When Deva turned 17, a year before his enthronement, the Maras tried to penetrate deep into the innermost part of the kingdom for the first time which caught everyone in surprise. It was as if there was a traitor who aided the Maras in their attack. Their primary target is Prince Deva. Deva was able to drive off the Maras but was seriously wounded in the consequent combat. He lingered into oblivion for the next few days while the tribe restlessly waits for his recovery. Everybody was in a state of shock except his loathsome stepmother and half-brother.
After one month from a coma-like state, Deva awoke. His eyes reflected the blazing glow of some with immense mantra power. He stood up and headed straight to the king and asked for his leave, telling the king that gods called out to him and he must find his destiny. The king’s plea was in vain for Deva had already made up his mind. Without telling the king his destination, he pointed to the sky and the vasts tracts of land surrounding it and the king immediately understood. He was also aware that the queen and her son were behind the recent attack of the Maras and the attempt to kill Deva. Fortunately, their plans did not work. On the day Deva left, the king asked for the reason behind his leaving and Deva whispered hs reply, “To uncover the higher truth and convene the people who have been calling out to me”. Then he began his long and tough journey.
From the time he left the kingdom, he was constantly troubled by the Maras which were a minor nuisance compared to the mysterious voices that were perturbing him throughout his journey. One is telling him to resists the Maras and use his mystical powers to protect the Mantra. The other is telling him to use his powers and ability to become the master of the Maras. His journey was a never ending battle of core searching and he arrived at the Mandara highlands more plagued and befuddled than before.
Friday, November 21, 2014
Monday, September 15, 2014
Tantra Online's War of the Eight Kings - Chapter One
In the eastern part of Tantra, there was a tribe situated in a region of vast fields and blessed with temperate climate. But when an army of Mara threatened to swamped Tantra, the tribe witnessed a birth of a miracle, a child that they all knew to be designed for greater things. They named him Prince Deva. But his mother died after ordeal.
Few years passed and the new queen gave birth to another prince. Deva’s childhood was rather normal and quiet but since his stepmother and stepbrother wasn't affectionate of him, the queen made all efforts to disgrace him to the king and Deva received ill-treatment from his half-brother.
The prince, gifted with special Mantra powers, was completely unconscious of the rising conspiracy against his ascendancy to the throne and was caught up with his own imaginary world, as if constantly daydreaming of a place where gods ruled.
One day, at that time when the prince learned how to speak, he was awoken by a horrible nightmare and he screamed, “The Maras, maras…”. The nannies and servants immediately roused and tried to calm him down. Premonition the nightmare of the things to come, the attack and plunder of Mara become more rampant at the east side of Tantra. But the tribe was able to repulse the constant raids of Mara with the aid of the divine mantra and soon, peace and prosperity came back throughout the lands. At the tender age, Prince Deva who was blessed with a very powerful mantra, was able to single handedly crush evil Maras, a deed not even the elders could accomplish. He was held as the savior of the tribe which caused more jealousy from his stepmother and half-brother.
Despite his tribe’s undying appreciation, he still longed for his mother. His efforts to reach out for his stepmother were all for nothing which brought him to a deep-seated loneliness, torment that was beyond words.
Two voices from above would oftentimes call to him, one is telling him to leave and face a different fate and be one with those who have the same fate, but the other is telling him that he is a prince and a bearer of great powers. He should learn how to love and hold on to what is what he have now. These two voices were tearing him apart, driving him to the edge of madness and confusion.
Few years passed and the new queen gave birth to another prince. Deva’s childhood was rather normal and quiet but since his stepmother and stepbrother wasn't affectionate of him, the queen made all efforts to disgrace him to the king and Deva received ill-treatment from his half-brother.
The prince, gifted with special Mantra powers, was completely unconscious of the rising conspiracy against his ascendancy to the throne and was caught up with his own imaginary world, as if constantly daydreaming of a place where gods ruled.
One day, at that time when the prince learned how to speak, he was awoken by a horrible nightmare and he screamed, “The Maras, maras…”. The nannies and servants immediately roused and tried to calm him down. Premonition the nightmare of the things to come, the attack and plunder of Mara become more rampant at the east side of Tantra. But the tribe was able to repulse the constant raids of Mara with the aid of the divine mantra and soon, peace and prosperity came back throughout the lands. At the tender age, Prince Deva who was blessed with a very powerful mantra, was able to single handedly crush evil Maras, a deed not even the elders could accomplish. He was held as the savior of the tribe which caused more jealousy from his stepmother and half-brother.
Despite his tribe’s undying appreciation, he still longed for his mother. His efforts to reach out for his stepmother were all for nothing which brought him to a deep-seated loneliness, torment that was beyond words.
Two voices from above would oftentimes call to him, one is telling him to leave and face a different fate and be one with those who have the same fate, but the other is telling him that he is a prince and a bearer of great powers. He should learn how to love and hold on to what is what he have now. These two voices were tearing him apart, driving him to the edge of madness and confusion.
