First Indian web browser : EPIC

When it comes to Web Browser, Majority of Indians use Internet Explorer (may be due to ignorance). Epic browser is an initiative by Hidden reflex, a software company which built a Browser (especially suited to Indian use) on Mozilla Firefox Platform in partnership with several other Big Commercial Giants of India.

Design and Interface

This makes the first impression and Epic wins your heart. Colourful background and Menu interface similar to Firefox doesn’t make you feel working on new stuff. App sidebar can be left open or closed on left side on choice and selection of Apps is wondrous with all intuitive icons on left. Moreover, you are free to explore 1500+ Themes and Backgrounds for Epic.
You get access to Personas from Skin tab in Applications sidebar and ability to create custom themes by adding a wallpaper of your choice from Computer. This option is really a killer which makes your browser very customizable.

Custom Applications and Addon Suppport

Sidebar applications will be its USP as you get app for each and every essential thing by default. Let it be news, Social networking sites or Listening radio or Web TV. Everything is available at a click inside the browser on the left pane. Even you can browse Local folders on My computer or enjoy Orkut, Facebook like apps while working side by side. Along with the built in apps, 100% of all addons and plugins for Firefox work on Epic.
For Social networks, they have enabled Mobile version of specific site which resembles like an app, Another impressive thing is to have inbuilt word processor inside browser. Although, all the above things mentioned may be or may be brought to Firefox using several apps, Getting it inbuilt in a browser is a gift to a not-so-geeky or a person who is not a tech-savvy.

Speed, Privacy and Security

Epic is built on Firefox platform so, you need not worry about browsing speed and security flaws. It is a Firefox browser with lots of addition and enhancements. Again, it has something more which even Native Firefox too doesn’t have: Epic integrates first ever Web Browser Antivirus protection from NOD32 built in browser.

Typing in Indian Regional Languages

This was a real pain for naive user but with Epic, you don’t have to install anything and type in any Indian regional languages on the go. Total 12 Languages are supported which includes Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Nepali, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, Urdu, Gujarati and Sanskrit.

Why Epic Browser will work?

This product is mainly targeted for Indian web users so, I will emphasize on India only. First thing which will attract an user will be regional and patriotic feeling. Upon using, you will have no regrets as everything an Internet surfer wants to have is just a click away without any confusion. Secondly, you get the trust of Mozilla Firefox which has big share in browser market and used worldwide. It just a modified version of Mozilla Firefox pouring in all essential things in form of apps with sexy design and interface to suit a general Indian Home Web user.
Finally, it’s early for me to make a verdict on this new product as it is just launched. Upcoming upgrades will surely make this browser more fit for a general Indian web user collecting feedback from them time to time.
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Avast 5 Review

Avast Anti-virus has reached version 5.

See what’s changed.

The download is a small 38MB.

It uses around 60mb of memory.

A quick scan took over 8 minutes which is quite slow.

Of the 7 files I tested it with it detected all but 1. (2 Rootkits, 2 malware, 2 trojans).

It has a silent mode like Norton anti-virus, so it won’t bug you or scan while you are running a full screen game or application.

Avast still has the unique feature of a boot time scan so it can find files even on the most infected machines.

I found that while it detected a lot of threats, the scanner was quite slow.

Overall Avast 5 is much better in Avast 4 in that it has a much more modern interface that doesn’t make it look like a music player.

Main screen

Scan options.

Avast 5 scanning.

Real time shield.

Tons of options.

Update screen.

Rating:

Ease of use: 8/10

Detentions: 9/10

Speed: 6/10

Value: 8/10

Overall Rating: 9/10

You can download the free version here.

The internet security version is $60, and includes a firewall, sandbox and more.

Best Free Antivirus : Panda Cloud Antivirus

Panda Security has officially stripped the beta tag from their cloud protection offering, aptly named Cloud Antivirus. Version 1.0 of Cloud Antivirus offers several things, including a retooling of the interface, better detection, and scores of bug fixes from the previous three beta offerings. The Tech Herald reviewed the first beta, and now that the software is official, I' m testingtesting it .

Panda Cloud Antivirus, CloudAV for short, is a lightweight and well-rounded layer of defense for any Windows-based system. It is a full featured anti-Malware program, which offloads most of the detection and processing to a grid of systems in the cloud. When compared to the Beta, version 1.0 has several solid improvements.

