EVGA today announced a new piece of value-added feature for its customers: the EVGA SLI Enhancement. The feature forms as a part of NVIDIA Forceware drivers that has an expanded SLI profiles list. To make full use of two or more GPUs teamed in an SLI setup, games and 3D applications need "SLI profiles". The general Forceware driver isn't necessarily in tune with the frequency at which new games are released. EVGA has taken the initiative to release SLI profiles for games before NVIDIA does.

The company released the first release of the SLI Enhancement (version: 02.11.09), which is based on NVIDIA Forceware 182.05 driver suite, and supports the entire range of graphics products EVGA currently sells. When installed, the software intends to boost performance in SLI setups for Burnout Paradise and Necrovision Demo (DX10 Mode), apart from all the applications Forceware 182.05 already has profiles for. The software is exclusive for registered EVGA customers. Visit this page for more.

Patch Tuesday is here with five critical and there important patches that address multiple vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office, Windows and Internet Explorer. One of the five critical patches is designed to resolve a flaw in Microsoft Office Project, which could allow attackers to take complete control of users' systems if they open a malicious Office Project file. A second critical patch is designed to tackle GDI (Graphics Device Interface) vulnerabilities in Windows. One of the security bulletins is a cumulative patch for IE, and the other is designed to resolve vulnerabilities in ActiveX Kill Bits. Microsoft also issued a critical Windows patch for vulnerabilities in its VBScript and JScript Scripting engines, which could provide attackers with access to users' systems and allow them to install programs, as well as view and change data. Download and find more information here: Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for April 2008.

The first patch for Crysis has been released, which you can download from here. The changes are as follows:

Fixes:

• Damage dealt to vehicles when shot by LAW has been made consistent
• F12 (screenshot) now works in restricted mode as well
• When player melees during gun raise animation, their gun will not be in a permanently raised position anymore
• Memory leaks and potential crashes

Developer Infinity Ward has just released the 1.4 patch for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The changes are as follows:

• "Winter Crash", a holiday version of Multiplayer map "Crash"
• Improvements to the server browser
• Fixed some rare bullet accuracy issues for all weapons.
• For server admins: fixed user ban list not working correctly on servers. Ban.txt will be created in the main or fs_game directory

You can download the patch from here.

Developer Infinity Ward has just released the 1.3 patch for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

This patch addresses the issue reported by community member Uzi Kidding which now catches some files bypassing the pure client test. In addition this update will set properties so that Anti-lag is always enabled upon map loads, an optimization for Sniper Rifle accuracty at certain distances, as well a fix so text chat between rounds of multiplayer will no longer cut out at the end. The 1.3 patch will also include all previous fixes from previous patches.

You can download the patch from here.

Microsoft has released a new compatibility pack for Word, Excel and PowerPoint 2007 file formats. This pack should allow Office 2000, XP or 2003 users to open, edit, and save documents, workbooks, and presentations using the Office 2007 format, which may be useful to people moving documents between work and home where different versions of Office are in use. Before you install the pack, make sure you have installed all high priority updates from Microsoft Update - you can download the 27.5MB pack here.

THQ has issued the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl 1.0003 patch, updating US and European releases of the game. There are patches to update the original game, as well as 1.0001 release (if you have that one installed your save games will be preserved). The 1.0003 release offers more bug and crash fixes, plus the 16:9 aspect ratio now works correctly.

Community team coordinator on the European MotorStorm forums, "Lestrade" writes that an update for the game will be coming "in the next couple of weeks." The update will be free and is required to play the game online.

The patch, which bumps up the game to version 1.2, will address several issues, including a bug that allowed racers to exploit the boost, an increase in the size of the buddy list, better online performance, audio issues, and more.

A very curious ArsTechnica member (Nivenhbro/jjwalker), as far as I can tell, got very bored one day and decided to start project Float32. The end result of all this concentrated boredom and effort is an extremely well done S.T.A.L.K.E.R. mod. Of course, as we all know, third party add-ons may easily be broken by the makers of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. with patches.

The modification boasts better bump mapping, adds real time calculated specular effects, improves full reflection vector calculations, and boosts soft shadow quality. At the same time of offering all these improvements and more, the mod improves efficiency of the game, increasing frame-rate by no less than 20%, which is no small feat. Using next generation (and NDA) hardware, The Inquirer claims that they see a 20-25% improvement in frame-rate.

