sViz, a Master here at WinCustomize and a general all around wizard has her birthday today, just like every other year, so please join me in wishing her a very happy birthday. I hope that it's a good one, Eve.

While doing research for a new PC, I stumbled across this great website. You can test all the main elements of your PC. There are over 24,000,000 posted benchmarks so far with over 300,000 components tested. You can look up the results for any particular part you might own, and see it's value based on price versus performance.

For the musicians here on WC that record using a DAW, now is the time to get a deal on some plugins at Plugin Boutique.  http://www.pluginboutique.com/

There are many on sale, but 4 of them caught my attention due to the combination of price and sound quality.

My favourite is DB-33, a Hammond organ/Leslie combination, because I have the real thing (a BC from 1938, and a 251 Leslie), and I love the sound of a Hammond. This emulation captures all the small details of a real Hammond, such as key click, dirty tonewheels and so on. There are two programs; the Hammond (with a Leslie), and a separate Leslie program. The price of this one is US $23.99; the sale on it ends Jan. 5th.  http://www.pluginboutique.com/product/64-Virtual-Instrument/1684-DB-33

Orchestral Companion Strings is another. I haven't tried it out a lot, but the sounds are very lush, it has a lot of articulations, the Midi Learn is extensive, and the library was sampled at many velocities. There are about  8GB of sounds. The best thing is the price: US $1.00. One unfortunate thing about it is that there isn't a manual for it. The sale ends Jan. 31st.   http://www.pluginboutique.com/product/1-Instruments/64-Virtual-Instrument/1845-Orchestral-Companion-Strings/?gclid=CLOf_YDMnNECFVK5wAodgh4Jng#a_aid=57ef7faf6caa0

Next is Big Bang Universal Drums. Once again, I haven't tried this one out too much, but I can say that the sounds are very clean and well recorded, and don't sound as "tiny" as a lot of drum samples that I have heard. Midi Learn is good, it comes with effects, and there are about 8GB of sounds. The price is US $16.00. I don't know when this sale ends.  http://www.pluginboutique.com/products/1848-Big-Bang-Universal-Drums

Last is Xpand!2, a synthesizer workstation. I haven't had time to try this one out too much, but it has good reviews and what I heard sounded good. The price is right at US $1.00. The sale ends Jan. 31st.  http://www.pluginboutique.com/product/1-Instruments/64-Virtual-Instrument/1560-Xpand-2

All of these items have free trial versions available at the links provided.

Former hard rock singer Sed is now officially one year older today. He is going to dust off his microphone and P.A. system and sing a lullaby. The mayor of Cleveland has announced that the city will be in a lockdown for the rest of the day. The rumour is that this is his 117th birthday, so that would probably make him the oldest skinner on WC.

Please join me in wishing the man of many wallpapers a very happy birthday. 

sViz, on this day, just like every other year, is having her birthday.

For those that don't know her, she is a Master here at WinCustomize, mainly due to her work on DesktopX, a program that is no longer supported. She has also contributed to the forums here, writing a series of interviews with other DesktopX skinners, and helping others make use of DX as well as writing some of the scripts that enabled other artists to use DX.

If that isn't enough, she has also written a whole lot of short stories (mainly SF), and composed a few pieces of music. Learning programming languages and web design are two of her latest interests.

So, please join me in wishing Eve a very happy birthday.

I have received a third email claiming to be from Craig Oman. It looks like an old hack; lots of WC members on the list of recipients with what are probably out of date email addresses. Here is the list of recipients:

Tara J Kenny  drssj   Blair Dubak    Rick Guidelli    Betty   F2    Seth S Johnston    Karen Lowe   Rob Cilia   Shirley   Cathy Tierney   PuterDudeJim    Bob Brown  

PoSmedley   Stephen Welsh    amnb47    Paul Martin

Moderator edit: No need to post the email address.

I received an email titled Craig Oman (if I remember correctly). It was from a German domain (.de). I was suspicious, so I did a search and came up with the information in the link. The email was sent to at least several members of WinCustomize; PuterDudeJim, Paul (probably Jafo), probably DrJBHL and maybe a few others that I didn't recognize. The threat in the link is called JS/Redir according to scumware.org, and apparently is a virus that can cause a browser to go to unwanted sites. According to avgthreatlabs.com, "JS/Redir is a malicious software that once it is executed has the capability of replicating itself and infect other files and programs".

Another year and another birthday for sViz, the Master of DesktopX. Have a good one, Eve.

I have commissioned a new suite of skins: FMT Blue Round and FMT Blue Square with WindowBlinds skins, docks, Sysmetrix, Rainlendar, IconPackager, dock icons, and cursor by Pinchecl; DesktopX weather, clock, and multi gadgets by RedneckDude, and a media player by sViz. All the skins (except the cursor and docks) come in a square and a round version.  Wallpapers will also be available. I would like to thank Pinchecl, sViz, and RedneckDude for their efforts.

All the skins are available now at Skinnalicious  http://skinnalicious.net/  and will be uploaded here soon.

A certain Mr. Sed of Cleveland has a birthday today. Please join me in wishing him a happy one.