The basic idea: What if I could search my own computer as easily as I can search the web? Then I could find an email or a Word document, even a PDF document, or a previously-viewed web page, or all of those on my own computer in an instant, just by entering a few words of text that I think might be in the document or in its name.

Enter Google Desktop (GD). I discovered this a year or two ago, when I was running Windows XP, and thought it was slicker than sliced bread. Well, almost, and certainly better than anything that Microsoft offered. It didn’t work exactly right - sometimes I would click on a result and nothing would come up - but at least it did seem to find everything.

Except WordPerfect documents. I use WordPerfect and certainly prefer it to Microsoft Word, but the documents apparently have a unique format and are not correctly indexed by GD or by Microsoft’s Vista indexing software. No surprise that Microsoft would deliberately omit WordPerfect, because they have been trying to bury it with Word for years (with obvious success), but we expect better from Google. There is a contributed Google Desktop plugin called Larry’s WordPerfect Indexer, and it seemed to work when installed, but Google Desktop kept uninstalling it for some reason; I never solved that problem.

Enter Windows Vista; I have the 64-bit version. It supposedly has its own indexing, but I find that awkward and obtuse; I still haven’t entirely figured what IS and what IS NOT indexed. Google Desktop was better.

However, if you Google “google desktop” and “vista” you will find complaints about Google Desktop slowing down Vista, and you will find that Google and Microsoft are having a legal hassle. Nevertheless a few days ago I downloaded GD and installed it. To my surprise, GD did not offer ANY indexing commands. I could not make it re-index, and there was no pause-indexing command. When I did a GD search it DID come up with results though, without ever doing an indexing search. From this I assume that it uses Vista’s built-in index, and no longer builds its own index. I “installed” Larry’s WordPerfect Indexer, but of course a search still did not bring up any WordPerfect documents. Conclusion: At least for now, Google Desktop is broken - no better than Vista’s search, which itself is very clumsy and which will apparently never be able to search WordPerfect documents.

Enter Copernic. I downloaded this desktop searcher and couldn’t be more pleased. It runs exactly the same on both XP (my laptop) and Vista 64 (my new desktop computer). In both cases it built its index in almost no time at all. Here are some of the features:

• It automatically indexes WordPerfect documents - important to me if not to you;
• You can select the types of files it will index, including PDF documents and ZIP folders, by type extension;
• You choose whether the indexing function pauses while you use the computer, and if so, for how long;
• You choose which folders you index and which you do not. For example, I have files that are encrypted and certainly don’t want them in the index!;
• Regardless how the index is built, you can limit a search to any particular file type, to avoid getting too many results;
• For any specific class of files you can limit the search by date, partial file name, folder, and other attributes;
• There is a quick and easy way to check for updates to Copernic;
• I haven’t even discovered all of the features yet.

Copernic does NOT seem to offer complex (advanced) searches. It seems to require that ALL of the words in the search box must appear in the document, with no “ANY” option or “DOES NOT HAVE” option. But I can live with that. Many of the features in the list above are also available in Google Desktop and Vista Search, but not all of them are.

I’ve only had Copernic for a couple of days now, but it sure seems far more robust than the competition, and yet easier to use. Unlike those, it’s a completed, working product. If I continue to like it, I may just turn off Vista indexing altogether.

Please let me know if you agree, or disagree, or want more information.

The long-awaited first Crysis patch is finally released for the masses.

Finally it is out! The long awaited Patch 1.1 for Crysis is available for download! The 140MB sized file can be downloaded from one of the sources further below. The patch mainly addresses the performance of Crysis. Additionally it includes quite a few bug fixes and tweaks for the Multiplayer part to provide a more balanced gameplay.
Please find here the complete change log:
Fixes:
* Fixed: Potential crash in D3D10
* Fixed: Orange boxes apearing when hispec savegame loaded into lowspec game.
* Fixed: Inconsistent damage dealt to vehicles when shot by LAW.
* Fixed: Reflection resolution on D3D10, MultiGPU reflection update fix
* Fixed: Memory leak with FSAA modes
* Fixed: Infinite ammo hacks.
* Fixed: Memory leak in D3D10 when switching screen modes
* Fixed: Muti optimizations
* Fixed: When player melees during gun raise animation, their gun will be in a
permanently raised position.
* Fixed: Crash when loading savegame with level exported recently by editor
* Fixed: Virtual keyboard does not function properly when a game pad is connected
* Fixed: Users can lose the ability to look around with the Right Stick
* Fixed: Setting screen resolution to “default” stops user from selecting last resolution
* Fixed: Bug when changing resolution in D3D10
* Fixed: Issues with Depth of field and water droplets in D3D10
* Fixed: Crash on NaN warning
Updates:
* Added: Motion Blur UI and V.SYNC UI options
* Optimized: Motion blur
* Optimized: FSAA (Full Scene Anti-Aliasing)
* Optimized sound id implementation
* Enabled VSync functionality in D3D10
* New benchmarking files for ice CPU benchmark.
* http/xmlrpc password protected remote control session
* Marked debug cvars as cheat
* F12 (screenshot) now works in restricted mode as well
Tweaks:
* Reduced LAW splash damage vs. infantry in PowerStruggle mode
* Slowed Rocket projectile speed down in MP slightly
* Disabled automatic turret bounding boxes on vehicles to prevent issues with LAW hit
detection
* Reduced grenade explosion radius in multiplayer
* Clamped water tesselation to avoid cheating in MP
* MultiGPU improvements with depth map updates