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
How To Protect Your Tantra Online Account
Tantraeapolis.com reminds you that we do seriously deal with hacked account cases but still players are ultimately responsible for the safety of their Tantra Online account. Here we present some tips for you to protect your account:
We appreciate your reading through those tips and hope you can protect your account carefully. If you have any questions, please email supportcenter@tantraeapolis.com or simply fill up the form at http://tantraeapolis.com/support
- Use a long password. The longer your password is, the harder it is for hacker to break it; and use a combination of both letters and numbers.
- Don't make your character name exactly the same as your login account. It will be easier for the hackers to break your password.
- Never let anyone else know your username, password, security question and answer.
- Never share or trade your account with anyone. It is not allowed; otherwise you must be responsible for its consequence. Some scammers will trade you their accounts for real money or in-game items, and then change the account password or hack the account they know exactly the information they need.
- Don't trust anyone who offers free e-gold or premium items. Once you believed it, they would ask you for your username and password, and then you might be hacked.
- We recommend you to trade in the forum's Marketplace section.
- Beware of fraud sites. There is only one Tantraeapolis website: Tantraeapolis.com. Don't believe in any news not coming from Tantraeapolis.com.
- Don't believe in fake GM. GMs have "[ ]" at the end of their names. Don't trust anyone claiming to be a GM but not having these characters "[ ]" at the end of their names.
- Don't try any bot. No matter what kind of bot you are using, you are effectively giving your account login and password to the creators of bots, and your account are exposed into great danger. The creators of bot programs can take away your account at anytime.
- Scan your computer for any virus for at least once a week.
- There is only one identifiable working email for Tantraeapolis and it always has "@tantraeapolis.com". All cases will be solved via these emails. Don't believe in anyone inquiring your account information that has no "@tantraeapolis.com" in an email address.
We appreciate your reading through those tips and hope you can protect your account carefully. If you have any questions, please email supportcenter@tantraeapolis.com or simply fill up the form at http://tantraeapolis.com/support
Monday, August 25, 2014
Top 10 Best Gaming Mice
In playing an online game like Tantra Online, Counter-Strike, etc. aiming, targeting, slashing, attacking are some of the most important actions you take in a game happen with the click of a mouse. Any gaming mouse you buy will offer reliable connectivity, smooth and responsive tracking, and basic click and scroll functions. But what makes a good gaming mouse? It's more than basic functionality.
A high-quality sensor is the first step toward precision and accuracy. Cheaper mice will usually have optical (or LED) sensors, which offer fairly good tracking sensitivity, but do particularly well at tracking well when lifted slightly from the tracking surface. Laser sensors, on the other hand, may be a bit more finicky in the heat of battle, but offer much better tracking. It's also possible to get the best of both worlds, using the two sensors in tandem to provide the high-accuracy tracking of a laser with the less delicate tracking of an optical sensor.
The best gaming mice offer comfort and customization. Features match the unique needs of your preferred games, whether you're dealing with a firefight or staving of an advancing horde. Mice for first-person shooters feature ratcheting scroll-wheels—letting you cycle through your arsenal without selecting the wrong weapon—and on-the-fly DPI adjustment, letting you switch between the fast low-DPI tracking needed in a frantic firefight and the more tightly controlled high-DPI needed for lining up a sniper's shot.
Mice designed with real-time strategy games and MMOs in mind are often outfitted with an array of programmable macro buttons. Set just under the tip of the thumb, these mice offer 6 to 12 buttons that can either be used as number keys or programmed to execute longer macro commands.
All of the gaming mice currently available are made with some customization in mind, even if it's just tweaking the tracking speed. Each gaming gear manufacturer has developed its own customization software, which often offers advanced macro programming. In addition to recording macro commands, these setting dashboards will also let you swap pre-set profiles, and many also offer presets for non-gaming use, letting you leverage your programmable mouse in programs like Excel and Photoshop.
For maximum comfort, many gaming mice can also be customized physically. Removable weights are common, letting you tweak the total weight one way or the other. Some models take this even further, letting you shift the center of balance, or adjust the height and pitch of the palm-rest.
Finding the best gaming mouse for you comes down to knowing your own preferred style of game, determining whether or not you will take advantage of more complex functions, and then tweaking the chosen mouse to your specific tastes.
Corsair Vengeance M65
With its highly accurate tracking, dedicated sniper button, and overall killer design, the Corsair Vengeance M65 is a fine addition to any first-person-shooter enthusiast's arsenal.
Logitech G602 Wireless Gaming Mouse
The Logitech G602 Wireless Gaming Mouse offers all of the great gaming performance you want from a high-performance product, and few of the pitfalls.
Roccat Lua Tri-Button Gaming Mouse
The Roccat Lua Tri-Button Gaming Mouse is a basic mouse, with an ambidextrous design, solid performance, and little else.
