News

Klez.H, which was first detected on April 15, now affects one in every 300 e-mails, said UK-based MessageLabs on Monday. The company has traced 775,000 copies of the virus so far.

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I've posted news about this virus in the past, but this program is now the most wide-spread virus of all-time.
Read CNN's report.

Symantec.com has a security response on this virus which includes the subjects the virus will send itself as.

If you get hit by this virus, Symantec also has a removal tool you can run which will help you remove it. Make sure to read the insctructions on the page with the tool.

As you already know, the best way to protect yourself is to know what every email attachment contains before you open it, but that's not always an option. About 99% of viruses can be completely removed from the system with a simply hard drive reformatting. A virus is not the end of your PC.

According to this article at Digitimes, RD ram has been gaining in popularity since Intel began releasing it's 533Mhz Bus processors, though they didn't say how much sales of RD boards had increased. 533mhz+4.2GB ram bandwidth = high sales.

Nearly 2000 people have been notified. If your reading this, I hope you don't work for IBM and got layed off .

IBM notified approximately 1,000 employees in the server division that their jobs would be cut, according to Alliance@IBM. The union also believes another 900 employees in various IBM business groups, such as software, were also notified last week that they must find other jobs within the company or be laid off.

Well, they think the consumer does. I'm all for desktop replacements, but I still want something that won't kill me while I lug it around for a day.

The company designed the new Pavilion to tackle this trend, Boaman said. The ze5100 offers a faster processor and a lower price than previous high-end HP notebooks. The machine will start at $1,699 with the 2GHz desktop Pentium 4, a 15-inch screen, and a combination CD-rewritable/DVD drive. The 2.2GHz version is expected to cost at least 100 dollars more.

PCStats reviews a MSI Ti4600.

One thing is for sure though, with a Ti4600 you need a fast processor to fully max it out. During testing we noticed that unless AA was enabled, almost all our tests were CPU limited, even with an AthlonXP 2000+! If you want to use a Ti4600, make sure the rest of your hardware is up to the task or otherwise a really good card will just be going to waste.

I just want to show everyone the case that I got. Here it is!



I sure as hell couldn't have done the modding on this one . C-6 Blackhawk from Xoxide. The review is coming! I just need to load the thing up.

AMDZone reviews the all Plexi case from ClearPC.

The ClearPC case definitely stands out among other cases. The lack of shielding, higher maintenance and price makes this case only practical for a select few. Because it does not offer magnetic shielding the case is not intended to be used to house a fully functional computer but this is not going to stop many people. As a demo system it is good...almost too good. People might be admiring the case more than the hardware. The ClearPC case is also an excellent instructional guide in teaching future builders or children about the components in a computer. For case modders this case is exceptional for creating lighting effects. Instead of putting in plastic windows, you can simply paint areas that you DON'T want to be transparent. Complex transparency patterns can be created with much less effort and tools than cutting into a case. The ClearPC case has set a high standard for transparent cases.

Asus has released the latest bios for the one of it's more recent motherboards, the A7V333. Click here to download directly from Asus.

Yeah well, I had my first class of Summer school (because I can get credit at my college for the class). Boy, I thought it would be easy at a community college, it looks as though it is even harder than at MY school! Gawd, I hope I can pull this one off. Well, anyway...

I have a review of a nice case from Xoxide coming, in a few days. I just want to throw some EL wire in it and stuff. Looks really nice. It is perfect because I can't cut anything myself (hence, I can't mod at all).

A security guru has found a flaw in Microsoft Excel that would allow some script kiddie to gain 'control' over your PC.[PAGEBREAK]
Georgi Guninski, a well-known security adviser, posted an advisory to his Web site on May 24 alerting people to the security hole. He said that the problem arises when a person opens an Excel spreadsheet file, choosing to view it with an XML style sheet. If the style sheet contains specially formed code, the PC will try to run that code, Guninski said.

"As script kiddies know, this may lead to taking full control over a user's computer," Guninski said. "Excel does not give any warning to the user--just asks whether to use the style sheet or not." By default, however, Excel does not display spreadsheet files with the style sheet, he added.

News.com.

This should be taken one step further and go into consumer hardware. Think about it, if you had a Linux sticker on it, you'd know it works find with Linux![PAGEBREAK]
In the company's "Alliance" program, "premier partners" will work with Red Hat to make their products compatible with its Linux enterprise products, including the recently announced Linux Advanced Server. The partners include BMC Software, Borland Software, Computer Associates International, IBM and Veritas Software.

Other partners in another level of the Red Hat program will get expanded access to Red Hat products and services, and will get assistance in making applications and systems work with the enterprise product line.

