Halcyon.

Windows 8 no longer includes the traditional Start Menu that Windows users have become associated with using. Instead they replaced it with a new interface called the Windows Start Screen that many people find to be not as intuitive as the traditional Start Menu. This is especially the case if you are not using a touch screen. With this in mind, a free program called Classic Shell has been updated to support the ability to add a Start Menu to Windows 8. Classic Shell is a po[CENSORED]r Start Menu alternative that allows you to change the Windows Start Menu to appear as different Windows Start Menu styles or a new one created by the developers of Classic Shell. A really nice feature is that for those who do not wish to use the Windows 8 Start Screen, Classic Shell is configured by default to bypass it and boot directly to the desktop. If you wish to use your apps from the desktop, Classic Shell will also list them in the Start Menu for easy launching. This can be disabled for those who wish to continue to boot Windows 8 to the Start Screen. To add a Start Menu to Windows 8, go to the following web site and download the Classic Shell program. Once the file has finished downloading, double-click on it to start the setup program. When the setup program starts, you will be greeted with the Class Shell Setup screen. Click on the Next button. You will now be at the license agreement where you should put a check mark in the I access the terms of the license agreement check box and then click on the Next button. You will now be at a screen asking what features you would like to remove. As we only want to restore the Start Menu to Windows 8, we should remove the Classic Explorer and Classic IE9 so that it will not be installed. To do this, click on the Install Option Button button next to Classic Explorer and Classic IE9 and when the menu appears select Entire feature will be unavailable. When you have done this for both options, your screen should look like the following image. Now click on the Next button and then the Install button on the following screen. The setup program will now start the Classic Shell installation process. While installing, Windows will display a User Account Control prompt asking if you would like the program to make changes to your computer. Please click on the Yes button to continue with the installation. When the installation is finished, click on the Finish button and the program's Readme file will open in a new Notepad window. Read the file and then close Notepad. Now that Classic Shell has finished installing, you will see a Start button in the lower left-hand corner of your Windows 8 desktop taskbar. Now we need to select the style of Start Menu we wish to use before we can start using it. To do this, click once on the Start button and the Settings screen will appear. This screen will allow you to select the look of the Start Menu that you would like to use and change some basic settings. For now, do not bother changing any of the settings and instead just select the style you wish to use. We suggest that you use the Windows Vista/Windows 7 style, but it is up to you. Once you select a style, a a confirmation prompt will appear asking if you wish to continue. If you do, click on the Yes button and then click on the OK button to put changes into effect. Tip: With Classic Shell installed, pressing the Alt key will bring you back to the desktop instead of the Start Screen. To get back to the Start Screen you now need to press the Alt+S keyboard combination. You will now have a fully functional Windows 8 Start Menu as shown below. If you wish to customize the Start Menu, you can right-click on the Start Button and select Settings. This will open the Settings screen where you can change your Start Menu style of modify various settings. To access the basic settings, just click on the Basic Settings tab, which will list a variety of settings you can use to customize the Classic Shell Start Menu. If you wish to see all available settings, you can select the All Settings option at the bottom of the screen. Feel free to modify the settings without fear as you can easily revert back to the default settings by clicking on the Backup button and then selecting Reset All Settings. The Skin tab in the Settings screen allows you to change the appearance and graphical user interface of the Start Menu. Once again, these settings can be changed without fear of messing anything up as you can always reset them by going through the Backup button.

Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) is considered by many to be among the most excruciatingly painful conditions known to man that causes a sudden, sharp and stabbing pain to one side of the face. The pain cannot be described in words and yet many sufferers express it by using their imagination as someone giving them an electric shock or blasting a bomb on their face. Since it is a chronic condition of acute, ‘out of the blue’ episodes of unbearable and agonising pain, countless people, out of sheer frustration have committed suicide before treatments (and cure) were discovered. That is the reason why it is also known as ‘The Suicide Disease’. An estimated one in 15,000 people suffers from trigeminal neuralgia, but in all likelihood, the numbers may be significantly higher due to frequent misdiagnoses. (Read more about the disease in Part 1 of this series: Know about Trigeminal Neuralgia, the suicide disease.) To understand the treatment process better, we spoke to Dr Jaydev Panchwagh, an eminent Neurosurgeon from Pune (Maharashtra) with special interest in treating Trigeminal Neuralgia. For the last 12 years it has been his mission to take brain & spine surgery to the masses. Here’s what he had to say: Please tell us the course of Trigeminal Neuralgia, or TN? Dr JP: TN is a progressive disorder, after the initial episodes of excruciating pain there may a pain holiday because body tries to heal the nerve that is getting compressed by pulsating blood vessels that come too close to the nerve for comfort. What are the treatment options? Dr JP: TN patients may find relief with one medication called carbamazepine. It is the only pain suppressant that works on stabbing, burning, searing, and sometimes electric shock-like excruciating pain of TN. It acts by reducing nerve impulses. If the pain is controlled by smaller doses then the problem gets temporarily solved. If the patient comes back with pain despite taking carbamazepine then we have to increase the dose but there are limitations. What are the side effects with higher doses of carbamazepine? Dr JP: Most common is drowsiness and sleepiness. The other side effects are difficulty in concentration, confusion, unsteadiness, nausea and vomiting, double vision and reduction in blood cells that help us fight infection. If one gets any kind of skin rash a doctor must be consulted at once. Same is with feeling of depression. There are some other severe toxic effects too. What are the other options? Dr JP: We recommend brain surgery to patients who need carbamazepine more than 400 mg per day or even lesser if it has to be taken on regular basis. What is this surgery called? Dr JP: Microvascular Decompression Surgery. MVD as we call it in short is a surgical procedure to relieve the agonising pain caused by compression of trigeminal nerve by an artery or vein. MVD involves surgically opening the skull and exposing the nerve at the base of the brainstem to insert a tiny sponge between the compressing vessel and the nerve. This sponge isolates the nerve from the pulsating effect and pressure of the blood vessel. This operation basically cures the TN. This is a far better option even when carbamazepine works even in small doses. Why? Dr JP: The very aim of this surgery is to stop the life-disturbing pain as well as save the patient from the toxic chemical and the untold misery it brings with it. Due to carbamazepine’s side effects on body and mind, people have given up their jobs even when they were on smaller dosages. So surgery is not only indicated if the drug does not stop the pain. It is indicated even if it stops and causes side effects. The drug which is given to stop the pain brings other diseases in the form of toxic effects. Please try to understand this that the disease is increasing in intensity inside while you are delaying the surgical treatment. Secondly, carbamazepine treatment doesn’t cure the disease. So it is NOT comparable or an option for the surgery. At best it is a pathetic compromise. A person on carbamazepine treatment has severely altered quality of life and has the continuous feeling of impending doom if a dose is missed. He or she is drugging the brain on regular basis. The other important aspect is that the surgery even cures the ‘side effects’ of TN itself. That is interesting, can you elaborate? Dr JP: I shall tell you one of my clinical experiences. As we have already discussed, TN has been described by the sufferers as the worst pain mankind knows and there is no exaggeration here. It is also called “the suicide disease” as in the absence of proper and timely treatment these people tend to have serious suicidal thoughts. And indeed there are instances of people have killed themselves. TN can disturb the patient’s mind and in some cases the effects are seen on the body too. So, coming to this case of a man from Jodhpur who had travelled all the way to Pune was in terrible agony. He also had severe psoriasis all over his face, scalp and chest. Psoriasis is a skin disease and one of the causes and aggravating factor is severe mental stress. This man was haunted by the pain and was under mental stress for many years. We operated on him. He had severe compression of his trigeminal nerve due a blood vessel deeply lodged in the root entry zone of his nerve. I had to perform the MVD surgery…and as expected, his pain vanished. For the first time in 12 years he was free of pain. He was duly discharged and returned to Rajasthan. When he returned after eight months for routine follow-up, I could not recognise him. You know why? His psoriasis was completely gone. You see, his pain and stress of many years were cured and this, in turn, treated his psoriasis. A glaring example of how the skin is, like all parts of our body is connected to the brain. I will go further in saying how the skin, like all parts of our body is an extension of our brain. In other advise to the patients? Dr JP: The painful attacks associated with trigeminal neuralgia can be triggered or made worse by a number of different things. For example, if the pain is triggered by wind, then it is better to avoid sitting near open windows or near the fan or air conditioning. Wearing a scarf wrapped around face helps when one is venturing out. Hot and spicy food or cold drinks may also trigger the TN pain. Using a straw to drink warm or cold drinks may also help. It is important to eat nourishing meals, however, so if chewing triggers pain one must, consider eating soft foods or semi-liquid meals.