CM Storm Recon
The CM Storm Recon comfortably fills the niche between premium gaming mice and basic value-priced alternatives.
Logitech G700s Rechargeable Gaming Laser Mouse
The Logitech G700s Rechargeable Gaming Laser Mouse is a revamped classic, letting you choose between wired or wireless use, and customize 13 different functions.
Razer Ouroboros
The Razer Ouroboros gaming mouse is highly configurable, with a dizzying array of options and features, but its price will keep many buyers at bay.
Genius X-G510
The Genius X-G510 is a gaming mouse for those looking for a little extra customization options.
Logitech G400s Optical Gaming Mouse
With its 4,000dpi sensor and reasonable capacity for customization, the Logitech G400s Optical Gaming Mouse is a decent option for FPS enthusiasts, though better options exist in this price range.
Logitech G500s Laser Gaming Mouse
The Logitech G500s updates a long-standing classic gaming mouse, keeping everything there is to love.
SteelSeries Sensei [RAW]
The SteelSeries Sensei [RAW] is stripped down and refined, creating a solid gaming mouse, though it's not without its flaws.
A high-quality sensor is the first step toward precision and accuracy. Cheaper mice will usually have optical (or LED) sensors, which offer fairly good tracking sensitivity, but do particularly well at tracking well when lifted slightly from the tracking surface. Laser sensors, on the other hand, may be a bit more finicky in the heat of battle, but offer much better tracking. It's also possible to get the best of both worlds, using the two sensors in tandem to provide the high-accuracy tracking of a laser with the less delicate tracking of an optical sensor.
The best gaming mice offer comfort and customization. Features match the unique needs of your preferred games, whether you're dealing with a firefight or staving of an advancing horde. Mice for first-person shooters feature ratcheting scroll-wheels—letting you cycle through your arsenal without selecting the wrong weapon—and on-the-fly DPI adjustment, letting you switch between the fast low-DPI tracking needed in a frantic firefight and the more tightly controlled high-DPI needed for lining up a sniper's shot.
Mice designed with real-time strategy games and MMOs in mind are often outfitted with an array of programmable macro buttons. Set just under the tip of the thumb, these mice offer 6 to 12 buttons that can either be used as number keys or programmed to execute longer macro commands.
All of the gaming mice currently available are made with some customization in mind, even if it's just tweaking the tracking speed. Each gaming gear manufacturer has developed its own customization software, which often offers advanced macro programming. In addition to recording macro commands, these setting dashboards will also let you swap pre-set profiles, and many also offer presets for non-gaming use, letting you leverage your programmable mouse in programs like Excel and Photoshop.
For maximum comfort, many gaming mice can also be customized physically. Removable weights are common, letting you tweak the total weight one way or the other. Some models take this even further, letting you shift the center of balance, or adjust the height and pitch of the palm-rest.
Finding the best gaming mouse for you comes down to knowing your own preferred style of game, determining whether or not you will take advantage of more complex functions, and then tweaking the chosen mouse to your specific tastes.
Corsair Vengeance M65
With its highly accurate tracking, dedicated sniper button, and overall killer design, the Corsair Vengeance M65 is a fine addition to any first-person-shooter enthusiast's arsenal.
Logitech G602 Wireless Gaming Mouse
The Logitech G602 Wireless Gaming Mouse offers all of the great gaming performance you want from a high-performance product, and few of the pitfalls.
Roccat Lua Tri-Button Gaming Mouse
The Roccat Lua Tri-Button Gaming Mouse is a basic mouse, with an ambidextrous design, solid performance, and little else.
CM Storm Recon
The CM Storm Recon comfortably fills the niche between premium gaming mice and basic value-priced alternatives.
Logitech G700s Rechargeable Gaming Laser Mouse
The Logitech G700s Rechargeable Gaming Laser Mouse is a revamped classic, letting you choose between wired or wireless use, and customize 13 different functions.
Razer Ouroboros
The Razer Ouroboros gaming mouse is highly configurable, with a dizzying array of options and features, but its price will keep many buyers at bay.
Genius X-G510
The Genius X-G510 is a gaming mouse for those looking for a little extra customization options.
Logitech G400s Optical Gaming Mouse
With its 4,000dpi sensor and reasonable capacity for customization, the Logitech G400s Optical Gaming Mouse is a decent option for FPS enthusiasts, though better options exist in this price range.
Logitech G500s Laser Gaming Mouse
The Logitech G500s updates a long-standing classic gaming mouse, keeping everything there is to love.
SteelSeries Sensei [RAW]
The SteelSeries Sensei [RAW] is stripped down and refined, creating a solid gaming mouse, though it's not without its flaws.