Red Hat is also setting up an "Alliance Portal," where partners can get technology, development and marketing materials, and participate in promotional activities. (This is the entire article)

News.com is the source.

Incase you didn't know, the Mod Chip for the Xbox is being sold.

Most of the mod chips promise similar functions based on disabling copy-protection features built into the Xbox. Customers are promised the ability to play games copied on recordable CD and DVD discs (and perhaps swapped as files on the Internet), play otherwise inaccessible foreign titles, and copy DVD movie discs otherwise protected by software from Macrovision.

That is what Intel is saying.

The performance boost comes partly from higher data speeds on the chip itself and enhancements to the chip's microarchitecture, Intel said. ... Itanium 2 has 3 MB of level 3 memory cache on the Itanium die itself and will run at a frequency of 1 GHz, Intel said.

What a cool case.

Well since this was the first time working with Plexiglas this will not be as detailed of a MOD as most of our other MODs. I was doing many things over and over due to errors and mistakes. This should and will give you the idea since most steps I'll have pictures for and the steps without pictures I will explain to you. I have learned something the hard way and I will pass those on to you as well so you do not make the same errors I did. Since I love the way this case came out and lights up, you can bet that I will do one more case like this one with better step by step instructions as well as diagrams for you to download and use for your own project.

[H]ard does the Max series of products from Abit, this time in the AMD flavor. Legacy free products...

Further results of overclocking our AT7 can be seen above. While the system itself was rock solid at 200MHz FSB, having the AGP bus so far out of spec didn't leave us the ability to run 3D benchmarks. The reason behind the coloration of the screencap is that even our 2D output was a bit flaky. Still, we were able to loop hours of Prime95, which loads our CPU to 100%. Even at a 400MHz DDR bus, our mainboard and CPU seemed to be as strong as ever with our video card being what was holding us back, and understandably so.

Sidrial is an add on to the Q3A engine. I haven't played it as of yet but it looked interesting in the trailer. It's a freebie download available over at nVidia. It endevours to blend games with cinema, in an art form called Machinima. [PAGEBREAK]
In Sidrial, a bloodthirsty race bent on power and destruction have annihilated every inhabited planet in their wake. Sidrial is the last outpost between Earth and extinction. In the Total Conversion, the Sidrial story is the driving force behind the game where players find themselves in the middle of a seemingly hopeless war. A devastated planet forges new heroes and the ultimate fight is for survival. The two levels included in the release, one single player and one multiplayer level, reflects the basic storyline of a war torn planet.


The unsurpassed technology of the Quake III Arena (TM) engine has brought many gaming enthusiasts together in what is known to be one of the world's most innovative and imaginative communities. This new year brings more innovation and more imagination to a community that thirsts for something different. Fountainhead Entertainment releases Sidrial, a Total Conversion for Quake III Arena. Sidrial was created from an artform known as Machinima where game meets cinema. Where once games were created and Machinima followed, with Sidrial, Machinima led the way to game.

TecCentral.de has reviewed the new Truepower Antec power supply. For you German readers, click here, as I know many are.

Antec sets here on maximum power and uses for the first time also the Low Noise Technology.

OZHardware has a little background info. on the RAID feature available on most boards nowadays. They answer the simple question: is RAID needed for you?

Click here for some RAID info

tBreak reviews the SS40G from Shuttle.

When we initially looked at the SV24 from Shuttle, we wished for two things- an AMD based system and the availability of more PCI slots. Shuttle certainly listened and gave us more that what we were expecting. Besides an AMD based system and two PCI slots, you also get 5.1 audio and an extremely cool looking solution. The team at Shuttle has also done excellent job in preventing the box from heating up by using heat-pipe technology. In fact, with the FS40, we feel Shuttle has done everything right. Equip this cool looking PC with a DVD-ROM, a Kyro based 3D accelerator PCI card and a PCI TV Tuner card and we're telling you- heads will turn.

Press Release sent from Vivian of Soyo:

Fremont, California - May 28, 2002 - SOYO, Inc. will expand its line of motherboards with 10 new designs at Computex 2002 in Taipei, Taiwan. Utilizing the new chipset technology from Intel, VIA and SiS, these 10 new motherboards will maximize Intel and AMD CPU performance with more exciting features.

SOYO, with worldwide headquarter in Taiwan, will introduce several new additions to its popular DRAGON motherboard series for Intel and AMD, and preview other new designs utilizing Rambus memory and serial ATA hard drive support.

The company will introduce it's SY-P4I RAPTOR, which will support Intel Socket-478 Pentium 4 CPUs and will be based on the Intel i850E / ICH2 chipset with support for 400 MHz FSB. The RAPTOR is SOYO's featured Rambus memory mainboard for 2002 with its four 184-pin Direct Rambus RIMM modules, which will support up to 2GBs of memory. Based on the superior memory speed of Rambus modules, SOYO's P4I RAPTOR will be targeting power users and hardcore gamers who look for a DDR-alternative and desire ultra system performance.