If any car in recent memory deserves a relaunch, the 2017 Acura NSX is it. Years of similar-appearing concept cars and waiting made it easy to fall numb to the—very cool and quite slick-driving—production car that trailed Acura’s initial go-ahead for a resurrected NSX by five years. And then the ’17 NSX finally landed at the 2015 Detroit auto show just to have its pants pulled down by Ford’s performance-car blitz, which included the new GT. So Acura is taking a shot at a redo, a big redo: A 30-second screamer of a commercial during this year’s Super Bowl featuring its new hybrid supercar.Original Acura NSX Buyer’s Guide: A Mid-Engined Supercar for the Price of a New Accord Acura Precision Concept: Acura-te Predictor or Showy Chicanery? Acura NSX Research: Full Pricing, Specs, Reviews, Photos, and More America, allow Acura to please reintroduce itself. The spot is chock-full of gratuitous NSX porn, all of it rendered in stark shades of red, white, and blue—a subtle nod to Acura’s decision to build the sports car in Ohio—and set to the screams, yelps, and yowls of Van Halen’s Runnin’ with the Devil. The catch line, “What He Said,” points directly to Van Halen’s inscrutable-yet-excited noise-making; as in, we should all be so ga-ga as to lose control over Acura’s hot new ride. We’d say the commercial works—which is good for Acura, given each 30-second slot in this year’s big game is rumored to have sold for $5 million—although with all the red, white, and blue, we wish Acura had come out during the ad and directly mentioned that the NSX is built right here in the U.S. of A. Take a watch for yourself, and be sure to jack that volume for full effect:

v1 is so dark v2 i like effect but text is not good i voted for v3 effects and good text

Cloud Imperium Games has recently made two announcements, which provides information Star Citizen, space simulator in development. For starters, Star Citizen can be tried for free during the event Fly Free between 1 and 7 February. This demo offers some scripted missions and a number of space stations and Commander Arena (skirmish mode vs. AI) for singleplayer and multiplayer first area, ArcCorp with integrated social functions. Hornet F7C ships are included, Aurora LN and Delta Mustang. All you need is a free account on the official website. If you already have one, at other free days, he goes further. The second ad refers to Squadron 42, which was to be the game's cinematic campaign, with actors like Gary Oldman, Gillian Anderson and Mark Hamill. The studio announced Squadron 42 will become independently from 14 February. Gamers who financed Star Citizen will have access to it, but for those who will be interested in him after launch, will be purchased separately.

Capcom will release Street Fighter V for PC and PS4 on 16th February, and until then, a video shows the game modes. They will be joined Cinematic Story in June, which will be an extensive story with narrative line. For starters, Tutorial Mode and Training Mode will allow players to learn the movements. Then, Character Story Mode minicampanie will provide one for each of the 16 characters. Survival Mode lets you customize the game rules to see how many enemies you can remove a predetermined time. Network online multiplayer mode called Battle, grouping competitive and friendly matches, leagues and here players can find opponents of similar level. Steam page is http://store.steampowered.com/app/310950/

Jonathan Blow, creator of Braid, and Thekla Inc. The Witness released for PC and PS4 on January 26. Although the reviews received were excellent, Jonathan says his game in first person puzzle genre is heavily affected by piracy, and as a result could give up gaming industry Denuvo or use DRM to protect creation. When asked about sales of The Witness, Blow said that they competed on the opening week of Braid's first year. However, he stated that the piracy rate is too large to finance a new game. The manufacturer said: "The Witness is the most pirated video game on a high profile site". Jonathan financed largely concerned in the development of the game in their own finances, although the actual amount is not known, and this would explain his situation delicate. On Twitter, he was asked if he thinks about the use of anti-piracy system Denuvo, and the response was said to protect possible [CENSORED]ure video game. The Witness Although using Steam as authentication, it is also available on Humble Store, which has no DRM, hence the rapidity and ease with which crackers have posted illegal torrents version. One aspect to note is that the game price, $ 40, considered too big for indie, even by some users Steam, could have a say in the number of copies sold, if not piracy. The number of units actually sold is not known, but it is "significantly greater than 40,000," according to the manufacturer. Steam page for The Witness is here

Yesterday ended all matches group phase and knockout matches first. Surprisingly Secret Team was easily eliminated from the OG and newbee, whose form seems to be increasing compared to 2015. And Evil Geniuses was on the brink of elimination, but he managed to pass the next phase after won in front of Complexity Gaming. The final of the groups: Group A Group B Average Position Average 1 Vici Gaming Gaming Team Spirit 7 LGD 5 2 GO 6 May EHOME Evil Geniuses 3 3 Team Secret 5 Complexity Gaming newbee 3 4 5 5 Team Spirit 1 Mineski 0 Matches eliminatory phase: Overall Score Stage Match Quarterfinal ECHOME - Evil Geniuses 2-1 Quarterfinal OG - Secret Team 2-0 Loser Bracket l. 1 newbee - Secret Team 2-1 Loser Bracket l. 1 Evil Geniuses - Complexity Gaming 2-0 Semifinal ECHOME - Vici Gaming - Semifinal LGD Gaming - OG - Loser Bracket r. 2 Evil Geniuses - TBD - Loser Bracket r. 2 newbee - TBD -

