Windows XP's SP3 Makes Reverting to IE6 Impossible

According to recent findings, once a Windows XP machine is upgraded to service pack 3, it's impossible to uninstall Internet Explorer 7, if it happens to be installed. It's a truly odd bug, though, because if you install SP3 with IE6 installed, you can install IE7 after the fact and then proceed to uninstall it if you want.

The reason is because SP3 conveniently overwrites the IE6 backup directory, which is created during the IE7 installation. Once SP3 is installed, it voids the folder, making it impossible to revert. It may be possible to perform a System Restore, but that's usually a last resort. The moral of the story? Don't install IE7 if you don't want it, and just make sure that it's de-selected under Windows Update so you don't accidentally find yourself with it.

Of course, if you don't use Internet Explorer as your primary browser, then it really doesn't matter how you do things.

If that's all a bit confusing, here's what you should take away: If you don't plan to use IE7, don't install it. Period. If you do plan to install it, but want to be able to uninstall it, then you should load Windows XP SP3 before upgrading from IE6 to IE7. If you upgraded Internet Explorer before installing XP SP3, the only way to uninstall it would be to uninstall the entire service pack, which is really far more trouble than its worth.

Source: Download Squad

FBI Finds 3,500 Pieces of Cisco Equipment Used in Secure US Networks

I think it's safe to say that there is no such thing as true security anymore, because the news of poor security measures used in important agencies (government, banks) is never-ending. Take this latest case, where the FBI found 3,500 pieces of counterfeit Cisco equipment in secure US networks, including networks used by the US military.

There's no telling how the counterfeit equipment got in, but it's strange that it's even possible to begin with. The US military of all places should be cautious about where they buy equipment from, but with counterfeit equipment on this scale, they were certainly not dealing with a reputable dealer. The issue isn't so much of whether the equipment works or not, because it does, apparently, but it's the fact that some of this hardware could have been modified prior to sale.

According to a Cisco, who checked out the counterfeit equipment, they did not find any evidence of any re-engineering. Rather, the equipment likely just used reliable non-Cisco-provided parts and had a very believable Cisco badge slapped on. It's still amazing how this can happen, though, given how much money the US government tosses around every day. Purchasing legit Cisco products seems to make all the sense in the world.

The threat of gaining access to secure systems via backdoors and exploits in hardware is real. Researchers at the University of Illinois were able to modify a Sun Microsystems SPARC processor by altering a data file on the chip. The chip altered was used in automated manufacturing systems and the modifications allowed the researchers to steal passwords from the system the processor was used in.

Source: DailyTech

NVIDIA's Huang Discusses His Distaste for Intel

NVIDIA's CEO, Jen-Hsun Huang, is a vocal man. If something rubs him the wrong way, he'll let the world know about it. You have to respect that, especially when he's not afraid to tell the industry at large that Intel's wrong. We first learned of his intense angst towards Intel just last month, where during an analyst meeting, he was quoted as saying that NVIDIA was planning to "open a can of whoop ass".

C|Net's Brooke Crothers sat down with Huang to pick at his brain for a while, and we can still see that he has no fear of the big blue. Rather, he believes Intel has a reason to be wary of them. He also claims that Larrabee is nothing more than a pipe dream right now, and looks good on paper only. When questioned about his recent outpouring of distaste for Intel, Huang said, "The fact of the matter is that they're out spouting things that are just not true. And I was just correcting that".

Huang believes that other companies keep quiet based on the fact that Intel is just too large to battle against, and are somewhat of a monopoly on the market. He also goes on to mention that Intel pushes products that no one needs (Quad-Cores, namely), and furthered that statement with, "We would love it if people would buy more GPUs, but the fact of the matter is, we don't have Intel's budget to tell you to buy something you don't need".

"Selecting the right GPU for the right CPU--and having these two processors collaborate. We call it the optimized PC design," he continued. "Notice, we didn't call it 'increase your GPU' design. Notice we didn't go 'buy more quad cores.' It's not a market benefit message. The optimized PC asks what your work flow is. Take the work flow, and benchmark it on the machine. And decide for yourself."

Source: Nanotech: The Circuits Blog

Far Cry 2 Trailer/Commentary Released

I have to admit something. I have never completed the original Far Cry, due to being a wimp. I haven't completed Crysis due to my everlasting desire to give you guys content. But I still can't help but drool at a brand-new trailer/commentary that Ubisoft Montreal pushed out just the other day.

Game development commentaries all share a similar goal, to tell you exactly how much effort is going into the game, to help amp you up. Racing game developers for one, will brag about how they went to a Porsche manufacturer to study the designs of the cars, to make sure that the game represented the model beautifully. But how many of those developers would be willing to camp out in Africa in order to deliver the ultimate realism?