SY-P4I-845E Serial is SOYO's new solution for the Intel Pentium 4 platform, supporting the fastest 533 MHz FSB. Based on the new Intel 845E chipset, this motherboard is the first in the market to feature on board serial ATA-133 storage interface support. Serial ATA is a plug-in solution in that it is compatible with today's software, and will run on the new architecture without modification. Unlike parallel ATA, serial ATA will enable simpler system design, thinner cables which are easier to route and install, smaller cable connectors, and lower voltages which alleviate current design requirements in Parallel ATA. End users will benefit by being able to easily upgrade their storage devices. Configuration of Serial ATA devices will be much simpler, with many of today's requirements on jumper and settings no longer needed.

Featured motherboards in the popular DRAGON series for Intel Socket-478 Pentium 4 processors include the SY-645DX DRAGON Ultra with SiS 645DX / 961B chipset, SY-P4S-648 DRAGON Ultra with SiS 648 / 963 chipset and 8x AGP support, the SY-P4X333 DRAGON Ultra with VIA's P4X333 / 8235 chipset. Two new DRAGON series boards will be based on new SiS chipset technology for Intel Pentium 4 CPUs while one new DRAGON design will be based on new VIA chipset technology. All SOYO DRAGON boards for the Intel platform offer DDR memory support, support for 400/533 MHz FSB, and high-speed USB 2.0 ports.

For AMD Socket-A processors, SOYO will focus on its new SY-KT333 DRAGON Ultra with VIA KT333 / 8233A chipset, SY-KT333 DRAGON Lite with KT333 / 8233A chipset, and forthcoming SY-KT400 DRAGON Ultra with VIA KT400 / 8235 chipset. The two KT333 DRAGON Ultra boards distinguish themselves from like-boards with the choice of signature black PCB finish or the unique Platinum Edition. The KT333 DRAGON Ultra - Platinum Edition is the first to feature both look and functionality on a mainboard. Its attention grabbing silver finish is ideal for system builders and enthusiasts who adopt the new see-through cases. The addition of SOYO's "sigma box" series, which provides either 4 front USB 2.0 ports or combination compact flash/smart media reader/writer and 2 front USB 2.0 ports, sets SOYO apart from the rest of the competition. For the system integrators or small business who are looking for value and solid stability, SOYO's SY-KT333 DRAGON Lite board will feature the VIA KT333 / 8233A chipset and on board features such as DDR333 memory support, 4-channel audio, AGP Pro, and overclocking. SY-KT400 DRAGON Ultra with new DDR400 memory support will include all the exciting features of a DRAGON board with the addition of Serial ATA support for more scalable storage and efficient system building.

Other new SOYO motherboards for Intel CPUs will include the SY-P4VS2 for Socket-478 Pentium 4 processors. It will feature VIA's P4X266A / 8233A chipset, support 400 MHz FSB, and is expandable with three 168-pin SDRAM 3.3V DIMM sockets with support up to 3GB. The SY-7VEF has also been designed for price-performance systems with support for the Intel FC-PGA 2 Tualatin Processor, and Intel FC-PGA Pentium III and Celeron Processors. The SY-7VEF uses standard 168-pin SDRAM DIMM sockets with support up to 1.0GB.

Depending on the model SOYO will integrate many advanced features to add performance and value to its designs. Standard features on many boards in the Q3-Q4 2002 lineup will include: Embedded Hipoint IDE-RAID chip, which will provide ATA133 IDE- RAID 0,1,0+1; on board 10/100 Mbps Ethernet function by PHY or single NIC controller; embedded CMI 8738 audio chips to provide 6 channels audio solution; AGP Pro Slots; and flexible overclocking interface. Many high-end DRAGON designs will also feature on board or add on Serial ATA storage interface.

SOYO will also include its "sigma box" line of peripherals with all DRAGON Ultra models. These bundled peripherals occupy a standard 3.5-inch or 5.25-inch drive bay for easily connecting additional devices such as USB 2.0, FireWire devices or combination compact flash/smart media reader/writer to the front of the system being built. Another signature SOYO bundle feature is the SPDIF audio connector for true digital sound.

The SOYO 2002 motherboard lineup continues SOYO's tradition of making it easy to fine-tune its motherboards for business & consumer performance applications such as 3D modeling, animation or gaming. SOYO has integrated many enhanced overclocking, system management, and security features into the majority of its motherboards. Users can customize their boards to specific applications by adjusting the CPU FSB, core voltage & multiplier, AGP/AGP Pro voltage, and DDR SDRAM/RAMBUS voltage via the BIOS setup. The FSB on most models can also be set in 1Mhz increments through the BIOS setup for high performance.

