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Realtek PCI Ethernet LAN Windows 7 Driver Version 6.111

Rafael Hernandez — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 06:27:57 +0000

Realtek maintains up to date drivers for their various Ethernet LAN interface chips commonly found integrated on many computer motherboards. Version 6.111 of their driver supports the following chips:

RTL8100B(L), RTL8100C(L), RTL8101L, RTL8139C(L), RTL8139C(L)+, RTL8139D(L), RTL8100(L) RTL8130, RTL8139B(L)

The driver supports Windows 7 32bit and 64bit versions

You can download the driver here.

TuneUp Utilities 2010 Review

Rafael Hernandez — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:53:28 +0000

Optimizing system performance used to be about defragmenting every so often and limiting the number of applications you’re running. Unfortunately, today’s modern PC needs a whole host of support applications doing their own thing in the background in order to maintain a usable system.

TuneUp Utilities 2010 attempts to corral your PC and whip it into shape with its extensive suite of tools designed around improving performance. Does it succeed? We’ll be taking a look at how the software goes about doing its thing and its benefit to you as a user.

Ah the computer, faithful manager of all things in your life. There was a time when you could manually optimize it and things were good, but we’re far removed from those days. Today, the Windows-based PC makes it much trickier to make your way around, and any form of manual performance fixes are likely to take much more time to implement.

So you’re likely to rely on third-party tools to get the job done, the sorts of tools that tend to break more things than they promise to fix and, ultimately, are a waste of time and money.

Thankfully there are some developers who take their software seriously.

TuneUp Utilities 2010 is billed as a quick and easy optimization software package designed to make the tedious task of maintaining system performance a thing of the past. That’s quite a tall order for a software package set to run you $50, perhaps they’ve cut some corners somewhere?

Most assuredly not.

Many tuning software suites tend to dig in and hook into parts of the Windows operating system they were never meant to touch, making them unstable and unusable. TuneUp Utilities 2010, on the other hand, is a lean and mean collection of software tools that doesn’t rely on such tactics.

Its installation footprint of about 57MB makes you wonder how they crammed in so much functionality into their software. The quality of the software is apparent with an overall fit and finish that most tweaking apps can’t even muster. The software supports Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7, but only Vista and 7 get the handy TuneUp desktop gadget which gives you quick access to the software’s optimizers.

The software includes a ton of smaller applications that can be accessed through the start menu or by using the program’s nicely integrated dashboard software. The dashboard itself offers up their recommendations of problem fixes, system maintenance, and methods to improve system performance. It also includes extensive tools on customizing your Windows operating system appearance.

TuneUp also features a handy Turbo Mode button which, when configured and turned on, disables background tasks that may pop up while your computer is busy gaming or running some other resource-intensive task, because we all know how annoying it is to have our gaming interrupted by a Windows task popping up out of nowhere.

Getting the most out of your PC

The handy system fixes and Turbo Mode probably would’ve been enough to sell us on its value as an optimization package but it goes even further with their very own “Live Optimization” option which keeps background applications in check by temporarily lowering their priority so as not to slow down any currently running applications. Programs you run will also receive a brief process priority boost while starting up to improve its load time.

As far as our favorite functions in TuneUp Utilities 2010, it’s a toss-up between the software’s performance increase recommendations, their very own disk defragmenter, which is quicker than anything Windows packages, and its registry cleaner and defragmenter, which removes the cruft that accumulates over the many years of operating system use.

(optimized without breaking a sweat)

TuneUp Utilities 2010 represents a bargain in the system maintenance and performance tuning segment. It boasts a wide variety of tools to optimize Windows performance and system reporting applications that lets you know what’s going on under the hood. It does its work with a small overall footprint and doesn’t get its hooks into your PC which make other packages a pain to work with. There’s literally too much to cover but, rest assured, it doesn’t over-promise and it more than delivers on its claims, which leads us to give it our Editor’s Choice award.

Software provided by TuneUp.

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Review

Rafael Hernandez — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:10:50 +0000

Its been a long time coming. As of October 22nd you could pick up your very own copy of the polished good stuff. Microsoft’s Windows 7 has promised to make your computing usage a kinder, gentler experience and it has the shiny icons to prove it. But with the “dark cloud” Vista hung over the Windows brand can they get their house back in order?

We’ll be taking a look at Windows 7 and how it handles the day to day rigors of PC usage. Its changes are many but no matter how you use your computer there are improvements to be found for all users.

