Jerry blogger: Update for Windows 7 (KB971033) "WAT Update!"

Update for Windows 7 (KB971033) "WAT Update!":

Description: This update for Windows Activation Technologies helps detect validation errors and activation exploits. This update also detects any tampering attempts made to important Windows 7 system files. Be aware that some counterfeit copies of Windows include malware.

When this update is installed, it performs a validation process for the copy of Windows that is running on your computer. However, this validation process does not affect the functionality of Windows. The update process exits silently if it detects no validation errors, activation exploits, or tampered files.

If the update discovers a tampered file, it tries to restore the file. This restore may require a restart. If this update cannot restore the tampered files, it will direct you more information on the Internet.

Rating: Important

Reported Issues: May cause your version of windows to turned ingenuine in a varety of scenarios... Avoid the update at all costs..

What you should do after you system is being flagged as 'Not genuine' after you installed the KB971033 update.

Using the (Lenovo) Blacklisted Windows 7 Ultimate Product Key?

• Open a Command prompt with 'Administrator' privileges
• Type slmgr.vbs -dlv
• Make sure the value of the line 'Partial Product Key' is NOT 'PMJBM'.
• If this value is 'PMJBM' then you have the (Lenovo) Blacklisted Ultimate Product Key installed, eg: '22TKD-F8XX6-YG69F-9M66D-PMJBM'
• Open a Command prompt with 'Administrator' privileges
• Type slmgr.vbs -upk to uninstall the Blacklisted Product Key
• Pick another Windows 7 Ultimate Product Key from our Windows 7 OEM SLP Key Collection
• Open a Command prompt with 'Administrator' privileges
• Type slmgr.vbs -ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX to install the new Product Key (Replacing the X's with the value of the Windows 7 Ultimate Product Key chosen in previous step)
• Reboot
• Validate online. (Important)

Note:
It is adviced to use only one 'Activation' technique, we have noticed/heard there are individuals who install multiple 'Activation' hacks thinking they are protected better.
This is not the case and most likely only give you problems and is not advised!

Firefox 3.6.6

• Download Firefox - Free 3.6.6 for Windows English (7.7MB)
  Other Systems and Languages

The Web is all about innovation, and Firefox sets the pace with dozens of new features to deliver a faster, more secure and customizable Web browsing experience for all.
User Experience. The enhancements to Firefox provide the best possible browsing experience on the Web. The new Firefox smart location bar, affectionately known as the "Awesome Bar," learns as people use it, adapting to user preferences and offering better fitting matches over time.
Performance. Firefox is built on top of the powerful new Gecko platform, resulting in a safer, easier to use and more personal product.
Security. Firefox raises the bar for security. The new malware and phishing protection helps protect from viruses, worms, trojans and spyware to keep people safe on the Web.
Customization. Everyone uses the Web differently, and Firefox lets users customize their browser with more than 5,000 add-ons.

Harddisk and SSD Benchmark programs

CrystalDiskMark

CrystalDiskMark is a disk benchmark software.
CrystalDiskMark 1.0/2.0/2.1 has critical bug!! Please use 2.2 or later.

Screenshots

Key Features

• Measure sequential reads/writes speed
• Measure random 512KB, 4KB, 4KB (Queue Depth=32) reads/writes speed
• Select test data (Random, 0Fill, 1Fill)
• Theme support
• Multi-Language support

Important Notice

• "MB/s" means 1,000,000byte/sec.

Lern More: FAQ

A new benchmark is in the workds for Solid State Drives - AS SSD Benchmark

The benefits of the benchmark are:
* Good precision of results
* Simplicity of use
* Optimized for SSD
* Screenshot-function
* It's freeware

Min. sys req:
* Windows XP/Vista/7
* .NET Framework 3.0
* An SSD to test with 3gb free space on it

Known bugs:
+ You can only abort the test between the measurements
+ If you close the program without ending or aborting the measurement it leaves some temp-files on the partition you have tested

Download Link: http://alex-is.de/PHP/fusion/downloads.php?cat_id=4 target="blank"

Some Screen Shots that I took using it on my OCZ 120GB Vertex EX SLC SSD tonight using version 0.8.3451.39214 on a Vertex EX drive that has been used for a number of days:

