Benchmark software is used to make those comparisons. These programs usually run a series of taxing tests to calculate the performance of specific PC components. This includes components like the processor, RAM, hard drive or video card.

Auslogics Benchtown is a new benchmark for the Windows operating system that is currently available as a beta release. It is not clear at this point in time whether it will remain free after its final release.

The program has been designed to rate the following PC components:

• 2D Desktop Graphics
• 3D Game Graphics
• HDD Performance
• Memory Speed
• CPU Calculations

It is possible to customize the tests in the program settings. Here it is possible to remove subsystems from the test and to swap the hard drive that is used during tests. The selected hard drive needs to have at least 100 Megabytes of space.

You can run a test with a click on the Rate Now button under Benchmark. Tests take less than five minutes to complete and display progress information on screen all the time.

More important than the direct feedback during tests is the benchmark results page at the end. Auslogics Benchtown displays separate values for each subsystem that has been tested as well as an overall score on screen.

A compare with friends button is displayed, but that did not work on our test system. A short message about uploading data was displayed but nothing else happened afterwards.

Several of the menus at the top did not work as well. The all my benchmarks link for instance did not do anything after activation. This could be a beta issue or an incompatibility with our test system.

Auslogics Benchtown can be used to display detailed system information. A click on the menu opens environment and hardware information after a short scan.

The program is easy to use and to handle. That’s a big plus. As is the less than five minute benchmarking process. Windows users who are looking for a new benchmarking program should take a closer look at Auslogics Benchtown. Cautious users and those in productive environments should wait until the final version of the program gets released by the company. The application is compatible with all 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system. It can be downloaded from the developer website.

We take a look at the terms and conditions later, but both are time limited unless you have a valid license for the product. Our copy of Norton Internet Security 2012 for instance expires after 14 days from the time of installation.

Lets take a look at what’s new in both applications:

The installer needs an Internet connection as it downloads the installation files during installation. The installation itself took less than a minute on a test system and had to be completed with the entering of a product key that was send to the registered email address, and a Norton account registration. No restart of the system was required.

Norton Internet Security 2012

The following modules and components are new, improved or updated in Norton Internet Security 2012:

• Interface simplification with options to run scans and updates right from the interface. Advanced users can switch to (and set as default) advanced mode which allows them to enable or disable features with a click.
• Identity Safe 2.0 can now safe data to the cloud so that you can connect to the information from multiple computers. Identity Safe is basically a password manager and form filler.
• Application Stability Ratings are introduced in Norton 2012. Norton scans the running applications on your PC and displays ratings for them. Applications are rated by their resource usage, trust level and reliability.

• Bandwidth Metering is introduced in Norton 2012 products which can limit Norton to only download critical updates or nothing at all.
• Norton Autofix is an automatic tool that tries to fix problems that you may be experiencing with your copy of Norton Internet Security 2012.
• Performance has been approved, according to Norton. This includes a smaller footprint, faster startup and shutdown times and faster scans and file access operations.
• Google Chrome users can now make use of the Identity Safe and Safe Web features, which they previously could not.
• Norton Power Eraser 2.0 and Sonar 4.0 updates introduce new features. Sonar Policy Enforcement uses behavioral analysis of processes to create profiles. The app looks at a processes previous actions and uses them in its analysis of the process. This increases the chance that malicious processes are discovered.