Face it, Windows XP is long in the tooth. Sure it’ll run on most hardware made in the past ten years and it’s been tested and refined and patched enough times where things are running quite smoothly — thank you very much — but the fact is it just won’t cut it moving forward.

Microsoft’s initial attempt at weening people off of XP, Windows Vista, was seen as a flop by the general public. Its SuperFetch feature tended to hit hard drives a bit much leading to overall system slowness while UAC’s constant pestering made computing something of a chore. Sure you could disable those features, even minimize their impact, but you can’t expect most users to dig through documentation to find the fixes to their woes.

So Vista’s reputation wasn’t completely deserved but such features weren’t exactly implemented in the best way possible.

Ah what a welcoming introduction to the Windows 7 experience. Microsoft has taken considerable effort in order to make sure you have a fine selection of wallpapers to go along with your shiny new operating system… But that’s not what you’re interested in now is it?

Windows 7 is based heavily on Windows Vista but there are enough changes where you can consider it a fresh take on the Windows platform. The company went back under the hood and made countless numbers of tweaks which will improve on system performance and integration with the peripherals you use every day.

How did they figure out what and where to tweak? Well Windows 7 had one of the largest Beta testing programs for any Windows operating system to date. Over 8 million beta testers used the OS so the company had plenty of feedback from automated sources and actual requests from users.

Listening to customers? Absurd!

Getting started with the operating system is a breeze. Windows 7 packs in an insane selection of drivers for peripherals so you can get your PC up and running without the usual driver hunting that occurred with Windows XP and Vista. Thankfully hardware manufacturers also seem much more willing to create stable software for their products from the start so Vista’s nightmare driver scenario hasn’t been repeated.

As far as choosing the 32-bit versus 64-bit versions you’re better off going for the 64-bit version, unless you’re running an early Intel Atom processor which might not support it. Your computer will be able to support much more than the 4GB RAM limit 32-bit Windows 7 is limited to and a number of applications enjoy a performance boost with the move which we’ll explore in a future article.

The Aero user interface has received a few new tricks most notably the snap function which allows you to drag a program to the edge of your screen and the OS will automatically resize the application to take up a portion of the screen or enlarge it fully. It’s a handy feature that makes resizing windows less of a chore.

(Xvid support out of the box is quite nice)

Windows 7 comes bundled with Media Player 12 which can handle many more file formats than before so that codec downloading ritual on a fresh install is a thing of the past. Windows Media Center also benefits from a bit of tweaking with support for the HomeGroup file sharing feature and general responsiveness improvements.

New to the Windows lineup is the Device Stage which allows you to interact with your cell phone/smart phone, digital camera, and any other device that would otherwise require drivers and separate applications. It all depends on hardware vendor support, but it’s a single interface from which you can sync files and change settings on your gadgets which cuts down on the amazing amount of applications you’ll need to keep your gear up to date.

The added features are great perks to owning Windows 7 but you’ll no-doubt notices a few applications haven’t made it into the default OS install. Applications like Outlook Express, Messenger, and Movie Maker were rolled into the company’s Windows Live Essentials pack which makes for a more streamline install and keeps users up to date.

Seeing as how Vista presented a bit of a performance issue for many users, the tweaks Microsoft implemented in Windows 7 is what will make or break the OS. SuperFetch on 7 has been toned down a notch and should keep the disk thrashing to a minimum leading to a quicker system startup.

DirectX 11 is a key feature that will have gamers, and well everyone else, excited over the prospects of improved GPU performance and memory management while its DirectCompute functionality will extend a graphics chip’s powerful processing capability to tasks like graphics manipulation and video transcoding.

Power management has also been revamped with automatic display dimming and smarter resource usage. Unused ports are powered down and services that aren’t needed won’t be enabled. While it might not sound like much small power savings here and there add up over the long run leading to longer battery life on laptops and desktops that soak up less energy overall which is quite the benefit in a business office full of PCs.

Going a little green was never easier.

So the myriad of performance tweaks, including the ones aimed at HyperThreading capable processors (Intel Core i7), amount to seeking speed here and there for overall system performance. The outright speed gains aren’t going to be jumping out at you but the way Windows 7 handles multiple applications simultaneously, be it web browsing and multimedia viewing to office applications and image manipulation, is an impressive feat. Apps co-exist nicely and using the OS is a much smoother experience compared to previous versions.

