Betawatch
To help you stay on the bleeding edge of
software releases, Betawatch is a guide to the experimental and unfinished
versions of some of the most popular applications around. Can’t wait for new features?
Now you don’t have to!
UltraVNC
1.1.0.0 Beta
www.uvnc.com/downloads/ultravnc/102-download-ultravnc-1100.html
UltraVNC is a remote server/viewer
application aimed at home users, which allows you to control one computer from
another, sending the screen output from the server PC to a viewing PC, and
sending mouse and keyboards inputs from the viewing PC to the server PC. The
software works over a network or the internet, is available to use completely
free of charge, and is tailored specifically for Windows use. Features include
encrypted connections, file transfers and chat.
The latest beta adds a number of updates
and features. Chief among the changes are support for Windows 8 finally being
added, the removal of a security hole that allowed the password to be broken
under some circumstances, better support for multiple-monitor computers, the implementation
of adaptive packet size for better performance depending on the type of network
being used (LAN or WAN) and the rate of packet loss, as well as the removal of
bugs, including one that saw the program occasionally stall at launch.
The latest version of UltraVNC is available
as a free download from the website listed above, and it supports all recent
versions of Windows.
Firefox
16 Beta 3
www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/beta
We know you can scarcely believe it, but
yes, it’s true: there’s another recent beta of Firefox. Since last month’s
instalment of Betawatch, the browser has reached version 16 and is ploughing
ahead with new features following the tentative introduction of native PDF
support, which arrived on the beta channel with version 15.
New features include the beginnings of web
app support, new localizations (Acholi, which is a language spoken in areas of
Uganda), improved JavaScript responsiveness thanks to incremental garbage
collection, a new Developer Toolbar (with new buttons, quick tool access, an
error counter for the web console and a new command line for hardcore keyboard
users), improvements for CSS3 animations, transitions, transforms and gradients,
a recently opened files list for the developer scratchpad, improvements in the
debugger, removal of support for MD5 hashing algorithms in digital signatures,
support for the ‘reverse’ animation direction, per-tab reports in about:memory,
and minor changes to the user strings.
And here you are thinking that there’s no
tangible difference from one version to the next. Maybe next time you’re
prompted to update you’ll appreciate the work that’s gone into Firefox!
BlueScreenView 1.45
Windows BSODs may be less common with
current versions of Windows than they were in the past, but that’s only because
Windows has learnt to simply reboot rather than let you see them. Disable that
sneaky option, and you’ll still find them lurking in the background of any
unexplained restart.
It’s fair to say that whether you see it or
not, the dreaded Blue Screen of Death has caused Windows users more frustration
than any virus or malware alone. A large part of the reason for this is the
completely incomprehensible information they spit out. Far from telling you
anything useful, BSODs virtually taunt users with indecipherable details about
bad memory addresses or failed system hooks, none of which mean a thing to
anyone outside of Redmond.
BlueScreenView, however, manages to make
something of those details. By scanning the logs kept when your computer
crashes, it can not only show you what caused the crash; it can even go some
way towards helping you find out how you can prevent it happening again. If
only Windows could be that helpful.
Admittedly, if BSODs are rare, one that’s both
a recurrent and replicable is rarer still, but if you have one, an application
like this is exactly what the doctor would order if he knew about it. The
analysis tells you the time of the crash, the drivers that were loaded during
it, what programs were running, and the exact calls that they were making to
specific memory addresses at the time of the system collapse.
The details aren’t just aimed at hardcore
programmer types, although they will no doubt find helpful information there.
Even if you’re a mere dabbler in troubleshooting (and what Windows user
isn’t?), you should be able to find enough pointers along the way to help you
track down the source of the fault and, at the very least, try reinstalling or
replacing it.
One thing BlueScreenView won’t do, though,
is hold your hand through the process. If you’re a total novice, you might as
well forget it; you’re not going to find a how-to guide or a step-by-step
instruction to fixing the problems it exposes. Instead, you get access to the
bare facts, and from there on you’re left to draw your own conclusions. If that
appeals to the detective in you, great, but if you prefer automated assistance,
you’re out of luck.
Recent additions to the software include a
raw data mode and the addition of stack data, but these are aimed at the most
advanced users. Beyond that, there’s very little about the software that even
needs changing. It’s stripped down and functional, and ultimately, that’s what
makes it so handy.
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Details
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Release Type:
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Freeware
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Official Site:
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www.nirsoft.net
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Pros:
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Powerful and helpful, very
straightforward…
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Cons:
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…but novices will be way out of their
depth.
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Rating:
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5/5
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