TechSpot - PC Technology News and Analysis

Browser extensions support is one of the biggest reasons Firefox has become so popular and is also the most requested feature by users of the Google Chrome browser. Thus it is not surprising the search giant would want to add support for them and in fact they have already laid out a plan for the feature.

Particularly Google claims user created extensions should solve three problems in Chrome: the addition of features that have specific or limited appeal, it would make life easier for users coming from other browsers that support extensions “they can’t live without,” and it will allow partners who want to create their own Chrome bundle to add specific features.

The company is not offering a timeline for the extension system but are making it a priority, to the point of specifically mentioning a bunch of popular Firefox extensions they would like to support: Stumble Upon, Delicious Toolbar, FlashGot, ForecastFox, the Skype extension and even AdBlock – despite of the fact Google relies heavily on advertising to generate the bulk of their revenues, they also seem to want this option to be available in their browser.

Following a healthy start of the holiday shopping season with last week’s Black Friday, many developers have decided to extend its sales through today with so-called “Cyber Monday” deals. Such is the case with VMWare, who is holding a one-day offer on its Fusion 2.0 virtualization product for the Mac that cuts the price in half to $39.99.

Online retailers participating in this offer include Amazon.com and MacMall – or you can just buy it directly from VMWare’s site using the Promo Code “CyberMondayDeal.” In addition, VMWare is courting users of rival software Parallels Desktop to switch platforms through an additional $30 rebate that knocks the cost of Fusion 2.0 down to just $10. The two offers are valid through 11:59 PM Pacific Standard Time.

µTorrent is quite an impressive BitTorrent client that acquired a strong reputation almost three years ago for its tiny footprint and minimal use of system resources. The latest stable version (1.8.1) is just 263 kB in size and yet it boasts a wealth of features, including global and per-torrent speed limiting, simultaneous downloads, RSS auto-downloading, built-in scheduler, support for Mainline DHT and more.

It also has a minimalist, intuitive interface and supports the protocol encryption joint specification to prevent arbitrary throttling by certain Internet service providers. µTorrent is probably not a new name for torrent lovers using Windows, but one of the reasons I chose it as this week’s recommended download is that for the first time this nifty little client has become available for the Mac as well – as it was promised when acquired by BitTorrent Inc. back in 2006.

The Mac release only runs on Leopard/Intel Macs at the moment, and is still in Beta, so there’s a chance you will encounter some bugs here and there. I haven’t had a chance to thoroughly test the Mac version yet, but if you give it a try, feel free to share your experience in the comments.

The second Firefox 3.1 beta release is past due, but already we are hearing that a third beta will be necessary before Mozilla can proceed to a release candidate, as it would give testers more time to try out with recently added features debuting in beta 2 such as Private Browsing Mode, Worker Threads, Speculative Parsing and TraceMonkey.

The open source group also needs more time to work on so-called “blockers” – bugs that are deemed serious enough to hold up code to be frozen prior to a milestone release. The good news is that Mozilla plans to make Firefox 3.1 beta 2 a stable enough release for add-on developers to start testing their code and that all the features arriving in the final release will be a part of this beta.

Mozilla’s Mike Beltzner says that the proposed move could be done without major impact to schedule, with the second beta still expected to be available in early December and beta 3 in early January. Meanwhile, the final version of Firefox 3.1 is set to arrive late in Q1 2009.

If you are a Fedora user, today is the day to upgrade, following the release of Fedora 10 which was made available today. The latest release adds a significant amount of features to the desktop distro, ranging from better out of the box webcam and printer support, more automated wireless connection sharing, improved boot times, full support for the Sugar desktop and more. They’ve also included OpenOffice 3.0 in this release, a great boon to just about any desktop user.

Ubuntu has proven to be wildly successful as a stock desktop Linux choice, which has sometimes come at the expense of other distros. Fedora is one of them, though that isn't necessarily a bad thing. As the popularity for any desktop distribution rises, the speed of development and feature-adding of others increases, which usually benefits everyone.

If you use a 64-bit edition of Linux, then you are probably aware that getting Flash support for it can be tricky. As there is no native 32-bit edition of Flash for 64-bit kernels and 64-bit browsers in Linux, the closest you could get was by using wrappers to install the 32-bit version of the plug-in. That's about to change, with Adobe recently announcing and releasing a 64-bit version of Flash for Linux.

Flash 10 was initially released back in May, with the Linux release only slightly delayed from the Windows release. The 64-bit version has been a long time in coming, and with its introduction Linux users are one step closer to a fully 64-bit desktop, something hard to accomplish even on the Windows front.

If you're currently using a 64-bit kernel with Flash 10 installed, you may want to try the now native 64-bit version.

An alpha version of Ubuntu 9.04 (codenamed Jaunty Jackalope) is now available for download from the official mirrors. This is the first test release in the usual Ubuntu development cycle for this next update to the popular Linux distribution, which usually comprises six alphas, one beta, and a final release candidate before the final edition is released to public.