Support is also included for on-board hardware monitoring, and includes SOYO's Hardware Health Utility to streamline PC system management. Among the many hardware monitoring functions on all SOYO boards are CPU fan speed and temperature monitoring; WOL (Wake On LAN) function to simplify network management; software power-off controls and remote and/or alarm power-on control.

Pricing on many boards and ships dates are to be determined. SOYO will offer both single board and volume pricing.

ABOUT SOYO Computer, Inc.

SOYO Computer, Inc was founded in 1985, with worldwide headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan, and branch offices in USA, Germany, and Hong Kong. The company sells its products through a select group of distributors, resellers, system integrators, VARs and retailers worldwide.

SOYO's Taiwan headquarter is located at No.21 Wu-Gong 5 Rd., Hsing Chuang, Taipei Hsien, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C., Tel: 886-2-2290-3300, Fax: 886-2-2298-3322, Web Site: http://www.soyo.com.tw, Email: info@mail.soyo.com.tw.

SOYO USA is located at 41484 Christy St. Fremont, CA 94538, Tel: 510.226.7696, Fax: 510.226.9218, Web Site: http://www.soyo.com, Email: info@soyousa.com.

X-Bit has a new post on the coming of AGP 8x. I don't agree that all the cards need the extra bandwidth to perform 'proper operation'. They should require LESS bandwidth to the CPU-memory subsystem.

SiS has been showcasing its SiS648 since March already. Among other cool features, this chipset also supports AGP 8x. it is expected to be officially announced on the upcoming Computex show. Another Taiwanese chipset developer, VIA Technologies, has already launched its P4X333 chipset, which also said to support new AGP version. And even NVIDIA, which is a relatively new name in the chipset market, is also planning to release a new nForce2 in autumn, which will surely support the new AGP as well. Of course, we should also mention AMD, which announced long time ago already that its AMD 8xxx chipset series for Hammer processors would be able to work with AGP 8x protocol.

Lost Circuits reviews an ECS iBuddie (Buddy? Whatever).

So far, I personally have stayed away from laptops that, even though they are somewhat practical, have been slow, clumsy to operate, with a tiny display and even tinier keyboard layout not to mention the erasor serving as mouse substitute. On the other hand, there has always been the need for a destop system that can be taken abroad without any problems. Add the possibility to operate the system e.g. in a car out of the cigarette lighter and there is no real need anymore to shell out the premium for a high-end laptop.

Anandtech reviews the i-Buddy P4 from ECS.

Right now the i-Buddy 4 makes the most sense for corporate uses looking to run business applications. Others, who crave 3D gaming, or even would like to dabble in it should stay away: it shouldn't be much time now before higher 3D performing desknote PCs make it to market. The i-Buddy 4 is fairly fast, fairly cheap, and fairly easy to transport from point A to point B. For a first attempt we are impressed, but there is still work to be done. We cant wait to see what the desknote PC market holds for us in the future.

ZDNet has a story on how a developement kernel (2.5.14) has support for Bluetooth devices.[PAGEBREAK]
End users probably won't see Bluetooth built into a Linux distribution, such as those from Red Hat, SuSE or MandrakeSoft, until the appearance of version 2.6 of the kernel. When the 2.5 branch reaches a certain level of stability, it will turn into version 2.6, and the emphasis will shift to stabilization. The current stable branch is 2.4. However, users with enough technical expertise will be able to integrate the Bluetooth software into their own distribution before kernel 2.6.

Read more at ZDNet

Get your FREE copy of the game of America! GO US ARMY!! I wonder how many terrorist and other countries will get this .[PAGEBREAK]
Terrorists need not apply.

What's a high performance Geforce 4 heatsink?

Well, after our testing was complete, I believe that we managed to answer both of the questions that were on our mind. Yes, the Thermaltake GeForce4 Cooler does manage to lower GPU chipset temperatures. Yes, it also manages to allow us to overclock at least a little higher because of this. Sounds like we have a good thing going here.
But how about pricing? Though it is difficult to find this cooler right now, that will change in the very near future. We were able to get one of the early units for testing, but they are being made ready for retail sales. Pricing will be around US$20, so shouldn’t be too much an issue. After all, if you are going to spend upwards of $400 for a video card, then why not get a little added insurance to help it work better and last longer?
Bottom line... While the coolers installed on most GeForce4 cards are better than any other stock heatsink of the past, the Thermaltake GeForce4 Cooler is even better. Effective cooling and higher overclocking capabilities make this something to consider for those who either have bought, or are planning to buy a GeForce4 video card.