Today Preheat European PGL Minor Championship, a competition that will stretch over three days and that has a prize pool of $ 50,000, plus a LAN MLG Columbus 2016 qualifiers Main. The tournament provides knockout stage qualification in the top two teams in each group, following that in itself knockout semi-finals and finals to contain only. The winner will get $ 30,000 prize and a place at MLG Columbus 2016 Main qualifications LAN. Composition of the groups: Group A Group B PENTA Sports Hellraisers E-frag Lemondog White LDLC DenDD LP pixelfind Gaming The schedule: Group A - January 29 12:00 CET - E-Frag.net Gods vs cringe (BO1) 1:30 p.m. CET - PENTA Sports vs Team LDLC White (BO1) 3:00 p.m. CET - Lower Bracket Round 1 (BO1) 4:30 p.m. CET - Upper bracket final (BO3) 20.00 CET - final Consolidation (BO3) Group B - January 30 12:00 CET - Lemondogs vs Hellraisers (BO1) 1:30 p.m. CET - DenDD vs pixelfind Gaming (BO1) 3:00 p.m. CET - Lower Bracket Round 1 (BO1) 4:30 p.m. CET - Upper bracket final (BO3) 20.00 CET - final Consolidation (BO3) Playoff - January 31 12:00 CET - Semifinal # 1 (BO3) 3:30 p.m. CET - Semifinal No. 2 (BO3) 20.00 CET - Grand Final (BO3)

Bb Good luck in your life

Insomniac Games, responsible for Sunset Ratchet & Clank series Overdrive and announced his new video game, Song of the Deep. He is to be released as early as this spring, for PC, PS4 and Xbox One, to $ 14.99. Song of the Deep belongs to the genus 2D Metroidvania action, secrets and puzzles, and follows the stories of underwater Merryn, who wants to find his father. It will navigate the deep ocean in a submarine customizable, sonar, lasers and harpoon. The story will be told through comic and gameplay, and many elements of the levels are drawn "by hand".

Ubisoft presented will contain Season Pass for Tom Clancy's The Division. MMO title will be released for PC, PS4 and Xbox One on March 8. The studio said the game will get free content and new features and enhanced functionality after launch. Season Pass will bring three pachetede expansion, which can be purchased separately, gameplay and visual elements: Expansion I: Underground - will bring the channel in New York Expansion II: Survival - Survival game mode will bring Expansion III: The Last Stand - content unknown Sawed-off shotgun A whole set of skins for clothing and weapons Monthly Rewards include special events and loot drops Steam page of Tom Clancy's The Division ishere

ZeniMax Online Studios and Bethesda Softworks have announced the release date for supplementary package Thieves Guild Elder Scrolls Online: Unlimited Tamriel. He will be available from March 7 for all versions MMO title: PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Thieves Guild will cost 2000 Crowns In-Game Store, but will be free for owners monthly subscription. The package will bring new map Hew's Bane, and new locations in Hammerfell. Players will be able to join the Thieves Guild, with associated quests, and illegal activities that can be undertaken outside the story, such as burglaries and thefts of safes. Equipment and weapons associated guild will be available as well as 2 Trial Bosses and 12 players called The Maw of Lorkhaj. Page game on Steam is here

Revolution Software was one of the biggest studios of the 1990s, in no small measure due to the po[CENSORED]rity of the genre Adventure. By the early 2000s, with the two Broken Sword 3D titles, the studio went back into focus with the help of Broken Sword 5, launched in 2014. In addition to legendary Broken Sword series, the team launched a Steel Sky Beneath (GOG free, by the way), Lure of the Temptress and In Cold Blood, all three adventure games, the last having and action elements. Today, the production company has announced it will launch retail collection entitled Revolution: The 25th Anniversary Collection, which will cost € 39.99 and will offer: Games, physical and digital: Broken Sword 1 - Shadow of the Templars Broken Sword 1: Director's Cut Broken Sword 2 - The Smoking Mirror Broken Sword 2: Remastered Broken Sword 3 - The Sleeping Dragon Broken Sword 4 - the Angel of Death Broken Sword 5 - The Serpent's Curse Beneath a Steel Sky Lure of the Temptress In Cold Blood Content physically: Comics for Broken Sword 1, 2, 5 and Beneath a Steel Sky Four double posters Broken Sword USB stick containing all the game soundtrack Soundtrack CD Interactive Timeline, which explains the 25 years of game development

Stardock Entertainment today announced [CENSORED]ure expansion pack for Galactic Civilizations III title 4X Strategy. It is called Mercenaries, it will be released on February 18 at a price of € 19.99. Although the cost is high, Mercenaries will bring a new singleplayer campaign, and Torian Arcean races, and more than 70 vessels. There will also be employed mercenary armies that offers bonuses to which they are attached. Since their number is finite, their services will be at a premium. Galactic Civilizations III is available on Steam.

Flying Wild Hog launched in 2011 title singleplayer FPS Hard Reset PC, highly regarded for old school action without stopping. Today, the studio announced Hard Reset Redux, a remake of the original, which will be launched this year for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Roadhog Engine graphics engine is used in Shadow Warrior 2 also developing within the same production houses. Graphics will therefore be completely new and new enemies and weapons will be introduced. To mark the announcement, Hard Reset is available on Steam for just € 2.69.