As previously reported, this release should optimize the boot process at both a kernel level and a service level and bring some usability improvements too as Canonical attempts to push the platform into the mainstream. Ubuntu 9.04 is still at a very early stage of development so it goes without saying that you shouldn’t install this alpha on production machines. Testers, developers and beta users who want to take an early peak can download Jaunty Jackalope here, though.

Those who have been around long enough will probably remember a time when Netscape dominated the browser market in terms of usage, only to lose most of that share to Internet Explorer during the browser war in the late 1990s. But how did Microsoft pulled it off? Simple, by pre-installing its software and having it ready to go with every copy of Windows sold.

Now it seems Google is mulling a similar scheme with their browser, Google Chrome, in a move that could significantly boost their presence in search and also put some of their web based apps in front of new users. According to Google VP of Product Management, Sundar Pichai, the browser's beta period will end in January after which the company “will probably do distribution deals” with OEMs.

With Microsoft not expected to release IE8 until sometime in the first quarter of 2009 and its browser share slipping lately, now might be just the right time for Chrome to strike – and securing pre-installation deals could be the way to go. Of course, Google must also go against Mozilla and Apple who have been steadily growing a strong presence in the market.

CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. The extra C stands for “Crap,” and the program’s aim is to clean your system from just that – the temporary and unnecessary files that accumulate over time. You might be surprised at how much disk space it can recover, fast, by performing a rather thorough cleaning of your system and online activities.

CCleaner also deletes temp files and recent file lists from a long list of third party applications, plus it comes with a registry cleaner that scans for things like obsolete entries, missing DLLs, missing shortcut references and other stuff that could eventually cause conflicts – it backs up your registry before making any permanent changes. Other useful features include a startup manager and an application uninstaller, but CCleaner is essentially designed to do one thing well, and that is to remove junk from your system quick and easy with little effort on your part. You can grab the latest version of CCleaner from our downloads section.

Even though IE8 has gone under extensive development already, to the point that even Microsoft has suggested people use it over IE7, the company is still not ready to release a final version this year. At the very least, Microsoft has one more public beta in the works, which is assumed to be the precursor to the first IE8 Release Candidate.

The first RC, though, isn't expected until next year – with no specific release dates available yet. If they push it much into the first quarter of 2009, it would mean that IE8 spent a year in beta. Microsoft has stated that they'll be focusing on “critical” issues from this point on, being hesitant to add any more functionality to the browser. What also hasn't been discussed yet is whether or not Microsoft will make IE8 a mandatory update or attempt to push it out as they did with IE7.

The world's current most popular Linux desktop flavor, Ubuntu, is busy at work on the successor to their existing version, which was released only a month ago. The next update, Ubuntu 9.04, is currently under development and should have an alpha version available for perusal this week, perhaps even tomorrow.

With the 9.04 release, the development team has mentioned numerous features they are bringing to the table. One of the biggest on that list is improved boot time, seeking to optimize the boot process at both a kernel level and a service level. That change, along with some large improvements planned for power management, indicates that Ubuntu sees the mobile market as a key place for growth. That is particularly true for devices like Netbooks and other MIDs, where embedded Linux is proving to be increasingly popular.

The actual release is not expected until at least April. Ubuntu is made primarily by the feedback they receive from their users, though, so if you like to experiment you'll have a chance to get the alpha very soon.

Microsoft today announced plans to kill its Windows Live OneCare subscription-based security suite and replace it with a free anti-malware utility. Code-named “Morro,” the new product is being positioned as a solution for small form factor and lower power PCs, yet Microsoft says it will take advantage of the same core anti-malware technology that fuels the company’s current line of security products.

Microsoft will of course continue to honor existing 12-month subscribers of OneCare, but from the end of June next year it will stop accepting new sign-ups and begin the gradual process of winding down the service. In addition, Microsoft is also dropping its Equipt product announced just a few months ago and offering refunds to those who already paid for the software-plus-service bundle.

It’s a good thing that Microsoft wants to offer free software to protect PCs from viruses, though one can’t help but wonder how Symantec, McAfee and other anti-virus vendors will react to this offering. The company says Morro will be available as a free download for all users of Windows XP, Vista and the upcoming Windows 7, so as long it is not bundled with the OS they’ll stay clear of anti-trust lawsuits.

To celebrate the fifteenth anniversary, Checkpoint Software, the security firm behind the popular ZoneAlarm firewall is offering everyone a free copy of ZoneAlarm Pro 2009. The promotion runs for 24 hours, starting at 09:00 EST (06:00 PDT) today, and includes a one-year license for one PC running Windows XP or Vista.

ZoneAlarm protects computers at the operating system level, preventing malware from sending out your information. Unlike the free version of the software, Zone Alarm Pro adds several features including identity-theft protection (with credit monitoring), anti-Spyware protection, and other privacy features. If the only firewall you are using is the one included with Windows, then you might want take advantage of this offer by signing up here – you'll have to wait for an email with the download link.

If you are still a Firefox 2 user, you may want to consider upgrading to Firefox 3 sooner rather than later. Mozilla's planned end of life (EOL) for Firefox 2 is approaching, with the company preparing to officially drop support for the browser starting next month. The most prominent effect this will have on Firefox 2 users is the lack of future security updates, which could prove to be risky as time goes on and more flaws are discovered.

