IS Magazine Blog

All Posts Author: Patrick Stevens
Software Sensations

How To Remove PC Health Boost From Your Computer

PCHealthBoostRemoval

The net is full of fraudulent software, including PC Health Boost, which claim to boost the performance of your PC by removing errors in its registry. For the uninitiated, PC Health Boost is a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Program) that does not deliver what it claims. On the contrary, it provides users with exaggerated and modified system scan results to fool them into paying money for the unnecessary system fix. It does not matter if this software sneaked into your computer through installation of software bundles or whether you installed it intentionally. The trial version of this software begins scanning your computer as soon as you install it, and displays a lot of pop-up notification that identifies allegedly PC problems. It displays a message that impel you to get rid of or fix the following items:
• Errors related to ActiveX and COM controls
• Expired cache files
• Damaged DLLs, and
• Potentially dangerous entries

The catch with PC Health Boost

The trial version of the software just shows you the errors. You have to purchase a license key and register the application with it to fix the errors. Although the vendors promise that this software eliminates outdated registry entries from your computer's hard disk drive, it might be able to delete scores of legitimate registry files. It also steals data such as credit card details, bank account information, tax return, user ID and password from your computer and forward them to hackers. Therefore, you should remove this program from your computer immediately.

How to remove PC Health Boost from your computer

Running a standard anti-spyware removal tool is of no help since the powerful destructive feature of PC Health Boost effortlessly manages to bypass such tools. In such a scenario you can try to uninstall the software by following the steps mentioned below:
• Click on "Start" button
• Navigate to the Windows control panel
• Launch add/remove programs
• Select PC Health Boost and click to uninstall it

Entertainment

Battle for Bikini Bottom: Rehydrated

BattleforBikiniBottomRehydrated

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for bikini bottom is a video game that's based on Nickelodeon's favorite deep-sea sponge, SpongeBob SquarePants. It became a hit in 2003 and it was developed by Heavy Iron Studios. This game was a hit to all SpongeBob fans out there! I mean, who wouldn't want to be SpongeBob, right? Not unless you're Squidward. The game got a lot of positive reviews over the course of its release and it managed to gather a lot of fans all around the world. With a lot of success surrounding the game, Heavy Iron Studios showed an interest in creating a sequel or doing a remake for the game. A lot of fans became excited with this idea that they waited for a total of 17 years. At long last, every prayer of every SpongeBob fan has been heard. In June 2019, Purple Lamp Studios was present in a gaming convention called E3, where they announced that they'll be handling the remake of our favorite sponge ever! A year after its announcement. Purple Lamp studios finally released - Battle for Bikini Bottom: Rehydrated! For 17 years we waited, and finally it has been given! It's now available in Xbox one, Play station 4, Nintendo switch and sometime in 2020, for PC!

Upgraded Features of Battle of Bikini Bottom Rehydrated

It's still the game that we knew and loved, but it has a lot of upgraded features that you will surely notice! First of all, the graphics of the game is outstanding! If your console supports 4k resolutions, then this game will be so beautiful to the eye, it's so unreal! I mean what do you expect? It's run by Unreal engine that revamps the graphics of the old classic!

Rehydrated Story Line

The story line is similar, you are going to play the lovable sponge of bikini bottom - SpongeBob SquarePants, you will be saving Bikini Bottom from a horde of robots named as Duplicatotron 3000 that's controlled by the evil genius, Chum bucket owner, Plankton. The game has new character models compared to the last one, and apparently sliding on your tongue is much better than sledding! One of the most fun thing about this game, is that in every boss battle, the announcer fish is there to shout cast everything about that battle. It's pretty funny and entertaining!

