WT - 1st week

NT5 and Motherboard Monitor Version 3.73 and 1.0 Lite

The author of Motherboard Monitor has announced that there have been reports that MBM works on NT5 Beta 2 (Windows 2000 Beta 2). Motherboard Monitor is a great utility to report the cpu/motherboard temperture, voltates, and fan speeds on your LM chipset based motherboard.

Download from the Motherboard Monitor Website

New sites/Movement

Download AOL Netmail Beta, AOL users can get your email from the web

Download Eudora Pro Email v.4.1 Beta Build 47 for Macintosh OS

November 13,1998

DirectX 7 Passwords Work Finally!

     Thousands of DirectX 7 testers were in an uproar about the recent invitation to test DirectX 6.1 RC 0. As we posted last night, testers were sent passwords to access the Microsoft's Premium DirectX site, however none of the passwords worked! This also happened last week when DirectX 6.1 RC 0 was posted to DirectX 6 testers, none of the passwords worked and then the site became open to the general public for 2 days. However, as of 7:30 PM EST, the passwords are fully functional. If you were having trouble accessing the site, try again and everything should work perfectly.

      Download JAKKAL flesh + bones Beta 1, 3D action game

      Sign up to test and then download Trend PC-cillin 6 Beta 1, virus scanner

      Alexa 3.0 beta 2 for IE4, a web navigation program

Creative Labs Drivers

     Creative Labs has released new drivers for:

Sound Blaster 16/32/AWE32/AWE64 for Windows 95/98
3D Blaster Banshee for Windows 95/98/NT 4.0
3D Blaster Banshee for Windows NT 4.0 with BIOS Update

      Download from the Creative Labs FTP

Office 2000 Beta 2 Order Form

     Microsoft has released Office 2000 Beta 2 to the public, just order it from the links below:

      Consumer Preview Program Order Form

      Corporate Preview Program Order Form

Sonique v0.62 Tomorrow!

     While surfing around the net today, I found this tidbit of info over at dMusic about Sonique:

"Straight from the horses mouth, co-creator of Sonique, Ian Lyman (Scirocco) informed us that the new version of Sonique, v0.62, would be out tomorrow night, the 14th. They're bringing back the vis blur options which will now also work in enlarged mode. It adds the ability to set the blurring for the visualizations.. fixes for a few anti-aliasing problems, and the playlist rids itself of a few bugs. More tomorrow with the release!"

Hopefully we will se a bunch of new features in this release, as Sonique's slow development is causing it to fall behind other players such as K-Jofol and Winamp.

Winamp 2.05 Update

Justin has updated his finger with more information on Winamp 2.05 and its new interface, read this clip:

Added a crapload of IPC stuff to 2.05. Makes things like aO work better.

Going to make Winamp supply a http-getter. So if you pass Winamp a http URL to a .wav file or to a .mod (or .mid, or .vqf, or blahlbahblah) it'll download (and optionally save it to another file) it and play it. Complete with a nifty download status window.

Also, I'm going to totally speed up and make more enjoyable the MP3 streaming in Nitrane. Yay. Non-blocking sockets are a GOOD thing.

      Read the full post at the Winamp Finger Website

McAfee VirusScan OS/2 v4.0.0 BETA 2

     McAfee has released BETA 2 of VirusScan v4.0.0 for OS/2. You can download this public release from their beta website:

      Download from the McAfee Beta Website

Matrox Overclock Update

     Brian Galm of BGR Sofware has sent the following comment on his great Matrox Overclock utility:

I'm putting the final touches on the newest version of MOC. This update will include up to 5 custom configurations that can be saved / recalled. This is especially handy for different card & clock settings for games, different resolutions, overclocked and non-overclocked, etc. All these custom settings are also available for on-the-fly changing (via the system tray). I should have it all complete by the end of the weekend (most likely sooner).

DirectX 7 Testers Get Invite To Test 6.1!

