AMD Catalyst Omega 14.12 drivers are out.
“Introducing the AMD Catalyst™ Omega driver for Windows, a “Special Edition” driver delivered to enhance the AMD GPU and APU experience. The AMD Catalyst™ Omega driver contains over 20 new features, performance improvements, and significant number of bug fixes and improvements.”
Announcment: A Very Special Edition Driver: AMD Catalyst Omega
Download (there are also new AMD chipset drivers)
Release Notes
Linux Drivers
Samsung SSD News
Samsung has unleashed the 850 Evo SSD.
Although there are lots of reviews out today, Anandtech is the the source I trust.
The 850 EVO is a very competitive drive in performance and features, but neither of these warrants the premium Samsung is charging. As I’ve said before, there are only two main segments in the SSD market that I recognize, which are the value/mainstream and high-end/enthusiast segments.
For the value segment, the key consideration is the price because these are typically users who don’t push their systems to the limits and thus shouldn’t pay a premium for a performance increase that is likely to be negligible for their usage…As for the high-end segment, Samsung already has that one covered by the 850 Pro. The 850 EVO, especially at the smaller capacities, isn’t fast enough under IO intensive workloads to really compete with the 850 Pro and Extreme Pro. Given that the Extreme Pro can be had for about the same cost (depending on the capacity, of course), I would much rather have that if I was looking for a high-end SSD.
also…
Samsung Magician Software Version 4.5 Released
Download & Info
Magician version 4.5 features a number of improvements over version 4.4:
– New model support : 850 EVO
– Improved RAPID v2.1
– Reduce the CPU Utilization during Magician launch
– Enhanced SATA Interface view and Over Provisioning
– Update Magician GUI and Help file
Monday, Monday
Foxy Lady
Firefox 34 is out.
New features include Yahoo as default search :rolleyes:
Download (Windows, EN-US)
Release Notes
Download other languages and operating systems
Firefox 34 for Android is available in the Play Store.
Paint It Black
Paint.net 4.0.4 released.
“this update greatly improves performance in some key areas”
Announcement
Download
Plugins
Cinnamon Girl
Linux Mint 17.1 with Cinnamon and Mate desktops released.
The Times They Are a-Changin’
With TrueCrypt no longer being developed many folks are looking elsewhere for disk encryption software.
VeraCrypt is one alternative and they’ve released version 1.0e.
My Computers etc.
Folks seem to like to know my computer setups and stuff so here it is.
***Pics of my setup here: The Hole 2021
Some of my computers are listed below.
Other tech stuff:
Phone
Samsung Galaxy S24+
Printer / Scanner
HP Officejet Pro 8720
Network
7 desktops, 1 laptop, 1 ethernet lan, 3 wireless networks, security cameras…
Speakers
M-Audio AV-40
Logitech Z-5500.