Windows-7 SSDTweaker – Repair Tool of the Week

While technically not a “repair tool”, SSDTweaker is an application designed to tweak an operating system to get the most out of a Solid State Drive.
Solid State Drives (SSD) have a massive speed advantage over older hard drives because there are no moving parts. However, one of the disadvantages of SSD’s is that each data block on the drive has a limited amount of times it can be overwritten (about 10,000 vs a Hard Drives 1-5 million cycles). Windows constantly writes information to the hard drive such as indexing the files to make file searches faster, creating a page file and more. This will reduce the performance of an solid state drive over time.
This is where SSDTweaker comes in, SSDTweaker allows you to tweak the following:

• Windows Indexing Service
• System Restore
• Windows Defrag
• Use Large System Cache
• NTFS Memory Usage
• Disable 8.3 Filenames
• Disable Date Stamping
• Disable Boot Tracing
• Windows Prefetcher
• Windows Vista Superfetch
• Windows Services

SSDTweaker will also recommend which settings to disable for optimal SSD performance. These tweaks are at an operating system level (mostly just registry tweaks) so it should work with any SSD model.
SSDTweaker is small, freeware and works on Windows 2000, XP, Vista and 7 including both their 32 and 64bit variants.
Note: This application was written by a member of the hardware manufacturer “OCZ” forums. There is no “Official Site” for this application. However, this application has received good reviews by many trustworthy sources.
Screenshots:

Downloads:
Download from MajorGeeks.com – 135kb

Domain Name Speed Benchmark (DNSBench) leastest release!

Are your DNS nameservers impeding your Internet experience?

A unique, comprehensive, accurate & free Windows (and Linux/Wine) utility to determine the exact performance of local and remote DNS nameservers . . .

“You can't optimize it until you can measure it”
Now you CAN measure it!

File stats for: DNSBench

Last Updated: Size: 154k

Jun 21, 2010 at 09:18 (0.88 days ago)