Ubisoft Montreal might be one of the few. To mimic an amazing world, they traveled there to study both the land itself and the animals, to get an idea of how they get on with their everyday lives. The result, judging from the gameplay video, is quite impressive. The devs also mention that the game will feature a total of 50KM sq. and will be fully explorable. There's no linear gameplay here, they claim. You are free to choose your own route, which is why the game consists of only one definite mission.

Is it possible to not get excited for this one?

The developer clips in this trailer are actually quite entertaining, with Far Cry 2's art director, Alex Amancio, explaining how the team almost got eaten by lions while camping in Africa (silly Quebecers, should have hired someone with lion-mastering experience). Far Cry 2 is expected later this year and will allegedly be the same game on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Source: Joystiq

Intel's E7200 Popping Up at Popular E-tailers, Priced at ~$135US

When I took a look at Intel's latest budget chip, the Core 2 Duo E7200, back in April, we weren't sure of when it would be launched, since Intel kept quiet on the actual release date. Well sometime between then and now, it was pushed out to retailers, and is priced quite well.

For those unaware, the E7200 is a 2.53GHz chip based on the 45nm architecture. That means better overall efficiency and cooler temps. Being a more value-oriented processor, the E7200 includes 3MB of L2 Cache, as opposed to the 6MB of its bigger brothers, like the E8400. In our review though, we were unable to find real-world situations where that would hold someone back, so it shouldn't be something to worry about unless you have a very specific need.

Add to the pile that the chip could hit 3.0GHz without issue sweetened the deal only further. As I said in the review, I love this chip. It screams value and comes recommended by me whole heartily. The best part is the price, of $135 US and CAN on average. So far, only NCIX, Tiger Direct and NewEgg have them in stock, but all price them similarly.

For those still unsure if this is the right chip for your needs, be sure to check out our review, as it aims to answer all of those lingering questions.

At 2.53GHz and $133 USD, the E7200 promises to become the new Dual-Core budget superstar. After taking a hard look at the upcoming offering, we would have to readily agree. Overclocking only sweetens the deal further, with 3.0GHz on stock voltages being more than possible. We have a winner!

Source: Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Review

Is Valve Porting Source to Linux?

Linux gamers have it somewhat rough. There are countless free and open-source games available, but the platform severely lacks commercial support. There are a few exceptions, but the key word here is 'few'. One of the biggest requests from Linux users is to have Valve's Source support, along with their content-distribution client, Steam. According to our friends at Phoronix, that might soon be happening.

While no hard evidence is given, the site claims that it is indeed on its way, and once it hits, I think it will please many people. The fact is, emulation of both the client and the engine, through Wine and other products, is so good at this point, that it must not be much more difficult to just port it over. The client itself would be the easy part, but the games would be another task altogether.

Today, it's not too difficult to get Half-Life 2 to work through Wine, so it feels like we are so close as it is. If Valve does indeed begin porting games and Steam to Linux, it could very well blow open the doors for other developers as well. If Linux gets more games, then Linux might also get better support from the application guys as well. In the end, it could mean a lot more Linux users could result. Seems like a pipe dream, but weirder things have happened.

While not as black-and-white as our privileged information, it was confirmed this week that Postal III -- a third-person shooter being developed by Running With Scissors Inc -- would be supported on Linux (as well as on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, and Mac) and it uses Valve's Source Engine. Postal I and Postal II were both ported to Linux by Ryan Gordon. This portion hasn't been corroborated, but it's also possible that the major Unreal Tournament 3 delay is attributed to this move by Valve Software.

Source: Phoronix

May 9th Tech Roundup

Motherboards & Processors
• Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - Computer Shopper

Displays & Video Cards
• ASUS EAH3850 X2 - i4u
• ASUS EAH3870 X2 - Bit-Tech
• Diamond Viper HD 3650 1GB - Overclockers Online
• VisionTek Radeon HD 3870 X2 Overclocked Edition - Overclockers Club

Peripherals & Gadgets
• ASUS Xonar DX PCI Express 7.1 - HotHardware
• Razer Destructor Professional Gaming Mat - Think Computers
• USB 2.0 Computer Copy Cable - OCIA
• XtracPads Fat Mat - Tech-Reviews

Cooling
• Cooler Master Hyper Z600 CPU Cooler - Elite Bastards
• Cooler Master Z600 CPU Cooler - Chilehardware
• CoolIT Systems PURE CPU Cooler - TweakTown
• Xen.Core Carboon Fan - Technic3D

Chassis & Power Supplies
• Eagle Tech Consus M-Series Hard Drive Enclosure - Hardware Canucks
• Lian Li Armorsuit Series - TweakPC
• Thermaltake M9 Mid-Tower - DragonSteelMods

Competitions, Complete Systems & Et cetera
• Canon IXUS 80 IS - InsideHW
• XtremeMac Tango X2 iPod Dock - Digital Trends