     At 8pm EST tonight, Microsoft e-mailed account information to all new DirectX 7 testers. The account will be used to access Microsoft's Premium DirectX site, in order to download DirectX betas. DirectX 7 testers were also invited to test the new DirectX 6.1 RC0, which we posted on earlier this week. DirectX 6.1 is scheduled for release around Christmas, so Microsoft hopes to get feedback by Thanksgiving. One of the major components in DirectX 6.1 will be the focus on DirectMusic, which was only a beta in DirectX 6. Also, DirectX 6.1 will be compatible with Windows 2000 drivers.

     If you didn't get an e-mail yet and you sent in your DirectX 7 NDA, contact [email protected] and find out why. After DirectX 6.1 finishes up, DirectX 7 testers will receive information on how to access the beta newsgroups. DirectX 7 is scheduled for release in quarter two of 1999, so we may even see DirectX 7 Beta CDs sent out as early as Janurary.

Dialer 2000 Beta Build 287

     Techologic has released Dialer 2000 Beta Build 287. This beta fills many user requests and bug fixes of the old version. Check it out:

      Download it from the Dialer 2000 Beta Website

New sites/Movement

New ATI RAGE PRO TURBO Beta "OpenGL ICD" Driver for Windows 95/98

Microsoft shelves Chromeffects

Counterfeit OEM Windows 98 threatens legitimate OEMs, customers

November 12, 1998

New sites/Movement

Lotus set to release Notes 5.0 beta 2

Dialer 2000

     We are now the home of the great Dialer 2000 program! It is an awesome redial program and connection utility. It'll keep you online all the time, and do much more. A new beta is coming soon, so look for an update:

      Visit the Dialer 2000 Website

K-J�fol 0.5

     The author has updated the K-J�fol website with information about 0.5 and the new domain:

Lone Runner has made an Infrared communication library for interfacing K-J�fol with some Remote controls if you got an Infrared port on your machine. This module will be in K-J�fol 0.5.

kjofol.org domain is now being setup and should be active in the following days ... I've planned to release K-J�fol 0.5 version in 1-2 weeks ...

Visit the K-J�fol Website

Multi-Language IE 5.0 Beta 2 Released To Testers

Yesterday Microsoft released five new versions of its Internet Explorer browser. These are still Beta 2, however they are in different languages. In an e-mail sent to testers, Microsoft noted that the five new versions, German, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese, were available to download. They aren't public as of yet, but based on how the Enlgish version went, I'd say look for them in about a week.

DirectX Transforms Chat

Microsoft is setting up a chat tomorrow in which the DirectX Team will answer questions about the new DirectX Transforms component. Here's the word from the DirectX site:

"The newest addition to the DirectX family of components is DirectX Transforms. Designed to simplify the implementation of transforms (wipes, ripples, and 3D morphs, just to name a few), DirectX Transforms is based on COM and opens the door for the use of a wide range of media elements without limiting developers to a single visual authoring tool. On Friday, November 13, at 9-10 a.m. (PST) 5-6 p.m. (GMT), the DirectX team will be live at MSDN Online Chat to answer your questions about this great new component."

Check out the MSDN Online Chat Page for more information. This will be a very interesting chat session, because DirectX Transforms will be one of the first products to take advantage of Chromeffects. Check it out

November 11, 1998

New stes/Movement

Microsoft announces free web trial version of PhotoDraw 2000

      New Total3D 128V Drivers for Windows 95/98

      Download The Cleaner 2.0 Public Beta, to clean many trojans

      PC-DVD Encore Drivers for Windows 95/98/NT 4.0

      Opera 3.5 beta 11, a powerful alternative browser

CppSolutions Update

CppSolutions has released FunPad 1.01, which includes a few minor bug fixes and also runs better on older systems. FunPad is described as:

FunPad is a most unique type of word processor with a mind all its own. Tell it what fonts and colors you would like it to use and it will randomly switch between them to render a document that can best be described as ' Tutti Frutti' in appearance. The user has complete control over how 'random' the settings for FunPad are. Selection of which colors, sizes and individual fonts is achieved through easy-to-use control forms. The rest of FunPad is a fully functional word processor that supports cut, copy, paste, bulleted lists, and more. Try out FunPad and you will never look at word processing the same way again!