Misc. TV Stuff
Amazon TV
COMPUTERS
| Main Rig | Secondary Rig | Server | |
| CPU | i9-9900KF (all cores locked at 5GHz) | i7-9700K (all cores locked at 5GHz) | i7-3700 |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte Aorus Z390 Elite | Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Gaming 7 | Intel DZ77SL-50K |
| Memory | Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB | G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 32GB | Crucial 16GB |
| GPU | XFX Radeon RX 580 GTS Black Ed. 8GB |
Zotac GeForce GTX 1060 AMP! Edition 6GB |
Onboard Intel HD Graphics 4000 |
| Monitor(s) | 2 x Samsung U32J59x (3840×2160@60Hz) | DELL P2415Q (3840×2160@60Hz) SONY TV (1920×1080@59Hz) |
|
| Drives | Samsung SSD 980 PRO 500GB NVMe Samsung SSD 980 PRO 2TB NVMe Samsung SSD 870 EVO 1TB |
Samsung 960 EVO Plus 250GB NVMe Samsung 960 EVO Plus 500G NVMe Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB Seagate Exos X16 14TB Bluray |
Crucial M4 OS Drive Other storage varies |
| Network | Gigabit Ethernet | Gigabit Ethernet | Gigabit Ethernet |
| Audio | Sound Blaster ZxR | Realtek HD | None |
| PSU | 800 watt 80+ Gold | Seasonic SSR-650FX | 800 watt 80+ Gold |
| Case | IN WIN 303C | Old Alienware | Rosewill Zircon T |
| Cooling | Cooler Master ML240L RGB V2 | Corsair H60 | generic |
| OS | Win11 Pro, Linux Mint VM | Win10 Pro | Win10 Pro |
 |
 |
 |
| Multimedia 1 | Workout A/V | Wife’s PC | |
| CPU | i7-8700k | i7-7700k | i7-7700 |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte Z390 UD | Asus Z170-A | MSI Z270-A PRO |
| Memory | 16GB Crucial | 16GB Corsair | 32GB Adata |
| GPU | XFX Radeon RX 480 8GB | XFX Radeon DD R9-270X 4GB | GeForce GTX 960 4GB |
| Drives | Samsung NVMe 970 EVO Plus 250GB Samsung SSD 850 PRO 256GB Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB Blueray |
970 EVO Plus 250GB NVMe Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB |
Samsung NVMe 970 EVO Plus 500GB WD Blue 500GB SSD Toshiba 3TB SATA |
| Network | Gigabit Ethernet | Gigabit Ethernet | Gigabit Ethernet |
| Audio | Sound Blaster Z | Sound Blaster X-FI Fatal1ty | Realtek |
| PSU | Corsair CZ550M | Seasonic SSR-650FX | 800 watt 80+ Gold |
| Case | Corsair 110Q | Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-02 | Rosewill Zircon T |
| Cooling | Corsair H60 | Corsair H80i | Generic Water Cooler |
| OS | Win10 Pro | Win10 Pro | Win10 Pro |
 |
 |
 |
My Laptop
Full specs and stuff here: https://www.tweakhound.com/2015/05/04/my-new-used-laptop/
Alienware 15
OS: Win10
Intel Core i7-4710HQ
16GB Crucial Ballistix RAM
Samsung SSD 850 EVO M.2 250GB (OS)
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 1TB (data)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M
Media 2
Win 7 hooked to TV
Computer: DELL Inspiron 530 (well, it was at one time!)
CPU: Intel Q9450
Motherboard: DELL 0FM586
Chipset: Intel G33 (Bearlake-G) + ICH9R
Memory: 4096 MBytes @ 394 MHz, 6.0-6-6-18
– 1024 MB PC6400 DDR2-SDRAM – ProMos/MOSEL V916765K24QCFW-G6
– 1024 MB PC6400 DDR2-SDRAM – ProMos/MOSEL V916765K24QCFW-G6
– 1024 MB PC6400 DDR2-SDRAM – ProMos/MOSEL V916765K24QCFW-G6
– 1024 MB PC6400 DDR2-SDRAM – ProMos/MOSEL V916765K24QCFW-G6
Graphics: Sapphire RADEON HD 5670
ATI RADEON HD 5670/5690/5730 (REDWOOD XT MVD), 1024 MB GDDR5 SDRAM
Drive: M4-CT128M4SSD2, 125.0 GB, Serial ATA 6Gb/s
Drive: ST31000333AS, 976.8 GB, Serial ATA 3Gb/s
Drive: TSSTcorp DVD+-RW TS-H653F, DVD+R DL
Sound: Intel 82801IB ICH9 – High Definition Audio [A2]
Sound: ATI Redwood/Madison/Capilano – High Definition Audio Controller
Network: RealTek Semiconductor RTL8169 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (x64)
Old Alienware Case
Case (retired): A 1950’s TV !!!
Case: 1940’s Radio!!!
ASUS CUSL2-C Black Pearl built into a file cabinet circa 2001.
My sister painted the side. Around 2001-2002
2004 maybe?
————————————————
-END-
Wednesday Random Stuff…
Flash Ah-Ahh!