Thursday, August 21, 2014
10 Essential Windows Apps for Online Gamers
Windows 8.1 has been out since October 2013, but we still cling to our installs of Windows 7 while playing Tantra Online. We love its reliability, even if it's missing some of Windows 8's under-the-hood improvements. If you're also still using Windows 7, your gaming PC is probably loaded with years of accumulated software. But are you using the best? We put together a list of the best free programs for Windows 7, and we've boiled that list down to the 10 programs we think are essentials. If you don't have these programs installed already, here's why you should download them.
CCleaner
You love a clean computer right? Even if you religiously empty your recycle bin and clean out your browser cache, there are still files that pile up in Windows that you can do without. Running CCleaner every few months will keep your system clear of temporary files and error logs and leftover registry strings. If you're running Windows on an SSD, you may be surprised by how much vital space you free up with CCleaner, and a system cleanup only takes about a minute.
Notepad++
Even if you're not a programmer by knowledge or at least by nature, Notepad++ is a great piece of software to have on your computer. It vastly expands on the basics of Notepad with tabs, powerful search, a customizable GUI, and support for multiple programming languages. It knows how to parse code and linebreaks and can make a jumbled mass of text into something perfectly readable. It can also add a handy link to your Windows context menu for quickly opening up text files. If your text editing needs are modest, you'll appreciate Notepad++'s speed and accessibility. If you need to do heavy-duty coding work, you'll love the depth of its options menus and how customizable it is. An absolute must-have.
WinRAR
You're probably already using WinRAR. You are, right? Right? In the land of zipping, WinRAR is king. Small, unobtrusive, but able to zip or unzip every format under the sun, with great context menu support thrown in to make it even faster. We've got nothing against 7zup--it's perfectly fine!
Adobe Reader
Adobe software has a reputation for bloat, and it's true that there are lighter PDF applications out there. Foxit's PDF Reader, for example, is a good tool if you only need to read PDFs. But if you ever need to edit PDFs, Acrobat Reader gets the job done. It's free, includes easy tools for adding text or a signature to a document. It can also export as a Word document.
Defraggler
Windows 7 does a good job of automatically defragmenting your harddrives quietly in the background. Most likely, your drives are trucking along just fine without you manually defragging them. But sometimes--after moving a ton of files, or making space on an overly full hard drive--you want to do some manual defragging. Defraggler, from the creators of CCleaner, will do the trick. More importantly, it can do targeted defragmenting. You can see what files or drive sectors are fragmented, and specifically defragment those, without waiting two hours for your entire drive to be cleaned up.
Recuva
Recuva is a handy tool to have around when things go south. You accidentally delete a file, and Recuva can help you get it back. It's designed to help with a simple undelete, or to go digging for files that may still be accessible even after you've formatted a disk. Recuva can also help with the opposite task: if you have a file you really want to erase, Recuva can help securely overwrite that file's spot on the hard disk to make it much tougher to recover.
VLC Media Player
If VLC can't play it, it's probably broke. That's not VLC's slogan, but it may as well be. This free, open source video player comes with built-in video codecs for just about any file format imaginable. It's simple. It's powerful. It's an absolute essential video player, and is constantly dueling for my affection with the also-great Media Player Classic. VLC offers a couple extra features that I love: it can crank volume up to the 200% mark, which is important for quieter files, and it can easily adjust audio playback speed, which makes it a handy tool for transcribing. It may be the best video player on PC, but it's good for audio, too!
Handbrake
You've got an .avi that needs to be an .mp4. Or an .mp4 that needs to be an .mkv. What do you do? You could mess around with heavy-duty video editing software or one of a million crappy website transcoding options that don't work very well. Or you could simply download Handbrake, and it'll solve all your problems. This open source transcoder is easy to use--you can drag a file into it, set a few quality options, and hit the big green start button--and it'll fix up any video file as a shiny new .mp4 or .mkv. If you do any video editing, Handbrake should be in your arsenal.
Google Chrome
We use Chrome. You probably use Chrome. Google's browser has grown from a scrappy Firefox alternative into the de facto web browser, and it's still the one we install for our parents or grab first thing when we have a clean Windows machine. There have been some bumps along the road in Chrome's development--sometimes it gets slow or crashy for a release or two--but it's hard to imagine living without some of its features, like tab and password syncing between desktop and laptop and smartphone.
LastPass
Unless you already use a password manager or have an incredible memory, you probably overuse the same password on too many websites. Most of us do! It's okay: you can make things better before a hacker waltzes off with all your personal information. Using LastPass is a great starting point. The free service lets you create a master password, then creates strings of gibberish for all of your accounts, so you never have to worry about one website breach compromising all of your information. LastPass will also remember an autofill all your passwords, and you can install it on multiple devices to keep the sign-in process easy. It's a painless password manager to use, and will make your data far more secure. You've got nothing to lose.
CCleaner
You love a clean computer right? Even if you religiously empty your recycle bin and clean out your browser cache, there are still files that pile up in Windows that you can do without. Running CCleaner every few months will keep your system clear of temporary files and error logs and leftover registry strings. If you're running Windows on an SSD, you may be surprised by how much vital space you free up with CCleaner, and a system cleanup only takes about a minute.