Also, watch out for High Security v3.0 BETA 1 coming late December!

Funpad Download

PowerStrip Beta

EntechTaiwan has posted this mini update for its current beta of PowerStrip:

Somewhere along the line i740 refresh rate support was broken in the PowerStrip. Its back in the current beta, so - assuming you enable programmable refresh rate support - you should once again be able to select any refresh rate from 60Hz on up to 200Hz.

Visit the EntechTaiwan Website

New sites/Movement

Microsoft ships Office 2000 Beta 2 in broadest office preview program ever

McAfee VirusScan 3.1 v4.0.1 BETA 1 for Windows 3.x

     McAfee has released VirusScan 3.1 v4.0.1 BETA 1, which is for Windows 3.x. I have no clue why anyone would be running Windows 3.x, check it out if you want:

      McAfee Beta Website

SQL Server 7.0 build 619 and 618 Enterprise Edition

     Microsoft has posted a few new files on their FTP, SQL Server 7.0 build 619 and SQL Server 7.0 Enterprise Edition build 618. Build 619 is dated November 10th, and Enterprise Edition build 618 is dated November 11th. Unfortunately, both files are over 100 megs and contain password protection. Download them from Microsoft:

      ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/sql/xfer/$_REL0619_$/REL0619.EXE - SQL Server 7.0 build 619

      ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/sql/xfer/cjl618.exe - SQL Server 7.0 Enterprise Edition build 618

November 10, 1998

McAfee VirusScan 4.0.1 Final

McAfee posted version 4.0.1 Release Candidate a week ago on their beta webpage. Since then, it has been removed from the webpage. I assume the final version will be out shortly. Check your program for available updates!

McAfee Beta Website

New sites/Movement

New Diamond Fire GL 1000 Pro Drivers for Windows 95/98

IE 5.0 Beta 2 Response

I want to thank all of you out there who sent in your setup logs to the special BetaNews.Com e-mail address at Microsoft. They have closed the account, so don't bother sending anymore logs. Thanks to your work, the IE 5.0 Product team has discovered the bug in the Active Setup. Here's the response I received from Microsoft:

A lot of folks helped out with this and we've been able to isolate the problem to being an install bug. Right now the team is determining the best work around (if possible). Even having all cabs on the harddrive does not solve this). I'll send word (workaround, warning, relnotes, etc.) once we've got this figured out so you can post for your readers.

Internet Explorer Team

     I think Microsoft deserves a big thank you for this one and so do all of you out there who helped out. Hopefully they can get the setup problems fixed soon for all of you who had trouble. I guess this just shows that everone can make a difference.

ICQ 99a Public??

     Whether or not Mirabilis licensed it to ZDNet, they have posted ICQ 99a for download. Since the build was only suppossed to be for ICQ Beta Testers, I think ZDNet screwed up on this one. However, while it's there go download it! ICQ 99a is a huge step from 98a and contains a million more functions so check it out.

      Download ICQ 99a

New sites/Movement

      New Permedia 2 Beta Drivers for Windows NT 4.0

Netscape TuneUp for IE

Netscape has released Netscape TuneUp for Internet Explorer. Here is a description:

Netscape Communications Corp. delivered on its promise to give Internet Explorer users a way to tap into functionality it offers its own browser users through the Netcenter portal site, releasing Thursday a free software add-on to IE. TuneUp for IE, which the company said makes IE "smart," is a part of Netscape's plan to help drive traffic to its year-old portal service. It gives users of Microsoft Corp.'s IE browser access to Netscape's Smart Browsing service, a feature that lets users type in keywords and general phrases to search the Web rather than requiring that they use the URL for a site. TuneUp, a 40KB program that Netscape said requires less than 30 seconds to download over a 28.8K-bps modem connection, also integrates services offered at Netcenter's portal site into IE.