The one standout feature however, aside from the detection methods, is the interface. Panda has kept the four basic tabs to control the software, ensuring that CloudAV is easy to manage and use. In reality, the stripped GUI is aimed at users who are not all that technically inclined, but who still need the protection. This means there are no layered sub-menus to mess with, and no chance of adding a firewall rule that will kill off Internet connections.

When it comes to detection, Panda has improved on their Nano engine for this newest release, as well as decreased the time it takes the cloud protections to activate. All of this while lowering the bandwidth and system resource consumption.

Installation:

The unpacking process took about 90 seconds, and the overall installation of the software itself another minute or so. Overall, when compared to the beta, the newest version of CloudAV is slightly faster. However, we expected a fast installation, so there was no surprise here.

The configuration options are the same. Those of you who used Beta 3 of CloudAV and upgraded to 1.0 will be allowed to use your existing Panda account, everyone else needs to create a new one. The account allows various features, and will play a role in future enhancements. For now, what it allows is the ability to join the anonymous data collection program. The program will collect threat information and pass it on to Panda for analysis. After the installation and configuration screen where you either create or login to your Panda account, you’re ready to use the software.

Interface and Usage:

The interface seen below (showing the look of the beta on top and version 1.0 on the bottom), gives you an idea of how the look and feel has changed in the newest CloudAV release. All of the options are still there, and they all work exactly as they did in previous versions, so there will be no need to relearn the software.

If you read the review of the beta version, or you are an existing CloudAV user, then you already know the controls. However, to be brief, the image below is the main interface.

As you can see there are four tabs. The fisrt is a gear, which controls CloudAV's settings. Right now you can manage proxy settings if needed, and opt in or out of automatic management of viral infections and information sharing. In the future, this section may be expanded. To the right of that is the magnifying glass, this is where you can run a Quick Scan. A Quick Scan will search system folders, program files, and other important system areas for infections, and take action if needed. If you want a deeper scan, this is the area where you can pick a drive or folder and scan it fully.

The bar graph symbol is the report area, where you can track detection stats for the last 24-hours, week, month, or since the program was installed. The reporting gives just enough information to explain things, but leaves out information that might cause some confusion. Lastly, you have the status tab. This tab will tell you if CloudAV has discovered any problems, and uses colors to make things standout.

There is also a visual change to the GUI that is pure eye candy. When you click and drag a window, or just click and hold, it will become transparent. While this has no impact on the protection or operation of CloudAV, it’s a neat little warm fuzzy.

Scanning with Cloud AV:

The Malware detection and scanning tests were performed on an Intel Pentium D 3.4GHz CPU (Dual Core) with 1024MBs of RAM. The lab computer runs Windows XP(SP3), Internet Explorer 8, and at the time of testing, had all the current Microsoft patches.

Starting with the scan test, we tested CloudAV against 1.32GB of random files to add bulk for scanning. The files used included fonts, images and icons, PHP, HTML, and CSS files, as well as ZIP and RAR archives, for a total amount of 21,806 files. It should be noted that none of these files were malicious. Overall, the lab system was using 7.08GB of hard drive space.

One thing about the scanning in CloudAV is that the first scan is the slowest. While a Quick Scan will hit all the common areas searching for Malware, the selective scan, where you pick a folder or drive for granular scanning, was the slowest scan performed when we scanned all of drive C. Since CloudAV doesn’t offer a scheduler, you will have to launch the deep scans manually.

As mentioned, the first scan is slowest. After that, the scans will get faster as the CloudAV cache builds up. Even the selective scan, which took almost an hour to finish the first time out, shaved fifteen minutes off the total when ran a second time.

Below are the scan results.

Quick Scanning CloudAV

Scan 1: 00:06:14
Scan 2: 00:00:53
Scan 3: 00:00:47
Scan 4: 00:00:51
Scan 5: 00:00:48

Scan Average Time: 00:01:54.6

For comparison here are two manual selective scans.

(Drive C) Scan 1: 00:56:35
(Drive C) Scan 2: 00:41:44

As you can see, the Quick scan is lightning fast, and the selective scan, while much slower, still improves the more it is used. There were 322,840 files scanned on drive C for this test.

