Rajat Jaswal

Hey, i just came across this article some days ago and though i should share it with you. We always end up fighting with our friends proving them that out antivirus is the best, but this article will bring peace among us considering that it proves which is the best antivirus afterall. What you are gonna read from now on is an extract from that article. Not my work, i just did the copy paste thing .

The test was made on 23 April-10 May 2007, using Windows XP Professional SP2 on a P4 3000 Mhz, 1024MB DDRAM.
All programs tested had the latest versions, upgrades and updates and they were tested using their full scanning capabilities e.g. heuristics, full scan etc.
The default settings of each program were not used, in order for each program to achieve its maximum detection rate. Because of this, there is a possibility for the tested programs to detect a few false positives.
All programs were updated on 22 April 2007, between 10.00AM and 13.00PM GMT.
The 174770 virus samples were chosen using VS2000 according to Kaspersky, F-Prot, Nod32, Dr.Web, BitDefender and McAfee antivirus programs. Each virus sample was unique by virus name, meaning that AT LEAST 1 antivirus program detected it as a new virus.
ALL virus samples were unpacked and the only samples that were kept were the ones that were packed using external-dos-packers (that means not winzip, winrar, winace etc).
The virus samples had the correct file extension using a special program (Renexts) and were unique, according to checksum32 filesize.
Most “fake” virus samples were removed, as well as “garbage” files.

The following file types were used.
SH, ELF, COM, EXE, PL, BAT, PRC, DOC, XLS, BIN, MDB, IMG, PPT, VBS, MSG, VBA, OLE, HTM, INI, SMM, TD0, REG, CLASS, HTA, JS, VI_, URL, PHP, WMF, HLP, XML, SCR, PIF, SHS, WBT, CSC, MAC, DAT, CLS, STI, INF, HQX, XMI, SIT.

The virus samples were divided into these categories, according to the type of the virus :
File = BeOS, FreeBSD, Linux, Mac, Palm, OS2, Unix, BinaryImage, BAS viruses, MenuetOS.
MS-DOS = MS-DOS viruses.
Windows = Win.*.* viruses.
Macro = Macro, Multi and Formula viruses.
Malware = Adware, DoS, Constructors, Exploit,
Flooders, Nukers, Sniffers, SpamTools, Spoofers, Virus Construction
Tools, Droppers, PolyEngines.
Script = ABAP, BAT, Corel, HTML, Java, Scripts, MSH, VBS, WBS, Worms, PHP, Perl, Ruby viruses.
Trojans-Backdoors = Trojan and Backdoor viruses.

Rank
1. Kaspersky version 7.0.0.43 beta - 99.23%
2. Kaspersky version 6.0.2.614 - 99.13%
3. Active Virus Shield by AOL version 6.0.0.308 - 99.13%
4. ZoneAlarm with KAV Antivirus version 7.0.337.000 - 99.13%
5. F-Secure 2007 version 7.01.128 - 98.56%
6. BitDefender Professional version 10 - 97.70%
7. BullGuard version 7.0.0.23 - 96.59%
8. Ashampoo version 1.30 - 95.80%
9. AntiVir version 7.03.01.53 Classic - 95.08%
10. eScan version 8.0.671.1 - 94.43%
11. Nod32 version 2.70.32 - 94.00%
12. CyberScrub version 1.0 - 93.27%
13. Avast Professional version 4.7.986 - 92.82%
14. AVG Anti-Malware version 7.5.465 - 92.14%
15. F-Prot version 6.0.6.4 - 91.35%
16. McAfee Enterprise version 8.5.0i+AntiSpyware module - 90.65%
17. Panda 2007 version 2.01.00 - 90.06%
18. Norman version 5.90.37 - 88.47%
19. ArcaVir 2007 - 88.24%
20. McAfee version 11.0.213 - 86.13%
21. Norton Professional 2007 - 86.08%
22. Rising AV version 19.19.42 - 85.46%
23. Dr. Web version 4.33.2 - 85.09%
24. Trend Micro Internet Security 2007 version 15.00.1450 - 84.96%
25. Iolo version 1.1.8 - 83.35%

PS: I still use AVG since its free and updated. And personally, I believe all antiviruses are good and effective as long as they are updated.

