February 22, 2003 - Microsoft has released an update that fixes a bug in
Http.sys that is related to TDI Filters on Windows XP SP2 and other
platforms. See Microsoft Knowledge Base Article KB887742 at the URL:

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887742

Thomas F. Divine

February 11, 2005 - There have been several questions about Microsoft
support for the new 802.11 WPA2 authentication methods.

Some information about this cam be found on the online MSDN Library at the
URL:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/default.aspx

Search for the topic "WPA2".

The new NTDDNDIS.h and NDIS.H that includes the supporting structure
definitions, etc. appear to be in RC2 of Microsoft Windows Server SP1 and
Windows XP x64 Edition (build 1433) Technical Beta. This is DDK 3790.1433.

If you are not part of the Windows Server SP1 Beta program, then you will
have to contact Microsoft directly to get these headers, etc.

PCAUSA will include the 802.11 WPA2 structures in the next release of
Rawether for Windows.

Thomas F. Divine

February 11, 2005 - As some of you know PCAUSA introduced preliminary
support for Windows XP for 64-Bit Extended Systems in May, 2004 with the
release of Rawether for Windows V5.5.17.00. The Rawether support provided at
that time was based on the Windows XP 64-Bit Customer Preview Program
release and the Windows Server 2003 DDK 64-Bit build environment.

After almost a year Windows XP 64-Bit Edition is finally nearing release.
Microsoft has recently released RC2 of Windows XP x64 Edition (Build 1433)
Technical Beta and a companion DDK 3790.1433.

I have taken some time to revisit the Rawether 64-Bit modifications and
found that they have held up pretty well. The Rawether 64-Bit drivers can be
built with the new 3790.1433 DDK build tools and run without any code
changes.

Building 64-Bit applications under the new 3790.1433 DDK build environment
didn't fare as well. The user-mode code didn't need changes - but the errors
returned the build tool were fairly hard to decipher. Since I don't really
like to build user-mode components with the DDK I decided to go another
route.

I turned my attention to using Visual Studio .NET 2005 for building 64-Bit
Rawether applications, and this went fairly smooth. I converted selected
Rawether Build 1802 Visual Studio .NET 2003 solutions and projects to Visual
Studio .NET 2005. I was able to build the stock Rawether 32-bit applications
and W32N55 DLL with no problem.

I then added the AMD64 configuration to selected applications and the W32N55
DLL (named "W64N55.DLL" for 64-bit deployment). I built these components for
both 32-bit x86 and 64-bit AMD64 using Visual Studio .NET 2005:

    NDIScope.exe - Fairly complex MFC application.
    W64N55.dll - API support DLL.
    MPRead.exe - Multi-packet read application.

This went fairly smooth as well. There was one required code change in
NDIScope's OnTimer routines where an argument needed to be changed from UINT
to UINT_PTR. No other changes were required from the currently released
Rawether codebase.

Getting the Visual Studio .NET 2005 output folders and custom build settings
setup correctly was a little tedious.

The Rawether for Windows 64-bit drivers support both 32-bit and 64-bit
user-mode applications. Existing Rawether V5.5 32-bit applications will run
unmodified on Windows XP 64-Bit Edition until you have time to build your
own 64-bit target applications.

At this time PCAUSA is planning to release Rawether for Windows Build 1803
when Microsoft goes RTM on Windows XP 64-Bit Edition. Hopefully Microsoft
will also release Visual Studio .NET 2005 at about the same time. If so,
then PCAUSA will also release Visual Studio .NET 2005 solutions for building
all of the Rawether for Windows user-mode components for both 32-bit and
64-bit targets.

Regards,

Thomas F. Divine

January 28, 2005 - Advanced TDI Samples V2.02.06.14 Released.

This release includes a systematic review of the PCAUSA TDI samples and
migration to use of the Windows Server 2003 DDK. Highlights of this release
include:

   * Improved support for tracking remote addresses in TDI filter TCP and UDP
event handlers.
   * Several bug fixes.
   * Code readability improvements.
   * Significant revision and enhancement of one TDI filter sample (TDILpbkH)
to use OS-specific enhancements found only in Windows XP and higher.
   * Most TDI samples (particularly TDI filter samples) have been reviewed
and tested on 4-way Windows Server 2003 system.

For more details about the changes provided in V2.02.06.14 see the Release
Notes at the URL:

      http://www.pcausa.com/tdisamp/release.txt.