Downloads/day: 819 Total downloads: 170,499

Current Rank: 1 Historical Rank: 1  Although GRC's DNS Benchmark is packed with features to satisfy the needs of the most demanding Internet gurus (and this benchmark offers features designed to enable serious DNS performance investigation), the box below demonstrates that it is also extremely easy for casual and first-time users to run: How to Run the DNS Benchmark After downloading and starting the utility (there's nothing to install), it's as easy as . . . 1 . . . 2 . . . 3 Click the “Nameservers” tab to select the main benchmark display and data pages. Click the “Run Benchmark” button (it may take a moment to become enabled). Click and read the “Conclusions” tab after the benchmark completes. Unless you're a super-guru, PLEASE really do read the “Conclusions” tab once the benchmark has completed. Some people have initially been overwhelmed and intimidated by this benchmark's deep and rich feature set, and by the amount of specific detail it generates. They haven't known what it meant or what, if anything, they should do about it. But you will discover that the “Conclusions” tab presents a distillation of all that, into a set of carefully worded . . . er . . . Conclusions.  Really. Links to further descriptive help, FAQ pages and resources for this benchmark utility are located at the bottom of each page. An overview and list of the unique features of GRC's DNS Benchmark utility are provided below. Why a DNS Benchmark? People use alphabetic domain names (www.grc.com), but Internet data packets require numerical Internet IP addresses (4.79.142.202). So the first step required before anything can be done on the Internet is to lookup the site's or service's domain name to determine its associated Internet IP address. www.grc.com      [4.79.142.202] Since nothing can happen until IP addresses are known, the use of slow, overloaded or unreliable DNS servers will get in the way, noticeably slowing down virtually all of your use of the Internet. Unless you have taken over manual control of the DNS servers your system is using (which, as you'll see, is not difficult to do), your system will be using the DNS servers that were automatically assigned by your Internet connection provider (your ISP). Since they are likely located close to you on the Internet (since they are provided by your own ISP) they may already be the fastest DNS servers available to you. But they might be in the wrong order (the second one being faster than the first one, and that matters) or, who knows? Many people have discovered that their own ISP's DNS servers are slower than other publicly available alternatives on the Internet, which are faster and/or more reliable. This DNS Benchmark will give you visibility into what's going on with your system's currently assigned DNS servers by automatically comparing their performance with many well known publicly available alternatives. What is GRC's DNS Benchmark? GRC's DNS Benchmark performs a detailed analysis and comparison of the operational performance and reliability of any set of up to 200 DNSnameservers (sometimes also called resolvers) at once. When the Benchmark is started in its default configuration, it identifies all DNS nameservers the user's system is currently configured to use and adds them to its built-in list of publicly available “alternative” nameservers. Each DNS nameserver in the benchmark list is carefully “characterized” to determine its suitability — to you — for your use as a DNS resolver. This characterization includes testing each nameserver for its “redirection” behavior: whether it returns an error for a bad domain request, or redirects a user's web browser to a commercial marketing-oriented page. While such behavior may be acceptable to some users, others may find this objectionable. The point made above about the suitability — to you — of candidate nameservers is a crucial one, since everything is about where you are located relative to the nameservers being tested. You might see someone talking about how fast some specific DNS nameservers are for them, but unless you share their location there's absolutely no guarantee that the same nameservers would perform as well for you. ONLY by benchmarking DNS resolvers from your own location, as this DNS Benchmark does, can you compare nameserver performance where it matters . . . right where you're computer is. When the benchmark is run, the performance and apparent reliability of the DNS nameservers the system is currently using, plus all of the working nameservers on the Benchmark's built-in list of alternative nameservers are compared with each other. Results are continuously displayed and updated while the benchmark is underway, with a dynamically sorted and scaled bar chart, and a tabular chart display showing the cached, uncached and “dotcom” DNS lookup performance of each nameserver. These values are determined by carefully querying each nameserver for the IP addresses of the top 50 most popular domain names on the Internet and also by querying for nonexistent domains. Once the benchmark finishes, the results are heuristically and statistically analyzed to present a comprehensive yet simplified and understandable English-language summary of all important findings and conclusions. Based upon these results, users may choose to change the usage order of their system's own resolvers, or, if alternative public nameservers offer superior performance or features compared with the nameservers currently being used, to switch to one or more alternative nameservers. DNS Benchmark Feature List: The Executable Environment: Compatible with all versions of Windows from Windows 95 through Windows 7. Compatible with Wine (Windows emulation) running on Linux and Macintosh. Hand-coded in 100% pure assembly language for highest precision and smallest size: 154 KBytes. Installation-free — nothing to install — just run the small executable file. (Won't change anything or mess up your system.) Lightweight (single packet), optional automatic and/or manual version checking. Task Scheduler-compatible for non-UI non-interactive background operation. Optional, automatic results logging for fully unattended operation. Comprehensive error return codes to support full automation. Primary Benchmark Features: For each of up to 200 DNS nameservers, using the Internet's most popular top-50 domain names, independently measures, charts, statistically analyzes, reports (and optionally exports): Cached lookups – the time to return a domain name that is already in the resolver's name cache. Uncached lookups – the time to return a sub-domain name that is not already in the resolver's name cache. Dotcom lookups – the time to consult the nameserver's chosen dotcom resolver(s) for a dotcom name. Reliability – the number of queries not replied to (lost) during the benchmark. Optionally verifies whether nameservers provide DNS security (DNSSEC) record authentication. When using a list of (provided) DNSSEC-signed domains, benchmarks DNSSEC authentication performance. Graphs and compares all four benchmark parameters with an easy-to-read bar chart. On-the-fly hierarchical sorting of performance results by cached (default) or uncached performance. (Sorting is “hierarchical” because cached (or uncached) performance is sorted first, followed by uncached (or cached), then by dotcom last.) Auto-scaled bar chart that can be manually overridden for chart-to-chart comparison. Pop-up value “inspector” (left click in nameserver list) displays precise values on bar chart. Detailed tabular results report. Fully detailed, locale-aware (internationalized), CSV results export. Automatic logging to a CSV file for long-term background results monitoring and collection. Simultaneously compares the performance and reliability of up to 200 DNS nameservers. Determines network name (reverse DNS), ownership, and operational status for each nameserver. Determines whether nameservers intercept and redirect bad domain names. Comprehensive, heuristic “Conclusions” generation summarizes all results and suggests useful system changes, if any, in easily readable English. All results are analyzed for statistical significance with a 95% confidence threshold. Bottom of tabular data page contains built-in quick-reference “reminder” help. Additional Power-User & Convenience Features: The built-in top-50 domains list is user-replaceable to allow more/less statistical significance, and for support of DNSSEC record authentication. .INI files containing sets and subsets of nameservers to benchmark can be added, removed, and saved. Special “dnsbench.ini” file is auto-loaded, if present, to always override built-in nameserver list. (This supports the use of customizable personal nameserver lists for special applications.) At start-up, tests for the presence of, and deliberately “triggers”, any outbound-blocking personal firewalls to allow Internet access exceptions to be provided before testing begins. Internet connectivity aware – verifies unimpeded Internet connectivity before testing and gracefully handles possible loss of Internet connectivity during testing. Bar chart results can be copied to the system clipboard or saved in BMP or compressed PNG format for storage or sharing. Built-in self-screen capture to BMP or compressed PNG file. All benchmark pages and tabs can be copied to the system clipboard or saved to files as text, rich-text, or images as appropriate.