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Need For Speed Underground 2

Need for Speed: Underground 2

With the resounding popularity of Underground, Underground 2 came out in 2004 and built on the success of its predecessor. The biggest change for this game was an "explore" mode that allowed players to drive around the city, Bayview, in an effort to find races.

This game saw the elimination of police chases, which had been in every Need for Speed game since the first Hot Pursuit title. Customization was also tuned considerably, opening up even more options for players to create the car they’d always dreamed of. Three SUVs were also added to the game, and could be customized more heavily than the regular vehicles available.

• Release Date: 11/2004

  • Platform:
  • Game Boy Advance,
  • mobile,
  • Nintendo DS,
  • Nintendo GameCube,
  • PC,
  • PlayStation 2,
  • Xbox

CARS

More than 30 cars were playable in Underground 2, including the resurrected Pontiac GTO, Mazda RX-8, and Lexus IS300.

Acura RSX Type S
Audi A3
Audi TT
Cadillac Escalade
Ford Focus ZX3
Ford Mustang GT
Honda Civic Coupe Si (only in North American version)
Hummer H2
Hyundai Tiburon GT
Infiniti G35
Lexus iS300
Lincoln Navigator
Mazda Miata MX5
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-8
Mitsubishi 3000 GT
Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VIII
Nissan 240sx
Nissan 350Z
Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V
Nissan Skyline R34 GTR
Opel/Vauxhall Corsa (only in European version)
Peugeot 206 GTI
Pontiac GTO
Subaru WRX STI
Toyota Celica GT-S
Toyota Corolla GTS AE86
Toyota Supra
Volkswagen Golf GTI

TRACKS / WORLD

The city of Bayview is absolutely massive, containing five different neighborhoods, each with different features and challenges to conquer. Real-time weather effects make different parts of this city challenging to drive.

Characters

Name	Description
Rachel Teller	Samantha's best friend and the player's helper, mentor and part time agent. Rachel will call the player, via SMS, throughout the game letting the player know about unlocks, upgrades, sponsorships, and racing tips. She drives a Nissan 350Z. She is mentioned in Undercover.
Caleb Reece	A dangerous street racer who totaled the player's car and leader of The Wraiths. Caleb controls most of the underground racing in Bayview. He drives a Pontiac GTO. He is mentioned in Undercover and is potrayed by David Palffy
Niki Morris	A female Wraith who will join the player after he beats her in a URL race. She drives a Modified Ford Mustang GT and is voiced by model Kelly Brook

[edit]Gameplay

In-game Need for Speed: Underground 2 screenshot, in which races are roughly similar to that ofUnderground and still revolve around import culture.

In addition to the racing modes included in the previous Underground game (Circuit, Sprint, Drag and Drift races), 4 new variations of races have been provided in Underground 2. One racing mode was dropped, this being the Knockout competitions. Still, a Lap Knockout option is available when racing Circuit in non-career races.

A circuit race is a standard race that involves up to four cars driving around a track that loops back to the start line of itself. A circuit race is typically a maximum of four laps and minimum of 2 laps. A sprint race is just like a circuit race except that the track does not loop back to the start line. It's a race from A to B involving a maximum of four vehicles, and because of the track design there is only one lap. Drifting is one of the easier types of racing (depending on difficulty level) in Need for Speed Underground 2. One difference to the drifting mode compared to the original Need for Speed Underground is that the player drifts with the other competitors at the same time. Players race against a maximum of three competitors. Points are awarded when the player successfully slide the car and finishes the drift without hitting any walls.Like the Street X mode in Underground 2, no nitrous oxide is allowed. There are also some special downhill drift races where the player starts at the top of a hill and has to slide down from top to bottom, a drifting equivalent of a sprint race (from point A to point B). In these races, there are no other racers, however there is normal city traffic. Players increase their points by sliding past city cars. Drag racing is a point-to-point race that forces players to use a manual transmission. Steering in this mode is simplified to simply allow for line changes, while the game handles the steering along the lines, and the player focuses more on maintaining an optimum speed for the car. The Nitrous Oxide meter is enlarged and displayed on the bottom right of the screen.