If you want to try this modification for yourself, save a copy of your original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. files, and head over to NGOHQ.

NVIDIA has released new WHQL certified 8 Series ForceWare driver version 158.18 that adds support for GeForce 8600 GTS, GeForce 8600 GT, GeForce 8500 GT, GeForce 8400 GS, and GeForce 8300 GS GPUs. This version offers increased performance in 3D applications. Please read the release notes for more information.

Windows Vista 32-bit (30.4 MB)
Windows Vista 64-bit (43MB)

Anyone who uses Windows Vista and Mozilla Firefox may be pleased to hear that the Windows Media Player team has now released a plugin for Firefox that should allow the browser to play WMP content on websites. Here are the steps to get it working:

• Installation of the Windows Media Player Firefox Plugin may require administrative access to your PC. It is recommended that you close all other open browser windows before continuing with the installation.
• Click the Install button to automatically download and install the Windows Media Player Firefox Plugin.
• Depending on your security settings, you may see a Security Warning dialog box. Click Install to install the plugin.

There is a known issue if you are using Firefox version 2.0.0.3 on Windows Vista with the installer failing with error code -203. To work around this simply restart Firefox (you will get a notification that Windows Vista will be changing the Firefox compatibility settings) and then install again - the second time should succeed.

The download is available here, and the new plugin works on all versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista (although it is mostly intended for Vista, as that currently has no WMP support in Firefox).

Microsoft has released an updated version of its MS07-017 patch that fixes some incompatibility problems with the animated cursor vulnerability patch. Early installers of the original 925902(MS07-017) patch that was issued on Tuesday reported seeing error messages with their Realtek HD Audio Control panel. In addition to Realtek, users of three lesser known programs could be affected. Those programs are ElsterFormular, TUGZip and CD-Tag. Microsoft says the problem appears because of the user32.dll and the hhctrl.ocx files have the same memory address after the patch. You can download the updated 935448 patch from here.

Forum users at Broadband Reports have posted some problems with Microsoft's new patch for Vista. The KB925902 patch, which was supposed to fix vulnerabilities including the cursor exploit, is reportedly creating issues including stopping antivirus software such as AVG and F-Secure loading correctly, causing false positives of a Trojan, and even preventing users booting entirely. Although this isn't yet a widely documented problem, it may be best to delay patching Vista until the matter becomes a little clearer. Apparently the news poster at neowin.net also experienced this problem, with one of the two computers he installed the patch on failing to boot.

Relating to Firingsquad.com, NVIDIA will release a new S.T.A.L.K.E.R. optimized graphics driver for the GeForce 8 series next week. The new optimized driver should increase the performance especially on GeForce 8800GTX cards, because these cards aren't much faster than their "little brother", the 8800GTS, when playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. with current available drivers. Additionally the new driver should provide the missing SLI-functionality in the game.

As we reported earlier EA promised to address a number of technical issues present in Command and Conquer 3. They kept their promise and here is the official Patch 1.02:
ENGLISH | GERMAN Standard Edition | GERMAN Kane Edition | SPANISH | FRENCH | ITALIAN | SWEDISH | HUNGARIAN | CZECH | DUTCH | KOREAN | POLISH | RUSSIAN | THAI | CHINESE_S | CHINESE_T

Within a couple of hours the makers of Command and Conquer 3 will come up Patch 1.2 to fix certain issues. Electronic Arts realized the launch of the latest C&C sequel hasn't "been completely smooth" so to make everyone happy they are right now working hard to address reported problems like disconnects or freezes in game lobbies, the lobby refresh time and quirks with the built-in updater. So stay tuned and check the official C&C Tiberium Wars Website.

Developed for the PC by the Company's world-renowned development studio Firaxis Games, Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword will be the second expansion pack for Civilization IV - the 2005 PC Game of the Year and a major commercial success, selling over 1.5 million units worldwide since its October 2005 release. The expansion will focus on the late-game time periods after the invention of gunpowder and will deliver 12 challenging and decidedly different scenarios created by the development team at Firaxis Games, as well as members of the Civilization Fan Community. Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword will also include ten new civilizations, 16 new leaders, five new wonders, and a variety of new units that will offer even more fun and exciting ways for players to expand their civilization's power as they strive for world domination. Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword will be available in July 2007.