Windows 7 OEM SLP Key Collection

Keys are not brand specific. Any key will work for any oem manufacturer.
First 5 digits of the PID are X's because they differ depending on language. 
STARTER
(OEM-8992752) (OEM-8992707)
=====================

RDJXR-3M32B-FJT32-QMPGB-GCFF6 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-30004 --- ACER/GATEWAY/PACKARD
6K6WB-X73TD-KG794-FJYHG-YCJVG --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-30005 --- ASUS (Eee)
6PB94-MC2C6-4F37H-KTJ32-PF2PT --- XXXXX-OEM-8992707-00097 --- CASPERERA
36Q3Y-BBT84-MGJ3H-FT7VD-FG72J --- XXXXX-OEM-8992707-00082 --- DELL
4FRH4-WQDGJ-M9HRY-K73D8-RGT3C --- XXXXX-OEM-8992707-00228 --- EXPER
RH98C-M9PW4-6DHR7-X99PJ-3FGDB --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-30008 --- HP
PMXH9-M23P9-QJJMB-2FWRC-7CDKP --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-30007 --- FUJITSU
273P4-GQ8V6-97YYM-9YTHF-DC2VP --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-30169 --- LENOVO/IBM
22P26-HD8YH-RD96C-28R8J-DCT28 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992707-00153 --- LENOVO/IBM
2W4DJ-JFFJV-DMCPP-2C3X8-883DP --- XXXXX-OEM-8992707-00121 --- MSI
2YKPV-BFXFW-X8GJQ-9KQFF-KCXGD --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-30271 --- MSI
2XGHP-9TQK2-8CF28-BM2P2-8FRX8 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-30269 --- NOKIA
344HQ-3YHDT-C7VCT-BDPBV-4KTR3 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992707-00192 --- OLIDATA
PV9BD-YBRX6-CTMG6-CCMJY-X8XG7 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-30013 --- SAMSUNG
32J2V-TGQCY-9QJXP-Q3FVT-X8BQ7 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992707-00016 --- SONY
TGBKB-9KBGJ-3Y3J6-K8M2F-J2HJQ --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-30015 --- TOSHIBA
7W842-2HCPJ-BC3MJ-B79K6-TD2HQ --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-30214 --- VILIV
2K8WH-JVQDM-C9HVC-YR2XC-8M76G --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-30065 --- ?????
32TF3-PT6YV-V6GCK-RR8GM-VM4QG --- XXXXX-OEM-8992707-00180 --- ?????



HOME BASIC
(OEM-8992752)
=====================

MB4HF-2Q8V3-W88WR-K7287-2H4CP --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-50004 --- ACER/GATEWAY/PACKARD
89G97-VYHYT-Y6G8H-PJXV6-77GQM --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-50005 --- ASUS
36T88-RT7C6-R38TQ-RV8M9-WWTCY --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-50258 --- DELL
8W3JQ-BP2HY-F47QX-6CQ94-2BKQB --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-50007 --- FUJITSU
DX8R9-BVCGB-PPKRR-8J7T4-TJHTH --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-50008 --- HP
22MFQ-HDH7V-RBV79-QMVK9-PTMXQ --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-50213 --- LENOVO/IBM
2P6PB-G7YVY-W46VJ-BXJ36-PGGTG --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-50013 --- SAMSUNG
YV7QQ-RCXQ9-KTBHC-YX3FG-FKRW8 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-50014 --- SONY
9DBMT-GXRWM-6Q9Y3-WMYM8-FJCBW --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-50165 --- TONGFANG
9H4FH-VD69Y-TGBD2-4PM4K-DRMMH --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-50015 --- TOSHIBA
2TY7W-H4DD4-MB62F-BD9C3-88TM6 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-50179 --- ?????
2Q4QP-8P4MD-47YBP-7TXX9-FKDRM --- XXXXX-OEM-8992752-50229 --- ?????