For example, let’s say a particular process tried to access the system folder and tried to call home, but does not have any running UI. Also, it downloaded more than 15 files the previous day. Any one of these things alone may not be “bad,” but taken as a whole, the behavioral profile is bad. The analyst will therefore make a rule that says if we see this string of behaviors, then we should stop the process from executing

Norton Antivirus 2012

Norton Antivirus 2012 has less features than Norton Internet Security 2012. The program benefits from faster performance and a streamlined interface just as its big brother but lacks many of the advanced features. The key features according to Norton are:

• Norton Protection System includes 4 layers of rock-solid protection designed to proactively protect against the very latest threats – so you can do more on your PC without disruptions.
• Insight Technology protects you from download dangers no matter which browser, instant messenger or file sharing program you use*.
• Customizable Control Center gives you the option to choose your preference between a simplified screen or the traditional detailed view.
• Bandwidth Management limits Norton’s processes and updates when you have limited bandwidth or monthly downloads.
• Download Insight 2.0 now tells you how stable a download is before you put your computer at risk for crashes or other bad things to happen.
• Norton Recovery Tools help remove threats that can be deeply buried in a PC’s operating system.

Keep in mind that both applications are beta versions which means that they may still have bugs or issues that need to be resolved. You should not install them on a productivity system.

Norton’s decision to work on the performance and user interface will make the program more attractive. Sonar Policy Enforcement is in my opinion the biggest new feature in Internet Security 2012.

Have you tried either of the betas yet? What’s your opinion?

Panda Cloud Antivirus Beta 1.1 has been made publicly available in the Panda forums where everyone can download and test this new version of the cloud based antivirus software.

The only information about new features are posted in the same forum announcement.

• Advanced configuration
• Behavioral analysis
• Exclusions of files and folders
• USB Vaccine
• Shield to avoid killing the processes or delete the Panda Cloud Antivirus files
  New behavior of the recycle bin: if you takes out a file from the recycle bin, it is possible to undo the action an put it again in.

The new beta version of Panda Cloud Antivirus 1.1 can be downloaded from here. Users are encouraged to try out the new beta version and send Panda comments, suggestions and problems reports.

Experienced testers can take a look at the recommended tests spreadsheet that is offered in another forum post by Carlos Santa Coloma, the beta center supervisor.

Panda Cloud Antivirus is a free virus software. It is likely that version 1.1 will remain free once it is released to the public.

Kaspersky has also starting to publish public beta versions of Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 and Kaspersky Antivirus 2011 that users can download from their development servers.

The announcement was made on the Kaspersky forum and on Twitter. One of the moderators of the forum posted information about changes in the 2011 lineup of Kaspersky (translated from Russian).

Granular control of application rules
The product will now use both KSN and WoC (Wisdom of Crowd) ratings, when application information is gathered (including HIPS policies)
The product informs the user of the following:
-Path
-General Information
-Protection Status
-Date the application appeared first (WoC)
-KSN participants who have this application installed (WoC)
-Trust group levels of that application among KSN participants (WoC)
-Geographic information of the application distribution of KSN participants (WoC)

Smart Installer Mode
If the product has detected an error during install:
-The user will be informed of the potential infection and AVPTool download utility will be offered.
If the product detected previous home version key (for intance KAV found KIS):
-The product will suggest an alternative code to be installed or convert functionality on the fly (KIS <> KAV)
Single downloadable executable installer for both x32 and x64 bit versions.

Kaspersky Gadget
-Allows product launch if not started already
-Quick access to the program’s main window
-Launch On Demand Task for selected object (file, folder, registry), which dragable onto the gadget itself
-Read Kaspersky Labs news via news agent (linked syndications)
-Access to Safe Desktop

Parental Control — new features
-Game Control (age rating)
-P2P Control usage
-Email Control usage
-Social Networking Control
-Credit Card payment processor sites

Enhanced Rescue Disk
-The product will verify the image consistency
-Automatic signature update, if not actual
-Support for CD/DVD via built in interface
-Support for bootable USB flash card
-The product now desinfects startup entries, registry, ini files, not only files

Green Zone
-Safe Desktop (alternative mode for all secure user operations)
-Internet Zone (Red = KL reputation dangerous, Gray = No information or not enough data, Green = Safe resource)
-Geo Security (Block resources located in certain geographical areas if the user deems that visiting them is not needed)
-Sandbox v2.0 (will now separate browsers from other programs)

Malware Search
-Idle Scan (is launched when certain criterion are met and the computer is iddle – launch of resource demanding tasks such as updater, rootkit scanner, system area scan, when the user is not present)

System Watcher
-Collects and saves events from different product subsystems and helps perform analysis for suspicious activities.
-Alerts the user by providing the information needed to make an informed decisiom (interactive mode of operations)

Misc Items
-The product will support and differentiate non-latin symbols in URLs

A forum account is required to access the beta testing forum. The programs on the other hand can be downloaded without forum registration. The download contains both KAV 2011 and KIS 2011.