SpongeBob: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated - THIS GAME IS HILARIOUS! - Part 1

Entertainment

Mortal Kombat 11 Sees Release of Free Patch and Aftermath DLC

MortalKombat11

The wait is over for the new Mortal Kombat 11 content with the release of the massive Aftermath DLC as well as an accompanying free patch available to all users. Both Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath and the 05/26/2020 patch are being released side by side on May 26th, 2020 to users on Xbox One, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC. The Aftermath DLC can be purchased as a separate add on for $40 USD but if you choose to forego the excellent additional content, the balancing patch will still be freely available to all users.

Mortal Kombat 11 New Story Chapters And Characters

Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath is a large DLC that adds five new story chapters as well as three new playable characters to the mix. The new story chapters follow the events of the story campaign in Mortal Kombat 11 and as the name suggests, details the aftermath of the events that took place at the end of the main game. I won't spoil it here, but the ending to the story campaign in Mortal Kombat 11 was wild and Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath follows the story as to what happens next over hours of exciting new gameplay and exposition.

The three new playable characters are Sheeva, Fujin, and guest RoboCop. Yes, RoboCop. The classic American icon of sci-fi greatness makes a guest appearance here alongside two classic characters from previous Mortal Combat iterations. The inclusion of three new fighters to toy around with brings the complete official roster in Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath to a whopping 34 characters.

Then there is the free patch which is a full-scale balancing patch that sees major and minor changes to many aspects of the game including basic combat, the Tower of Time, and character balance. Nearly every character is touched in some way in order to improve balance and performance in response to fan input. Every character has an armor break attack now and a new tutorial explaining the revamped armor break system has been added.

Tower of Time

The Tower of Time was completely reworked to offer a more dynamic and interesting player experience. Now there are new rewards, a new Boss Tower, Sidekick Tower, and Tag Tower to play in. The rewards were increased in order to make the experience more rewarding. The attention to the Tower of Time really fleshes it out and makes a more robust feature that is worthy of your attention.

Lastly, the AI was given some more polish, there has been an undisclosed number of new brutalities to unlock alongside new skin packs to be discovered. Even without the five new story chapters and characters added by the Aftermath DLC, there is plenty more to see from the patch alone. The number of specific changes made to the game is very large. If you are curious, the full patch notes can be seen here.

Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath - Before You Buy

EntertainmentInternet Today

Joe Rogan Podcast Now Spotify Exclusive

JoeRogan

Joe Rogan is making over $100 million by taking his world famous podcast JRE (Joe Rogan Experience) to Spotify. The Newark NJ born comedian and host of the hottest podcast is taking it all to just one platform starting September 1st.

The Joe Rogan Experience was not even available on Spotify before this deal came through.

He will no longer be on Apple iTunes. So 100,000+ listeners will now have to jump to a different platform to listen. There could still be clips of the show on YouTube.

JRE Listeners Moving to Spotify

Experts feel that many will now join Spotify just to get access to JRE. Think when Howard Stern went to XM Sirius Radio. Anyone wanting the show will have to pay for Spotify but not for the show itself.

Rogan could take a hit in listenership, but the payday from Spotify should offset any losses.

And when users get Joe Rogan from Spotify they will start downloading all their podcasts from the same source, making Spotify the potential king of podcasting. This creates competition in the field where there really hasn’t been much with Apple dominating 90% of the market.

There could be a battle for exclusive podcast deals going forward with some of the big names being bid on like television content by the big carriers.

Joe Rogan Makes $100+ Million Exclusive Deal with Spotify

Entertainment

Indivisible's Turbulent Launch on Nintendo Switch

IndivisibleNintendoSwitch
Lab Zero's lauded 2019 RPG platformer release, Indivisible, finally made its way into the Nintendo eShop April 28th to the surprise of, well, everyone. There was no lead up announcement, no press of any kind. Even the developers themselves were blindsided by the sudden game drop.

Mark Zaimont, Project Lead on Indivisible's development team, also appears to be the spokesman for the team in this awkward time.