HOME PREM
(OEM-8992687)
=====================
VQB3X-Q3KP8-WJ2H8-R6B6D-7QJB7 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992687-00006 --- ACER/GATEWAY/PACKARD
38JTJ-VBPFW-XFQDR-PJ794-8447M --- XXXXX-OEM-8992687-00304 --- ADVENT
V3Y2W-CMF9W-PGT9C-777KD-32W74 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992687-00008 --- ALIENWARE
2QDBX-9T8HR-2QWT6-HCQXJ-9YQTR --- XXXXX-OEM-8992687-00007 --- ASUS
7JQWQ-K6KWQ-BJD6C-K3YVH-DVQJG --- XXXXX-OEM-8992687-00118 --- ASUS (Eee)
6RBBT-F8VPQ-QCPVQ-KHRB8-RMV82 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992687-00095 --- DELL
C6MHH-TRRPT-74TDC-FHRMV-XB88W --- XXXXX-OEM-8992687-00009 --- FUJITSU
39QDH-D7MHH-WDMTD-TM2R9-KM7DB --- XXXXX-OEM-8992687-00258 --- HCL
4FG99-BC3HD-73CQT-WMF7J-3Q6C9 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992687-00010 --- HP
27GBM-Y4QQC-JKHXW-D9W83-FJQKD --- XXXXX-OEM-8992687-00249 --- LENOVO/IBM
38GRR-KMG3D-BTP99-TC9G4-BBDJJ --- XXXXX-OEM-8992687-00174 --- LG
2P2P9-CM3F8-FTV6P-PC7CX-8TFF7 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992687-00093 --- MEDION
4G3GR-J6JDJ-D96PV-T9B9D-M8X2Q --- XXXXX-OEM-8992687-00246 --- MSI
CQBVJ-9J697-PWB9R-4K7W4-2BT4J --- XXXXX-OEM-8992687-00015 --- SAMSUNG
HWDFB-YVFG4-3TJ7F-Q3WMT-7B6PH --- XXXXX-OEM-8992687-00138 --- SIRAGON
H4JWX-WHKWT-VGV87-C7XPK-CGKHQ --- XXXXX-OEM-8992687-00016 --- SONY
6B88K-KCCWY-4F8HK-M4P73-W8DQG --- XXXXX-OEM-8992687-00057 --- TOSHIBA
6GF36-P4HWR-BFF84-6GFC2-BWX77 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992687-00017 --- TOSHIBA
2XPWB-Q64BJ-W8CT3-WJTWT-4DQ99 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992687-00267 --- ?????
TTJQ7-4PFJC-6JFJ8-B22VD-VXW88 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992687-00013 --- ?????
7K377-DVP2Q-YGWJG-3M3G7-RBCDP --- XXXXX-OEM-8992687-00194 --- ?????



PROFESSIONAL
(OEM-8992671)
=====================

YKHFT-KW986-GK4PY-FDWYH-7TP9F --- XXXXX-OEM-8992671-00004 --- ACER/GATEWAY/PACKARD
2WCJK-R8B4Y-CWRF2-TRJKB-PV9HW --- XXXXX-OEM-8992671-00407 --- ASUS
32KD2-K9CTF-M3DJT-4J3WC-733WD --- XXXXX-OEM-8992671-00524 --- DELL
PT9YK-BC2J9-WWYF9-R9DCR-QB9CK --- XXXXX-OEM-8992671-00007 --- FUJITSU
2QTV2-3CMPP-FQBYK-GRD62-D7XMW --- XXXXX-OEM-8992671-00501 --- HCL
74T2M-DKDBC-788W3-H689G-6P6GT --- XXXXX-OEM-8992671-00008 --- HP
237XB-GDJ7B-MV8MH-98QJM-24367 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992671-00437 --- LENOVO/IBM
2QGXM-V9W9W-6Q7MR-64C4X-R26CV --- XXXXX-OEM-8992671-00207 --- LG ?
GMJQF-JC7VC-76HMH-M4RKY-V4HX6 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992671-00013 --- SAMSUNG
H9M26-6BXJP-XXFCY-7BR4V-24X8J --- XXXXX-OEM-8992671-00014 --- SONY
2V8P2-QKJWM-4THM3-74PDB-4P2KH --- XXXXX-OEM-8992671-00137 --- TOSHIBA
6JKVQ-WJTWW-JVPRB-77TGD-2DV7M --- XXXXX-OEM-8992671-00339 --- WORTMANN
2W3CX-YD4YJ-DF9B2-V27M6-77GMF --- XXXXX-OEM-8992671-00503 --- ?????
BV4Y4-DVXDT-3FC64-X2QR7-DW82M --- XXXXX-OEM-8992671-00468 --- ?????
6BJ27-DVBFF-VKQC8-7JPQP-TJKYY --- XXXXX-OEM-8992671-00215 --- ?????
6FWJ7-TDRCV-BYTP3-JWB98-9J64J --- XXXXX-OEM-8992671-00211 --- ?????
W2PMW-T7DBH-YHKRM-DXXF6-KP4KT --- XXXXX-OEM-8992671-00015 --- ?????
862R9-99CD6-DD6WM-GHDG2-Y8M37 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992671-00205 --- ?????
7QY32-TQCBJ-G7MC8-Y4PGF-7TGB8 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992671-00284 --- ?????


