Activity for August 18

Review - Microsoft Internet Explorer Platform Preview
1.9.7916.6000 Preview (Aug 5, 2010)

(IE 9 Technical Preview) First of all, this is not a fully functional browser, it is a technical preview as the description clearly states. It is designed for developers.

If you're wanting to see if the next version of Internet Explorer has what it takes to compete again, WAIT FOR THE BETA. This is absolutely positively not intended for use as a regular browser. Reviews that state how horrible this browser are just remind me of how many people don't read the descriptions of products before they download them.

...Anyway, I'm most impressed with the speed enhancements--this thing still bests the latest FireFox 4.0 Beta in the Sunspider tests. If only they'd release it sooner than 2011, Firefox might have some genuine competition from IE.
Review - Microsoft Internet Explorer Platform Preview
1.9.7874.6000 Preview 3 (Jun 24, 2010)

Funny how every review on this page seems to be about Internet Explorer in general and not the IE9 Preview version that this page is about.

Anyway, I wish they'd add an address bar--I know that's alot to ask for a preview version, but still. I'm much more interested once the beta comes out. This is definitely the fastest version of IE and beats Firefox in all of the speed tests; by the time the full version comes out I predict FireFox will have beaten them again. That's really the biggest problem with it--the release cycle takes too friggen long. Microsoft has the capacity to come up with great stuff, they just don't want to put the manpower behind it.
Review - Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3
Final (Apr 29, 2008)

Works. Does nothing extra except what the overview document says it'll do. No, I didn't notice any difference in Office App speed. It isn't any slower, but isn't any faster either that I can tell. Just think of it as a normal security update...a really big one...
Review - AVG Anti-Virus Free
7.5.524a1289 (Apr 16, 2008)

Yeah, I had to finally stop using this one because of all the false positives it picked up--and in the end it's "tamper protection" (or whatever AVG calls it) prevented me from easily stopping the processes that picked up these certain false positives. When that happened this last time, I finally gave up and uninstalled AVG so that I could run the legitimate program.

It was a sad day in a way, but I had had enough of the inconveniences that it gave me. I started using AVG Free because it was free and easy, not so I would have to hassle all the time with it. Slowly over the years (particularly between version 6 and version 7), it had become more and more of a hassle.

Oh...and before you ask if I'm sure that the "false positives" were indeed false, I used http://virscan.org/ and found that only AVG had the false positive and no others. This happened four times last year alone with four separate programs, and once this year that was the last straw. Shame too, I've used AVG Free since version 5.0 on Windows 95.

I moved to Avast! now. Not anything super, way better customization features though. It also supposedly has slightly better detection rate and certainly can't have any worse results as far as false positives go...but I digress--after all, this is a review of AVG Antivirus, not a review over Avast! Antivirus.
Review - Vista Codec Package
4.6.3 (Apr 15, 2008)

This one does well. I've used this one on another machine and it seemed fine--haven't found anything left out yet, although I've heard it is not quite as comprehensive as K-Lite which also works fine on my main PC. (both run Vista FYI)
Comment - Anonymous posts cops' personal data, puts their lives in danger
4.6.3 (Aug 18, 2011 - 10:39 AM)

So it's okay to endanger innocent lives because no other method works? Have you really thought through your position? What if your family's life "had" to be put in danger in order to "punish" a corrupt system?
Comment - Anonymous posts cops' personal data, puts their lives in danger
4.6.3 (Aug 18, 2011 - 10:23 AM)

"Remember that those who sparked the Revolutionary War in the US were also, by that same definition, terrorists."

What? That could not be further from the truth. The colonists did everything they could do avoid war--they didn't want it. Even it's beginning--the "shot heard 'round the world", both sides were ordered not to fire unless they were fired upon. If you're referring to the Boston Tea Party, the damage caused was economic and not life threatening--they did not threaten anyone's lives or throw them overboard, they threw the tea overboard.

Anon released personal information on the cops that could affect the safety of their families. In the Revolutionary War America was fighting to protect their sovereignty. Why are you seriously trying to compare the two?
Comment - Sony cheapens PS3...or boosts its HDD size, depending on your perspective
4.6.3 (Aug 17, 2011 - 10:23 AM)

Great...another ridiculous 360 vs. PS3 flamewar where everyone is arguing over hardware specs that they apparently don't know crap about then rage-rating comments based on their personal opinion. Seriously grow up people.
Comment - I want my Windows Update Rollup!
4.6.3 (Aug 11, 2011 - 5:16 PM)

I'd definitely be in favor of that. We still have some old XP machines here at work and I've noticed there are a crazy number of updates to install as of late.

They did something similar with Windows 2000 SP4 just before it was placed under extended support, so I don't think it is as unlikely as you believe. It would be nice if they could release quarterly rollup packages as well.
Comment - This is leadership? US cybersecurity is a revolving door of exiting officials
4.6.3 (Jul 31, 2011 - 9:26 PM)

Actually Larry has a perfectly valid point. I probably wouldn't have name-called in my post if my name was attached instead of my screen name. Grrr :)