Regards,
-Crysis Dev Team

Download from here

A new boot record rootkit in the wild has the potential to bring Windows Vista down to its knees. Despite having applauded Windows Vista throughout 2007 as the most secure Windows operating system on the market, the latest Microsoft client still has some problems involving write-access to raw disk sectors. In this context, in early January 2008, GMER revealed that at the end of 2007 a new stealth MBR rootkit was detected in the wild, which could compromise Windows Vista.

“Unfortunately, all the Windows NT family (including VISTA) still have the same security flaw MBR can be modified from usermode. Nevertheless, MS blocked write-access to disk sectors from userland code on VISTA after the pagefile attack, however, the first sectors of disk are still unprotected”, the GMER member explained. “At the end of 2007 stealth MBR rootkit was discovered by MR Team members and it looks like this way of affecting NT systems could be more common in near future if MBR stays unprotected.” (more…)

As part of Microsoft’s routine, monthly security update cycle, today they released two new security bulletins that affects Windows system.
Note: There may be latency issues due to replication, if the page does not display keep refreshing.

Critical

• MS08-001 - Vulnerabilities in Windows TCP/IP Could Allow Remote Code Execution (941644)

Important

• MS08-002 - Vulnerability in LSASS Could Allow Local Elevation of Privilege (943485)

Microsoft also released Non-Security, High-Priority Updates on MU, WU, and WSUS:
- Five non-security, high-priority updates on Microsoft Update (MU) and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).
- Two non-security, high-priority updates for Windows on Windows Update (WU) and WSUS.

Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool
Microsoft has released an updated version of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool on Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Windows Server Update Services, and the Download Center.

References:
January 2008 Security Bulletin Summary: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-jan.mspx
Security Bulletin for end-users: http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/updates/bulletins/200801.mspx
MSRC Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2008/01/08/january-2008-monthly-release.aspx

Support:
Call 1-866-PCSAFETY. There is no charge for support calls that are associated with security updates. International users should go to http://support.microsoft.com/common/international.aspx

Security Bulletin Webcast:
Microsoft will host a Webcast tomorrow. The webcast focuses on addressing your questions and concerns about the security bulletins. Therefore, most of the live webcast is aimed at giving you the opportunity to ask questions and get answers from their security experts.

Update sources:
Microsoft NEVER send security updates via e-mail. As always, download the updates only from the vendors’ website - visit Windows Update and Office Update or Microsoft Update. You may also get the updates thru Automatic Updates functionality in Windows.
Security updates are available on ISO-9660 DVD5 image files from the Microsoft Download Center. For more information, please see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/913086
Note: Don’t be a victim of spoofed emails. Read “How to tell whether a security e-mail message is really from Microsoft”

Recommendations:
Microsoft advises customers to install the latest product releases, security updates, and service packs to remain as secure as possible. Older products, such as Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, may not meet today’s more demanding security requirements. It may not be possible for Microsoft to provide security updates for older products. More info at Microsoft Support Lifecycle website.

Report Security Vulnerability to Microsoft:
If you have found a Microsoft security vulnerability, please report: https://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/…in/alertus.aspx

Tool:
Check your system for missing or misconfigured patches using Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA).
For 3rd Party tools in scanning your computer for missing updates, hotfixes, end of life or out-dated version, please see the list at http://www.dozleng.com/updates/index.php?showtopic=13587

If like me you are a Firefox fan you might be interested in trying a Theme called miniFox. The idea is it shrinks everything it can, including the Tool, Title bar and menus, as small as they will go, and still remain useable, freeing up more space for web pages. It’s quick and easy to install, and of course, like all of the best things in life, it is absolutely free, and if you don’t like it, just go to Tools > Add Ons and select the Themes tab.

As you undoubtedly know by now, Windows Vista brought to the table DirectX 10. Microsoft failed to make DirectX 10 available for Windows XP, arguing that it would have to introduce extensive changes to the core of the operating system, in order to accommodate the new graphics technology. In this context, Vista became the vessel for DirectX 10, because despite various promises from third-parties to artificially backport DirectX 10 for Windows XP, the latest Windows client remains the sole way to access the superset of DirectX 9.x.

Microsoft touted a healthy increase in gaming and multimedia quality with DirectX 10 as an integer part of Vista’s architecture, but with the vast majority of users still running Windows XP, digital content is largely focused on Vista’s predecessor. The Redmond company was in fact
criticized by both content producers and end users for its decision to make DirectX 10 Vista exclusive, but the barrage of fire failed to deter Microsoft from its tracks. Moreover, in the first quarter of this year, Windows Vista SP1 will deliver DirectX 10.1. (more…)