ULTIMATE
(OEM-8992662)
=====================

FJGCP-4DFJD-GJY49-VJBQ7-HYRR2 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992662-00006 --- ACER/GATEWAY/PACKARD
VQ3PY-VRX6D-CBG4J-8C6R2-TCVBD --- XXXXX-OEM-8992662-00008 --- ALIENWARE
2Y4WT-DHTBF-Q6MMK-KYK6X-VKM6G --- XXXXX-OEM-8992662-00173 --- ASUS
342DG-6YJR8-X92GV-V7DCV-P4K27 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992662-00400 --- DELL
9CW99-79BBF-D4M3X-9BK9M-4RPH9 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992662-00009 --- FUJITSU
MHFPT-8C8M2-V9488-FGM44-2C9T3 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992662-00010 --- HP
6K2KY-BFH24-PJW6W-9GK29-TMPWP --- XXXXX-OEM-8992662-00537 --- LENOVO/IBM (Re-released)
49PB6-6BJ6Y-KHGCQ-7DDY6-TF7CD --- XXXXX-OEM-8992662-00015 --- SAMSUNG
YJJYR-666KV-8T4YH-KM9TB-4PY2W --- XXXXX-OEM-8992662-00016 --- SONY
2WX6M-X2HKM-86X8X-2QD44-F3FGJ --- XXXXX-OEM-8992662-00481 --- ?????
78FPJ-C8Q77-QV7B8-9MH3V-XXBTK --- XXXXX-OEM-8992662-00366 --- ?????

VirtualBox 3.2.6 Beta 1

itle:	VirtualBox 3.2.6 Beta 1
Filename:	VirtualBox-3.2.6_BETA1-62864-Win.exe
File size:	75.17MB (78,826,000 bytes)
Requirements:	Windows XP / 2003 / Vista / Windows7 / XP64 / Vista64 / Windows7 64
Languages:	en-US, es-ES, ja-JP, pl-PL
License:	Open Source
Date added:	June 19, 2010
Author:	Oracle www.oracle.com
Homepage:	www.virtualbox.org
MD5 Checksum:	49DBB7D06488241AAC

VirtualBox is a general-purpose full virtualizer for x86 hardware. Targeted at server, desktop and embedded use, it is now the only professional-quality virtualization solution that is also Open Source Software.

Some of the features of VirtualBox are:

* Modularity. VirtualBox has an extremely modular design with well-defined internal programming interfaces and a client/server design. This makes it easy to control it from several interfaces at once: for example, you can start a virtual machine in a typical virtual machine GUI and then control that machine from the command line, or possibly remotely. VirtualBox also comes with a full Software Development Kit: even though it is Open Source Software, you don't have to hack the source to write a new interface for VirtualBox.
* Virtual machine descriptions in XML. The configuration settings of virtual machines are stored entirely in XML and are independent of the local machines. Virtual machine definitions can therefore easily be ported to other computers.

VirtualBox binaries ¶

The binaries in this section are all released under the VirtualBox Personal Use and Evaluation License (PUEL). By downloading, you agree to the terms and conditions of that license.
Note: The original 3.2.4 packages (build number 62431) contained a bug in the EFI BIOS. The build number of the fixed packages is 62467. Sorry for the inconveniences!

• VirtualBox 3.2.4 for Windows hosts x86/amd64

• VirtualBox 3.2.4 for OS X hosts Intel Macs

• VirtualBox 3.2.4 for Linux hosts

• VirtualBox 3.2.4 for Solaris and OpenSolaris hosts x86/amd64

• VirtualBox 3.2.4 Software Developer Kit (SDK) All platforms (registration required)

• VirtualBox older builds

See the changelog for what has changed.
You might want to compare the MD5 sum to verify the integrity of downloaded packages.
Note: After upgrading VirtualBox it is recommended to upgrade the guest additions as well.