Download Netscape TuneUp for IE

Office 2000 Consumer and Corporate Preview

     Microsoft has announced a public release of Beta 2 of Office 2000. You will be able to purchase it from Microsoft for $19.95, for the cost of shipping the product. Bookmark the preview website:

      Microsoft Office 2000 Preview

      Testers get Office 2000 beta (News.Com)

K-J�fol 0.5

     The author of K-J�fol, an MP3/VQF/AAC player, has released a few new screenshots of version 0.5. Version 0.5 will feature the new docking mode! Check them out:

      Screenshot 1 and Screenshot 2

      Visit the K-J�fol Website

New sites/Movements

      Microsoft Delivers Windows NT Services for UNIX Add-On Pack

      Download Adobe Photoshop 5.0.2 Update for Windows

      New Diamond Monster Fusion Driver Update

     Sorry for the downtime, our server went down while I was sleeping!

Winamp 2.05

     Justin, from over at Nullsoft, has updated his finger with information about Winamp 2.05:

Winamp 2.05 will be out sometime this week with CDDB support, wVis 4.0, a whole bunch of new stuff, and so forth.

Winamp Finger Website

NADDY Update

The author of NADDY, an upcoming MP3 player to feature the Audio Enlightenment decoding engine, has updated the webpage. Included is information about features, enhancements, etc. Check out the following excert:

I've reduced NADDY's overall cpu usage to an average of 8-9% on Tritos, I haven't tested it on Deuteros yet.

Read the full post at the Audio Enlightenment Website

November 9, 1998

Windows 2000 Upgrading Whitepaper

Microsoft has posted a Whitepaper dealing with upgrading to Windows 2000. Windows 2000 is going to be the next major operating system in the Windows family, but who really needs it? Read the Whitepaper and find out. Here's a snipet from the site:

"Download the document below for an overview of the key steps and considerations involved in upgrading to Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional."

Download the Windows 2000 Whitepaper

K-J�fol and BetaNews.Com Team Up!

BetaNews.Com and K-J�fol are partnering up to help spread the word about this wonderful digital audio player. http://kjofol.betanews.com is now the official mirror for the K-J�fol homepage, and I might also note, the fastest. K-J�fol is one of the best digital audio players on the market as it is the fastest and has more support for today's music. It is the only player that currently supports AAC (soon to be MP4) and VQF. If you haven't used K-J�fol yet, you are missing out, so go download it from the menu at the right. K-J�fol v0.5 is in the works, and will support unbelievable docking capabilities. Check out the screenshots posted on the K-J�fol homepage.

K-J�fol Homepage

IE 5.0 Beta 2 Setup Problems - IMPORTANT!

As promised I got word back from Microsoft on what to do if your setup stalls out, or just keeps restarting. There is no clear remedy as of yet, but this is your chance to help make IE 5.0 work. This is the official word from the IE 5.0 Product Team:

One thing that would be of help to us is requesting the activesetuplog.txt file found in the Windows directory. If your users could pass that along to [email protected] as an attachment that would be great.

Internet Explorer Team

Microsoft has set up a special address for BetaNews.Com in order to fix problems with the setup. Don't forget to attach your activesetuplog.txt located in your Windows directory before you send the mail off. The subject line must be Betanews.com: Install or your e-mail will be ignored.

Also, many of you who tried to download each file one by one, without Active Setup, have encountered problems with setup trying to redownload instead of loading the files locally. I have sent word into Microsoft asking how to correct the error, since this was never a problem with Beta 1.

Macromedia Dreamweaver 2 Beta

Macromedia has launched the beta of Dreamweaver, and has made it available for registered customers. We have links to direct downloads:

Dreamweaver 2.0 Public Beta for Win 32 (English, 10MB)

Dreamweaver 2.0 Public Beta for Power Mac (English)

Macromedia Dreamweaver Beta Download Center

Dreamweaver beta launched for some (News.Com)

New patch

      Download Scour Media Agent Patch to fix networking download problems

      Microsoft and Sonic Foundry announce beta release of new content creation tool for Windows Media Technologies