"Feel like you missed the announcement? You're not alone, our team found out because people on Twitter sent us congratulations! I had no idea! But there it is! :^P," Zaimont posted on Twitter. Apparently, publisher 505G neglected to share their plans with the Lab Zero, or anyone else. Unfortunately there are several issues that prevent this from being a pleasant surprise.

What's Wrong With the Port?

To begin with, the eShop listing for Indivisible doesn't even show the correct cover art! That's a small oversight, however, and seems all the more so relative to the other more egregious errors.

The build of the game released for Switch is older than what's available to current players on other platforms. This means it lacks actual gameplay elements, namely Co-op and New Game Plus, along with numerous small changes and additions made in recent months.

Moreover, contributors to Indivisible’s Indiegogo funding campaign have another reason to be upset. One reward for donors of a certain level was a code bestowing a free copy of the game on the donor’s platform of choice. Switch owners who have been patiently awaiting this reward are understandably upset that they haven’t received the promised compensation.

According to Zaimont, it is currently unknown when, how, or even if this agreement will be honored. 505 Games has yet to release a statement of their own.

This botched release may remind gamers of another 505 Games release fiasco. Artplay’s “Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night” suffered several unexplained delays to its Japanese release. Another crowd funded game, the original backers were among the absolute last to get their promised copies. This may not bode well for the Indiegogo set this time around.

Is There A Bright Side?

It would be unfair to say that all the news surrounding this release is bad. While in its current state the Switch port is missing newer game elements, it is still a technically solid port of a much anticipated game. According to Zaimont, the game runs smoothly, with a “stable frame rate, even handheld.” And, while there has been no statement detailing 505 Games’s future plans, it seems safe to assume the game will eventually be updated to match its current iterations on other platforms.

Indivisible | Nintendo Switch Gameplay & Frame Rate

EntertainmentHardware InnovationsSoftware Sensations

Minecraft with Nvidia RTX ray tracing releases on April 16

minecraft-rtx-dxr-ray-tracing

Minecraft is one of the most popular computer games worldwide and new themes, enhancements of Minecraft are always being released. In one of the most significant changes in visual effects for Minecraft in many years, Microsoft will collaborate with graphics card manufacturer, Nvidia to create a special version of Minecraft with Nvidia RTX ray tracing. This enhanced visually attractive version of Minecraft will be released on April 16, 2020 and is eagerly awaited by Minecraft fans worldwide. In this version Nvidia will use drivers, its upgraded RTX graphics card and a specially created version of Minecraft with light ray tracing, to give a realistic look for the game.

Nvidia Geforce RTX20

In most computer games, including Minecraft, the conventional graphics technologies which are used allow the game designer limited control over the illumination and colors displayed on the screen. For more realistic colors using ray tracing, a high capacity graphics processor and software will be required, which are not easily available. To overcome this limitation of Minecraft, Nvidia has released the Nvidia Geforce RTX20 series graphics card with specially designed Graphics Processor Unit (GPU). This card is using the Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS 2.0) technology for ray tracing without affecting the performance of the game, computer.

Artificial Intelligence Tensor Cores

The Nvidia RTX GPUs are using Artificial intelligence (AI) tensor cores and machine learning, to render life like and realistic visuals. The rendering technique uses super resolution using AI, in which a few pixels are rendered in the conventional way. Then AI is used to construct high resolution images which are sharper. The frames are also being generated at a faster rate. All the illumination effects like shadows, atmospheric effects, reflections, refraction,transparency, scattering, are created using this technology. Since AI is being used extensively for rendering the graphics, the load on the GPU and CPU, power consumption is lower compared to other hardware used earlier.

For the convenience of the users, Minecraft and Nvidia are releasing specially developed textures which showcase the enhanced visual effects, collaborating with different creators. The six textures are Temples & Totems from Razzleberries, Imagination Island developed by Blockworks, Crystal Palace by Gemini Tay, Aquatic Adventure by Dr. Bond, Color, light & shadows by Pearlescentmoon, Neon district from Elysium Fire. These adventure, creative and other themes can be downloaded from the Minecraft marketplace by graphic designers developing their own themes or Minecraft players who wish to enhance their gaming experience.

