Brandon Dimmel

The ongoing recession doesn't seem to be having any impact on the video game industry. Recent reports have shown Microsoft's Kinect peripheral achieving strong sales in its first weeks on the market, and now a new study finds that Activision's ... popular First Person Shooter (FPS) Call of Duty: Black Ops has already surpassed the $1 billion sales marker. Call of Duty is an action game franchise dating back to 2003. The original titles all involved World War II campaigns, but in recent years the series has moved to more familiar conflict areas in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last year's Call of Duty: ... (view more)

RaccoonWorks SpeedTest 2.0.0.69 SpeedTest was designed to measure effective transfer speeds between two networked computers. You can also use it to measure the speed of your DSL or Cable Internet connection. http://raccoonworks.com Visual Database ... Creator 3.3.0.0 Visual Database Creator is meant as an advanced, but easy to use replacement for simple database or spreadsheet applications. It includes layout design, spread sheet calculation, report printing, search and sorting as well as a user interface which is vastly superior to most other products especially Microsoft Excel and Access. http ... (view more)

A new Internet Explorer (IE) security vulnerability has been found. The flaw, which is related to Internet Explorer's HTML engine, allows hackers to infiltrate systems running Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. The issue was first discovered early in ... December by French security company Vupen . The company says this flaw could be exploited with the processing of a CSS (or Cascading Style Sheets) file intended for use by web designers. Rigged Website Key to Attack Those running Internet Explorer could find themselves under attack if they're (knowingly or unknowingly) directed to a specially- ... (view more)

BootRacer 3.0 Final Not sure if your computer's boot time is fast or slow? BootRacer not only provides you with a clocked time, but it gives your computer's boot speed a rating. It's the first step in diagnosing performance issues on your home PC. ... http://www.greatis.com WSUS Offline Update 6.7.1 Using "WSUS Offline Update", you can update any computer running Microsoft Windows and Office quickly and without an Internet connection. Licensed under "GNU GPL", you still may download and use the software from this site for free. http://www.wsusoffline.net This freeware software ... (view more)

Microsoft has released its second edition of its popular security software package, Security Essentials. Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) 2.0 features a new scanning engine, integration with Windows Firewall, plus network traffic monitoring. ... Microsoft Security Essentials: Free, Decent Software The original MSE was released last year for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7, as a successor to Microsoft's less-than-successful Live OneCare. Up that point most free antivirus programs had done little more than detect security threats before petitioning users for a costly upgrade in order to fix them ... (view more)

For 'Millenials,' (individuals between the ages of 18 and 33), going online is as natural as brushing one's teeth or turning on the television. But a recent study finds that members of much older generational groups are rapidly catching up with ... their younger counterparts in terms of how much time they spend online. According to findings from the Pew Research Center, Millenials are still by far the most likely generational group to use the Internet via laptops, desktops, smartphones, or tablet computers. They are also mostly likely to connect to social networking sites like Facebook and ... (view more)

EMCO MoveOnBoot 2.2.3 EMCO MoveOnBoot is a free tool that moves files and folders that are typically locked by Windows, system services or other applications. Using it, you can rename, move or delete any locked file or folder at the next system ... restart. With EMCO MoveOnBoot you can resolve any problems with locked files and folders with no headache or difficulties. http://www.emco.is AnyTV 2.59 AnyTV is a program that allows you to watch international TV stations on your computer without the need for a television, TV Tuner Card or a satellite receiver. Watch anywhere you have access to the ... (view more)

DriveImage XML 2.20 DriveImage XML is an easy to use program for imaging and backing up partitions and logical drives. DriveImage XML runs under Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Vista and Windows 7 only. The program will backup, image and restore ... drives formatted with FAT 12, 16, 32 and NTFS file systems. http://www.runtime.org Gpg4win 2.1.0 RC1 Beta Gpg4win is a secure email and file encryption for Windows (2000 / XP / 2003 / Vista / 7). Both relevant cryptography standards are supported, OpenPGP and S/MIME. http://www.gpg4win.org This freeware software program is brought to you by ... (view more)

For those of you who dislike the pesky anti-piracy measures used by software companies, here's good news: Microsoft will discontinue its program of additional anti-piracy monitoring for its MS Office software. A few years ago Microsoft introduced ... Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), an anti-piracy measure that checked the validity of user operating systems by dialing into their computers. PCs found to be running illegal copies of Windows had their operating system desktop screen turned black with a message that their PC may be running counterfeit software. Microsoft Office Genuine Advantage ... (view more)

Google's Chrome operating system (OS) took one step closer to wider release recently when the company announced it had begun shipping netbooks equipped with the operating system to selected beta testers. But despite reports (mostly from Google) that ... Chrome will trump Windows' speed and security features, at least one analyst says there's nothing for Microsoft to fear just yet. In a presentation to announce Chrome OS' move toward more rigorous testing, Google CEO Eric Schmidt pointed to the operating system's faster startup and installation times, in addition to impressive security features, ... (view more)