For general information about the PCAUSA Advanced TDI Samples see the TDI
Samples Product Information page at the URL:

      http://www.pcausa.com/tdisamp/default.htm

If you are a current PCAUSA customer with an unexpired subscription to the
PCAUSA Advanced TDI Samples, please email me for download instructions.
Please include your current product Serial Number with your request.

Thomas F. Divine

December 9, 2004 - Both of these firewalls have introduced "Driver-Level
Protection" features apparently intended to detect malicious activity by
Trojans. Unfortunately, it appears that both of these products are not
designed to allow legitimate third-party NDIS protocol drivers to send
packets on the network.

In the case of the SyGate product it is necessary to disable the
"Driver-Level Protection" feature of the SyGate firewall to allow legitimate
third-party NDIS protocols to send packets on the network.

In the case of the Symantec Firewall it appears that the only choice is to
disable the firewall entirely to allow legitimate third-party NDIS protocols
to send packets on the network.

Other firewall choices such as BlackIce and ZoneAlarm allow legitimate
third-party NDIS protocols to send packets on the network.

Unfortunately PCAUSA does not have contacts with either SyGate or Symantec
beyond first-level technical support - which is not a productive route for
suggesting improvements in this area.

If there are SyGate or Symantec developers on these lists, please consider
making improvements to SyGate and Symantec firewalls that allow legitimate
NDIS protocol drivers to send packets without requiring Trojan detection
features (or the complete firewall) to be disabled.

Warm regards,

Thomas F. Divine
President, PCAUSA

November 28, 2004 - PCAUSA will be releasing an update to Rawether for
Windows CE (unmanaged 'C' API) on November 30, 2004.

This update provides bug fixes and enhancements to the Pocket PC 2003 sample
applications. The previous OIDScope and WLANTool applications have been
combined into one "NDISTools" application. The new samples are a lot more
useful than the prior applications.

The Rawether for Windows CE Build 0415 sample executables are now available
online. See the URL:

	 http://www.rawether.net/embedded/WINCE/Rawether.htm

This release does NOT involve fixes to the PCANDIS driver, the W32N50 DLL or
the Win32 NDIS API on CE. If you have already deployed an application based
on prior versions of Rawether for Windows CE then it in NOT necessary for
you to make any changes to your existing products.

If you are an existing Rawether for Windows CE customer in need of this
update to Rawether for Windows CE, please email me for download
instructions. Please include your Rawether Serial Number with your request.

Regards,

Thomas F. Divine

TDIMon by Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell of SysInternals
=============================================================
The SysInternals TDI Monitor (TDIMon) written by Mark Russinovich and Bryce
Cogswell is one of the key tools for understanding how TDI works. No one
would disagree with their own description of TDIMon:

"TDIMon is an application that lets you monitor TCP and UDP activity on your
local system. It is the most powerful tool available for tracking down
network-related configuration problems and analyzing application network
usage."

The free version of TDIMon can be downloaded from their website at this URL:

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/tdimon.shtml


TDIScope by PCAUSA
==================
One problem with the free version of TDIMon is that the capture display
quickly fills with IRP_TDI_QUERY_INFORMATION_EX records as Windows
periodically checks for the connection state. This makes it difficult to see
ordinary TCP and UDP operations.

PCAUSA resurrected an old sample application based on the TDI filter sample
drivers. This application, called "TDIScope", was originally developed in
2002 but was never completed. Recently we did make a few small fixes just so
we had a tool that filtered out the uninteresting
IRP_TDI_QUERY_INFORMATION_EX records.

TDIScope isn't intended to be a replacement for the SysInternals TDIMon
utility. TDIScope's only virtue is that it displays less information than
TDIMon. But sometimes less information is more useful...

We are providing TDIScope in executable form in as-is condition in case you
have a need for a less cluttered TDI logger.

TDIScope is only partially implemented and has limitations, but perhaps it
can be of use to some of you. For more information see:

http://www.pcausa.com/Utilities/tdiscope.htm

Thomas F. Divine

November 8, 2004 - In 1999 PCAUSA provided a simple port of the Unix Text
TCP (TTCP) utility to Windows Sockets. The PCATTCP utility has been used
fairly widely for TCP benchmarking - even in some University research and
teaching situations.

Over the years minor bug fixes and improvements have been made, but no real
enhancements. One of my goals is to make a distributed TTCP system using the
.NET Framework and .NET Remoting. Although some progress has been made, a
release of a "TTCP Agent" and it's controlling "TTCP Console" won't be soon
giving my available spare time.

