TweakHound

Computer stuff...

Eric (a.k.a. TweakHound)

The Windows 8 Freeware Machine

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freeware baby!
(last updated 31 August, 2014)
This is a Windows 8 version of the previous articles I wrote called The Freeware XP Machine,  The Vista Free Machine, and the Windows 7 Freeware Machine. This version is Windows 8 specific and has several additions and deletions of software I have tried based on recommendations of readers (and THANKS for the suggestions).
This is not a comprehensive list of freeware apps, there are lists like that all over the place. This is a list of apps I use and/or recommend. The goal of this list is to hopefully make your computing experience a little better and less expensive. I know that many of you already use a lot of these programs but perhaps this list would be something you might want to pass on to friends and family to help them out.
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PCMark 7 Version 1.4.0 Released

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futuremark_logoGot this via email:

PCMARK 7 VERSION 1.4.0 RELEASED
PCMark 7 has been updated to version 1.4.0 and is now fully compatible with Windows 8. Please note that benchmark scores ARE affected by the changes in this update.

**You should not compare scores from PCMark 7 v1.4.0 with any previous version of PCMark 7.**
To get the update, download the PCMark 7 v1.4.0 installer:
http://www.futuremark.com/support/downloads

The major changes in PCMark 7 v1.4.0 include:
IMPROVEMENTS
– Enhanced accuracy in video playback drawn frames measurement.
– In addition to the standard result, PCMark 7 Storage tests now report additional “raw” results where the metric idle values have been excluded from the score calculation.
– Enable or disable hardware accelerated video transcoding from the Help tab for troubleshooting.
– Improved logging.

COMPATIBILITY
– Now fully compatible with Windows 8.
– The Web Browsing test has been completely rewritten to avoid compatibility issues with Windows 8. The previous implementation was based on Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC); the new one is a Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) application. The heavy lifting in the test is still done by the WebBrowser2 control. Benchmark scores are affected, in most cases going up by a few percent.
– SystemInfo updated to version 4.15 for Windows 8 compatibility.

BUG FIXES
– Fixed issues in video transcoding tests and added transcoding output file validation. These changes affect benchmark scores.
– Fixed a data compression bug in the storage workloads. Benchmark scores are affected in configurations that use data compression at the hardware level.