Flash has been updated to version 15.0.0.239.
Download:
Flash for IE
Flash for other browsers
Main download page
Windows 8 users check Windows Update.
Of course this means Google Chrome has been updated too…
“The stable channel has been updated to 39.0.2171.71 for Windows, Mac and Linux. This release contains an update for Adobe Flash as well as a number of other fixes. ”
Download or update from within the program.
U-G-L-Y You Ain’t Got No Alibi
CCleaner v5 is out. New interface and optimizations.
Download
Version History
***Pay attention during install. May attempt to install unwanted programs.
I wish you all a safe and pleasant Thanksgiving,
Eric
Fix KB3000850 Will Not Install
I had a couple of Windows 8.1 computers that would not install KB3000850.
KB3000850 is also called “The November 2014 update rollup for Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2.”
The specific error code was 80070002.
The Windows error logs directed me to C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. There I found complaints about system files.
The cure for that is:
From an ELEVATED command prompt [Command Prompt (Admin) ] > type sfc /scannow and press the Enter key >
Let it do its thing > Reboot and install your update.
– END –
Random Weekend Stuff…
Software
BleachBit 1.6
VirtualBox 4.3.20
Detekt
Several privacy outfits have banded together to release Detekt.
“Detekt is a free tool that scans your Windows computer for traces of FinFisher and Hacking Team RCS, commercial surveillance spyware that has been identified to be also used to target and monitor human rights defenders and journalists around the world.”
It does not work on Windows 8.1 64-bit.
Reader Emails
Q – Does the 8.1 workaround work for systems that came with 8.1 preinstalled? I used ProduKey to find my product key, but when I enter it into the Windows 8 Setup it does not work. Any thoughts? Thanks.
A – Why would you need a workaround for a 8.1 key?
If you don’t have an 8.1 ISO you can make one: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media
Generic keys are here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj612867.aspx
You may also want to check out: http://forums.mydigitallife.info/forums/42-Windows-8 😉
– – – – –
Q – I loved your article and I enjoy Open Suse 13.2,, but one thing really irks me and that is the software patterns.
I remove all the patterns, yet the system still re-installs unwanted packages everytime i install software ( I even select packages selected by user), yet still I am unable to slim my installation. For me this is the biggest problem that Open Suse has and theefore stops newbies from using it.
Any ideas?
A – That ticked me off too. This behavior did not happen in previous versions of openSUSE. When I mentioned it in the forums they acted like I’ve got a screw loose.
To fix it: YaST > Software Management > Options > check Ignore Recommended Packages for Already Installed Packages.
Time To Run Windows Update
Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification for November 2014
Out-of-band security update available for all supported versions of Windows.
Windows 8.1 users, be sure to check the optional updates.
KB3000850 “resolves issues in Windows” is available.
Google Chrome 39
The Chrome team is delighted to announce the promotion of Chrome 39 to the stable channel for Windows, Mac and Linux. Chrome 39.0.2171.65 contains a number of fixes and improvements, including:
-64-bit support for Mac
-A number of new apps/extension APIs
-Lots of under the hood changes for stability and performance
Source: Google Chrome Blog
Download or update from within the program.
Geforce 344.75’s
GeForce Game Ready Driver 344.75 WHQL released.
“Best gaming experience for Far Cry 4, Dragon Age: Inquisition, The Crew, and World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor.”
Download
Release Notes
Newest Linux drivers are v346.16 BETA released on Nov. 13.
Nvidia has been on a roll releasing Windows driver updates these last few months:
Version: 344.75 – Release Date: Tue Nov 18, 2014
Version: 344.65 – Release Date: Mon Nov 10, 2014
Version: 344.60 – Release Date: Tue Nov 04, 2014
Version: 344.48 – Release Date: Wed Oct 22, 2014
Version: 344.16 – Release Date: Tue Sep 23, 2014
Version: 344.11 – Release Date: Thu Sep 18, 2014