Rage Pro Tweaker - Public Release 1.1

     After a long period of no updates, the author of WindowBlinds has released a new version of Rage Pro Tweaker. This program allows you to tweak and overclock your ATI video card. Supported chipsets are:

ATi Rage Pro (I.e. Xpert@Play, Xpert@Work, All-In-Wonder Pro)
ATi Rage II / II+ (I.e. 3D Expression+)
ATi Rage I (I.e. 3D Expression)
ATi Mach64

Download Rage Pro Tweaker - Public Release 1.1

MultiRes 1.07

EntechTaiwan has released a new version of MultiRes. Check out the post on their website:

MultiRes (104kb) is a small, free, 32-bit alternative to QuickRes, with refresh rate and multi-monitor support for up to nine display devices under Windows 98/2000. The utility is backwardly compatible with the original retail release of Windows 95 as well as NT 4.0, and features optional timed confirmation prompts that can be enabled or disabled for each device. This update fixes problems under Russian Windows, adds Polish language support and has been validated under NT 5.0 Beta2. (Another PowerStrip beta is also up, with the same enhancements plus massive support for S3's new LC2X and a battery of other refinements.)

EntechTaiwan Website

Netscape Communicator 4.08

Netscape has released a new version of its popular browser. Snag it from their FTP:

Download Netscape Communicator 4.08

November 8, 1998

DirectX 6.1 and Availability

     I know several beta testers have posted threads onto the tester newsgroups referring to the legality of our actions. We did nothing more that post a direct link to a public distribution location at Microsoft.

     Some testers do not approve because they desire the feeling of priority over the public, which has since been removed. I think it is rather rediculous since only testers can contribute to the construction of the program, by sending in bug reports. Why does the availability of the program make any difference to how you send in bug reports?

     Sorry if I offended anyone, some testers are getting out of hand.

BGR Software

Brian Galm of BGR Software has released a massive update to just about all of his programs. Check out the individual pages:

No Password?!?

After my previous two posts, I went to check out the DirectX Premium site and realized it never asked me for a password. In fact it let me start downloading. This is very odd considering it is supposed to be password protected. I guess they don't care if this release is public. Who knows how long it will stay like this, so while it's still up go download DirectX 6.1 RC0! The Core is just the run-times, and all you really need. The SDK is for developers. Man we really are good at finding you these things aren't we :)

DirectX Premium Download Area

Download the DX 6.1 RC0 Core from Microsoft - 4.8MB

Download the DX 6.1 RC0 SDK from Microsoft - 86MB

DirectX 7 Information Finally!

On the heels of the DirectX 6.1 RC0 release, Microsoft has finally broken word about DirectX 7. This is a big relief for all of you out there sitting for months with no word on the matter. Everyone who recieved and returned your DirectX 7 NDAs will be sent passwords to the DirectX Premium site late next week. You guys are encouraged to download the DirectX 6.1 RC0 (below) and test it once you receive your logins. We will have more information about DirectX 7 in the coming weeks, so keep an eye open. If you aren't a tester, there's still a chance to get in and test, so visit the BetaNews's hotlist and apply.

DirectX 6.1 RC0 Sent To Testers - Final Release Date

This news is hot of the press guys. DirectX 6.1 Release Candidate 0 CDs have been sent to manufacturing and will be shipped sometime next week. If you don't want to wait for your CDs, you can download the DirectX 6.1 RC0 SDK and Runtime files from the DirectX Premium site. It's build 4.06.02.0407. This is a huge release, as Microsoft wants feedback by Thanksgiving in hopes of hitting final RTM by mid-December. Thanks to all the testers who sent us information pertaining to this release.

WindowFX and Window Blinds Merge

Two of the best user interface enhancement products on the market, WindowFX and WBLiteFX, are merging. Stardock (makers of WindowFX) and Neil (creator of Window Blinds) are combining forces. Now Window Blinds will be a Stardock product and WindowFX will be the result of WBLiteFX and WindowFX. Here's the inside scoop:

"We should have new betas of Window Blinds and WindowFX up shortly. The merged WBLiteFX/WindowFX (super WindowFX) won't be up for a few weeks though."