Notepad++
Even if you're not a programmer by knowledge or at least by nature, Notepad++ is a great piece of software to have on your computer. It vastly expands on the basics of Notepad with tabs, powerful search, a customizable GUI, and support for multiple programming languages. It knows how to parse code and linebreaks and can make a jumbled mass of text into something perfectly readable. It can also add a handy link to your Windows context menu for quickly opening up text files. If your text editing needs are modest, you'll appreciate Notepad++'s speed and accessibility. If you need to do heavy-duty coding work, you'll love the depth of its options menus and how customizable it is. An absolute must-have.
WinRAR
You're probably already using WinRAR. You are, right? Right? In the land of zipping, WinRAR is king. Small, unobtrusive, but able to zip or unzip every format under the sun, with great context menu support thrown in to make it even faster. We've got nothing against 7zup--it's perfectly fine!
Adobe Reader
Adobe software has a reputation for bloat, and it's true that there are lighter PDF applications out there. Foxit's PDF Reader, for example, is a good tool if you only need to read PDFs. But if you ever need to edit PDFs, Acrobat Reader gets the job done. It's free, includes easy tools for adding text or a signature to a document. It can also export as a Word document.
Defraggler
Windows 7 does a good job of automatically defragmenting your harddrives quietly in the background. Most likely, your drives are trucking along just fine without you manually defragging them. But sometimes--after moving a ton of files, or making space on an overly full hard drive--you want to do some manual defragging. Defraggler, from the creators of CCleaner, will do the trick. More importantly, it can do targeted defragmenting. You can see what files or drive sectors are fragmented, and specifically defragment those, without waiting two hours for your entire drive to be cleaned up.
Recuva
Recuva is a handy tool to have around when things go south. You accidentally delete a file, and Recuva can help you get it back. It's designed to help with a simple undelete, or to go digging for files that may still be accessible even after you've formatted a disk. Recuva can also help with the opposite task: if you have a file you really want to erase, Recuva can help securely overwrite that file's spot on the hard disk to make it much tougher to recover.
VLC Media Player
If VLC can't play it, it's probably broke. That's not VLC's slogan, but it may as well be. This free, open source video player comes with built-in video codecs for just about any file format imaginable. It's simple. It's powerful. It's an absolute essential video player, and is constantly dueling for my affection with the also-great Media Player Classic. VLC offers a couple extra features that I love: it can crank volume up to the 200% mark, which is important for quieter files, and it can easily adjust audio playback speed, which makes it a handy tool for transcribing. It may be the best video player on PC, but it's good for audio, too!
Handbrake
You've got an .avi that needs to be an .mp4. Or an .mp4 that needs to be an .mkv. What do you do? You could mess around with heavy-duty video editing software or one of a million crappy website transcoding options that don't work very well. Or you could simply download Handbrake, and it'll solve all your problems. This open source transcoder is easy to use--you can drag a file into it, set a few quality options, and hit the big green start button--and it'll fix up any video file as a shiny new .mp4 or .mkv. If you do any video editing, Handbrake should be in your arsenal.
Google Chrome
We use Chrome. You probably use Chrome. Google's browser has grown from a scrappy Firefox alternative into the de facto web browser, and it's still the one we install for our parents or grab first thing when we have a clean Windows machine. There have been some bumps along the road in Chrome's development--sometimes it gets slow or crashy for a release or two--but it's hard to imagine living without some of its features, like tab and password syncing between desktop and laptop and smartphone.
LastPass
Unless you already use a password manager or have an incredible memory, you probably overuse the same password on too many websites. Most of us do! It's okay: you can make things better before a hacker waltzes off with all your personal information. Using LastPass is a great starting point. The free service lets you create a master password, then creates strings of gibberish for all of your accounts, so you never have to worry about one website breach compromising all of your information. LastPass will also remember an autofill all your passwords, and you can install it on multiple devices to keep the sign-in process easy. It's a painless password manager to use, and will make your data far more secure. You've got nothing to lose.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
A-Must Upgrade Reasons Why You Should Dump Windows XP
You really, really need to dump Windows XP. No, really. Windows XP was great, and many users still love the operating system, including Tantra Online players but...it’s more than a decade old. At the rate technology evolves, that makes Windows XP a near-relic. Although it may still appear to work fine, the mantra of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” doesn’t really apply to Windows XP. It’s broken in many ways, and when Microsoft officially stops supporting it next April, it really will be broken.
You don’t even need to upgrade to Windows 8. Windows 7 would be fine. Whether you or a stubborn holdout you know still needs convincing, these three reasons should do the trick.
Productivity
From a 10,000-foot view, Windows XP seems productive enough. It runs the applications you need it to run. It checks email. It surfs the Web. When you take a closer look, though, the newer versions of Windows have features that help you work more efficiently.
