Neowin.net

Thanks to Aaron Parker for sending this info in.

HFNetChk is a command-line tool that enables an administrator to assess patch status for computers that are running Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, and Windows XP, as well as hotfixes for Internet Information Server 4.0 (IIS), Internet Information Services 5.0 (IIS), SQL Server 7.0, SQL Server 2000 (including Microsoft Data Engine [MSDE]), and Internet Explorer 5.01 or later. Version 3.31 is an updated version of 3.3 that will properly identify SQL Server 7.0 systems.

View: Microsoft Network Security Hotfix Checker v3.31 | Download Page
Download: Microsoft Network Security Hotfix Checker (Hfnetchk.exe) v3.31 (Direct - 249kb)

Note: An XML parser is required on each computer that runs HFNetChk. A parser is included with Internet Explorer 5 and later. However, if you are running an earlier version of Internet Explorer and you cannot install Internet Explorer 5 or later, you can download and install a standalone version of the XML parser (version 4) from the following location:

View: Microsoft XML Core Services 4.0

The new patent was key to a play to commercialise nanochips by building factories to produce them, and lab experiments had proved the concept--although they used components much bigger than the nanowires a few atoms wide.

The patent announced Wednesday covers a process to pack a number of different functions into a single nanochip by dividing the chip into different zones where independent calculations can take place.

Previously, HP had figured out how to use chemical processes to make grids of nanowires a few atoms thick and to place molecules at the intersections of the wires.

It also figured out how to manipulate the molecules to block or let electricity pass through--the basic operation at the heart of a microprocessor--and proved that the nanochip could work.

The newly patented process could break the huge grid into smaller zones by using electrical charges to make "cuts" in the nanowires. HP compares it to breaking up a city street grid into neighbourhoods with alleys and cul de sacs that operate independently but are linked by major thoroughfares.

The performance improves because a single chip can do a number of things. "It is not really a question of speed--you are always going real fast--but a question of how many things you can pack together," said HP scientist Phil Kuekes, a computer architect on the team awarded the patent.

It is relatively cheap and easy to make big batches of nanochips, but the tiny grids tend to have imperfections. HP's solution is to discover the defects of a chip after it is made and then, using the nanocutting technology, to customize them.

"We see a future where the chips will come out and no two chips will be identical. Each one will be customized for a particular function," said HP's Stanley Williams, the chemist in the group. UCLA professor James Heath was the third member of the team.

Current computer chip design software could be used to design chips and adapt for their imperfections, and manufacturing costs would be dramatically cut, HP said.

That cost savings would be achieved even after an investment in supercomputers needed to test the chips and then design and program them, HP said.