Deadpool and Many Other Marvel Activision Games Removed from Steam, PSN, Xbox Live

A variety of games made by Activision and Marvel have just been removed from all sorts of digital distribution services including Steam, Xbox Live, or PSN, including Deadpool, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, or Shattered Dimensions.

Marvel Comics made partnerships with many different game publishers, including Capcom, Activision, and others, and all of them have apparently expired on December 31, 2013.

Capcom has already removed the Marvel vs. Capcom titles from digital distribution services and Activision has done the same with titles like Deadpool, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, Spider-Man: Edge of Time, X-Men: The Official Game, X-Men Destiny, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.


                                         

All these titles have been removed from the Steam service for PC, as well as from the Xbox Live one for Xbox 360 and the PSN for the PS3.

What's more, it's unlikely that new retail copies will be printed, according to GameInformer, so you might want to get your hands on them as soon as possible before they're gone forever.

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Useful OS X troubleshooting utilities

 If  you regularly use your Mac (or any computer, for that matter), then you will 
     undoubtedly run into a problem or two. For the most part, issues are small configuration hiccups that can be fixed by at the very least restarting affected programs, logging out of your system, or restarting it. However, there are times when a problem may require more attention in order to properly address.

In these cases, the use of various system utilities to monitor your computer's activity can help pinpoint problematic connections, processes, or other aspects of your system that may be contributing to the issue at hand. Apple includes several handy utilities in OS X, such as Activity Monitor and the Terminal, but in addition you can use several third-party tools to greatly increase your ability to troubleshoot problems and fix errors.

The first tool is a good text editor. Apple's TextEdit can be quite useful, but it has some limitations, especially if you plan on reading scripts and configuration files throughout the system. While there are a number of third-party text editors available, one common, powerful, and free one is TextWrangler by Bare Bones software.

In addition to a text editor, a data rescue tool such as Data Rescue from Prosoft Engineeringcan be exceptionally useful for recovering inadvertently deleted files. While backup solutions like Time Machine are a recommended first choice, if you have an external drive that fails and is not backed up, then software that scours it for remnants of file structures can show promising results.

A good drive testing and recovery package may also be useful. Apple includes Disk Utility and the command-line "fsck" options for managing filesystem structure. You can use a tool likeAlsoft's Disk Warrior, which will help rebuild a corrupted disk, and which may succeed with Disk Utility fails.

Since many computer services use the internet, you might consider an option for monitoring connections and bandwidth, such as the reverse firewall Little Snitch by Objective Development. In addition, you can go as far as installing a packet analyzer tool like WireShark to finely detail where connections are being made, though the sheer detail from this program can be daunting for novice users.

 While OS X includes some robust tools for troubleshooting, there are a number of third-party tools that can help tackle problems or simply give you a better understanding of how OS X functions.

The next utilities help you monitor disk usage. While the Finder and other built-in services in OS X can easily show you the space used on disk, it does not readily show what specific files and folders are contributing to the space used. To get this, you can use the free toolGrandPerspective, which will scan a given folder and show file sizes in a colored grid, making identifying large files very easy to do.

Finally, as the system and programs run, they regularly write to files on disk. If for some reason you are seeing a file or two appear in an odd place, or otherwise suspect one is being changed when you perform a given task, then you can use a filesystem events monitoring tool like Fern Lightning's "fseventer" to graphically show the filesystem modifications that occur as the system runs.

These tools will allow you to monitor your system to a greater extent than if you only use Apple's included utilities, and can give you an edge up on tackling problems you may be experiencing. Even if you are not seeing any major problem, these tools can be useful for generally understanding your system better.

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Microsoft Visual Studio

Software Design under Windows

While it may seem extravagant and tough, but designing software’s for Windows is much simpler than you think and there is no specified language for it as there are many languages with which you can code for Windows.

Microsoft has made the computer truly personal by itsWindows OS.
But now it also has something for you developers and it’s called The Microsoft .NET Framework.

The .NET Framework

The .NET Framework by Microsoft is a set of development tools which has made software design under Windows a stroll in the park.

This Framework sits between your application and Windows. It controls and coordinates the functioning of your app in the System. It provides an Object Oriented Environment for your Windows or even Web Applications.

For seasoned programmers, the .NET Framework is much more than XML Web services. It mainly consists of the Framework Class Library (FCL) and the Common Language Runtime (CLR).

Components of .NET Framework

At the very heart of the .NET Framework resides its 2 major components:

Framework Class Library (FCL)

Common Language Runtime

Framework Class Library

The FCL is a collection of ready-made classes that can be used for commonly needed programming tasks (but trust me it’s got almost everything!!!).

It includes:

Input Output Management

Graphics

Multimedia

Networking

Database Access

Mobile Computing

Remoting

Multi-Threading

Reflections

Windows and Web Control

And a lots more!!!!

Common Runtime Language

The CLR helps in the execution of the code. It is a very important part of the Framework which manages memory and security during runtime of your application.

It makes sure your software binds perfectly with the Operating System and establishes a smooth platform for executing your code.

.Net Supporting Languages

We can access the services of the .NET Framework with many languages. Some of them are:

Visual C++

Visual Basic

Visual C#

Visual F#

Visual J#

Jscript

Visual COBOL

You can get a list of all the supporting languages at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_CLI_languages

Out of which Visual C#.NET is the official language of choice at Microsoft for its elegance and simplicity.

Most of us programmers know that before a code is executed it must be converted to Machine Code. Like Java is converted to Java Bytecode, similarly every language has its own native code. So how does a single .NET Framework compile so many different languages???Actually .NET supporting languages are not converted to Machine Code directly. It is done in the following manner:

As depicted, the used language is converted first to Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) then to Native Code then finally to Machine Code. So the framework does not process all different languages, it only processes the MSIL to get the output.