Keeping a New Year's resolution like cutting back on Candy Crush or exercising more is tough, because you have to stick with it every day. How about something easier? Resolve to install antivirus protection on all of your PCs. Once you've taken care of that task, you're done! For the rest of the year, the antivirus does all the work. And next year, you can simply resolve to renew your protection. How easy is that? I did say antivirus, but in truth it's unlikely you'll get hit with an actual computer virus. Malware these days is about making money, and there's no easy way to cash in on spreading a virus. Ransomware and data-stealing Trojans are much more common, as are bots that let the bot-herder rent out your computer for nefarious purposes. Modern antivirus utilities handle Trojans, rootkits, spyware, adware, ransomware, and more. PCMag has reviewed three dozen different commercial antivirus utilities, and that's not even counting the many free antivirus tools. Out of that extensive field we've named four Editors' Choice products. Nine more commercial antivirus utilities proved effective enough to earn an excellent four-star rating, and another seven earned three and a half stars. Of course, we're reviewed many more, but those antivirus utilities that received scores of less than three stars don't qualify for inclusion in this "best of" listing. Almost all of these products are traditional, full-scale, antivirus tools, with the ability to scan files for malware on access, on demand, or on schedule. A couple are outliers, tools meant to enhance the protection of traditional antivirus. As for just relying on the antivirus built into Windows 8.x or Windows 10, that may not be the best idea. In the past, Windows Defender has performed poorly both in our tests and independent lab tests, though it did score a win in September and again in October. Maybe Microsoft's slump is ending? Listen to the Labs I take the results reported by independent antivirus testing labs very seriously. The simple fact that a particular vendor's product shows up in the results is a vote of confidence, of sorts. It means the lab considered the product significant, and the vendor felt the cost of testing was worthwhile. Of course, getting good scores in the tests is also important. I follow six labs that regularly release detailed reports: West Coast Labs, Virus Bulletin, ICSA Labs, Dennis Technology Labs, AV-Test Institute, and AV-Comparatives. Tests by the first three are based on simple threat-recognition, while the last three attempt to simulate real-world malware-attack scenarios. I've devised a system for aggregating their results to yield a rating from 0 to 5. Hands-On Antivirus Testing I also subject every product to my own hands-on test of malware blocking, in part to get a feeling for how the product works. Depending on how thoroughly the product prevents malware installation, it can earn up to 10 points for malware blocking. My malware-blocking test necessarily uses the same set of samples for months. To check a product's handling of brand-new malware, I test each product using 100 extremely new malware-hosting URLs supplied by MRG-Effitas, noting what percentage of them it blocked. Products get equal credit for preventing all access to the malicious URL and for wiping out the malware during download. Some products earn absolutely stellar ratings from the independent labs, yet don't fare as well in my hands-on tests. In such cases, I defer to the labs, as they bring significantly greater resources to their testing. Multi-Layered Antivirus Protection Antivirus products distinguish themselves by going beyond the basics of on-demand scanning and real-time protection. Some rate URLs that you visit or that show up in search results, using a red-yellow-green color coding system. Some actively block processes on your system from connecting with known malware-hosting URLs or with fraudulent (phishing) pages. Software has flaws, and sometimes those flaws affect your security. Prudent users keep Windows and all programs patched, fixing those flaws as soon as possible. The vulnerability scan offered by some antivirus products can verify that all necessary patches are present, and even apply any that are missing. You expect an antivirus to identify and eliminate bad programs, and to leave good programs alone. What about unknowns, programs it can't identify as good or bad? Behavior-based detection can, in theory, protect you against malware that's so new researchers have never encountered it. However, this isn't always an unmixed blessing. It's not uncommon for behavioral detection systems to flag many innocuous behaviors performed by legitimate programs. Whitelisting is another approach to the problem of unknown programs. A whitelist-based security system only allows known good programs to run. Unknowns are banned. This mode doesn't suit all situations, but it can be useful. Sandboxing lets unknown programs run, but it isolates them from full access to your system, so they can't do permanent harm. These various added layers serve to enhance your protection against malware. Bonus Features Firewall protection and spam filtering aren't common antivirus features, but some of our top products include them as bonus features. In fact, some of these antivirus products are more feature-packed than certain products sold as security suites. Among the other bonus features you'll find are secure browsers for financial transactions, secure deletion of sensitive files, wiping traces of computer and browsing history, credit monitoring, virtual keyboard to foil keyloggers, cross-platform protection, and more. You'll even find products that enhance their automatic malware protection with the expertise of human security technicians. And of course I've already mentioned sandboxing, vulnerability scanning, and application whitelisting. What's Best? Which antivirus should you choose? You have a wealth of options. Kaspersky Anti-Virus (2016) and Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2016 invariably rate at the top in independent lab tests. A single subscription for McAfee AntiVirus Plus (2016) lets you install protection on all of your Windows, Android, Mac OS, and iOS devices. And its unusual behavior-based detection technology means Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus (2015) is the tiniest antivirus around. (Yes, 2015. We'll test the next version as soon as it's ready.) We've named these four Editors' Choice for commercial antivirus, but they're not the only products worth consideration. Read the reviews of our top-rated products, and then make your own decision. Multi-Layered Antivirus Protection Multi-Layered Antivirus Protection Antivirus products distinguish themselves by going beyond the basics of on-demand scanning and real-time protection. Some rate URLs that you visit or that show up in search results, using a red-yellow-green color coding system. Some actively block processes on your system from connecting with known malware-hosting URLs or with fraudulent (phishing) pages. Software has flaws, and sometimes those flaws affect your security. Prudent users keep Windows and all programs patched, fixing those flaws as soon as possible. The vulnerability scan offered by some antivirus products can verify that all necessary patches are present, and even apply any that are missing. You expect an antivirus to identify and eliminate bad programs, and to leave good programs alone. What about unknowns, programs it can't identify as good or bad? Behavior-based detection can, in theory, protect you against malware that's so new researchers have never encountered it. However, this isn't always an unmixed blessing. It's not uncommon for behavioral detection systems to flag many innocuous behaviors performed by legitimate programs. Whitelisting is another approach to the problem of unknown programs. A whitelist-based security system only allows known good programs to run. Unknowns are banned. This mode doesn't suit all situations, but it can be useful. Sandboxing lets unknown programs run, but it isolates them from full access to your system, so they can't do permanent harm. These various added layers serve to enhance your protection against malware. Bonus Features Firewall protection and spam filtering aren't common antivirus features, but some of our top products include them as bonus features. In fact, some of these antivirus products are more feature-packed than certain products sold as security suites. Among the other bonus features you'll find are secure browsers for financial transactions, secure deletion of sensitive files, wiping traces of computer and browsing history, credit monitoring, virtual keyboard to foil keyloggers, cross-platform protection, and more. And of course I've already mentioned sandboxing, vulnerability scanning, and application whitelisting. What's Best? Which antivirus should you choose? You have a wealth of options. Kaspersky Anti-Virus (2016) and Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2016 invariably rate at the top in independent lab tests. A single subscription for McAfee AntiVirus Plus (2016) lets you install protection on all of your Windows, Android, Mac OS, and iOS devices. And its unusual behavior-based detection technology means Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus (2015) is the tiniest antivirus around. We've named these four Editors' Choice for commercial antivirus, but they're not the only products worth consideration. Read the reviews of our top-rated products, and then make your own decision.