Aero Snap, which appeared in Windows 7, makes maximizing, minimizing, and organizing windows as simple as dragging them to the edge of the display. You can drag up to maximize, drag down to minimize, and drag to the left or right to snap the window to the respective half of the display. When you first start using Aero Snap, it seems like a novelty with little real value, but it quickly becomes second nature. After using Aero Snap for awhile, you’ll discover that it streamlines your work, and you’ll regret all the time you spent dragging windows here and there in XP.
Windows 8 has another feature that can save you even more time. File History is similar to the Time Machine function in Mac OS X. It scans your files every hour and stores copies of the incremental changes over time. If you accidentally overwrite a crucial presentation, or you decide to scrap your changes and want to go back to the way things were a few hours ago, it’s easy to restore a file from any point in the history.
Another timesaver in Windows 8 is Automatic Maintenance. Managing the little things that keep your PC tuned and optimized—like defragmenting your storage, antimalware scans, updating the operating system, and performing diagnostic tests—can be tedious. Automatic Maintenance takes care of all of those things for you while you sleep.
Once you get used to the features in Windows 7 or Windows 8, you’ll wonder how you got by without them for so long.
New technology
Using an operating system that’s more than a decade old can also paint you into a corner when it comes to the peripherals and devices you can use with it. As new technologies are developed, they’re generally engineered with the latest operating systems in mind, and unlikely to be supported on Windows XP.
USB 3.0 is a prime example. Most USB 3.0 devices will still work—in a technical sense—with Windows XP because they’re backward-compatible. However, they will fall back to USB 2.0 compatibility and transfer data at about one-tenth of the potential speed of USB 3.0. Also note that even USB 3.0 is getting long in the tooth and will eventually be replaced by even faster technologies that Windows XP will not be able to take advantage of.
Whether you’re looking at wireless printers, Bluetooth keyboards, or 4K monitors, it will be challenging if not impossible to find drivers and support to make new technologies work with Windows XP.
Security
This is the big one. Windows XP is inherently more risky even now, and when Microsoft stops supporting the venerable OS next April, your PC will be virtually defenseless.
Just last week, Microsoft released a security advisory warning users about a zero-day vulnerability in Windows XP. The flaw is reportedly being actively exploited in the wild, but it doesn’t affect the newer versions of Windows.
Security experts believe that cybercriminals may already be hoarding Windows XP flaws, waiting hungrily for the expiration of Microsoft support. At that point, there will be no more Patch Tuesday security bulletins, and no patches or updates from Microsoft to address critical security concerns in Windows XP. It will be open season.
Tim Rains, director of Trustworthy Computing for Microsoft, has warned Windows XP users of another potential concern. Attackers often wait for a vendor to release a patch and then reverse-engineer it to discover the flaw and craft an exploit to take advantage of it. Once Microsoft support for Windows XP expires, malware developers will reverse-engineer Microsoft’s Windows 7 and Windows 8 patches and then verify whether those same flaws exist in Windows XP. In many cases, they will—and there will be no patch available to protect Windows XP.
The most recent Security Intelligence Report from Microsoft shows that when exposed to a similar volume of potential threats, Windows XP SP3 has a malware infection rate nearly double that of Windows 7, and a whopping 650 percent greater than 64-bit Windows 8. Windows XP systems are more likely to be compromised than ones running newer versions of Windows, the effects of the compromise are typically more insidious, and eradicating the threat and resolving a malware incident takes longer.
You don’t even need to upgrade to Windows 8. Windows 7 would be fine. Whether you or a stubborn holdout you know still needs convincing, these three reasons should do the trick.
Productivity
From a 10,000-foot view, Windows XP seems productive enough. It runs the applications you need it to run. It checks email. It surfs the Web. When you take a closer look, though, the newer versions of Windows have features that help you work more efficiently.
Aero Snap, which appeared in Windows 7, makes maximizing, minimizing, and organizing windows as simple as dragging them to the edge of the display. You can drag up to maximize, drag down to minimize, and drag to the left or right to snap the window to the respective half of the display. When you first start using Aero Snap, it seems like a novelty with little real value, but it quickly becomes second nature. After using Aero Snap for awhile, you’ll discover that it streamlines your work, and you’ll regret all the time you spent dragging windows here and there in XP.
Windows 8 has another feature that can save you even more time. File History is similar to the Time Machine function in Mac OS X. It scans your files every hour and stores copies of the incremental changes over time. If you accidentally overwrite a crucial presentation, or you decide to scrap your changes and want to go back to the way things were a few hours ago, it’s easy to restore a file from any point in the history.
Another timesaver in Windows 8 is Automatic Maintenance. Managing the little things that keep your PC tuned and optimized—like defragmenting your storage, antimalware scans, updating the operating system, and performing diagnostic tests—can be tedious. Automatic Maintenance takes care of all of those things for you while you sleep.