Windows Software development tools

For building software’s in any language you need a Software Development Tools (aka Compiler or IDE). The IDE which is most popular among Windows software developers is the Microsoft Visual Studio. On November 11^th Microsoft has released Visual Studio 2013 which promises to be a worthy successor to Visual Studio 2012.

Here is a small glimpse at Studio 2012:

Visual Studio 2012 splash screen

Visual Studio 2012 home screen

The Visual Studio is the most popular IDE among all Windows developers. It also supports another superb feature known as the Intellisense. This feature helps us during coding time. Whenever you type something in the editor the Intellisense feature pops up with the most probable results (much like Google’s search bar). From here you can choose the required keyword or method that you need by double clicking on the result or simply by hitting the Enter key.

Here is a view of the Visual Studio Editor where a small snippet of a VB.NET code is depicted. You can clearly see that I intended to type “String” but soon as I got to “Str” a menu pops up with the most probable selection highlighted. This is the Visual Studio Intellisense features. So now you don’t have to type out huge chunks of code yourself, just type out a little bit and Studio will do the rest.

Conclusion

So guys that’s all for this article. I hope this was helpful. We shall discuss about using Visual Studio soon in the next article. So till then keep dreaming, keep programming. Chao!!!

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Yahoo malware turned PCs into Bitcoin miners

Malicious ads served to Yahoo users were designed to transform computers into a Bitcoin mining operation, according to a security firm.

The cybercriminals who infected the computers of European Yahoo users apparently wanted to create a huge Bitcoin network.

Researchers at security firm Light Cyber revealed this week that one of the malware programs aimed to use the resources of infected PCs to perform the calculations necessary to run a Bitcoin network. Revealed earlier this month by fellow security firm Fox IT, the campaign spread its package by using Yahoo's ad server to deploy malicious ads. The malware took advantage of vulnerabilities in Java to install itself on computers that visited the ads.yahoo.com site.

The malware attack reportedly lasted from December 31 through January 3 when Yahoo took down the malicious ads. On Saturday, Yahoo acknowledged the issue through the following statement:

At Yahoo, we take the safety and privacy of our users seriously. On Friday, January 3 on our European sites, we served some advertisements that did not meet our editorial guidelines, specifically they spread malware. We promptly removed these advertisements. Users in North America, Asia Pacific and Latin America were not served these advertisements and were not affected. Additionally, users using Macs and mobile devices were not affected.

So far, Yahoo hasn't revealed any details on the infected computers or publicly advised affected users on what they should do. But security firm Surfright shed a bit more light on the situation.

Not every ad on the Yahoo advertisement network contained the malicious iframe, but if you have an outdated version of Java Runtime and you used Yahoo Mail the last 6 days, your computer is likely infected.

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Paladin Multi-Search v1.1.1

Paladin Multi-Search v1.1.1

   The first open source project by N2R solutions Paladin Multi Search, a seemingly small software but packs quite a punch.

          Powered by Microsoft .NET Framework this is a customized search bar which gives you the power of 6 different search engines (including Web, Image and Video options) right at your own Desktop!!! 

version 1.0 was released on 12th October 2013

version 1.1.1 was released under w3c license on 28th November 2013

Paladin Multi-Search is an attempt to combine the power of several search engines into one application that allows you to search for anything, including images and videos, as well as to conveniently switch between engines when you need to.The principle that Paladin Multi-Search works upon can return great results, if exploited the right way. By embedding some of the most popular search engines, it simplifies  tedious web search tasks, managing to appeal to a very wide audience. Sporting a simple design, Paladin Multi-Search holds all of its features inside the main window, in plain sight. Just under the field dedicated to the search terms, two menus are located, allowing you to select the search engine, as well as the target type of content (web, images or videos).

          Attractive features, cool looks and super user friendly makes Paladin worth a try once. For all you programmers with a soft corner for C#.NET out there, this project will give you an idea about:

    Requirements:

                             .Net Framework 2.0 .
            Internet Connection .

What's new in Paladin Multi-Search 1.1.1:

• Google & yahoo is now redirect to corresponding user's country server.
• more attractive looks with a new background and splash screen.
• bug fixed.

Direct download link

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Paladin multi search v1.0

Paladin Multi-Search

   The first open source project by N2R solutions Paladin Multi Search, a seemingly small software but packs quite a punch.

          Powered by Microsoft .NET Framework this is a customized search bar which gives you the power of 6 different search engines (including Web, Image and Video options) right at your own Desktop!!! It was released  12th October 2013

Paladin Multi-Search is an attempt to combine the power of several search engines into one application that allows you to search for anything, including images and videos, as well as to conveniently switch between engines when you need to.The principle that Paladin Multi-Search works upon can return great results, if exploited the right way. By embedding some of the most popular search engines, it simplifies  tedious web search tasks, managing to appeal to a very wide audience. Sporting a simple design, Paladin Multi-Search holds all of its features inside the main window, in plain sight. Just under the field dedicated to the search terms, two menus are located, allowing you to select the search engine, as well as the target type of content (web, images or videos).

          Attractive features, cool looks and super user friendly makes Paladin worth a try once. For all you programmers with a soft corner for C#.NET out there, this project will give you an idea about:

• Working with Multiple Forms
• Adding a Splash Screen to your software with a Progress Bar
• Mouse Event handling
• Threading
• Software Overview

    Requirements:

                             .Net Framework 2.0 .
                Internet Connection .

Direct download link

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