MidmarketBusinesses Consider Virtualization Key to Success, Survey Finds

IT market research firm AMI-Partners says 2009 was the turning point in which medium-size businesses moved fully into the virtualization space.

Interest in server virtualization among U.S. medium-size businesses (MBs, firms with 100-1,000 employees) increased significantly in the past year, according to AMI Partners’ latest MB tracking study. The survey found the percentage of U.S. MBs that consider server virtualization strategically important has increased from 46 percent to 75 percent.
Melissa Chong, manager of managed services at AMI, said 2009 was the turning point for server virtualization usage among U.S. medium businesses, accelerated by the affects of the economic downturn as midmarket CIOs and IT managers looked for ways to cut IT costs and boost asset utilization. “Server virtualization can yield many benefits for a midmarket firm. At the most basic level, it improves utilization and reduces the number of physical servers, while at the same time, reducing electricity and cooling costs,” she said. “In addition, U.S. MBs become more responsive to users’ needs by reducing application deployment and migration times.”
Resource Library:

Virtualizing the Virtualization Resistant Application!

Learn How Virtualization Solutions Increase Efficiency and Reduce IT Costs

Virtualization 2010: A Resource Guide for Desktop Virtualization

Data Center Automation in an Uncertain Economy

In response to this interest, IT vendors and channel partners have increased their focus on the U.S. medium business market providing them with new virtualization solutions. However, for many of these medium businesses, Chong said implementing virtualization can also be a challenge—requiring specialized IT skills for effective implementation.
In addition, virtualization often requires companies to upgrade their old server, storage and networking hardware to optimize the new virtualized environment, which adds to the perception that virtualization is a complex and costly process. Despite these perceptions, AMI expectd U.S. midmarket firms to increase their adoption of virtualization in the coming months as they upgrade their IT infrastructures, having deferred their purchases over the last year and a half during recession.

“U.S. midmarket firms are becoming more aware of the concept and benefits of virtualization as a whole. When midmarket firms upgrade their infrastructure, they will look into virtualization across server, clients, storage and networks as well,” said Chong. “In the past few months, companies like Cisco, Dell, HP and IBM have announced their own virtualization bundles targeting U.S. MBs, in order to make it easier for them to adopt virtualization solutions and prevent incompatibilities that could up-end the entire virtualization effort.”

In order to understand U.S. small and medium businesses’ plans to adopt virtualization, AMI announced it is initiating a virtualization study to explore the demand for different types of virtualization solutions (individually and as an integrated solution) and their preferences and decision-making processes. The company said the study would also provide market sizing and forecast for the different types of virtualization solutions and assess the impact on PCs, server, storage and application shipments and IT spending.

Microsoft slates Windows 7 SP1 public beta for July

Microsoft today said that it would ship a public beta of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) in July, but did not set a release date during the month.

The company made the announcement from TechEd, the Microsoft IT and developer conference that kicked off Monday in New Orleans.

Microsoft acknowledged it was working on a service pack for its newest operating system in March, but at the time declined to discuss timeline for delivering a public preview.

Microsoft's timetable for Windows 7 SP1 is ahead of Vista's schedule by approximately two months. In 2007, Microsoft seeded an invite-only group of testers with an early build of Vista SP1 in September, but didn't offer a build to the general public until December, 11 months after that operating system's release to retail. Windows 7 SP1 is slated to appear nine months after the debut of that OS.

Today, Microsoft repeated what it said in March, that Windows 7 SP1 will not include any new features. "SP1 will not contain any new features that are specific to Windows 7 itself," said Gavriella Schuster, senior director of the Windows commercial product management group, in a post to a Microsoft company blog on Monday. "For Windows 7, SP1 will simply be the combination of updates already available through Windows Update and additional hotfixes based on feedback by our customers and partners."

The most notable addition to SP1 will be an updated Remote Desktop client designed to work with RemoteFX, the new remote-access platform set to debut in SP1 for Windows Server 2008 R2, which will also reach public beta next month.

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 will also include a feature dubbed "Dynamic Memory," which lets IT staff adjust guest virtual machines' memory on the fly.

If Microsoft adheres to Vista's schedule, the final build of Windows 7 SP1 should be available before the end of the year -- perhaps as soon as November -- making good on the delivery date revealed by a Malaysian Web site in early March.

At the time, TechARP.com, which has accurately called service pack schedules for several editions of Windows, said that while sources had originally pegged a 22-month development schedule for Windows 7 SP1, Microsoft had changed its mind and moved up the service pack ship date to the fourth quarter of 2010.

