Posts Tagged ‘Definitions’

What Is A BETA Release?

16th February 2007

Before a piece of software is made available to a wider audience software developers usually release a set of BETA releases that allow the potential audience of the application to provide feedback before the final release is made. This feedback usually includes details of parts of the application that do not function correctly on their specific hardware or details of changes they would like implemented.  BETA releases however by their nature are usually contain problems, are feature incomplete (for example, unable to import previous settings) and may not be compatible with any existing version of the application installed. This generally means BETA releases are not recommended to be installed in a production environment or by inexperienced users.  A more detailed explanation of what a BETA release is and the full software release cycle can be found on Wikipedia.

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What Is A Member Only Release?

16th February 2007

A Member Only release is a special version of an application (usually a new version which is not publically available) which is made available to members of the web site only.  A member of the site has registered to show their interest and support of the freeware applications available. Membership of the site is free.  Member only releases facilities are currently not available.

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What Is A MD5 Checksum?

24th July 2006

When a new software release is made a MD5 checksum is created. This checksum is then published together with the file to the web site. After you have downloaded the application you run the file through a MD5 checksum creator and compare this value against the value published to the web site.  If both checksums are the same it is unlikely the file has been corrupted, illegally patched or released by someone other than Really Effective. If the verification fails ensure you are downloading the file from the official site and that your download is not corrupted.

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