Is the AMD Barton good, bad or ugly?

Can the new Barton live up to the hype AMD has given it? LiamC in Australia demonstrates some fine analytical skills in a searching look at the new processor.

Networks Today gives beginners a hand in understanding the implications of securing a PC against unwanted programs and attacks. If you're even remotely about how secure your machine is, head on over there and start reading.

If you want the real low down on Microsoft's Combat Flight Simulator, who better to ask than a US Airforce pilot who flies an F16C for a living? SimHQ managed to get just such a guy to review it. He found it impressive but flawed.

If you're still not sure whether 3D Mark 2003 is good for you, Tech Report runs the new benchmark over seven of the latest graphics cards and gives the not so surprising news that the ATI 9700 Pro is still good. It also seems that GeForce MX owners will want to upgrade soon.

Dan has been answering more reader's letters over at Dan's Data. Heatsink horror stories and which Tamiya radio controlled tank to buy are just two of the topics he tackles.

Gamepyre takes a look at the Asus A7N8X Deluxe, an Nvidia Nforce 2 based motherboard and likes the wee beastie. Especially its stability and tolerance of different components being swapped in and out.

Creative has released a new driver for Audigy 2 owners and an updated version of its DVD player. Both solve some system lockup problems.

The Abit NF-7S is a highly acclaimed Nforce 2 motherboard but it's not without it's problems. It seems the microphone connection is a long way from what it should be on some versions. You can find details here, here and here.

MSI has some problems with Nforce 2 boards as well. One of its latest motherboards, the K7N2G-ILSR, shipped out to VidiLab with the wrong sort of video BIOS. You can find the details here, there's an English language summary at the bottom of the page.

Lastly, a bit of humour for the day. BBspot has a virus alert that you definitely shouldn't take too seriously. Read all about the Heavyweight virus here. µ