AMD/ATI has released this month's version of its display driver for the Radeon 9500 series and higher cards, taking the version number to 7.3. The driver is available for both Windows XP and Windows Vista, on 32-bit and 64-bit systems, with each requiring a different download. New features include OpenGL CrossFire support for Windows Vista, as well as other crossfire enhancements for Windows Vista which could see X1000 series cards gain performance improvements of up to 60%. There are obviously a number of other small issues that have been resolved in Vista and XP, but nothing too major.

Download links:

• Windows XP 32-bit
• Windows XP 64-bit
• Windows Vista 32-bit
• Windows Vista 64-bit

This is the first patch released for the long awaited S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl fixing a list of more than 68 different game issues. There are different versions of the patch for the different SKU's released worldwide and for the Digital Distribution version. Be carefull which one you use. Please note that Saved games from previous versions will NOT work with the patch. Please click here, read the patch description and download it if you want.

New version 3.3 of the NVIDIA BIOS Editor (NiBiTor) software, has just been released. NiBiTor is the original and definitive BIOS tweaker that supports the latest NVIDIA graphics cards, and which is updated on a regular basis. NiBiTor allows graphics card enthusiasts, or the hardcore overclockers to have full control over some advanced features and functionality found on firmware of supporting cards. This version has added support for the 8800 series as well as some minor bug fixes.

Download: NVIDIA BIOS Editor (NiBiTor) v3.3

The March 2007 Windows Vista Application Compatibility Update is a package of software updates that address common application compatibility issues in Windows Vista. When you try to install and run certain legacy games or applications in Windows Vista, you may experience one or more of the following symptoms: The game, the application, or the firmware may not be installed correctly, may cause system instability, or may not work correctly.

Download: Windows Vista Application Compatibility Update March 2007

Mozilla has issued another minor update to its Firefox 2.0 web browser. New for Firefox 2.0.0.3 is a single security fix that patches up a hole in the browser's FTP PASV functionality. Also new in 2.0.0.3 are fixes to improve Web site compatibility. Firefox users can download the 2.0.0.3 updater from Mozilla's homepage or use the auto update function within the browser.

Linux/Unix (*nix) users have probably heard all about Gnome by now. Gnome is a window manager for the X Window system. Window managers allow *nix users that would otherwise be looking at command line or the rather bland X Windows system to use something much more elegant, which may even surpass Windows or Macintosh's various window managers in functionality, efficiency, and beauty. Back to Gnome. The makers of Gnome have ensured that they would stay on a timetable for releases, and 2.18 rolled out just in time. Gnome 2.18 adds a laptop power manager for mobile users, improves window managing between two windows, and vastly improves security. If you're really interested in all the changes from the previous version of Gnome, you can read the full release notes here.

Those of you using *nix (such as the techPowerUp! FreeBSD club) who enjoy the clean Gnome environment can download the latest version here.

After a day spent in preflashing my new Sony PSP, it seems appropiate for me to inform you that an upcoming system update of the PlayStation 3 firmware to version 1.6 will give users the ability to download files from the PlayStation Network in the background. Currently, PlayStation 3 owners must halt all activity and remain focused on the download progress bar. Any attempt at another operation on the console will cancel the download, which is non-resumable. Another recently announced feature to be included in the 1.60 update is the introduction of Folding@home functionality, giving owners of a PS3 the opportunity to use their new game system to help find real-life cures to diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cystic fibrosis and many cancers. Version 1.60 will also improve the Web browsing ability of the PS3. The update will bring zooming and new resolution settings for easier surfing, plus a full-sized keyboard on-screen for more convenient text entry. The release date of the new firmware is March 22 2007.

Anyone who's really been paying attention to the recent things coming through Windows Update knows that an update to the Windows Media Player 11 runtime recently has been released (say, wasn't patch Tuesday a few days ago?). Anyone who's been wondering what this update does need not look much further. There was apparently a problem with the way Windows Media Player "metered" the times a song bought over subscription services was put on a digital device. This led to all sorts of issues, such as entire music stores not working (it's not fun, trust me), and sometimes outright failures of Windows Media Player library to MP3 player transfers. You can read the full details from Microsoft as to how exactly they fixed this problem here. Or, you could just be glad that if you go through the trouble of paying for your music, you can rest assured you'll actually be allowed to listen to it.