Announcing Minecraft with RTX for Windows 10

Entertainment

Is The Wait for Grand Theft Auto 6 Near to an End?

GrandtheftAuto6

Rumors and leaked pieces of news are now the basis of the video game industry. Before the release, more or less credible unofficial sources reveal and share information as fast as they can. In the case of Grand Theft Auto 6, however, the rumors began to circulate before the official team announced the next chapter during the last E3.

About the official source

In 2019, any enthusiast thought the game was on its way. In the gaming community, many believed they were lowering everybody's expectations. In this early 2020, Rockstar Games has not yet announced anything official about the next episode of the Grand Theft Auto series.

Not only do we not know a real release date, the setting, the characters, or even the central theme of the next chapter, but we also do not know if this game is actually in development. We can't even assume the existence of the development project.

The latest rumors

The more recent rumors are coming from the popular leaker named gonnaenodaethat. Through several cryptic messages, the leaker wanted to share some information regarding the announcement date of Grand Theft Auto 6. In fact, after those messages, a thread appeared on Reddit to evaluate the actual reliability of the source. Gonnaenodaethat got popularity on the web for having discovered the release date of the PC version of Red Dead Redemption 2 before its announcement.

According to what gonnaenodaethat wrote, a possible release date of the announcement of Grand Theft Auto 6 was 03/20/2020. However, nothing happened. Some Reddit users guessed another date, March 25th. Yet, this was also wrong.

GTA 6 Fans Are FURIOUS That GTA 6's Announcement/Reveal Hasn't Happened Yet...

Software Sensations

Fighting COVID 19 with Folding@Home

Folding@Home

As diseases such as COVID-19 ravage around the world the average person might wonder just what they can do to help in combating it, luckily for us there are many ways however an effective and rather not intrusive way is via the program Folding@Home.

What is Folding@Home?

Folding@Home launched on October the 1st of 2000 is a program that is available on many Personal Computers that uses your idle processing resources in order to help simulate processes such as Protein Folding, hence the name Folding@Home. Using the Idle resources of thousands of volunteer computers, Folding@Home has helped achieve massive scientific advancements in the field of dealing with diseases while also breaking world records for technology-related achievements such as being one of the worlds fastest computing systems rated at 98.7 petaflops, which for the less tech-literate of us is very, very quick.

Can I get it on my PC?

If you are hooked on the idea of helping the world by letting a scientific company use your unwanted Idle CPU processes then you may wonder on whether or not your computer will support it. Luckily, specifications aren't much of a concern and it will most likely run on anything that can at least boot up without crashing, meaning you could put all your old laptops to good use by installing Folding@Home on them.

Luckily, Folding@Home now is pretty much universally compatible with all major operating systems such as Windows, Mac OS, Most Major Linux Distros (such as Ubuntu) as well as even phone operating systems such as Android (though it has to be version 4.4 and above). What this means is that you can put any device with these operating systems to use to help us fight against diseases, from using it on your Windows Gaming PC to letting it use your phone's CPU while it is in your pocket.

How do I start using my computer for folding?

Now you know that your device most likely supports Folding@Home you might now wonder on just about how you install it on to your device. Luckily, it is very (I mean very) simple and is about as complicated as downloading any other application.

If you are on a Personal Computer with Windows, Mac or Linux then all you have to do is head to foldingathome.org, find your operating system in the download list and click "Download". Simple as that, follow the setup and then you will have Folding@Home installed on your PC, simple as that.

For Android, all you have to do is go on Google Play and download it from there.

How can this application fight against modern diseases (like COVID-19)

Folding@Home has been helping scientists do revolutionary advances against many modern diseases ever since 2000, and for diseases like COVID-19, Folding@Home plays an important part in helping researchers utilize the necessary computer power in order to help simulate and research the Virus.

