IT News Head Lines (TechSpot) 25/02/2014

Mobile Apps: Who is buying the most apps, and where?
A new study from app analytics firm Distimo authoritatively concludes that Asia is now the world’s top marketplace for apps, and that it's leading the charge by large margin when compared to other markets. Year over year revenue from 2012 to 2013 rose by 162% with much of that coming...












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Samsung unveils Galaxy Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo smartwatches
Mobile World Congress is now upon us and Samsung is wasting no time in showcasing their latest wares. The South Korean electronics giant on Sunday announced two new smartwatches at the annual trade show in Barcelona, Spain.












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Weekend tech reading: Q&A with Satya Nadella, running an email server, Xeon E7 v2 reviewed
Q. What leadership lessons have you learned from your predecessor, Steve Ballmer? A. The most important one I learned from Steve happened two or three annual reviews ago. I sat down with him, and I remember asking him: "What do you think? How am I doing?"...












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Microsoft details Windows Phone 8.1 at MWC
Alongside announcements surrounding a spring update to Windows 8.1, Microsoft has detailed Windows Phone 8.1 at their Mobile World Congress press conference today. Most of the information revealed revolves around Windows Phone hardware, although Microsoft's Joe Belfiore did state that the update will be coming in spring and all Windows...












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Microsoft officially announces a 'spring' update to Windows 8.1
During Microsoft's press conference at Mobile World Congress today, the company officially announced that a new update is coming to Windows 8.1 this spring. Joe Belfiore, head of phones, PCs and tablets at Microsoft, said that while "we love touch", the update will focus mostly on improving the user experience...












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Weekend Open Forum: How loud is your computer?
Fan noise is one of the few things I’m reluctant to compromise on when building a computer. I’m not big into gaming or overclocking these days so my most recent builds have all featured low-end graphics cards and stock CPU clocks.












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HP's PC business sees growth for the first time in 7 quarters
HP has released its fiscal Q1 earnings with unexpected growth in its PC business. HP's CEO Meg Whitman said recently that this was the first time in seven quarters the company's PC business has experienced growth.












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LinkedIn grants members the ability to block others
LinkedIn on Friday announced a new feature that members have been requesting for quite some time: the ability to block other members. It’s a feature that will no doubt be incredibly useful, especially on a social network where many can be relentless in their pursuit of making a professional connection. ...












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Australia's 4G is the fastest in the world, US' ranks second slowest
Users of 4G LTE in the US: Your last-gen network isn't as fast as you think. British research firm OpenSignal, which specializes in wireless coverage mapping, has released a report which states that Australia has the fastest 4G Internet speed in the world. While the US is second slowest, the...












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Sprint introduces Wi-Fi calling, texting to improve service coverage
Sprint on Friday announced a new Wi-Fi calling and messaging service that the carrier claims will improve overall network coverage. The service, which allows subscribers to make voice calls as well as send and receive text messages when not in range of a Sprint service tower, is initially launching on...












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Weekend game deals: Crysis 3 $5, GTA III-IV $12, Metro: Last Light $20, CoD: Ghosts free weekend
Along with free weekend access and half off Call of Duty: Ghosts, Steam has cut 35-75% off Ubisoft titles, with the biggest discounts currently on Might and Magic games. Meanwhile, Crysis 3 is $5 at GameStop, Metro: Last Light is $20 at GamersGate, Company of Heroes 2 is $13 at...












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Overstock does nearly $1 million in Bitcoin sales in first month
Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne is no stranger to being an early adopter of technology. He was among the first to purchase to one of Tesla’s Model S electric cards five years ago and apparently, some things never change. As you may recall, Byrne’s company recently became the first major online...












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Amazon's Android set-top streaming box reportedly scheduled to launch in March
Amazon's set top streaming box did not make its release window last year, but reports are suggesting the online retail giant is still moving forward with the device. A Recode report citing various sources said that Amazon is preparing to launch the device in March of this year.












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LaCie's new external drive line-up is equipped with 5TB Seagate drives
LaCie on Thursday became the first company to ship a 5TB, 7,200 RPM external hard drive. The drives are available in an array of external storage enclosures including the 5big Thunderbolt Series, the 2big Thunderbolt Series and the d2 Thunderbolt Series as outlined in a press release on the matter.