Once you get used to the features in Windows 7 or Windows 8, you’ll wonder how you got by without them for so long.
New technology
Using an operating system that’s more than a decade old can also paint you into a corner when it comes to the peripherals and devices you can use with it. As new technologies are developed, they’re generally engineered with the latest operating systems in mind, and unlikely to be supported on Windows XP.
USB 3.0 is a prime example. Most USB 3.0 devices will still work—in a technical sense—with Windows XP because they’re backward-compatible. However, they will fall back to USB 2.0 compatibility and transfer data at about one-tenth of the potential speed of USB 3.0. Also note that even USB 3.0 is getting long in the tooth and will eventually be replaced by even faster technologies that Windows XP will not be able to take advantage of.
Whether you’re looking at wireless printers, Bluetooth keyboards, or 4K monitors, it will be challenging if not impossible to find drivers and support to make new technologies work with Windows XP.
Security
This is the big one. Windows XP is inherently more risky even now, and when Microsoft stops supporting the venerable OS next April, your PC will be virtually defenseless.
Just last week, Microsoft released a security advisory warning users about a zero-day vulnerability in Windows XP. The flaw is reportedly being actively exploited in the wild, but it doesn’t affect the newer versions of Windows.
Security experts believe that cybercriminals may already be hoarding Windows XP flaws, waiting hungrily for the expiration of Microsoft support. At that point, there will be no more Patch Tuesday security bulletins, and no patches or updates from Microsoft to address critical security concerns in Windows XP. It will be open season.
Tim Rains, director of Trustworthy Computing for Microsoft, has warned Windows XP users of another potential concern. Attackers often wait for a vendor to release a patch and then reverse-engineer it to discover the flaw and craft an exploit to take advantage of it. Once Microsoft support for Windows XP expires, malware developers will reverse-engineer Microsoft’s Windows 7 and Windows 8 patches and then verify whether those same flaws exist in Windows XP. In many cases, they will—and there will be no patch available to protect Windows XP.
The most recent Security Intelligence Report from Microsoft shows that when exposed to a similar volume of potential threats, Windows XP SP3 has a malware infection rate nearly double that of Windows 7, and a whopping 650 percent greater than 64-bit Windows 8. Windows XP systems are more likely to be compromised than ones running newer versions of Windows, the effects of the compromise are typically more insidious, and eradicating the threat and resolving a malware incident takes longer.
Sunday, August 17, 2014
10 Friendly Tips To Enhance Your Gaming Experience
Don’t let rogue viruses, outdated drivers or misapplied settings hold back your gaming experience. Follow our ten steps to gaming heaven.
Playing games like Tantra Online on an underpowered PC is about as much fun as listening to a scratched record. Boot up the latest release on a computer that’s not up to the task and, instead of playing the latest blockbuster, you’ll be left with a stuttering, flickering mess. If that sounds like your own PC gaming experience, then what you need is a speed boost. Try the following tips to wring the maximum from your system.
Increase Power
PC games will generally have two sets of system requirements, the ‘minimum’ and the ‘recommended’. Those minimum requirements will enable you to install and boot up a game, but having started it, don’t be surprised if it’s virtually unplayable. To properly get going, you’ll want your system to at least meet the recommended system requirements. That’s likely to mean a starting point of a quad-core processor , 4GB of memory and a decent graphics card with 1GB of its own memory for today’s high-powered games.
Get The Right and Efficient Upgrade
If your system doesn’t meet those requirements, look first at your graphics card. Though you can spend a fortune on this kind of upgrade, you really don’t have to. The most expensive cards cater for true enthusiasts – those who demand their games run with all the settings switched to maximum. But something like the Nvidia Geforce GT 640 is affordable and will deal with pretty much anything you throw at it.
Update Graphics Outdated Drivers
A simple way to get more from your existing graphics card is to check its manufacturer’s website for any more recent drivers. Graphics card companies such as Nvidia and AMD will often release updates that will squeeze some additional performance from their hardware.
Maximise Gaming Power
It’s no surprise that your system won’t be on top form if it’s bogged down with extra jobs at the same time as it’s trying to run your games. Gamebooster 3 is a neat, free application that will shut down any non-essential programs and processes when you’re gaming.
Gamebooster 3 ensures your games aren’t forced to share resources with other programs
Anti-Virus Scans
It’s never good news to have any kind of virus or spyware on your computer, and it’s something that’s certain to impact on your system’s performance. Ensure your anti-virus software is running and up-to-date, and follow our tips to ensure your PC is as safe as it can possibly be.
Make sure you’re adequately protected against threats with a good, strong security program
Check The Your Game’s Settings
If your game’s graphics are skipping around and a low frame-rate is affecting your gameplay, then head to the Settings screen. Look to turn down settings such as Texture and Shadows. Reducing these won’t materially affect your gameplay, but it dramatically lessens the workload you’re asking your system to take on.