However, I thought it might be worthwhile to release a small, potentially
useful piece.

I have implemented a simple TTCP Transmitter (TtcpTx) using the .NET
Framework. It is a forms-based application that has a fairly sensible user
interface.

Executables and source are available for download.

For more information visit:

    http://www.pcausa.com/Utilities/pcattcp.htm#TtcpTx

Regards,

Thomas F. Divine

October 25, 2004 - The Rawether .NET is a .NET Framework assembly that
provides a uniform API between user-mode applications and PCAUSA NDIS
drivers. Basically, it is a C# version of the current Rawether 'C' API - but
greatly extended.

Rawether .NET provides a rich, consistent NDIS user-mode API across the
Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 platforms.

Today we have released Rawether V5.5.18.02 (Build 1802) which includes bug
fixes and improvements that were generated during the first few customer's
use of Rawether .NET. I was certainly pleased that only one bug was
uncovered. A few enhancements related to 802.11 management were identified
and incorporated as well.

A new .NET forms-based version of NDIScope - including a crude
"TcpDump-like" packet capture application - was added to the Rawether .NET
sample code.

Information about Rawether .NET can be found at the URL:

    http://www.rawether.net/DotNet/default.htm

Regards,

Thomas F. Divine

Note: If you are using the Rawether for Windows Win32 NDIS API ("standard"
unmanaged 'C'), then be advised that this release does NOT incorporate any
changes to the components that you are using. This release does NOT include
any changes to the W32N55 DLL or the PCAUSA NDIS protocol drivers. You do
NOT need to fetch this update.

Thomas

September 7, 2004 - We have mentioned Rawether .NET a few times recently.

The Rawether .NET is a .NET Framework assembly that provides a uniform API
between user-mode applications and PCAUSA NDIS drivers. Basically, it is a
C# version of the current Rawether 'C' API - but greatly extended.

Rawether .NET provides a rich, consistent NDIS user-mode API across the
Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 platforms.

Information about Rawether .NET can be found at the URL:

    http://www.rawether.net/DotNet/default.htm

Rawether .NET Beta 1 is included with the recent Rawether V5.5.18.01
maintenance release. We look forward to working with those who may choose to
explore the benefits and opportunities provided by the .NET Framework.

Regards,

Thomas F. Divine

September 7, 2004 - Rawether for Windows Version 5.5.18.01 maintenance
release is available.

Unfortunately, the initial release of Rawether V5.5 included two bugs in the
802.11 helper functions. These have been fixed in this maintenance release:

    * WLAN_Supports802_11 Function - Failed to detect some 802.11g adapters.
    * WLAN_SetSsid Function - Was not functional.

See Detailed Release Notes at the URL:

    http://www.rawether.net/RawetherV5_5/RELEASE.TXT

In you are using Rawether versions V5.03.15.58 or earlier, then this bug fix
does not effect your products at all.

If you are in need of this update to Rawether V5.5, please email me for
download instructions. Please include your Rawether Serial Number with your
request.

Regards,

Thomas F. Divine

September 7, 2004 - The purpose of this email is to let you know that a bug
in the OIDScope utility related to detection of some 802.11g adapters has
been fixed. OIDScope V5.5.18.01 fixes this problem and is now available for
download from:

    http://www.pcausa.com/Utilities/ndistools.htm

If you see problems with any of the PCAUSA utilities, please let us know.

Regards,

Thomas F. Divine

August 12, 2004 - Rawether .NET is a .NET Framework API that provides a
uniform API between user-mode applications and PCAUSA NDIS drivers.
Basically, it is a C# version of the current Rawether for Windows 'C' API -
but greatly extended.

The initial Rawether .NET release will provide this rich, consistent NDIS
user-mode API across the Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows
Server 2003 platforms as well as the Windows CE-based Pocket PC 2003 and
Pocket PC 2003 platforms to the current Rawether for Windows NDIS protocol
driver suite.

(Future releases are even more interesting...)

See Rawether .NET Is Coming!!!

    http://www.rawether.net/DotNet/default.htm

Warm regards,

Thomas F. Divine

July 1, 2004 - PCAUSA has reduced prices for Rawether for Windows CE (Pocket
PC 2002/2003) by 40-percent. The low-end Rawether for Windows CE product (90
days support) is now priced at $US695.00.