As malware continues to evolve, more computer infections are starting to use boot drivers to load rootkits and other types of malware early in the boot process. This makes detecting and removing these types of infections much more difficult. Windows 8 includes a very important security feature called Early Launch Antimalware that allows antivirus programs to scan boot drivers for viruses before they are loaded. If the boot driver that is about to initialize is considered malware the antivirus program can then prevent the malicious driver from loading. It is possible to customize what type of drivers are allowed to load based on their classification of good, bad, or unknown. This tutorial will explain how to use the Boot-start Driver Initialization Policy to control what driver classifications are allowed to start when when being scanned by an early launch anti-malware program. It will also explain what each classification means and the possible ramifications of selecting some of these classification. If you are using Windows 8 Professional and Enterprise you can use the Group Policy Editor to configure this policy. For Windows 8, you will need to use the Windows Registry to set the classification you would like to use. Depending on your version of Windows, please select the section below that best suits your needs: Configure Early Launch Anti-malware Protection with the Group Policy Editor To access the Group Policy Editor in Windows 8, you should type Group Policy in the Start Screen and then click on the Settings category. The option for Edit Group Policy should now appear. Click on the Edit Group Policy option and the Group Policy editor will open. Note: If you are not using Windows 8 Professional or Enterprise you will not have access to the group policy editor. Instead you should follow the instructions here. Under Local Computer Policy expand the tree to the following path: Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Early Launch Antimalware When you see Logon select it so that the screen looks like the following: In the right-hand pane you should see a setting called Boot-start Driver Initialization Policy. Double-click on this setting and its properties screen will open. To customize the what boot-start drivers can be loaded, click on the Enabled option. When you do that the menu of driver classifications will be enabled as shown below. This menu will allow you to specify what classification of boot-start drivers you would like an anti-virus program to allow to load. The default setting is Good, unknown, and bad but critical, but you may want to be stricter or more casual depending on your environment. The classifications that you can choose are: Good only This classification means that only drivers that are signed and have not been modified in any way are allowed to boot. Drivers that are not signed and known malware drivers will not load even if that means Windows may not be able to start. Good and unknown This classification will only allow drivers that are signed or ones that have not been detected as malware or classified by the antivirus software's early launch antimalware driver. Good, unknown, and bad but critical This is the default classification used by early launch anti-malware protection. This classification will allow good drivers, unknown drivers, and even malicious drivers. These malicious, or malware, drivers will only be allowed to load if Windows would not start without them. All This setting will allow any driver to start regardless of whether its good, bad, or unknown. Deciding what setting to use can be tricky as you obviously do not want to load a malware driver, but at the same time you do not want to make it so you can't start your computer. This is the reason why the default setting is Good, unknown, and bad but critical as even though you are loading a malware driver, you will be able to boot Windows and clean it. At the same time, you can select the Good and Unknown classification and then if your computer does not boot, you can disable Early launch anti-malware protection via the Windows 8 Startup Settings screen. Disabling early launch anti-malware protection will then allow you to boot Windows and perform a cleanup as well. The last classification, All, should never be selected as it does not protect you from any malicious drivers. Once you decide what classification you would like to use, click on the Apply button and then press the OK button to close the policy properties screen. You can then close the group policy editor. You now need to reboot your computer to put the policy into effect. Early launch anti-malware protection will now use the classification that you have selected. Configuring Early Launch Anti-Malware Protection via the Registry If you are not using Windows 8 Professional or Enterprise you will not have access to the Group Policy Editor. Instead you will need to enable this setting through the Windows Registry. This setting can be enabled by creating a REG_DWORD value named DriverLoadPolicy under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch Registry key. You would then have to assign one of 4 data values to the DriveLoadPolicy value to configure a particular classification. The decimal values that you can choose to assign to the DriverLoadPolicy value are: Classification DWORD Data Value Good Only 8 Good and unknown 1 Good, unknown, bad but critical 3 All 7 For a description of each of the classifications, please see the previous section. Once you add this Registry value you will need to reboot Windows in order for it to go into effect. Early launch anti-malware protection will now use the classification that you have selected.

Microsoft Azure Stack, a cloud platform that runs within customers' own data centers, is being made available for testing this week as a technical preview. When originally announced, Azure Stack snapped into focus in Microsoft's plans for a hybrid cloud system. Instead of building one stack to run locally and another to run in the cloud, Azure Stack consists of the same code Microsoft uses to run Azure. [ Download InfoWorld's quick guide and get started with Azure Mobile Services for building apps today. | Stay up on the cloud with InfoWorld's Cloud Computing newsletter. ] In addition to making it easier to move workloads between local systems and Azure, Microsoft thinks customers will prefer this approach because it familiarizes the development and management experiences in either environment. A familiar shade of Azure The current preview of Azure Stack is based on Windows Server 2012 R2, but the final release version will be based on Windows Server 2016, with all of its cutting-edge features. Among those are components Microsoft has stumped for as part of its new vision for an enterprise cloud stack, such as Windows Server Containers (Docker) and Hyper-V Containers. In a phone conversation with InfoWorld last week, Mike Neil, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Enterprise Cloud group, described the Azure Stack approach as "cloud as a model, not a place." The goal is to present people with an experience and a set of resources that are functionally identical to what's in the cloud. The self-service portal for setting up Azure resources, for instance, relies on the same provisioning infrastructure and offers the same APIs in both the public cloud version of Azure and in Azure Stack. "It's not going to feel alien to [users]," said Neil. Another advantage of this approach, according to Neil, is it allows Microsoft to give customers something akin to the full cloud experience in environments where an Azure data center isn't available yet. "If all you have is the public cloud," said Neil, referring to the competition, "you've got to get everybody to move to the public cloud. But that's not the reality faced by most businesses." Most of the customer feedback Microsoft has received has asked for a consistent operating model that will allow users to move to the cloud in their own time and on their own terms, Neil said. Very few of Microsoft's customers are 100 percent public cloud, so Neil expects to see applications in the on-premises environment that necessarily differ from what's in Azure. Hitting closer to home Microsoft's idea for an Azure hybrid cloud is similar to plans promulgated by those building on platforms like OpenStack: Use the same code to build both the in-house and remote instances of a cloud. However, Microsoft breaks from the OpenStack model in two ways: One, Azure is proprietary and governed by a single vendor, rather than an industrywide open source effort. Microsoft hopes to make it easy to deploy Azure Stack on OEM-packaged hardware (see the Cloud Platform System), and the overall experience is not meant to be nearly as sprawling as OpenStack. Two, Azure is meant to directly leverage Microsoft's presence in enterprises. Microsoft now includes in its stack many of the open standards that matter to cloud environments -- such as application delivery by way of containers -- so there is less need to defect from Microsoft's platform. Neil also expects that local solutions-and-service providers will offer Azure Stack to their customers as a managed option. Many of them, he pointed out, are already providing value-adds like compliance with regional government regulations. Even if they effectively compete with the public Azure, Microsoft remains the driving force. "There are lots of airlines out there," said Neil, "but only one Boeing."