At the same time she announced the upcoming public beta of Windows 7 SP1, Schuster downplayed its importance. "Customers can feel confident about deploying Windows 7 now," she said, citing analysts' recommendations that enterprise customers need not wait for SP1 -- as some have done historically -- before deploying the new OS.

Last month, Al Gillen, an analyst with IDC, called Windows 7 SP1 an "important milestone," but added that it would have little impact on corporate migrations. "Historically, classic customer deployment behavior for new Windows client operating systems was to wait for the first service pack to arrive," Gillen said in a research note published in May. "[But] the Windows patching process ... has changed the rules of the game for many customers. The continuous stream of patches, over time, delivers a significant portion of service pack content."

Gillen's comments echoed opinions expressed earlier by other analysts, including Michael Cherry of Directions on Microsoft and Diane Hagglund of Dimensional Research, who both had said the rapid adoption of Windows 7 made SP1 as a business deployment milestone mostly moot.

More important than Windows 7 SP1 itself, Gillen said last month, was that its appearance marks the end of downgrade rights from Windows 7 Professional to the older Windows XP Professional.

Downgrade rights from Windows 7 to XP are to end in late April 2011 or when Microsoft launches Windows 7 SP1, whichever comes first.

Microsoft also delivered a beta of Exchange Server 2010 SP1 today. Previously, the company has said the final of its next mail server software would release before the end of the year.

7-Zip 9.14 beta released!

7-Zip is a file archiver with a high compression ratio.
Download 7-Zip 4.65 (2009-02-03) for Windows:

Link	Type	Windows	Size
Download	.exe	32-bit	1 MB
Download	.msi	x64	1 MB

Download 7-Zip 9.14 beta (2010-06-04) for Windows:

Link	Type	Windows	Size
Download	.exe	32-bit	1 MB
Download	.msi	x64	1 MB

Windows 7 SP1 Beta Coming Soon

Microsoft said that Windows 7 SP1 Beta will launch in July.

During TechEd North America 2010 in New Orleans, Microsoft Server and Tools Division president Bob Muglia said during his keynote speech that a public beta of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2's Service Pack 1 will be available by the end of July. An actual calendar date was not specified.

The final release is expected to hit both platforms sometime in Q4 2010, however it will not include any new features that are specific to Windows 7. "For Windows 7, SP1 will simply be the combination of updates already available through Windows Update and additional hotfixes based on feedback by our customers and partners," reads the official Windows Blog.

However Windows Server 2008 R2 will receive an updated Remote Desktop client designed to work with RemoteFX--this feature enables a local-like desktop environment over the network. Dynamic Memory will also be another added feature, enabling Windows Server Hyper-V to "dynamically allocate more or less memory to each VM as needed, provided a more scalable and better performing VDI environment."

If Microsoft does indeed launch SP1 by the end of the year, downgrade rights from Windows 7 to Windows XP will end upon its release, months earlier than the original late April 2011 deadline. The company previously said that downgrade rights would be canceled in April or when SP1 goes public, whichever comes first.

New version of SARDU! ( Boot Land )

This week davidecosta has released a new version of Sardu on Boot Land, here is the log of details:


* Add Chinese Trad. (thanks to 丹楓 Danfong-虫二電氣診所 )
* Add support to Inquisitor Live CD Debian Based
* Change support to Ubuntu/Kubuntu (now work together)
* Add Support to BackTrack Linux
* Fix boot SRCD
* Fix Kubuntu with usb
* Support both Inquisitor 32 and 64bit
* Update memtest to 4.10
* Fix Puppy, now works also with lupu-*.iso
* Fix New GData
* Fix F-Secure with UBCD
* Fix some software of UBCD
* Fix Update F-Secure


You can grab the latest version at this link:
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?noref=1&showtopic=11553

Scripts to help people to reinstall and repair Windows automatically. ( Boot Land )

This week we bring a nice work that is being done by Marietto, his project intends to collect a set of batch scripts that will help you reinstall windows on a given machine and restore the settings and drivers from the older install.

This is useful when your computer is no longer reliable due to viruses or when it's time to recycle the installed windows to make the computer run faster.

You can find these scripts here:
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?noref=1&showtopic=11546

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At virus removal pro, we see PSC working on the newest version of Ninja pendisk!

If you're using Windows 7, we'd seriously appreciate your feedback:
http://virusremoval.pro/forumdisplay.php?fid=9

If you want new features added, this is a good time to request them as well.