See the new price list at the bottom of the page:

   http://www.rawether.net/embedded/WINCE/Rawether.htm.

Warm regards,

Thomas F. Divine

June 25, 2004 - PCAUSA has been exploring how to integrate the Rawether
family with the .NET Framework for some time. Rawether V5.03.16.55
(February, 2003) included some experimental C# sample applications which, in
retrospect, were not very good... Since then we have gone through several
design and implementation iterations for a .NET Framework API for Rawether.

In parallel we have made improvements to the base Rawether suite (introduced
in V5.5) and are making similar improvements to Rawether for Windows CE. The
goals of the improvements to the base Rawether DLL and drivers has been to
provide additional functionality and to further unify the "Big Windows" and
"Little Windows" API. (These two APIs both provide the same functionality,
but are somewhat different.)

Rawether .NET will bring these improvements together in a unified API.

Rawether .NET provides the following features:

** A .NET Framework API for user-mode access to the Rawether NDIS protocol
drivers.

   Written in C# and layered over the base Rawether W32N55 DLL and
platform-specific NDIS protocol drivers.

** Unified support for all platforms that support the .NET framework.
Including:

   1.) Windows Millennium
   2.) Windows 2000
   3.) Windows XP
   4.) Windows Server 2003
   5.) Windows CE 3.X (Pocket PC 2002)
   6.) Windows CE 4.X (Pocket PC 2003)

** Extensible API intended to support add-on NDIS IM driver and LWF driver
interfaces.

Of course, support for Windows XP does include support for Windows XP
embedded.

For those interested in taking a look at pre-release code, the links below
point to sources and output for  simple C# console application that
exercises the Rawether .NET API. Although the sample is fairly crude, it
exercises most NDIS requests that I have had the occasion to be interested
in using myself. Of particular interest are that take the complexity out of
deciphering a BSSID list and other 802.11 NDIS operations.

    EnumTest Console Application C# Code:
       http://www.rawether.net/DotNet/EnumTest.txt

    EnumTest Console Application Output:
       http://www.rawether.net/DotNet/Output.txt

If you are interested in the Windows CE platform, then you might be
interested to know that the identical EnumTest C# application also works on
Pocket PC 2003 (with a dumb console emulator class added, of course...).

Warm regards,

Thomas F. Divine

June 7, 2004 - PCAUSA is offering PCAUSA Newsletter subscribers exclusive
savings on the PCAUSA Universal Product Bundle.

For June, 2004 PCAUSA is offering a $400.00 discount on the price of a new
Universal Product Bundle Subscription (SKU 066). The Universal Bundle is
described at the URL:

    http://www.pcausa.com/products/universal.htm

The bundle subscription includes one year of support and product updates
for:

    * Rawether for Windows Professional.
    * Rawether for Windows CE.
    * NDIS Intermediate Driver Samples.
    * Transport Data Interface (TDI) Samples.

To receive this discount include the code "UB-JUNE-LIST-400" in the Special
Instructions portion of your order.

Offer good through June 30, 2004.

June 7, 2004 - Rawether for Windows Version 5.5 is a new major release of
Rawether is finally released.

Major enhancements in Rawether V5.5 focus on:

* Reduction of side-by-side runtime component conflicts.
* Enhanced 802.11 management support.
* Support For Windows XP 64-Bit Extended Edition (AMD64).
* Other modifications.

Rawether V5.5 information and sample executables are now available at this
URL:

    http://www.rawether.net/RawetherV5_5/

Be sure to read "What's New In Rawether Version 5.5" at the URL:

    http://www.rawether.net/RawetherV5_5/REV5501700.htm


Ongoing Support For Rawether V5.0
=================================
For a limited time PCAUSA will maintain Rawether V5.0 and V5.5 in parallel.
If you have existing Rawether V5.0-based applications and require only the
minimum update necessary to make your applications work with current Windows
releases (e.g., Windows XP SP 2), then you can request a V5.0 update (If
your period for free product updates has not expired...).


Discount for On-Time Subscription Renewals
==========================================
PCAUSA has introduced a 15% discount (approximate) for on-time Rawether
subscription renewals. If you renew your Rawether subscription within one
month of the subscription renewal anniversary you can save between $80.00
and $200.00.

Regards,

Thomas F. Divine

May 28, 2004 - We are adding a RSS feed for the PCAUSA Newsletter as an
alternative to this mailing list. The RSS feed is at the URL:

    http://www.pcausa.com/pressroom/rss.xml

The feed will primarily be devoted to announcing PCAUSA product updates and
other PCAUSA product-specific information.


