Neowin.net

Thanks to nekrosoft13 for the heads up on BPN. :)

Xteq X-Setup is a so-called hacker or tweaker program. It allows you to change settings that are normally hidden deeply in some configuration-files like the registry fast and easily.

X-Setup offers several advantages, making it the ultimate tool for black belt system tuning. It's runs on any Windows version (incl. XP), is clutter-free, easy to use, extensible, powerful, covers any aspect of your computer and has more configuration options than any other tweaker.

It includes major changes to the programs, a lot of new features, more than 200 plug-in changes and about 100 new plug-ins. If you are interested, just have a look at the file HISTORY.TXT once you have downloaded it. X-Setup is 100% Freeware for home user and charity/non-profit organisations, but shareware for commercial institutions.

New in this version:

• New layout of Windows XP
  
• Has the final help file included
  
• All bugs that were found in BETA #1 are fixed
  

News source: Major Geeks
View: X-Setup 6.2
Download: X-Setup 6.2 Final

“Filo ... believes passionately about the front page,” said one source close to the company. “He wants simplicity and speed. On the other hand, there is obviously a push for more ad revenue, and the front page is an obvious opportunity — a push led by Semel.”

Yahoo declined to comment on the pending changes. But Jeff Wiener, senior vice president of corporate development at Yahoo, said in a recent interview with CNET Radio that to some extent, there have been several iterations of the Yahoo home page in the last seven years. He added that Web visitors can look forward to “innovation and change on the home page and throughout the site,” as well as in its search and directory.

The home page overhaul comes as the Web portal has introduced pronounced changes throughout the site, adding fees to services that had previously been offered for free and placing large, animated ads in popular areas such as finance, sports, news and e-mail, among others. By contrast, the home page largely has been hands off, although Yahoo has loosened its stance in recent months by allowing more invasive ads onto it — including a Ford Motor promotion that temporarily took over visitors’ screens entirely.

NOTICEABLE, BUT NOT DRASTIC

The changes in Yahoo’s home page will be noticeable but not drastic, according to one source familiar with the redesign. The site will retain much of the current flavor, color and style but will include fewer links and clutter.

The simplified home page is meant to accentuate advertisements, the source said.

One area that will get more attention in the redesign is the prime real estate in the center of the home page known as the “mantle.” The mantle box, which takes a sizeable portion of the screen, has featured links to Yahoo-affiliated areas such as FIFAWorldCup.com, its personals area or movie promotions for new releases such as “Bad Company,” starring Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock. The page’s redesign would further accentuate interactive types of advertisements on the site, according to sources familiar with Yahoo’s plans.

Over the years, Yahoo’s home page has gone through several incremental changes, but it has remained stylistically consistent. Yahoo has been surveying visitors about the home page, asking people to rate the site for speed and effectiveness and gauging their impressions of the page’s performance.

Yahoo has substantially changed the structure of its site only once before, in 1995, when expanded its directory listings to two columns and provided visitors with a search navigation box. At the time, it also spiffed up its title from basic text into a logo, adding its signature exclamation point.

Since then Yahoo has made numerous other changes but stuck to the same basic design for the U.S. and overseas iterations of the site, a formula that helps visitors adjust and easily learn how to use the site, design experts say. But over the years it also has tacked on several new features and services with links from the home page, creating a sense of clutter.

Because of these additions, Yahoo is due for a redesign, said Jakob Nielsen, a Web design guru who recently published the book “Homepage Useability.”

“I would love to see the home page be more advertiser-friendly without being user hostile,” he said. “The page is crammed with features, and it needs to clearly define starting points. The biggest improvement they can make is structuring all the features they have and prioritizing them so the user gets a better overview.”

For example, Nielsen said Yahoo could improve its design by better integrating reference points such as those for news coverage. As it stands now, Yahoo’s home page points to news in four separate places.

“Yahoo is like a good old friend, and it just works,” Nielsen said. “But they’ve stretched their old idea too far, so I could see why they would want to go out with something new.”