[Peerguardian-announce] The Public Beta for PeerGuardian 2 is now available!

[Joseph F. <jf...@me...>]

The Public Beta for PeerGuardian 2 is now available! Available for 
download from http://peerguardian.methlabs.org

We will be answering questions about this on IRC server
irc.unitedp2p.net, channel #methlabs for the most part of today. We
welcome all members of the media and users to attend, and we will try
to clear up any problems you may have.



Note: If you have registered in the last few days but HAVEN'T received
an activation email this is due to a bug in our forum. You have now
been automatically promoted to the correct user group, and you can now
post. We're working on fixing this problem!



Press release follows:





FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RE: PeerGuardian 2 Public Beta Is Out!

BY: Joseph Farthing and Cory Nelson

DATE: 2005-02-24



Hello friends,



The Methlabs staff are proud to announce that the PeerGuardian version
2.0 public is now officially available on our website. PeerGuardian 2,
the child of the original PeerGuardian has been in development, from
scratch, for more than 7 months. The original PeerGuardian was
developed many years ago, but this new system is more accurate,
sophisticated and efficient than any previous version.



This beta release is intended to the last stage before a definate 2.0
release. We think that our testing stages will have removed any bugs
within the code, but we welcome all feedback from our users.



WHAT IS IN THE BETA?



PeerGuardian 2 requires no driver installation, yet blocks IP addresses
at a far higher speed than was previously available - never above 1%
CPU on most test systems. On Windows 2000 and greater PeerGuardian 2
blocks at a kernel level, acting against every protocol used within the
windows system. On Windows 98 or Me it blocks TCP only* with the same
high performance of the Windows 2000 version.



* due to technical reasons, kernel blocking in 98/ME is not feasable



WHAT IS STILL TO COME?



The plugin system is still not complete, and some improvements to the
GUI are yet to come. Other than that, the application is fully
functional. A Linux/OSX version of PeerGuardian 2 is currently in
development.



SIMPLICITY



PeerGuardian 2 is now totally automatic. You do not need to install a
driver, simply run the program without any visits to the control panel.
The new startup wizard makes things easier than ever.



More detailed settings can be configured from the interface, including
logging and the ability to prevent websites from being blocked. A
single IP address may be allowed for a period of time, or permanently,
solving the problem of bad IP addresses, and our new reporting and
database management systems mean that you can play an active roll in
preventing friendly IPs from being added.



BLOCKLIST.ORG DATABASES



The current P2P format database has been in existence since the
original PeerGuardian was devised, and is now somewhat dated. Some
changes and additions made to the database have made things worse, not
better, and we've decided something needs to be done. A new binary
format database has been developed, which massively reduces the length
of time it takes to download the database. Our new IPDB (IP Database)
pages are also open at http://blocklist.org,
allowing the user to submit ranges for inclusion in the database, and
for ranges to be voted good or bad, and marked as incorrect.

We hope that via community effort we can turn the sometimes inaccurate 
database into a much more accurate tool.



OPENNESS



PeerGuardian 2 is Open Source, meaning the program code is available
online for anyone who wants it. Not only does this allow you to make
modifications or even branch off into your own project, but it
encourages peer review of the code making sure any bugs are eliminated
swiftly. Because PeerGuardian 2 is Open Source, you can rest assured
there are no back-doors or spy-ware included.



We hope you enjoy PeerGuardian 2, feel free to comment on our software, 
and distribute it among your friends.



Sincerely,

Joseph Farthing and Cory Nelson on behalf of the Methlabs staff.



(I am available for contact about this: JFM at Methlabs dot org)





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About Methlabs.org:



Methlabs.org is a non-profit organisation founded to protect the
privacy of Internet users from certain corporations and groups. We
represent several million peer-to-peer and internet users, and do not
have any commercial alliance or interest. We are funded entirely by
donations and text-advertising on some more bandwidth-intensive pages.



If you are interested in the Methlabs community, please visit 
www.methlabs.org/forums <http://www.methlabs.org/forums>



The official homepage is at: www.methlabs.org <http://www.methlabs.org>





About Blocklist.org:



Blocklist.org is a website designed to allow users to interactively
manage and block the IP addresses of certain organisations and
companies. Founded in late 2004 by Methlabs.org, it is intended to be a
platform agnostic database that utilises published open formats.



- - - - - - - - - -



THANKS



Methlabs would like to thank our active beta testers and staff for the 
work they have contributed towards this project:



aretx, Ake, BlueIce, bitrot, cerberius, chaos3, Chrissyx, D3F, drake,
Don_Phrostbyte, DVDeviant, fox, FuRiOuS1, Gambit20011, GoldenMonkey,
haker0, Insanelycool, Jupiter, JFM, jmdenver, KuKIE, LS7, MaKaVeLi,
Method, mercury7, MilesApart, Mystique, Nothingface5384, Nullcontext,
PCGUY112887, Pepsi_One, Prof. Yaffle, rjmuckler, ROCKAMANIAC, Segata,
shortfuse, SkinGraft, sLow, somekindahate, squijello, the_matrix_has_you



...as well as the other 10,000+ people who have joined our community.



We'd especially like to thank the Methlabs Supporters:



aperuma, arcticjaguar, banditmick, bellrb19, bick, blee309,
braindancer, ChronoStriker1, offeecomet, dalma, darkdlight, dawhizzz,
eremini, EricaZ, farkinbasteg, fphaynes53, ry808, Golden-Gnu, Grim,
IsoDisc, jmdenver, jojje, ldubb2, LPC, manonight, mishu , Munchr, quip,
Red-Baron, rednesss, rg1, rjmuckler, Shinji, shortfuse, spaminator,
quijello, squirrel64, swren, tealc, TripWireRVN



...as well as everyone else who has donated money!