The PCAUSA Discussion List is also available as a RSS feed. The URL is:

    http://rss.groups.yahoo.com/group/discussion-pcausa/rss


Finally, we are adding a RSS feed for NDIS.com. The URL is:

    http://www.ndis.com/news/rss.xml


RSS is fairly new to use, so we will have to see how it works out. I doubt
the feeds will be very chatty.

Please give any feedback if you are so inclined.

Regards,

Thomas F. Divine

May 27, 2004 - The amount of spam reaching PCAUSA is approaching incredible
levels. Today the level reached over 3000 spam and virus messages in one
24-hour period. That's over a million spam messages a year!!! Spammers are
even sending email to the download auto-responders - which sometimes creates
interesting email storms.

We currently use BrightMail as a first-level spam filter. It catches roughly
2/3 of the spam - which still results in about 1000 spams a day reaching my
email client. A local spam filter attempts to dispose of spam not caught by
BrightMail. Unfortunately, local filtering the residual spam is not as
effective as one would hope.

In any case, it has actually become difficult to actually identify
legitimate emails from customers or prospective customers.

If you have difficulty in contacting PCAUSA please insure that your email
follows these guidelines:

1.) Send to a legitimate PCAUSA address, including:

    tdivine@...
    support@...

2.) Make sure that the Subject line is noticeable:

    * One word Subjects like "Question" or "help" will likely be treated as
spam.
    * Meaningful subjects like "Question about Rawether..." will be noticed
if your
      message is mistakenly put into the spam quarantine.

Warm regards,

Thomas F. Divine

P.S. I am sure that I'm not the only one with this problem. If anyone knows
a _truly_ effective solution, I'd be pleased to hear of it.

Thomas

May 25, 2004 - Microsoft is at the RC1 stage in the release of Windows XP
Service Pack 2 (SP2). In SP2 Microsoft is introducing a set of security
technologies. These technologies and other incidental changes may have
impacts on your applications.

Don't get surprised when the service pack is finally released!

Although the XP SP2 release date has not been set, I would expect it to be
announced before too long.

This page contains information about XP SP2.

    http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/sp2preview.mspx

You can download XP SP2 for testing from there.

If you are using Rawether for Windows, then you probably will need Build
1658. That release accommodates a kernel-mode string parsing flaw introduced
in the prior release (Build 1657). The flaw causes the symbolic link
generated by the driver to differ from that expected by the W32N50 DLL in
some rare cases. As a consequence a Rawether-based application could not
open the adapter.

Regards,

Thomas F. Divine

May 18, 2004 - Rawether for Windows Version 5.5 is a new major release of
Rawether - the first since the release of Version 5.0 in December, 1998.
This release has taken longer to prepare then anticipated because our "wish
list" of improvements just keeps growing.

Major enhancements focus on:

* Reduction of side-by-side runtime component conflicts.
* Enhanced 802.11 management support.
* Support For Windows XP 64-Bit Extended Edition (AMD64).
* Other modifications.

Rawether V5.5 is now code complete. Preliminary information and preview
executables are now available at this URL:

    http://www.rawether.net/RawetherV5_5/

Be sure to read "What's New In Rawether Version 5.5 at the URL:

    http://www.rawether.net/RawetherV5_5/REV5501700.htm

The Rawether V5.5 SDK and DDK (Professional Version) will be available by
the end of this month - as soon as the Rawether Guide (Programmer's
Documentation) can be finalized.

Regards,

Thomas F. Divine

April 30, 2004 - PCAUSA is in the process of developing a new release of the
Rawether for Windows product. In this process we have been reviewing and
improving the DLL and drivers. The areas of improvement include bug fixes
based on Windows Error Reports and other feedback, functional improvements,
code cleanup as well as performance improvements where they can be found.

There are some specific performance changes to the PCAUSA Multi-Packet Read
(PCAMPR) driver that we would like to get feedback on before we make the
next release. These changes are fairly simple, but should result in much
more efficient use of the packet collection buffers (fewer lost packets).

If you are a current Rawether customer (unexpired support interval) who is
1.) using the PCAMPR packet collection driver and 2.) are willing and
interested in testing this PCAMPR performance improvement, please let me
know. I'll send evaluation binaries after I return from WinHEC.