DVDFab Passkey is a beta software that runs as a Windows driver in the background. It will automatically remove protections from DVDs and Blu-Rays so that these discs can be copied and played regardless of their protection or regional restrictions.

This approach ensures that all programs can access the contents on the DVDs and Blu-Rays.

Here are the core features and benefits of DVDFab Passkey:

1. Removes all DVD copy protections, like CSS, CPPM, RC, RCE, APS, UOPs, ARccOS, RipGuard, FluxDVD, CORE X2, etc.
2. Removes all Blu-ray known AACS and BD+ copy protections, Region Code, BD-Live and UOPs.
3. Allows you to watch any region DVD on your region specific DVD drive and player software.
4. Allows you to watch Blu-ray disc without HDCP-compliant graphics card and without HDCP-compliant display.
5. Allows you to use any software to access unencrypted DVD and Blu-ray disc content.

DVDFab Passkey is currently offered as a free beta version. The final version of the program will be commercial. The software program is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of most Microsoft operating systems including Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7.

Another interesting addition is the contact importer which allows users to import contacts from services like Gmail or Aol. These contacts can now also be send again to other Skype users. Old time Skype users might remember that the feature was already implemented in Skype 3 but got removed in previous versions of Skype 4. Configuring birthday reminders is another feature that is making a comeback in Skype 4.1 Beta.

Windows users can download the beta of Skype 4.1 (via Download Squad) from the official homepage. Keep in mind that betas should not be installed in productive environments.

A pdf containing the Skype 4.1 release notes is available on the same website as well.

FeedDemon 3 Beta 1 comes with several interesting new features and also one drawback which will be addressed later on. The short setup wizard will be started even if an older FeedDemon version is installed on the computer system. This might confuse users as it could seem that all feeds that have been added to that version have been lost during the upgrade. This is however not the case. The old feeds will be integrated into the new version. This takes some time as the feed items are imported and the databases checked.

The first thing that springs to mind is the new interface that looks friendly to the eye. The RSS feeds are still listed in the left sidebar and the contents in the main right window. A new addition is a small advertising window at the bottom left of the screen. That’s the drawback that I mentioned earlier on in the article. The advertisement is not really that obtrusive but could irritate or annoy some of the users.

A lot of new features have been added to this version of FeedDemon including tagging support for items which can be synchronized with Newsgator and displayed in various ways including a tag cloud at the Subscriptions Homepage. Multiple new features have been added for Twitter users like subscribing to Twitter feeds with avatar images, Twitter timelines, balloon popups for short urls that display the redirected page, replying to Twitter posts directly, automatic hyperlinking of information in Twitter feeds, the ability to send links to Twitter and even a Twitter search engine.

That’s a lot of additions for Twitter users but that’s only a tiny fraction of all the new features of FeedDemon. Users can now import Google Reader subscriptions directly but still no Google Reader synchronization. This feature is planned and it might be released in upcoming versions of FeedDemon 3.

Performance has been improved quite a bit especially when searching subscriptions or browsing popular topics. There are two interesting – and new – export options available. The first will export feeds in newspaper format into an external html document. Excellent for sending someone else a compilation of interesting feeds in that format. The second is to export the top feeds only.

Interested users can take a look at the full changelog of FeedDemon 3 Beta 1 here. This is also the location from where the RSS reader can be downloaded to the local computer system.