Well, till now, i have told you almost everything that’s required to turn your XP into Vista. The only thing that remains is ‘The Theme’. Now if you aren’t really interested in the transparency thing, then a theme file that works with StyleXP would work just fine. But, if you actually want your system to have a transparent kinda interface, the go for Stardock’s WindowBlinds. This software allows you to transform almost everything that can be transformed . Plus, you can apply other themes like that of Mac,Tiger,Leopard,etc. Just to show you how the user interface would look like using this software,here’s a cropped snapshot of my desktop

WindowBlinds

PS: It doesn’t alter any system files,which makes it perfectly safe to use.

Ok ! Here’s another customization that you can do to your windows XP. The name of the software is Visual Task Tips and this is what it’s exactly going to do to your taskbar

So grab your softcopies now, this is one essential utility.

Visual Task Tips

 PS: The installer is on the top right of the page that you going to open. (Just incase you can’t find it)

To add the sidebar to your XP, download and run this software provided by thoosje. It’s more of a clone of vistas sidebar and looks somewhat like this.

It sure looks good, and if you want to try it, then visit Thoosje Vista Sidebar

Now personally, I wasn’t really satisfied with it so I tried the google gadgets. The best thing about it is that it can also be set as the sidebar and applications can be added to it too. Though it may not be as stylish as Thoosje’s sidebar, but it does the job for me and without any bugs.

Google Gadgets

The choice is yours…

As I mentioned in my previous post, there are alternatives to everything. So starting off with these alternatives, here is an alternative to xp’s start menu.
All you need to do is download a file from the link given below and follow the given instructions. This thing should work just fine on your pc, but since its still in beta stage, there might be some bugs to go with it. Anyways……

Happy Transforming to Vista Start Menu

PS: Do read the ‘readme’ file before you install it.

Hey..!! I know its been a long time since i introduced the ‘XP to Vista’ Category. And i guess its about time that i start posting the real thing. So, lets get started !!

The Vista Transformation pack !

What all is it going to provide you with :

• Vista style boot screen, logon screen
• Vista-like theme (with all the icons, transparent task bar, wallpapers, Progress Dialogs and media player skin,etc)
• Vista’s sound scheme
• 3rd party softwares( the sidebars, the vista style start menu, window transparency, 3d flip etc)

Going by my personal experience, i wouldn’t recommend this for users with RAM 1GB or less. Because this is one resource hungry pack and trust me, it will eat up your memory, your PCs memory that is .

Now the good thing about this is that it allows us to specify what all we want to install. And the bad thing about it is that uninstalling the pack can be real troublesome for users who don’t have much knowledge about this. When i uninstalled it, it took with it the icons of ‘my computer’, ‘my document’ etc !! But i did manage to get them back somehow.

You can find the screen shots of it here

And this is the link from where you can get the download link of the latest transformation pack(at the time of writing this post )

Vista Transformation Pack

PS: If you have an anti virus which keeps check of your system files, then DON’T forget to turn it off before you install the pack. Because the pack makes changes in your system files folder only.

PS2: If you are a gamer(like me), then don’t install the 3dflip application because it WILL make your game lag.

PS3: There are alternatives to everything in this world . And I will come up with them in the following posts.

One fine day, when i got tired of switching to different internet radio websites in my pursuit to listen to some quality music, i decided to search Google to get a solution, and this is what i came across.

SCREAMER !!!!!!!!!!

Its Features:

1. Comes as a package i.e. requires no installation,save it to your disk and run it directly. Great application to have on your flash drive (hardly occupies any space)
2. Lots of preset radio stations, arranged according to the genres,the countries,the networks and the languages . And you can obviously save your favorite stations too.
3. Shows all the required information about the track being played, information as in,bitrate and all(helps make out if your broadband can stream it continuously or not).
4. Now for the best part !! It can also record the music being played which means you can listen to the tracks you liked, later on.
5. It all comes free of cost.

So, now that i have made you aware of this, go, get your soft copy now, before the guys run out of bandwidth

Here is the official site

SCREAMER RADIO

Happy SCREAMING!!!!