Warm regards,

Thomas F. Divine

April 16, 2004 - The purpose of this email is to let you know that there is
a new release of the Rawether SDK that fixes a bug that was introduced in
the V5.03.16.57. This bug is described at the page:

    http://www.rawether.net/support/re-releasenotes.htm

If you ordered the Rawether for Windows SDK or Professional version since
the beginning of the year you probably received V5.03.16.57, which included
the bug described in the release notes. PCAUSA has already sent emails, with
the V5.03.16.58 SDK or Professional update as an attachment, to all
customers who ordered electronically and who elected to receive the product
electronically.

However, mail systems sometimes behave in unpredictable ways.

It would be appropriate to adopt the V5.03.16.58 runtime components at about
the time Windows XP SP2 is released. Please test this release when you get a
chance and let me know if there are any other issues.

Regards,

Thomas F. Divine

April 15, 2004 - Microsoft is at the RC1 stage in the release of Windows XP
Service Pack 2 (SP2). In SP2 Microsoft is introducing a set of security
technologies. These technologies may have impacts on your applications.

This page contains resources to assist developers in dealing with these
impacts.

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/security/productinfo/xpsp2/default.aspx


So far PCAUSA hasn't seen any specific problems related to SP2 and PCAUSA
products. However, we strongly recommend that you download the XP SP2
Technical Preview (from the link above) and test with your products.

PCAUSA will be releasing a minor update to Rawether for Windows tomorrow
(Build 1658) that is not specifically related to XP SP2. The Build 1658
release accommodates a kernel-mode string parsing flaw introduced in the
prior release (Build 1657). The flaw causes the symbolic link generated by
the driver to differ from that expected by the W32N50 DLL in some rare
cases. As a consequence a Rawether-based application could not open the
adapter.

Regards,

Thomas F. Divine

March 22, 2004 - The March 15, 2004 Issue of the Windows Driver Developer's
Digest (WD-3) includes new articles of interest to some NDIS
developers:

"Extending The Microsoft PassThru NDIS Intermediate Driver Part 3 -
Supporting Windows XP 64-Bit Edition"

     by Thomas F. Divine. The article includes companion source code.

"NDIS Driver Compile Flags"

     by Stephan Wolf.

Visit the URL:

    http://www.wd-3.com

Thomas F. Divine

There is yet another script-kiddie out there writing viruses. A new one says
it is from PCAUSA.COM (or OSR.COM, etc...). It has subject:

Subject: Important notify about your e-mail account.

The attachment is apparently a virus.

Thomas F. Divine

March 1, 2004 - PCAUSA has released the V5.5.17.58 (March, 2004) update to
the OIDScope user-mode NDIS query application.

If you work with custom OIDs or 802.11 miniports, then you may have an
interest in upgrading to this new release.

OIDScope is one of the components of the PCAUSA NDIS Tools. OIDScope is a
Win32 application that provides a simple was for users to make NDIS queries
for information without the need for a companion NDIS protocol driver. The
PCAUSA NDIS Developer Tools are free executables.

    *** OIDScope only supports Windows NT 4.0 and higher platforms!!! ***

This release of OIDScope includes these improvements:

   * 802.11 Property Page and auto-updating BSSID list scan for Windows XP
and higher
   * Custom OID Query (User entry of OID value)
   * Support for Windows XP 64-Bit Edition (AMD64)
   * Meaningful icons in adapter chooser list
   * Better behavior when returning from standby/hibernation
   * HTML Help file.
   * Various application improvements


The web page for the PCAUSA NDIS Tools can be found at the URL:

	 http://www.pcausa.com/Utilities/ndistools.htm


The URL includes additional information as well as an email auto-responder
that will send you download instructions. We will not use the auto-responder
email to send UCE. You can read the PCAUSA Privacy policy at:

	 http://www.pcausa.com/pressroom/privacy.htm


Send feedback to:

	 mailto:ndistools@...

Thanks for your interest.

Thomas F. Divine

February 4, 2004 - Recently PCAUSA mentioned that the next release of
Rawether for Windows will provide support for Windows XP 64-Bit Edition
(AND64). See the message:

   http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pcausa/message/80

I am pleased to report that development is progressing on this. To simplify
migration to 64-bit platforms Rawether V5.5 will provide source-level
compatibility with existing 32-Bit Rawether applications as well as
supporting 64-Bit Rawether applications.