Long-wheelbase version of Volvo flagship sedan spotted testing Volvo's return of the S90 nameplate, dormant since the late 1990s, brings back the brand's aspirations for a luxury flagship to take on the Germans. Developed on the company's Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) shared with the XC90 SUV, the S90 will battle the likes of the BMW 5-Series, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and the Lexus GS when it lands on store shelves later in the year. But is an even more luxurious model in the cards for North America? A long-wheelbase version of the S90 has been spotted testing in China, raising the prospect that this version could be shared with other markets. The S90L is expected to feature a wheelbase stretched by roughly 4 inches, aimed at increasing rear seat legroom. The sedan is also expected to boast a redesigned rear console and rear seats. The S90L will join the XC90 Excellence, a luxury version of the SUV with a luxe rear passenger compartment set to be offered in a number of markets including China. It is unclear whether the S90L will repeat all the luxury features of the XC90 Excellence, such as a fold-out table that deploys from the rear console, storage bins, reclining rear seats, foot rests and media screens. When it comes to engines, the long-wheelbase model is expected to offer the same lineup of powerplants as the standard-wheelbase S90, at least in China. Volvo previously produced a long-wheelbase S80L in China, stretched by 5.5 inches. That model was not offered in North America, but the Sino-Swedish automaker now sells the S60 Inscription sedan in the U.S., a long-wheelbase version of the S60 built and sold in China as the S60L. Volvo expects the S60 Inscription to be a relatively low-volume model in the U.S., as it will be weighed down a bit by the price of its additional luxury trimmings. Coupled with the XC90's march upmarket, we wouldn't rule out the debut of the S90L sedan here under the Inscription trim, though company representatives are not discussing this possibility at the moment.

The Civilization series has created an interesting addiction for turn based strategies fans who prefer free scenarios instead of the historical accuracy offered by a Total War game. And almost two years after Civilization V hit the store shelves, Firaxis decided to give us another dose of the „drug” in the form of Gods & Kings, while at the same time reintroducing an element ignored in the previous iteration of the series – religion. Like any add-on, Gods & Kings doesn’t completely overhaul the gameplay, only adding some „meat” all over to justify the entry fee (30 euros). So we get nine new civilizations with just as many wonders, 13 buildings, three scenarios, some 27 new units, said religion and some espionage on top, plus all sorts of modifications for existing buildings and units. The tech tree also got 8 new improvements (like Guilds for the medieval era, Architecture in the Renaissance or Telecommunications for the Information age) and a hefty list of changes for the existing ones. In the end though, the game is the same and the turns will unfold in the same manner towards the final victory. You won’t even feel a lot of the changes and additions if you’re not a huge fan who analyzes if a unit or another now has a + or -1 to attack, but most players will be affected and forced to adjust their strategies depending on religion. Together with the idea of a superior being comes a new resource, Faith, alongside the existing gold, culture and happiness. At first, getting faith is slow, with altars and temples, eventually discovering bonuses in various ruins spread all over the map. Then you get to a little pantheon and after that you choose a real religion from the 11 available. Advancing from pantheon to major deity and from altars to cathedrals is done by specifying Beliefs, each with their own advantages (on the religious side or for the economy). Beliefs come in four flavors: Pantheon (bonuses for resources and terrain), Founder (dedicated to the first civilization that founds a religion), Follower (bonuses and/or structures for any city that pledges to a religion) and Enhancer (cheaper missionaries to spread easier and faster your own faith). A nation can have up to five Beliefs, which cannot be reused by any other religion on the map. Beyond bonuses, religion, just like in real life, creates factions, majorities and perhaps conflicts. If at start a pantheon is limited to a single city, advanced religion spreads beyond borders (1o hexes around a faithful city) and if the majority of the citizens adopt it, it becomes the main faith. It thus generates a pressure that spreads, and you want it to spread, because a union in faith helps city relationships and it’s easier to use diplomatic acts while you prepare for war. And to make things easier, there are missionaries available, while the Inquisitors stop the spread of a religion or even eradicate it (Remove Heresy). And for both actions Prophets were introduced, one new type of Great People. Besides the obvious use to create and spread religion, Faith can be also used to buy buildings, units or Great People (personalities that offer bonuses depending on the chosen social policy – for example, if you choose Autocracy you get a Great General or a Great Admiral , while Freedom has a Great Artist). All these actions are recommended and efficient up until halfway into a match (around the Renaissance), just to become penalties afterwards when considered into diplomatic decisions and a rival asks you to stop preaching and you refuse. Not that it really matters though, because the AI is almost the same. There are some changes, true, at least you don’t get spearmen killing off tanks anymore, but it’s just as hard to get a cultural win. Even if you get there, you still have to support some serious army if you don’t want to go out in smoke and be a footnote of history – the AI will judge you fast and attack if you don’t defend well right from the start. At the other end, if you move fast and recruit a sizeable army (not necessarily swarms of troops, but with superior tech), the AI will just mind its own business, coming at with you only with trade requests. Even if it denounces you or creates alliances, when it’s obvious you got the bigger guns, you have your back covered. The second notable novelty is espionage, but this isn’t about NPCs on the map, only a menu with dedicated options. Since behind the visuals it’s probably a formula that calculates what the spy does and when to advance him to the next level. In theory, the idea is good – at the start of each age, you get an agent to sneak into enemy cities and steal information, tech, war plans or eliminate enemy spies if they’ve set up shop settled in your own capital. They can also rig elections or set up coups to bring a more friendly leader to power. Practically, I didn’t really notice an influence on the gameplay. My spied rigged elections, but I didn’t get a gift, nor a welcome. Though I had agents in my capital and some other cities, I never caught an enemy agent, though I was the victim of tech theft. When I occupied a new city, the enemy spy ran, without giving me the great opportunity to catch him and execute him for treason. Just for fun. While on the subject of cities, two new types of city-states offer special bonuses – Faith and luxury items (Jewelry and Porcelain) – at the same time changing the measurement of health to 100 units. Because of this, the sieges are way harder to sustain and an advanced city is difficult to conquer just because it’s enough to have walls and garrisoned troops to decimate the attackers. What’s truly interesting are the three scenarios – Fall of Rome, Into the Renaissance and Empires of the Smokey Skies – each with a special approach and big changes for troops, buildings and strategies, especially for the last one. Victory is based on 5 categories (of which the winner must control at least three) and in Empires of the Smokey Skies the tech tree is totally different from Steam Power onward, with flying and terrestrial vehicles, modified social policies and no religion. The three scenarios are really interesting since they come with a different approach in the Civ universe based on familiar mechanics, a step towards more experimentation for Firaxis. The visuals are still just as good, with the same choices for DirectX 9 or DirectX 10/11, where the differences are significant. The soundtrack didn’t catch my ear and I had no freezes or crashes many players complained about. I only deactivated the intro movie after the first showing since it had indeed the tendency to crash the game in the first loading screen, but after that Gods & Kings rolled out smoothly, with no technical issues or frame rate drops. The multiplayer is also the same, with long loading times as the game advances. It’s true that all the turns are simultaneous, but you still have to wait for the other players and staring at the clock isn’t such a good idea for spending your time. So competing with other people is fun if you really know the players and you can scold them for being late the next time you all go out for a beer. On the other hand, everything that could drive you nuts in Civilization V is still there: the unit micromanagement eventually gets very tedious, small islands turn into a crowded madness and if you let the units go their own way, they’ll take the most scenic routes you’ve ever seen. So the bottom line is that, depending on how much you love the franchise, Gods & Kings can be seen as a sum of natural improvements for an add-on or a breath of fresh air for the series as a whole.

