Three days ago, in London, Canonical Ltd. announced that since today, Ubuntu Sever, Desktop, Kubuntu and Edubuntu Linux will be available for download as new releases, bearing the 7.10 version number. Today, I just got an email announcing me about the availability of these releases for download, but you can also get CDs through mail if you ask them here. Anyway, before anything else, let's find out more about today's hot releases, shall we?



<-120x240 Vertical Banner - left->First of all, you should know that the latest Ubuntu Desktop edition comes with improved support for display systems and hardware management, as well as improved compatibility with Windows , including write support for NTFS partitions. As expected, the user interface has been enhanced, including simple 3D screen effects and other minor visual improvements. At last, you should know that most popular plugins for Firefox are now validated by Ubuntu, to improve your Web browsing experience and spare you of trying dozens of plugins until you find the right one for your purpose.

Next, the big family of Ubuntu Desktop derivatives also gets updated to version 7.10, and the list includes Edubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu and Gobuntu. While the first three of these releases are updates of their 7.04 versions, Gobuntu is a new member of the family, entirely composed of open source software that lacks any restriction. Being the first release, if you don't want to experiment, then you should grab one of the other ones, but since there are live CDs available for every Ubuntu version, there are no risks involved.

At last, the heavyweight Ubuntu Server comes with enhanced security, an improved kernel with new power saving features and optimized for use in virtualized environments, as well as updated modules for improving the performance of mail and print servers, without forgetting to add a new Python release and support for OpenMP in gcc 4.2. Additional information about the latest server edition of Ubuntu can be found here.

Existing users of Ubuntu 7.04 can upgrade their systems easily to the last version by using the update manager included in the system. Support for the current version will be offered by Canonical for 18 months, and if you want to grab a LTS release, you should go back to 6.06 or wait until the next one, due in 2008.If you want to know more about the version that's right for you, enter your comments below and we'll do our best to help you, because we're not here just to give you news, we're also doing all that we can to provide you with the support you need, too!

The battle between the Web browsers is really tough when it comes to features, and despite the fact that Internet Explorer and Firefox have a huge lead, there are a lot of capable programs for surfing the Internet, and my favorite in the last months was Opera. Today, this excellent program got a security update, bringing the current version number to 9.24...

If you're new to Opera, then you should know that this high-end browser comes with a built in BitTorrent client, pop-up blocking capabilities, mouse gestures and even voice control, but it doesn't stop here. With Opera, you also get a bunch of additional features that I'll leave for you to discover, and the best thing about it is that you can customize it unlike most of its competitors, turning it into the Web browser of your dreams, once you gain a little experience with it.

While the alpha release of Opera 9.5, codenamed Kestrel, is still pretty far from us, I already started to dream and keep my fingers crossed to see the final 9.5 release available before Firefox 3 hits the road, but let's get back to 9.24 now...

Since Opera 9.23, there are only two security fixes to be reported. The first one concerns an issue where external email clients and news readers could be used to execute arbitrary code, which could hide some malicious parts, of course, and the second problem addressed by this update is the one that involved various scripts that could overwrite functions on pages from other domains.

I know the above may sound like Chinese for the unexperienced user, but there's no need to worry about that. Just grab this update and install it on your computer, and if Opera sounds like something new, give it a try, I am sure you won't regret it!

There are so many system optimization programs around, that I'm amazed every time I discover a new one, but after browsing various forums and finding out about people that paid for two, even three or more such programs, without finding the right one, I understood. As long as the market requires cheap products, there are still going to be released more and more poor quality programs that try to tempt you with a low price and a nice interface...

What happened yesterday with STOPzilla wasn't intended, it simply happened, so I am sure you'll believe me if I say that today's program also crossed my path and it's just a minor issue the fact that I am not crazy about it. Usually, I skip this kind of software, but I think you should also be informed about what programs you must avoid, at least until they get better, and today's unfortunate pick is called SysFixMaster...

Setup

Produced by Miracle Software, SysFixMaster is a fresh product on the market, its current version being labeled 1.25. Its demo version can be kept on your computer for as long as you wish, because you won't be able to fix anything with it. Its usability is reduced almost to zero, since you can check your registry for errors or use the Uninstaller module to remove programs from your computer. To fully unleash the capabilities of the program, you have to acquire a registration key, which is priced at $36.66 now, 50% less compared to the regular price of $73.32.












To install the program, you have to download the setup package first, which has 5.2MB in size. The only issue I encountered when installing SysFixMaster was pretty funny, but it didn't make me expect anything good in the future... As you can see in the second screenshot above, there is a radio button that allows you to create a desktop icon, and a checkbox for choosing to create a Quick Launch icon or not. The problem is that you can't deselect the first one, so the only choices are to create a desktop icon, or create a desktop icon and a Quick Launch one... What do you think about this? Not good at all, but let's move on and check the interface and features, as usual...Interface
Despite the fact it doesn't have support for adding new skins and there aren't any visual themes built in either, SysFixMaster looks great, and I don't say this only because blue is my favorite color. The main window is well organized, and the graphics are very good. The only problem that I found is that the StartUp Manager and the Uninstaller have different looks, making them completely different from the parent-application. Anyway, I am sure you won't have problems understanding how this program should work, because...

Features

...SysFixMaster has a big problem, at first sight - it simply doesn't work at all! Once the main window shows up, I try to start the first tool I set my eyes on, but I get the error that you can see in the second screenshot below. Let's suppose that an error like "The program not found, make sure the path is true(...)" doesn't sound like a text translated by a monkey, and move on. Unfortunately, every single tool returns the same error, but there's still one thing left to do...












Usually, when I install a program that doesn't work, I drop it and move on, but this time I was sure that something must work with SysFixMaster, so I checked the folder where the program resides. Really funny, but I was able to start every tool from the package manually! Since the main window is used to start additional programs, it was easy for me to find them, but I am sure this is not supposed to happen, because most beginners won't think about this.Now, let's see what do we have here - System Cleaners, System Optimizers and, at last, System Tools, these are the main areas covered by the utilities included in SysFixMaster, and I must say that I didn't find anything to blow my head off, especially since the limitations of the demo don't allow to clean the registry or optimize the memory with the Memory Manager.












These being said, "fastest memory manager" or "revolutionary technology that promise(!) to substantially increase the speed(...)" are nothing but words, without any practical backup. It's a miracle that I didn't slam this program off the wall yet, but there's time... after all, this is only version 1.25, and I didn't finish the article yet!The Good

SysFixMaster looks very good and comes with a lot of promises, but...

The Bad

...considering the fact that most users won't be able to use it, it can't get worse than this! Even if everything would work as promised, the price asked for this product is too high, especially since the English language used by the producer has some serious flaws!

Conclusion

This concludes today's review, and I hope this is also the finish of my "black reviews series". I hope you got the message, but if you have enough time to spare, please download this program and give it a try, maybe it was a random even the fact that it refused to work as promised on my computer... and if you get lucky, let us know about your experience!

Developer: Miracle Software
Price: $36.66
Trial Link: Download