While cruising around the city, players can challenge other cruising opponents in a one-on-one race(these are called "Outrun Races"). The leader is given the freedom to pick his/her racing route, and must attempt to outrun the opponent and distance itself from him/her to as much as 300 meters (1000 feet) to win. This racing formula is similar to that of Tokyo Xtreme Racer and Wangan Midnight video games, which uses health bars instead of distance to determine the winner. Once a certain amount of victories have been won by player in certain levels, the player is awarded a unique part free of charge by another racer.

SUVs, also known as Sport utility vehicles, was a new element added to Need For Speed: Underground 2. In this mode, players could modify, tune, and drive SUVs in the same manner as they could with normal cars. Players could choose to race in an event with SUVs only or in a mix of Cars and SUVs. Like cars, users are able to add on parts to SUVs to increase their performance and handling, however, the added weight of SUVs makes them much harder to maneuver, especially at higher speeds. SUVs were not featured in any later editions of the Need For Speed series (except as non-playable police vehicles), thus making them exclusive to Need For Speed: Underground 2.

[edit]Underground Racing League (URL)

The URL is a set of tournaments which takes place in a specific set of closed tracks outside city streets - either actual racing circuits or airport runways. URL tournaments typically consist of one to three races, with the player racing against five opponents. In tournaments with two or more races, a points system is used. At the end of each race, drivers receive a specific amount of points according to their standing in a race. The total score at the end of these races determines the winner of the tournament.

[edit]Online multiplayer

Need For Speed Underground 2 has online multiplayer capability on PlayStation 2's with broadband connections, and Xbox using Xbox Live. The online servers for PlayStation 2 are disconnected and will shut down in a few months, while EA has shut down servers for Xbox and PC, making this feature disabled, as well as causing disappointment to many loyal fans of the game.

[edit]Cars

As in Need for Speed: Underground, Underground 2 continues to offer similar vehicles for purchase and modification, most of which consist of Japanese models, with a sizable number of European and American models. In addition, Underground 2 is the only game in the Need for Speed series to date to offer three SUVs as racing vehicles, which may be modified more extensively than their compact counterparts. A total of 29 vehicle models are available for both versions of the game plus 2 unique for each of them, the PAL version of the game offers an additional two cars (Peugeot 106 and Vauxhall Corsa) while the NTSC version offers two different alternatives (Acura RSX and Honda Civic).

Customization in Underground 2 was significantly expanded compared to previous iterations from the series. Visual customization has expanded with the ability to customize the car’s front and rear bumpers, side skirts, spoiler, hood, exhaust tips, doors, roof scoop, wheels (including the ability to put on spinners), headlights and taillights, side mirrors and paint. Vinyls and decals can also be added, as well as car stereos (amps and speakers), hydraulics, nitrous bottles and under glow neon. Most visual modifications to the car have no actual effect on vehicle performance. The sound systems, for example, could be put in the trunk of cars, but served no purpose other than visual cues. The performance and handling of the car is affected by cosmetic modifications like spoilers and hoods, which affect the downforce of the car.

The car’s performance can also be enhanced by upgrading the car’s engine, engine control unit (ECU), transmission, suspension, adding nitrous oxide, tires, brakes, reducing the car’s weight, and adding turbos. The player has the ability to either upgrade the performance through upgrade packages or by purchasing individual parts of each performance category.

NFS: Underground 2 also introduces a dyno-tuning system which allows players to specifically tune certain aspect of the car such as suspension springs, front / rear shocks gear ratios, aerodynamics, brake bias, individual tire grip, etc. The player could then test the setting via a dyno test at which point they would be given specific information such as 0 – 60 time, max torque, etc.

[edit]Reception

The game sold 9 million copies,^[1] and entering the "best-sellers" of each console (PS2's Greatest Hits, Xbox's Platinum Hits and GameCube's Player's Choice).

Reviews were positive,^[2] but many elements were criticized, such as having to drive excessive amounts to get to specific races,^[3] bland voice acting^[4] and strong product placement for companies with no connection to auto racing, such as integrating the logo for Cingular, an American wireless communications company, into the game's messaging system and displaying it on-screen for much of the gameplay.^[5]The GameCube version was also criticized for its unstable frame rate and inferior graphics.^[6] The hip-hop slang used by the characters (such as calling the money "bank"), the comic book cut scenes, and a lack of police also garnered criticism.