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Pirate sites reportedly generate a whopping $227 million a year in ad revenue
Ever wondered how much a torrent portal, linking site, or cyberlocker earns from advertisements? The Digital Citizens Alliance (DCA) has released a comprehensive report (PDF) detailing how much piracy sites are making in ad revenue. Titled “Good Money Gone Bad: Digital Thieves and the Hijacking of the Online Ad Business”,...












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US Postal Service to issue commemorative Steve Jobs stamp next year
The late Steve Jobs will be honored by the United States Postal Service with a commemorative stamp in 2015. The stamp, selected by the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC), will be part of a collectible series printed next year according to a document obtained by The Washington Post.












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Roadmap reveals Intel Broadwell NUCs coming Q4 2014
If you've been looking for a small form factor PC recently, chances are you've stumbled upon Intel's Next Unit of Computing (NUC), a tiny 4x4" PC powered by either 'Ivy Bridge' or 'Haswell' low-power parts. NUCs haven't been hugely popular, but they do provide an interesting solution for some applications...












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Google's 'Project Tango' smartphone is loaded with 3D sensors to map your surroundings
Google just released a new 5-inch Android-based smartphone prototype called Project Tango. Unlike other handsets already on the market, Project Tango is equipped with multiple Kinect-style 3D sensors that, with the help of some other components, can track motion and even map your surroundings.












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T-Mobile expands International Talk & Text plan to include mobile numbers
T-Mobile on Thursday announced the expansion of their Stateside International Talk & Text plan. Starting February 23, subscribers can sign up for a revised plan that includes all of the features of the current $10 plan plus added unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling from the US to more than 30 countries and...












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Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirms talks with Apple, says acquisition is unlikely at this point
After wide speculation surfaced recently regarding Apple being interested in acquiring electric car company Tesla, CEO Elon Musk has recently been publicly quoted saying that this is not the case, sort of.












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Adobe issues second emergency patch for Flash Player this month
Adobe has released a critical security update for its Flash Player plug-in for Windows, Mac and Linux – the second in less than three weeks. The update addresses a zero-day exploit first uncovered by security firm FireEye a week ago that targeted visitors of at least three nonprofit websites.












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Xbox One Media Remote launching next month for $24.99
Larry Hryb (aka Major Nelson), Microsoft director of programming for Xbox Live, has confirmed that a media remote for the Xbox One is in the pipeline. Leaked via Amazon Canada earlier this month, the controller will retail for $24.99 and arrive in early March according to a blog post on...












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Valve's 'Dota 2' tournament documentary hits the web on March 19
Most of us play video games as a way to disconnect from the real world and to simply have fun but for a select few, it’s a way of life. Competitive gaming has come a long way over the past several years and if you need proof of that, Valve’s...












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Fleksy ramps up iOS keyboard app integration as SDK exits private beta
Better keyboard alternatives are finally making their way onto iOS. Following last month’s arrival of SwiftKey's predictive keyboard on Apple’s mobile platform through a note taking app, Fleksy, which has been working on a similar end-run around Apple’s restrictions, has announced it is moving its SDK out of private beta...












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Office Web Apps get rebranded as Office Online, now easier to find
Microsoft has rebranded its online Office Web Apps to Office Online in an effort to make the product less confusing to consumers. The Redmond-based company has also made it easier for newcomers to discover Office Online as many people aren’t aware that online versions of Microsoft’s Office products even exist. ...












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Nokia Lumia 525 Review

Nokia has been especially successful with their entry-level range of Windows Phones, particularly the Lumia 520, which on the back of its dirt-cheap price, quickly propelled itself to be the best-selling Windows Phone. A successor was always on the cards, but what Nokia has provided - the Lumia 525 - is a little unusual.












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Xigmatek Nebula Case Review

Enter the Nebula by Xigmatek, a striking solution that caught our attention with a neat cube design that offers a 2.2L capacity. It's safe to say the Nebula is unlike anything we've seen before, and that tends to come at a premium.












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The Homebrew Litecoin Mining Project

If you're looking to treat virtual coin mining as a hobby, Litecoins are probably the best bet right now and we'll show you how to get started with choosing and configuring the hardware and software you'll need.












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Testing Reliability: Puget Systems' List of Tried and True PC Hardware

We've all been there. You want to buy a new graphics card, you read the reviews, and settle on the best GPU within your budget. Then you have to decide from half dozen or so manufacturers that offer nearly identical hardware. But which is the most reliable?