The release of 64-Bit support for Rawether seems to timely. Today Microsoft
has announced availability of a preview release of Windows XP 64-Bit Edition
for AMD. See the URL:

   http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/downloads/upgrade.asp

The Beta program for the next release of Rawether for Windows will begin
soon.  If you are interested in testing the next Rawether for Windows
release, please contact:

    mailto:beta5_5@...

Only customers with unexpired Rawether product update period or
subscriptions will be accepted for the V5.5 testing program.

   Please include your Rawether for Windows or Universal Bundle Serial Number
when inquiring about testing V5.5.

Regards,

Thomas F. Divine

Below is some information about the recent MyDoom/Novarg virus.

In addition, there may be a new variation on the loose that will disable a
user's ability to fetch updated virus definitions, and so forth.

Good luck,

Thomas F. Divine

P.S. There is a special place reserved in Hell for virus writers and their
spammer brethren.

Thomas


"Tony Hynes [MSFT]" wrote in message
news:<e8NkBDd5DHA.300@...>...
> Hello everyone,
>
> Below is Microsoft's security response regarding the "Mydoom" virus.
> Please feel free to share these responses in the communities you
> participate in... Microsoft Consumer Virus Alert:
>
> Why We Are Issuing This Alert
>
> W32/Mydoom@MM spreads through e-mail. This worm can disguise the
> sender's address, a tactic known as spoofing, and may generate e-mails
> that appear to have been sent by Microsoft. Many of the addresses
> Mydoom uses are valid addresses that are being spoofed for malicious
> purposes.
>
>
> Mydoom Virus Alert: What to Do
>
> Treat all e-mail attachments with caution, particularly .zip files in
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> Complete Information:
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>
>

1/21/2004 - PCAUSA is developing the next release of Rawether for Windows.
Version 5.5 is a major update to Rawether and addresses these issues:


RUNTIME COMPONENT INSTALLATION CONFLICTS
========================================

As Microsoft stated during WinHEC 2003 and DevCon 2003:

     "There is a crisis associated with installing drivers on Windows
platforms."

This is a broad problem that concerns all Windows device drivers. Microsoft
is addressing this problem in the Longhorn timeframe with the "Driver
Install Framework" (DIFx) tools. However, DIFx will not be available in the
near or medium timeframe, and improvement is needed now.

At this time Rawether for Windows is licensed to a large number of OEMs.
And, with the current product, there are increasing instances of runtime
component conflicts when two (or more) PCAUSA customers install incompatible
versions of the Rawether support DLL or drivers.

Rawether V5.5 will address this issue by providing a simple way for PCAUSA
customers to make side-by-side installs of their own Rawether runtime
components without conflict. The key new features of the new Rawether
runtime component installation method includes:

1.) Support DLL located in vendor's \Program Files\Product folder instead of
\Windows\System32.
2.) Drivers located in \Window\System32\Drivers folder instead of
\Windows\System32
3.) PCAUSA to provide an "OEM Adaptation Kit" (OAK) that provides a simple
(and REQUIRED) way for OEMs to rename Rawether driver components without
requiring recompiling the drivers.

If the new installation rules are followed, then this approach should
eliminate runtime component conflicts going forward.


Although the V5.5 OAK provides a simple way to eliminate runtime component
conflicts, the preferred way remains to have an OEM version (recompiled) of
the runtime components. PCAUSA will continue to provide OEM build services
for customers who have more demanding distribution requirements. For these
customers PCAUSA will monitor errors reported via the Windows Error
Reporting services.



64-BIT HOST SUPPORT
===================

Well, it's finally time to seriously support 64-bit Windows. AMD-64 systems
(including desktops and notebooks) have broken the US$1,500.00 barrier in
January, 2004. Within the next few months you may be able to buy one at the
same store that sells TV's and Boom-Boxes.

The next release of Rawether will include preliminary support for 64-Bit
Windows.

Rawether for Windows 64-Bit Edition will support both 64-bit applications
and 32-bit applications (running under WOW).



NEED TESTERS FOR RAWETHER V5.5
==============================
PCAUSA needs a few testers who are interested in either of these two major
issues. If you are interested in testing the next Rawether for Windows
release, please contact:

    mailto:beta5_5@...

Only customers with unexpired Rawether product update period or
subscriptions will be accepted for the V5.5 testing program.

   Please include your Rawether for Windows or Universal Bundle Serial Number
when inquiring about testing V5.5.



Warm regards,

Thomas F. Divine