Mozilla is obviously encouraging people to upgrade to Firefox 3. Some people have delayed in updating due to concerns they have with FF3, such as the new behavior of the address bar and stability concerns. While most of the complaints that people had about FF3 have been addressed since launch, and many other complaints can be overcome by configuration tweaks, it has not swayed every heart.

Even if you are attached to Firefox 2, a lack of future security updates is an important consideration. So, update today!

Right on schedule, Adobe released this week the 30-day trial downloads for all the products that compose its Creative Suite 4. The popular graphic design and web development applications Photoshop and Dreamweaver have been brought up to date with UI and speed enhancements in this new version.

The entire suite now sports a tabbed interface that should ease transition between CS4 applications running concurrently. Photoshop in particular gets some critical performance boosts in the form of true 64-bit compatibility and GPU acceleration to enable smoother panning and zooming.

With over a dozen major programs covering needs from web and print designers and video production, you can make your pick on what program to download (after registering on Adobe's site). The Illustrator trial weights about 1GB, Photoshop goes over 800MB, while Flash is closer to 900MB. A personal favorite, Adobe Fireworks is much lighter at around 443MB as well as Dreamweaver that is ~335MB.

In the world of office suites there isn't much room for anybody other than Microsoft, but their high prices have long been a setback for many. This is particularly true for Macs, where Office has a considerably smaller market share than in Windows, but that was all the opening Sun needed to port StarOffice 9 to the Mac at the cost of $35 for an individual license and $25 for a business user.

The native Mac support should prove to be a decent selling point, along with the ability to open the standard Open Document formats and the Microsoft-backed Open XML format that Office 2007 uses. StarOffice does face stiff competition, including from the very software it is based upon, OpenOffice.

They might be able to make headroom here, however, as Microsoft has taken a lot of flak for Office on the Mac, due to lack of support for many important features, slower updates than the PC and other factors.

If you are the type of user who likes testing many applications then you surely must have one loaded start menu, and probably a cluttered desktop as well. But getting access to those apps isn’t always quick. Enter Launchy, a very tidy and well-designed open source tool that makes the process of launching applications (or any other file, for that matter) extremely fast – you’ll almost forget about the start menu and file manager, let alone the icons on your desktop.

Launchy basically indexes the program shortcuts in your start menu but its range can be extended by adding custom folder locations and file types. Once installed, it’ll run silently on the background until you call it up by pressing the Alt + Space key combination and start typing the name of the program you need. It usually takes no more than three to five letters for Launchy to lock on whatever you are after and you won’t even need to take your fingers off the keyboard.


It's also highly configurable. You can change its look by choosing a different skin and extend its functionality via additional plug-ins that will let you use it as a calculator, run web searches directly on sites like Wikipedia or Google, and more. I suggest you give it a try; it is the most efficient way to open folders, websites, files and programs on your PC and has become an essential utility for me.

All Firefox users whether you're still using the old 2.x branch or have moved on to the new 3.x series, Mozilla has new updates available for you today. The company has released Firefox 2.0.0.18 and Firefox 3.0.4, primarily to include some new security updates.

Firefox 3 has received at least eight security updates, along with a “stability” update and a small scattering of new features, though none of them particularly exciting. Meanwhile, Firefox 2 received even more fixes, totalling 10 security updates among the scattering of other improvements as well. If you haven't been automatically updated already, grab the update when you can.

Update: AVG's press statement regarding this issue after the jump – apparently it doesn't affect the English language version of Windows XP.

A recent update for AVG 7.5 and up (free and paid editions) is causing havoc with some users, who are following the antivirus program’s recommendation to delete a critical system file after being wrongly identified as a Trojan. The file in question is “user32.dll” and its absence will cause a system to either stop booting or go into an endless reboot loop.

AVG says it has fixed the current user32.dll problem and apologized for the mishap on its forums. It also offers help on correcting the problem for those who have already deleted the file, suggesting they try rebooting in safe mode and use the AVG Virus Vault to restore the missing file, or use the Windows XP CD to repair this issue.

This is not the first embarrassing setback AVG has suffered this year. Back in July, the company had to reconfigure its LinkScanner tool after various websites complained about the loads of fake traffic and increased bandwidth costs as a result of the tool’s proactive scanning for malware.

Love it or hate it, Windows is currently the world's most popular operating system and has enjoyed that position for a number of years. Few of us were around to remember its roots, but there was a time when Windows was completely unknown to the world. In fact, today marks the 25th anniversary of Windows, following the original 1.0 release back in 1983.

Windows 1.0 may have been very short lived and had very little actual practical use, but it still marked the beginning of the dominance of Windows. In the early years of Windows development, Bill Gates was so bold as to claim that within a year, 90% of PCs would be running Windows. He certainly missed his target date, but the end result was almost dead-on accurate.

Launch difficulties of Windows delayed the actual introduction to market for a further two years after the initial announcement, and initial adoption of Windows was slow. It eventually however gained share, switched from being a front-end to being a full on operating system and today retains the position of the most popular OS in the world.