Defragmentation
Make sure your drive is defragged regularly – a fragmented drive with files scattered in pieces all over it will cripple your gameplay. The Windows® 7 Defragmenter is adequate, but if you want to push the envelope further, try a third-party tool.
Switch To A SSD Drive
Another great way to speed up your PC’s overall performance – including its gaming capabilities – is to upgrade to a SSD drive. Compared to your existing hard drive, these are lightning fast, and can make your games fly. Prices are falling too – you can now get a 120GB SSD drive for well under price.
Upgrade Your Mouse & Keyboard
The quality of your gaming performance isn’t just about what’s inside your computer. Upgrading your mouse and keyboard can yield some serious gameplay improvements, by offering customisable settings and quicker speeds, for instance.
Make gaming more enjoyable by investing in a specialist keyboard and mouse
Get a Reliable Wired Connection
If you’re into online gaming, like Tantra Online, a wired internet connection can be far more reliable than wireless. Powerline adapters like Advent’s APWL-2012 200Mbps kit offer a neat and tidy solution. These use your home’s mains electricity cables to pipe your broadband signal between rooms. If you’re confident with computers, also try software such as the free TCP Optimizer, which can help you get the best out of your internet connection.
Boost the performance of your online gaming by switching from wireless to Powerline
Playing games like Tantra Online on an underpowered PC is about as much fun as listening to a scratched record. Boot up the latest release on a computer that’s not up to the task and, instead of playing the latest blockbuster, you’ll be left with a stuttering, flickering mess. If that sounds like your own PC gaming experience, then what you need is a speed boost. Try the following tips to wring the maximum from your system.
Increase Power
PC games will generally have two sets of system requirements, the ‘minimum’ and the ‘recommended’. Those minimum requirements will enable you to install and boot up a game, but having started it, don’t be surprised if it’s virtually unplayable. To properly get going, you’ll want your system to at least meet the recommended system requirements. That’s likely to mean a starting point of a quad-core processor , 4GB of memory and a decent graphics card with 1GB of its own memory for today’s high-powered games.
Get The Right and Efficient Upgrade
If your system doesn’t meet those requirements, look first at your graphics card. Though you can spend a fortune on this kind of upgrade, you really don’t have to. The most expensive cards cater for true enthusiasts – those who demand their games run with all the settings switched to maximum. But something like the Nvidia Geforce GT 640 is affordable and will deal with pretty much anything you throw at it.
Update Graphics Outdated Drivers
A simple way to get more from your existing graphics card is to check its manufacturer’s website for any more recent drivers. Graphics card companies such as Nvidia and AMD will often release updates that will squeeze some additional performance from their hardware.
Maximise Gaming Power
It’s no surprise that your system won’t be on top form if it’s bogged down with extra jobs at the same time as it’s trying to run your games. Gamebooster 3 is a neat, free application that will shut down any non-essential programs and processes when you’re gaming.
Gamebooster 3 ensures your games aren’t forced to share resources with other programs
Anti-Virus Scans
It’s never good news to have any kind of virus or spyware on your computer, and it’s something that’s certain to impact on your system’s performance. Ensure your anti-virus software is running and up-to-date, and follow our tips to ensure your PC is as safe as it can possibly be.
Make sure you’re adequately protected against threats with a good, strong security program
Check The Your Game’s Settings
If your game’s graphics are skipping around and a low frame-rate is affecting your gameplay, then head to the Settings screen. Look to turn down settings such as Texture and Shadows. Reducing these won’t materially affect your gameplay, but it dramatically lessens the workload you’re asking your system to take on.
Defragmentation
Make sure your drive is defragged regularly – a fragmented drive with files scattered in pieces all over it will cripple your gameplay. The Windows® 7 Defragmenter is adequate, but if you want to push the envelope further, try a third-party tool.
Switch To A SSD Drive
Another great way to speed up your PC’s overall performance – including its gaming capabilities – is to upgrade to a SSD drive. Compared to your existing hard drive, these are lightning fast, and can make your games fly. Prices are falling too – you can now get a 120GB SSD drive for well under price.
Upgrade Your Mouse & Keyboard
The quality of your gaming performance isn’t just about what’s inside your computer. Upgrading your mouse and keyboard can yield some serious gameplay improvements, by offering customisable settings and quicker speeds, for instance.
Make gaming more enjoyable by investing in a specialist keyboard and mouse
Get a Reliable Wired Connection
If you’re into online gaming, like Tantra Online, a wired internet connection can be far more reliable than wireless. Powerline adapters like Advent’s APWL-2012 200Mbps kit offer a neat and tidy solution. These use your home’s mains electricity cables to pipe your broadband signal between rooms. If you’re confident with computers, also try software such as the free TCP Optimizer, which can help you get the best out of your internet connection.
Boost the performance of your online gaming by switching from wireless to Powerline
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)