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Broken Age, Act 1 Review

Nostalgia seeps out of every virtual pore of Double Fine's latest game. The game exists only because of the generosity of thousands of people who, by and large, wanted to recapture the charms of their video game playing youth. So, it's fitting that Broken Age looks like a gorgeously designed animated movie you can play through.












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Motorola Moto G Review

The Moto G is Motorola's biggest and best effort yet in conquering the entry-level market. It's not a handset meant to break records, but the 4.5-inch 720p display, Snapdragon 400 SoC will please the right crowds. Plus, at $179 unlocked and off-contract, it certainly fits the definition of what an affordable smartphone should be.












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Asrock Vision HT 420D Review

Now on its fourth generation, the Vision HT 420D has received an upgrade to Intel's Haswell architecture as well as other improvements that contribute to the system's respectable list of features, making it one of the most impressive HTPCs to date.












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Asus Transformer Book T100 Review

The Asus Transformer Book T100 is an entry level Windows 8.1 tablet, sporting a 10-inch touchscreen, Intel Bay Trail internals and a keyboard dock all for under $500.












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AMD A8-7600 Kaveri APU Review

AMD really is focused on gaming performance with Kaveri and believes this is where its latest APUs have a serious advantage over the competition. The company's latest processors are being pushed as budget solutions for modern 1080p gaming, though on paper the Radeon R7 doesn't look quite up to the task...












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How Much Does It Cost to Make a Video Game?

How much does a blockbuster game cost to make? Of all the opaque video game industry questions, this is perhaps the most opaque. Many in the industry don't even know the budgets of games. It is not unusual for developer working on a big-budget game to have no idea of the game's budget.












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QNAP HS-210 Silent NAS Review

QNAP's latest two-bay NAS looks more like a set-top box than network-attached storage and that's no accident. It's becoming more common to see NAS devices replacing entire HTPCs, which makes it more practical for a design that can blend in with the kind of electronic gear you typically find around a TV.












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Nokia Lumia 1520 Review

Throughout the past year we've seen companies try and pry the large-screen crown away from Samsung's Galaxy Note line. Nokia is hoping that their Lumia 1520 will give the Note 3 a run for its money, especially with its impressive spec sheet.












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Dell UltraSharp 32 Ultra HD Monitor Review

Although still in its early days, consumer 4K UHD is here. No stranger to the business of high-end displays, long-time monitor manufacturer Dell has lunged into the UHD market with some solid offerings. Today we'll be taking a look at Dell's monstrous 32-inch flagship, the UltraSharp UP3214Q.












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SSD Form Factors: Everything You Need to Know

When solid state drives first started replacing HDDs, they had to fit into computer chassis or laptop drive bays built for HDDs, so they had to conform to HDD dimensions. However, there's no requirement for the SSD to match the shape of a typical HDD as it's more evident today.












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Free-For-All: How Valve Is Building a New Way to Play Games

The decidedly odd, innovative Steam Controller. What will happen when a company steeped in software releases their first piece of hardware? No one -- including the people making the controller -- is quite sure.












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Gigabyte Radeon R9 290X OC and R9 290 OC Review

AMD's Radeon R9 290 and 290X made a strong case against Nvidia's GeForces last year, but that position soon weakened with unexpectedly high prices. High temps on reference cards didn't help either. This time we'll revisit the cards with actual production units from Gigabyte so we can weigh in on third-party performance at actual market prices.












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Asrock Z87 Extreme11/ac Review: The Making of a Unique Motherboard

Asrock's new Z87 Extreme11/ac may very well be the most extreme motherboard we've handled. It touts four-way GPU support, over 20(!) SATA ports, premium onboard audio, dual gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and -- unsurprisingly -- the largest price tag in its class. So, how exactly does a company justify $540 for a motherboard?












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10 Mobile Tech Predictions for 2014

High resolution 1080p displays started to rival real paper, quad-core processors dominated, and smartphone cameras packed more megapixels than a professional DSLR. So what will 2014 bring?












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The Year in Tech: 2013 Top Technology Stories

Twenty-thirteen has been an eventful year marked by a changing landscape in the computing world, the usual product refreshes in mobile, the birth of new consoles, the rise of Bitcoin, and the harsh realization that pretty much nothing you do online (and sometimes even offline) is private.












