamoto’s most influential early successes. The game starred the Italian plumber Mario and his slightly younger brother Luigi, the former who would eventually become one of Nintendo’s most well known mascots. The game was succeeded by a direct sequel in Japan (later retitled in North America), and by Super Mario Bros. 2, a Mario-themed port of Doki Doki Panic, elsewhere in the world.”

That’s a lot of phones at nearly $500.00 a pop! Somebody got’s bling to spare!

Apple Sells 1 Millionth iPhone

“Seventy four days out from launch, Apple has sold 1 million iPhones—smack dab on target with recent analyst predictions that the iPhone would surpass the mil mark by Sept. 30. In a press release, Steve Jobs said that it took nearly two years to sell that many iPods. The big boss continued: “We can’t wait to get this revolutionary product into the hands of even more customers this holiday season.” Too bad it won’t be that even more revolutionary iPhone that seems just around the corner. Critique aside, we congratulate Apple on the iPhone’s momentum.”

The alpha version of Opera’s Web Browser is out… and it looks pretty good! I like it’s “integrated” e-mail feature (current versions of Opera have this as well… I could get spoiled on it. BUT, I still am a Firefox kinda guy!

First impressions: Opera 9.5 alpha a worthy contender

“Opera has always defied conventional wisdom: in the past, the company was able to survive by selling web browsers when Microsoft and Netscape were giving them away. More recently, the company shifted to giving away its desktop browser, pulling revenue from sales in the mobile arena and affiliate deals integrated into the browser. The company has proven to be rugged and focused on quality. Now, the company has released alpha builds of the latest version of their desktop product, Opera 9.5 (code-named Kestrel). While it doesn’t quite add enough features to justify a full version number bump, it is a welcome update for any Opera fan and may well get users of more popular browsers to take a second look. Despite being an ‘alpha’ release, we’ve found a solid improvement to an already very strong browser. Opera claims that the latest version is faster than ever before, and our experience bears this out. When running various JavaScript speed tests, Opera 9.5 scored slightly higher (281ms) than the previous released version, 9.23 (546ms). And Opera 9.x, let it be known, smacks silly the likes of Firefox and Internet Explorer, which tend to have results in the 900-1500ms range on this test machine (a 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo with 2GB RAM). Opera was 50 percent faster on average than Firefox, and 100 percent faster than IE7 on Windows Vista, for instance. (In all versions, the speed of the test depends on how many tabs are open, so your results may vary. In our experience, Opera always came out on top.) Opera also claims that the user interface itself also received significant optimizations for speed, and while it’s tough to accurately benchmark this, the new alpha does feel slightly ‘snappier’ than its predecessor. While this is still an alpha and there are undoubtedly still bugs present, Kestrel on Windows XP was stable and did not crash once during testing. The Macintosh version, unfortunately, had some serious UI display problems running under Panther on my PPC iBook, likely due to the new skinning code that is in this version. Performance enhancements aren’t limited to browsing speed, either. The integrated BitTorrent client (first introduced in 9.0) has been reworked, and support for Peer Exchange should make torrent downloads faster. While still not as full-featured as a standalone BitTorrent client, being able to download torrents with a single click on a web page is an extremely useful feature and is one that I use all the time. Speed isn’t the only thing that Opera has addressed with 9.5. Plenty of refinements have been added to make things more convenient. For example, the Zoom mode in previous versions was a great way to magnify not just text but entire web pages. Kestrel makes the magnification control immediately available in the bottom-right corner of the status bar, along with a toggle to view/hide images. Like most controls in the Opera user interface, these can be removed or repositioned if desired.”

Ack! Much evil! Pfffft! (Such intellectual responses from the Doctor!) So… we need new Justice Department workers that have a clue… any takers?

Justice Dept. against ‘Net neutrality’

“The Justice Department on Thursday said Internet service providers should be allowed to charge a fee for priority Web traffic. The agency told the Federal Communications Commission, which is reviewing high-speed Internet practices, that it is opposed to ‘Net neutrality,’ the principle that all Internet sites should be equally accessible to any Web user. Several phone and cable companies, such as AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp., have previously said they want the option to charge some users more money for loading certain content or Web sites faster than others. The Justice Department said imposing a Net neutrality regulation could hamper development of the Internet and prevent service providers from upgrading or expanding their networks. It could also shift the ‘entire burden of implementing costly network expansions and improvements onto consumers,’ the agency said in its filing. Such a result could diminish or delay network expansion and improvement, it added. The agency said providing different levels of service is common, efficient and could satisfy consumers. As an example, it cited that the U.S. Postal Service charges customers different guarantees and speeds for package delivery, ranging from bulk mail to overnight delivery. Whether or not the same type of differentiated products and services will develop on the Internet should be determined by market forces, not regulatory intervention,’ the agency said in its filing. The agency’s stance comes more than two months after Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras cautioned policy makers to enact Net neutrality regulation. Such a regulation could prevent rather than promote Internet investment and innovation and have ‘significant negative effects for the economy and consumers,’ the Justice Department said in the filing.”

Wrong!