Our test system as follows:

AMD Turion 64 X2 TL60 2.0GHz
2GB Memory
Nvidia GeForce 8400M GS

Test Software:

Windows XP Sp3 32-bit
Windows Vista SP2 32-bit
Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit

CrystalDiskMark 2.2
Maxon CINEBENCH R10

Windows 7 manages to pull off quite a feat on hard drive performance besting Windows XP and Vista by 7-10% in sequential read/write and random read/write performance under CrystalDiskMark. When handling a large number of files, or even large files in general, the speed boost is much appreciated.

As far as CPU performance is concerned 7 does a good a job as Vista and XP when it comes to offering up full access to CPU time when an application calls for it. Maxon’s CINEBENCH R10 renders a complex 3D scene that pegs CPU usage which, aside from XP’s lower single-core CB performance, evens out the playing field. As for less demanding applications Vista’s habit of spiking CPU usage can lead to lower system performance.

System power usage was also measure with a trusty Kill A Watt. Windows 7 comes in with the lower overall system power usage idling at a comfortable 32Watts, while XP manages a respectable 35Watt idle rating, and Vista would seemingly take third place with a close 37Watt reading but it consistenly spiked to 50Watts which will do a number on laptop battery life. Power usage was pretty much even across the board with the system’s processor pegged at 100% CPU usage. Windows 7′s overall efficiency and features like auto-dimming displays should mean considerable battery life and energy savings.

On the system timing front Windows 7 manages to eek out a few wins here and there when it comes to resuming from hibernation and system shutdowns, a distinct improvement over Vista’s performance. Its system start up time from a restart or cold boot does lag behind a bit which could be due to network access attempts at boot but, whatever the case, it lags XP by a decent chunk of time on our testbed.

Conclusion

In testing, Windows 7 has proven itself to be the most robust operating system from Microsoft to date. The only real bloat to be found is its massive assortment of drivers that conveniently supports a wide swath of hardware, meaning your PC is pretty much up and running once it’s installed. It’s not-so-stringent media playback means you can get around to enjoying your videos out of the box with fewer hassles.

Microsoft’s nips and tucks have lead to a slick looking Windows OS with less of the hitching and much better responsiveness on its own end. Rogue applications are better corralled by Windows 7 which should make for a more stable environment for your PC as a whole.

If you have a multi-core PC with 2GB of memory it’s, in our opinion, a highly recommended upgrade. If you own an older PC you may just want to upgrade to a new PC featuring the OS. In either case, XP will be but a distant memory soon enough.

Pros:

Responsive OS helps you to get things done quicker
Windows Media Player 12 supports Xvid, MOV files, and more out of the box for a better multimedia experience out of the box
DirectX 11/DirectCompute will change the way graphics cards are used…for the better
Impressive amount of built-in driver support means you’re up and running quicker

Cons:

A small learning curve if you’re moving straight from XP

Disclaimer: Windows 7 Ultimate was furnished by Microsoft.

C-Media Windows Audio Drivers

Rafael Hernandez — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 06:49:26 +0000

C-Media’s lineup of audio chips can be found in a wide array of add-on sound cards and integrated into many computing products. The company maintains up to date drivers for Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 operating systems.

Their drivers support the following chipsets:

CMI8768, CMI8768+, CMI8770, CMI8787

You can download the latest drivers below:

C-Media CMI8768 Windows 7, Vista, XP Audio Drivers
C-Media CMI8768+ Windows Vista, XP Audio Drivers
C-Media CMI8770 Windows 7, Vista, XP Audio Drivers
C-Media CMI8787 Windows 7, Vista, XP Audio Drivers

Ralink Wireless Drivers for Windows

Rafael Hernandez — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:00:39 +0000

Ralink makes a wide array of wireless products used in both mobile and desktop environments. The company maintains up to date drivers for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 which support the following chipsets:

RT2870, RT2770, RT307X, RT2070, RT3572, RT2860, RT2760, RT2890, RT2790, RT306X, RT309X, RT35X2, RT257x, RT2671, RT520x, RT256x, RT266x, RT2500, RT2500USB

Thankfully they supply the drivers for all to freely download, unlike other wireless chip manufacturers. Here’s the direct link to their download page:

Ralink Wireless Drivers for Windows

Windows 7 Plays Nice with Netbooks

Rafael Hernandez — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:41:00 +0000

When netbooks were introduced they saw a number of restrictions if they wanted to run the Windows XP operating system which, given Vista’s hefty requirements, was the only usable Windows choice. This time around they’ve eased up.