Saving Lives with Your PC Hardware - Folding@Home - NGON

EntertainmentSoftware Sensations

Cooking Mama Games on Nintendo Switch

CookingMamaonNintendoSwitch


Cooking Mama: Cookstar for Nintendo Switch is set to be released March 2020, and it is reported to have a unique Instagram-like mode that involves food photography; in addition to this, it is also said that this game will be sold at a price of $39.99. The game has been out of the limelight for quite sometime now after it was delayed as it was supposed to be released on February 2019.

Cooking Mama Gameplay

Cooking Mama has been one of the most popular games in the Nintendo franchise and was known to be one of the best in the cooking simulator genre. This appealed to a lot of people because the gameplay allows players to learn how to cook different dishes from the countries where they originated from, and these are done through mini-games that are part of the entire cooking process. What players enjoy most about learning these recipes is that they are able to experience different actions involved in cooking these dishes in real life; some of these actions are stirring, chopping, peeling, and many more.

Cooking Mama Trailer

The leaked video trailer of this game displayed a new ability that players will be able to experience, which is becoming a food photographer by simulating how Instagram works. In this new feature, the players will be given the power to rotate their final dish, zoom in or out on it, and even adjust the angle of their camera, just to be able to get the best shot of their completed dish. And again, just like on Instagram, players will also be able to choose different stickers and filters to add to their photo to be able to attract more people to their dish.

Cooking Mama: CookStar - Debut Trailer for Nintendo Switch HD

EntertainmentSoftware Sensations

Review of Plague Inc. and a Coronavirus Update

 

PlagueIncConoraVirus

Amidst the Coronavirus outbreak in China, a strategy game has increased in popularity. While some people say playing the game takes their mind away from the fear of the virus, others have been playing it for as long as the Plague Inc. Game has been available.

What is Plague Inc.?

In May 2012, the strategy game came out with a simple task: infect a country with a disease and wipe out the world's population before they invent a cure. Of course, there are factors that are built in to stop you. If you use birds to spread the disease, prominent countries will wipe out the bird population before it spreads. If a healthy country creates a cure and they eliminate all of the infected people, you lose. Over the years, expansion packs have upped the ante with varying ways to infect people such as a Neurax Worm Expansion, Simian Flu, and more.

How do I play Plague Inc.?

One great thing about Plague Inc. is its self-explanatory interface. Of course, you can follow the tutorials that provide suggestions on how to play, but its really fairly simple to navigate. First, you select a plague type. If you're using the absolute basic version, the only option you have is Bacteria. All other types of plagues are locked until you win the game with a previous disease type on 'Normal' or 'Brutal' difficulty levels. 'Casual' is best for those who are new to the game. Next, you name your plague, then modify the genetic code, which allows you to customize how the plague mutates. To start, you pick the country you want to infect, i.e. your Patient Zero. Throughout the game, you earn DNA points, which helps you spread the infection and stop the world from creating a cure, as well as choose from a variety of symptoms. You get to choose how the disease transmits through saliva, blood, insects, birds, and more. One tip is to make sure you keep the disease low on the world's radar, which in turn will delay the cure. The key is to focus on the transmission and ensure there are no healthy people left by the time the pathogen starts killing people.

Where do I play Plague  Inc.?

What started off as a mobile game has spread onto other gaming platforms. You can buy it on your smartphone app store for $0.99 (with an additional $8.99 for expansion packs). Or, you could purchase Plague Inc: Evolved for $14.99 for the full experience on your Xbox One, Playstation 4, PC, Mac, or Linux (which includes multiplayer, co-op, and more). It's also available on Steam. While the mobile app is cheaper, it allows you the freedom to play it wherever you want (like the doctor's office to make sure you don't have the Coronavirus). However, the expansion packs and full Evolved version allow for ways to wipe out the population that you simply can't on the app.

Plague Inc: Custom Scenarios - 2020 Wuhan Coronavirus

Categories

Calendar