Childhood some of us took place not at the computer, but the whole city of LEGO building just to destroy them in an imaginary fight between Megatron and Optimus Prime. Later I saw some movies (not great, but more alive than pieces of plastic box with toys), and two years ago manufacturers High Moon came with Transformers: War for Cybertron to illustrate interactive continuing battle between Autobots and Decepticons. Read the "good guys against the bad guys." Fall of Cybertron is more pronounced brought tribute classic cartoons and addresses especially diehard fans of the universe with robots that turn into cars. The intrigue does not pass than the usual "good against evil", but all hints, dialogues and characters have much to say to those who know more than the name leaders of the two factions and eventually "That card names insect" - yes, cute Bumblebee. Obviously, for the remaining ordinary players looking for a shooter, the whole affair is a little confusing, but the action is intense and clear enough to realize that you're not invincible to pretty good fun during campaign missions. Somehow, just fire inclination towards classical make a game that looks the essence of its name: the transformation. True, there are times when you've scripted choice to become machines and a few final, with Grimlock, where you can not wait to turn. Otherwise, we are dealing with a normal shooter could not be limited in size, whose variation is largely represented by the characters available and see what weapons are better suited to send enemies scrap. The campaign offers 6 missions each other, Autobot and Decepticons, but you can not choose what you start; just go from one to another without warning, now you Metroplex coordinated Decepticon cannons to destroy, then move on to Bruticus to turn into ruins everything around you. The last mission is concluded "epic" fight robots for the planet anyway dying (reserves Energon are nearly exhausted) with a final fishtail most likely lay the foundation for the next title to explain and describe the landing survivors on Earth . On the other hand, they are almost always the missions entrusted to different characters with individual skills. It is true that many are accurately mirrors for both factions, but some robots stand out. Cliffjumper has a section dedicated stealth, where you have the opportunity to use alternative routes to avoid sentries much stronger and better armed, but if necessary, Cliff is doing with a gun if you keep moving. Jazz uses hooks and jumps to traverse levels against the clock, while Soundwave uses mechanical aids for various actions in the game. By far the best performed are levels where you control Grimlock, an Autobot who turns, as fans already know, a Porsche elegant, but in a dinosaur mechanical beast huge destroying everything that moves on the way Cam a single shot. Obviously, transforming its special ability is dependent on load related, but are sure to be fierce struggle to enjoy the 30 seconds reptiloidă raw power. At the junkyard Essentially, Fall of Cybertron remains a shooter and another with various problems. Control the mouse and keyboard proves unreliable when you car or a Decepticon-plane / helicopter, while passing from one state to another may be considered in some moments and some sort of exploit: You finished ammunition robot, you turn (if you allows the space level) and you use the cannon to get attached to a package of bullets. Much the same happens in multiplayer, plus the need to reach the core of the conflict, which happens much faster than the four-wheel two feet. Moreover, quickly noted that enemies have an important advantage: they use cover, while you have no such choice, often being forced to find a sheltered corner where to regenerate your shield. There is also an option (Perk) that doubles your life, but otherwise there are levels where you work even on the normal difficulty. The weapons are most impressive and successful War for Cybertron only, but beyond variation, get quickly to prefer only one or two that improves the maximum (arsenal is common regardless of faction). Most guns are normal, say, pistol, shotgun, machine gun or grenade launcher, but rest offers more special: Riot Cannon's pull slowly but with explosive effects devastating improvement on Energon Harvester site steals life from enemies, and a dimensional vortex draws Decimator of any enemy unlucky in range of action. Improvements, four in number for each weapon, have the great advantage to be felt first. Even matters that have increased the capacity of the charger, you recoil rifle sniper removed or have increased by an impressive 75% draw rate. And all around killing brings credit, currency with which to buy upgrades or other "jucărele" as well as grenades, mines and various benefits liabilities. The more, the better Unfortunately, the single player campaign does not come with the cooperative option, but even returned Escalation mode. In fact a Horde should resist along with three friends from 15 waves of enemies, each controlling a certain type of Transformer; Some maps put you to the Autobots, Decepticons other side, but it is interesting that you bring money destroying opponents. Ammunition, weapons, upgrades or opening wider areas in such levels can be purchased, but it is preferable to take these decisions jointly with allies. Gains not fall from the sky like summer rain, so we have good split to emerge victorious. 16 competitive multiplayer is a different story, giving Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and Conquest. Only here you really have a chance to turn to taste, need or just for pleasure, while frantic shoot right and left, possibly bouncing a flag or conquering checkpoints. You can choose between four classes - Scientist, Infiltrator, Destroyer and Titan - if you want to use brute force or sniper rifle and invisible colander. Tune your robot As you gain experience and unlock fighting weapons, upgrades and all kinds of components only visual embellishment. You can be any Transformer included in the game, but also you can create your own robot (although still rather limited options, the plan several packages such beautification - for a price, of course). All well and good, if multiplayer would work. Constant we had a game that did not recognize any Internet connection, see not, nor could remember servers created after I closed my account. Obviously, it is working on resolving these issues, but basically multiplayer availability may prematurely to disappoint fans who could not wait to face. From a visual standpoint Fall of Cybertron is as decent, well-designed effects with explosions and if you look from a distance; robots excels in details and forms of machine inevitably suffer from an exaggerated bloom. Fortunately I had technical problems apart from some clumsiness of control, and the voices and dialogues are exempt from unnecessarily pompous lines about how it will destroy Megatron and Optimus vice versa. Soundtrack comes out very well, especially the song of generic and The Touch used in the 1986 film. In the end, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is a tribute to the whole universe Transformers, but forgets that the game has a story to tell and a coherent gameplay led the way. Plot threads come together only at the end extremely intense (but flattened in the last mission), and the action does not go beyond being a decent shooter with guns and improvements quite varied. Indeed a game for true fans or child within.