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Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Review

Many companies have tried to make a large, note-friendly smartphone, but none have succeeded quite as well as Samsung. While the first Galaxy Note was rather large and lacking in refinement, Samsung has steadily improved the line, this year releasing the brand new Galaxy Note 3, and it has some true competition for the first time.












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Best Gadgets and Tech Products of 2013

As we reach the end of the year, it's a good time to look back and draw a line between the best tech product launches of 2013 and the rest of the pack. Leveraging the power of TechSpot's Product Finder, here come 2013's most popular and noteworthy tech products across 14 categories.












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Aftermarket CPU Cooling: Closed Loop Water Cooling vs. Air Cooling

Recently we compared 10 of the best CPU air coolers and we've since wondered how these would fare against a water cooling setup. Closed loop systems simplify the process of diving into water cooling, are safe and easy to work with as air cooling.












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WTF: 10 of the Weirdest Products Ever

First, a friendly disclaimer. This is not a holiday shopping list. If you were hoping to find something useful to give, this ain't the place. For all the useful items you can potentially find while browsing around on Amazon, eBay or your online retailer of choice, there are always the occasional WTF?! products in the mix.












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mHotspot 7.6.0.0
mHotspot: Turn your windows 7 & 8 laptop into wifi hotspot and make a virtual wifi router.









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WeChat 5.1
The new way to connect with friends across platforms. Download for Android, iPhone, Windows Phone and BB here.









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Sublight 4.0.5159
Sublight is popular Windows application for searching and downloading subtitles for movies and TV Series.









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TeamTalk 4.6.0
TeamTalk is a conferencing system which enables a group of people to collaborate and share information









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Hasher 3.0
Program emerged as a result of a BackUp Utility project break-up. Basic idea for this part of the project is to calculate hash/checksum for a file.









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Cain & Abel 4.9.54
Enables network administrators to test network security, or home users to recover a variety of stored network passwords.









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Macrorit Disk Scanner 2.8.0
Hard disk "bad sectors" is the most common problems of the hard disk. Bad sectors are little clusters of data on your hard disk that cannot be read.









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VLC Media Player for Mac 2.1.4
Highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats.









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HDDlife Pro 4.0.194
HDDlife is the protection of your personal information.









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dBpowerAMP Music Converter R15
This great audio tool has a wide range of functions and is easy to use.









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Macrorit Disk Partition Expert Home Edition 3.4.4
Macrorit Disk Partition Expert is newest Windows based PC and Server partition manager software.









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Twitter for Android 5.1.3
Wherever you are, Twitter brings you closer.









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DVD Audio Extractor 7.2.0
DVD Audio Extractor is a powerful software DVD audio extracting / ripping tool.









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Kingo Android Root 1.2.0
Android Root is free of any change. Ultras safe and secure software without any risks. The easiest Android root software you have ever seen. Supports almost every Android device and all Android versions.









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IObit Malware Fighter 2.3.0.10
IObit Malware Fighter detects the most complex and deepest spyware and malware while to make sure we do not lag your PC.









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Aero Glass for Windows 8 1.2
Experience native look of Aero Glass interface on Windows 8.









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WhatsApp Messenger for Android 2.11.169
WhatsApp Messenger is a cross-platform mobile messaging app which allows you to exchange messages without having to pay for SMS.









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Adobe Flash Player Beta for Mac 13.0.0.130
Flash Player 11 introduces new developer features and enhanced user privacy protection.









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YUMI 2.0.0.1
YUMI (Your Universal Multiboot Installer), is the successor to MultibootISOs.









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Waterfox 27.0.1
Waterfox is a high performance browser based on the Mozilla Firefox source code. Waterfox is specifically for 64-bit systems, with one thing in mind: speed.









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Free Hide IP 3.9.5.2
Anonymize your web surfing, send anonymous emails through any web based mail system, get unbanned from restricted forums or other websites, and keeping your computer safe from hacker attacks.









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Adobe Flash Player Beta 13.0.0.130
This is a developer pre-release version of the Adobe Flash Player 11.









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Wine 1.7.13
Open Source implementation of the Windows API on top of X and Unix. Think of Wine as a compatibility layer for running Windows programs.