Microsoft is allowing netbook manufacturers to preload whatever version of the Windows 7 OS they’re content with no matter the machine’s specs. Of course you won’t likely find a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate on a bargain basement netbook so they’re somewhat safe on the hardware requirements front.

Good news for those fearing hardware requirements that would stop their shiny new netbook from running the best version of Windows 7.

Source: TG Daily

Windows 7 Offers Protection from those bad guys

Rafael Hernandez — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:09:00 +0000

Microsoft has made some effort into buttoning up Windows 7′s security model compared to Vista which should see the operating system as the most secure Windows version to date. DailyTech delves into what the changes mean for users and some of the side benefits XP Mode brings to the table:

Many malware programs will also be crippled by XP-Mode. This is because in the past Windows security software has used hardware virtualization extensions to detect malware. It is common practice for malware to be written to not run on machines where hardware-assisted virtualization is detected. However, as all Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate licenses come with XP Mode, this malware won’t run on a large portion of Windows 7 installs. Modification is possible, but this will be time consuming and frustrating to attackers.

Given the amount of absolutely malicious software floating around out there that targets XP operating systems a move to Windows 7, or any other secure operating system, are sure to cut into botnet activity and other fraud…as long as the end user doesn’t willingly install the stuff that is. Yeah we’re all doomed anyway.

ATI Catalyst 9.9 Video Drivers for Windows XP, Windows 7, Vista

Rafael Hernandez — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:29:00 +0000

AMD’s monthly driver cycle is upon us once again which brings about a new ATI Catalyst drivers set bringing them up to version 9.9. The usual bug fixes are in as well as CrossFireX support for Resident Evil 5.

The drivers support DirectX 10 capable GPUs so those with Radeon graphics cards sporting a chipset that was released earlier than the Radeon HD 2000 series will have to wait for the next round of legacy driver support or make due with the 9.8 legacy drivers.

Here are the links directly to AMD’s driver downloads:

ATI Catalyst 9.9 Video Drivers for Windows 7
ATI Catalyst 9.9 Video Drivers for Windows 7 64-bit
ATI Catalyst 9.9 Video Drivers for Windows Vista
ATI Catalyst 9.9 Video Drivers for Windows Vista 64-bit
ATI Catalyst 9.9 Video Drivers for Windows XP
ATI Catalyst 9.9 Video Drivers for Windows XP 64-bit

Intel GMA X4500 / X4500HD Windows Graphics Drivers

Rafael Hernandez — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:18:00 +0000

Intel’s Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) is the graphics cornerstone for many desktop computers built using the company’s chipsets. While most enthusiasts go on to upgrade to more powerful video card solutions Intel’s GMA X4500 and X4500HD integrated graphics cores offer a more than capable feature set for media viewing and productivity environments.

The company maintains driver sets for Windows operating systems which support:

G41 Express, G43 Express, G45 Express, Q43 Express, and Q45 Express system chipsets sporting either the X4500 or the more powerful X4500HD graphics cores.

You can download the drivers below:

GMA X4500(HD) Graphics Drivers for Windows 7
GMA X4500(HD) Graphics Drivers for Windows 7 64-bit
GMA X4500(HD) Graphics Drivers for Windows Vista
GMA X4500(HD) Graphics Drivers for Windows Vista 64-bit
GMA X4500(HD) Graphics Drivers for Windows XP
GMA X4500(HD) Graphics Drivers for Windows XP 64-bit

Intel GMA 4500M / 4500MHD Windows Graphics Drivers

Rafael Hernandez — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 01:00:00 +0000

The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500M and 4500MHD make up a large portion of the integrated graphics chipsets found on many notebook computers. The company’s latest drivers support a large range of Windows operating systems.

The drivers support:

GL40 Express, GS40 Express, GM45 Express, and GS45 Express chipsets sporting either the GMA 4500M or the more powerful GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics chipset.

You can download the latest drivers below:

GMA 4500M(HD) Graphics Drivers for Windows 7
GMA 4500M(HD) Graphics Drivers for Windows 7 64-bit
GMA 4500M(HD) Graphics Drivers for Windows Vista
GMA 4500M(HD) Graphics Drivers for Windows Vista 64-bit
GMA 4500M(HD) Graphics Drivers for Windows XP
GMA 4500M(HD) Graphics Drivers for Windows XP 64-bit