Shark007, a fellow member of MSFN Forums makes this codec pack. It contains everything you need to playback audio and video files in Windows Media Player and Media Center.

All codecs are set to their default settings and it does not contain any extra media player, so you can use whatever you like to play media files. It supports Windows XP as well despite its name.

When dealing with codecs, more does not equal better.
Having the least amount on your system is the best configuration.
This is exactly what the Vista Codec Package does for you.

Windows Media Player and Vista Media Center will be able to play all your files.

Shark007 updates his pack very often to correct issues or include new versions of the codecs. There is an entire forum section devoted to this codec pack. You can get more information about the codecs included and get troubleshooting tips there.

Vista Codec Package does not include any QuickTime components ut Shark007 makes an addon that supports full browser playback and download of QuickTime files. This addon is called QuickTime Lite for VCP.

I have always preferred to use only the codecs i need and i recommend that you do this as well, but if you don’t have the time or knowledge, Vista Codec Package can fill this for you.

Website Download Vista Codec x64 Components

Use QuickTime Alternative for playing videos and as a plugin for viewing streaming media in your favorite browser. It now includes MOV DL Tool, which is great because it gets launched when you click QuickTime links and lets you download the video file or stream it normally.

Say no to Apple’s invasive, slow and bloated player.

There is another package called QT Lite. The only difference is that QT Lite doesn’t include Media Player Classic, a great multimedia player. I recommended it as a video player. Its light, fast and has tons of features.

iTunes users:

Shark007 from MSFN Forums has an iTunes installer that doesn’t install the official QuickTime Player and works if you have QuickTime Alternative installed. He keeps it updated to the current version of iTunes. You can read more about it here. I really dislike iTunes but that’s a different story.

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While the release date for the final version is still scheduled to the end of this month, Mozilla has released another RC build for Firefox. This time, a Mac OS X bug caused crashes in certain situations.

Windows and Linux versions are unchanged but the version numbers were changed to keep all platforms updated. Here if information about the the RC3 release and the Mac OS X bug.

Windows and Linux users doesn’t need to update but you can download and install Firefox 3.0 RC3 is you haven’t try it yet.

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Recuva is a free program for recovering deleted files. It has few options but does its work very well. This program can recover files deleted files from memory cards and removable drives.

You can download an installer without a Yahoo! toolbar and a portable version in ZIP format.

Here’s the changelog for version 1.15.327:

• Fixed bizarre crash in filter box (if you press F4 twice).
• Fixed memory leak on FAT32 drives with large numbers of files.
• Fixed rare crash in secure deletion.
• Minor UI tweaks.

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Windows SteadyState (formerly Shared Computer Toolkit) is a set of software tools to help effectively manage shared computers running Windows.

Users sometimes go places and do things they shouldn’t on shared machines. Now you can help protect sensitive locations and restrict user access to features such as Control Panel.

Windows SteadyState can return your computer and hard disk to its exact condition before the user touched it, simply by rebooting.

Windows SteadyState is free and has great options for securing and maintaining your shared or public computers from an easy to use main console. You can read more about usage scenarios here.

After you finish configuring everything you want, it only needs one reboot to bring a particular computer to a previous state, just how you set it before.

The new version has many new features and it supports Windows Vista. For a complete description and more information including product demos, go to Windows SteadyState website.

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OpenOffice is an open-source office suite that includes alternatives to all Microsoft Office programs, like an spreadsheet, word processor, slide presentation program and other modules.

It lets you save your work as PDF, Office formats, and the native OpenOffice files.

Its very useful and has a complete feature set that makes it a great alternative to Microsoft Office. Supports opening Office files also.

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For a long time, Microsoft has been releasing DirectX 9 updates every two months. This releases include updates for new games, bug fixes and new features.

Here is the June 2008 release. The installer will update your current version of DirectX.

If you have Vista, you can update your DirectX 9 files with this release too.

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Symantec Thursday released a free tool that wipes spurious entries from Windows’ registry that had crippled some PCs running the company’s security software after they were upgraded to Windows XP Service Pack 3 or Vista SP1.

The tool, SymRegFix, had been promised by Symantec two weeks ago when users reported that upgrading to XP SP3 emptied Windows’ Device Manager, deleted network connections and packed the registry with thousands of bogus entries.

Symantec initially blamed Microsoft for the snafu, but later accepted some responsibility. Last week, the company said the combination of a Microsoft process and the SymProtect feature of its Norton-branded consumer security software had added the errant registry entries, and it told users to turn off that feature before upgrading.

If you have experienced some problems when using Symantec products and upgraded to XP SP3 or Vista SP1, download this tool and run it to correct the issues.

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