I hate cockroaches. And the mushrooms laughed at me. The trolls had huge hammers and the dwarven turrets destroyed my armor. The ghostly wolves seemed nicer, but the werewolves came with some impressive claws that made Tzucu run away. I got my revenge though after some pirates and zombies and skeletons, wasps and bats, crabs and scarabs, rats and salamanders, plus some spore salad with gargoyle addition. And I didn’t even get to the bosses, to that huge manticore that… never mind, you’ll see for yourself. If you survive the journey, of course. The road is long and dangerous, what could be better? Obviously, lots of loot and a story to complete Torchlight II – the terrible kid that threatened Diablo and very likely won the hearts of many action RPGs players. Torchlight II doesn’t have much of a story, continuing in few details the corruption story from the first game. The Alchemist is influenced by the mysterious illness that he tried to eliminate and he’s now convinced there’s only one way left to eradicate Evil. Even if you don’t get many details in the text screens (only partially voiced), there’s enough to motivate you to kill all around the four acts. Unlike the first game, Torchlight II goes more beyond the one town and the levels in the nearby dungeon. The four acts take place in larger areas, open spaces littered with dungeons, also quite different; besides the main quests there are secondary missions with pretty interesting rewards. And, even if apparently one such mission in act III might seem like a waste of time, don’t miss it; time will prove that things are very interesting. Also, it’s not very good to leave behind or miss a quest in the current act, like me. Going back resets the map, the monsters are back, the map is covered and, if you don’t know exactly where you go, it might not be such a challenge because of the level difference between the hero and the monsters. Who to be? Like in any RPG, the class is very important and we’ve got 4 of them with their abilities: The Outlander prefers ranged fights, using fire arms, bows and crossbows; The Engineer goes for huge weapons, slow but with devastating damage, plus calling for help from various drones, robots and turrets; The Embermage, as the name suggests, uses the four elements and the fire globes or the ice rain are a piece of cake; The Berserker is the crazy one, possessed by a wolf that sends him into a frenzy of hits, with leaps in the midst of the fight; obviously, the size of the carnage is underlined by the melee preference. No matter your choice, it’s very important that the class limitations are minimal. There are some objects that care about class, but there are few when compared to the huge amount of weapons, armors and crystals that improve them. All you have to do is fulfill the criteria to wear something and the game is very generous here: a certain item can be worn if you have the level OR a certain combo of skills; like this, you can wear a level 40 helmet for example, even if you aren’t there yet, but you have Strength 38 and Dexterity 35. Like Diablo, Torchlight II offers the possibility to embed crystals in weapons and armors to improve them. There are lots of colored stones – yellow, blue, green, red, purple, each with a bonus for or against poison, ice, health or health stealing, improvements for critical hits or for the damage. The only limitation here is that you have to mix crystals with objects of a similar level, so you can’t put a gem with 300 life of level 35 on an object of level 10; it just avoids exploits from those who would keep the bet loot for the end (or for a New Game Plus). Each class has a Charge Meter that fills as you kill along and gives some seconds of frenzy once charged. It also has a dedicated ability and you can level that up, but I only found it really useful for the Berserker. The other classes use it too, but the mix with the other rage options make the hero a real critical hits machine. What to wear? The eternal female issue. I have a closed full of clothes, but nothing I like. And the idea fits Torchlight II like a glove: all over the place you get tons of swords, axes, knives, bows, crossbows, pistols, shotguns, huge saws, hammers, gloves, leggings, helmets, armors, chains or bonus rings. They can all be improved with the gems and the dedicated merchants can recover either the objects, or the crystals in them if you feel like using them better somewhere else. There’s also an Enchanter who can upgrade objects separately (1,3 or 5 levels) to increase their main attributes; you can also experiment with combining four objects to get something according to a recipe or on your own. Unfortunately, the crystals can’t be mixed together to make one bigger and better, but the game explains that the technique is long lost (who knows, maybe a DLC will rediscover it in a time forgotten dungeon…) Just like Diablo, the objects are color coded – common greys, green, purple and orange for unique ones. If there’s something negative to say, it’s not the quantity, but you getting too many unique items and there are lots of sets, which spoils the idea of “unique” and “rare”. I mean after one play, I filled the trunk with sets and parts of sets, some 10 unique items (with higher level than mine) and some special eyes and crystals. The inventory is also small, even if you use the shared trunk (more characters can use the items in there) or a part of the pet’s backpack. Fights are for cats Yes, the pet makes a comeback, not just as a good ally, but as a storage space. It also goes into town to sell items and bring back potions and scrolls. Just like you, the cat, the bird, the panther, the dog or the lizard level up and wear dedicated items (collar and necklaces) and the fishing areas still appear. Promising, secret or normal in any of the four towns, fishing gets you fish that temporarily transform the pet into a monster or drop random items. It might seem stupid or weird to just stop to fish, but I found those moments very relaxing after the relentless fights. As for the monsters… all the best. Lots of them. Fierce. Lots and lots of them. Hardcore groups come over you, fly, teleport, hit you in the head with the hammer, drop down from trees and holes, jump from cliffs and tear you apart with claws, teeth and arrows. An untimely death depends on you checking the Hardcore option (available no matter the difficulty level), which means that death is permanent and you have to restart the game from the beginning. If not, you have three options: respawn in town, no charge; respawn at the level entrance, pay up some gold; respawn at the same place, pay up big time. There’s no penalty in terms of experience or abilities, but the gold can also be an issue if you are in a tough spot. Even on normal difficulty, some moments are a challenge when it comes to bosses. They come in all size and shapes and huge creatures with hammers, wings, claws, teeth and fire storms spare no efforts and minions to join the fight. Some can only be killed if you kill their aids, others teleport, but most of them take lots of hits until they decide to die. The purple intermediary bosses are a little easier to kill, but they tend to group, so it’s quite hard. There are also some special altars, where the simple touch spawns waves of enemies, and some missions will make you the main course in an arena. On the other hand, the camera gets stuck in corners and blocks the view and just the red shapes of the enemies aren’t enough to easily eliminate them. Even more, even in the middle of an empty room, the cluttered fights get chaotic (even more in coop), each with his magic, ability buffs, that you just mash the mouse buttons. Still, that’s just a minor issue because all the rest is just the joy of carnage. Desert or jungle? Each part of Torchlight II is different, from camps to towns up to caves and multi-leveled towers. You get luxuriant vegetation, swamps, a desert that somehow manages not to be empty and sad, caves filled with spiders and dwarven towers crawling with mobile turrets and guns that literally drain the life out of you. The design may look childish, but it has details if you go up close, even if the graphics aren’t that last generation. It matters less though, the whole background makes the atmosphere, even if you are among the ruins of a burned village or in the halls of a palace filled with evil ghosts. The soundtrack reminds a lot of Diablo, but with strong tons where they are needed; it’s also free, so you can listen to a song if you feel like it outside the game. Unfortunately, not all the dialogues are spoken – the main NPCs have something to say, but for the rest you only hear howls and shouts and cries from monsters and your own character. From time to time the pet also vocalizes, and a cute meow is nice while fishing. There were no technical issues besides the camera ones and it’s more important to go up to level 100 and even 105 if you buy special maps to go to 105 after finishing the game at least once. Torchlight II also comes with LAN and online multiplayer for six players. The monsters scale depending on the number of players entering the fight, but there are some poor elements or some missing completely. You can’t see who is online when choosing the server, you can’t put objects in the chat window, but you get a dedicated one, but at least each player has his dedicated loot from the boss to avoid stealing. Despite these quirks, Torhclight II is the game that makes you grin when you see the screen filled with gold, axes and swords and colored crystals among the monster corpses. It’s the game that acts like Diablo III should have done it in some ways. It doesn’t need Internet connection, because it has LAN and couldn’t care less about piracy because it offers lots of fun for only 19 euro. And you don’t want to miss that.