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EasyGPS 5.05
This program generates, manages and edits GPS routes.









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Gadwin PrintScreen 5.0.2
Want to create a screenshot suitable for saving or printing? Then just hit a key on your keyboard. Oh yeah, you'll have to download this program first.









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AMD Mobility Catalyst Display Driver 12.4 for Windows Vista/7 64-bit
Driver Date: 4/25/2012 OS Support: Windows Vista / 7 64-bit



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AMD Mobility Catalyst Display Driver 12.4 for Windows Vista/7 32-bit
Driver Date: 4/25/2012 OS Support: Windows Vista / 7



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AMD Catalyst Display Driver 12.4 for Windows Vista/7 64-bit
Driver Date: 4/25/2012 OS Support: Windows Vista / 7 64-bit



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AMD Catalyst Display Driver 12.4 for Windows Vista/7 32-bit
Driver Date: 4/25/2012 OS Support: Windows Vista / 7



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AMD Catalyst Display Driver 12.4 for Windows XP 64-bit
Driver Date: 4/25/2012 OS Support: Windows XP 64-bit



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AMD Catalyst Display Driver 12.4 for Windows XP
Driver Date: 4/25/2012 OS Support: Windows XP



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Realtek 10/100M Fast Ethernet PCI Express Driver 7.053 for Windows 7
Driver Date: 3/22/2012 OS Support: Windows 7



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Realtek 10/100/100M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Driver 5.719 for Windows XP
Driver Date: 3/22/2012 OS Support: Windows 2000/XP



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Realtek Wireless LAN ICs IEEE 802.11b/g/n RTL8188SU Driver 1086.48
Driver Date: 4/19/2012 OS Support: Windows XP/Vista/7



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Realtek Wireless LAN ICs IEEE 802.11b/g/n RTL8192SU Driver 1086.48
Driver Date: 4/19/2012 OS Support: Windows XP/Vista/7



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Realtek Wireless LAN ICs IEEE 802.11b/g/n RTL8191SU Driver 1086.48
Driver Date: 4/19/2012 OS Support: Windows XP/Vista/7



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Cisco Linksys E1500 Firmware 1.0.04
Driver Date: 3/28/2012 OS Support: Windows XP/Vista/7



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Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 301.24 Beta for Windows 7 32-bit
Driver Date: 4/10/2012 OS Support: Windows Vista / 7



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Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 301.24 Beta for Windows XP 64-bit
Driver Date: 4/10/2012 OS Support: Windows XP 64-bit



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Nvidia GeForce Notebook Graphics Driver 301.24 Beta for Windows Vista/7 32-bit
Driver Date: 4/10/2012 OS Support: Windows Vista / 7



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Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 301.24 Beta for Windows 7 64-bit
Driver Date: 4/10/2012 OS Support: Windows Vista / 7 64-bit



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Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 301.24 Beta for Windows XP 32-bit
Driver Date: 4/10/2012 OS Support: Windows XP



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Nvidia GeForce Notebook Graphics Driver 301.24 Beta for Windows Vista/7 64-bit
Driver Date: 4/10/2012 OS Support: Windows Vista / 7 64-bit



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Cisco Linksys E2500 Firmware 1.0.04
Driver Date: 4/9/2012 OS Support: Windows (all)



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Realtek PCIe FE GBE Family Controller Series Driver 6.250 for Windows Vista
Driver Date: 4/3/2012 OS Support: Windows Vista



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Realtek PCIe FE GBE Family Controller Series Driver 7.053 for Windows 7
Driver Date: 4/3/2012 OS Support: Windows 7



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Realtek PCIe FE GBE Family Controller Series Driver 5.794 for Windows 2000/XP
Driver Date: 4/3/2012 OS Support: Windows 2000/XP



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Realtek HD ALC 880 Audio CODECs R2.68 for Windows Vista/7 64-bit
Driver Date: 4/2/2012 OS Support: Windows Vista / 7 64-bit



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Realtek HD ALC 880 Audio CODECs R2.68 for Windows Vista/7 32-bit
Driver Date: 4/2/2012 OS Support: Windows Vista / 7



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Realtek HD ALC 880 Audio CODECs R2.68 for Windows 2000/XP (32/64 bits)
Driver Date: 4/2/2012 OS Support: Windows 2000/XP



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