Rise Of Nations

Rise of nations adalah game strategi keluaran Microsoft. Game ini mirip dengan kebanyakan game strategi lainnya, hanya saja memiliki grafik yang lebih bagus, serta lebih mendetail, dan cenderung mirip dengan dunia kita. Misal suku-suku yang banyak dan benar-benar ada, lalu pemerintahan, perang nuklir, perang dingin, sampai-sampai perang masa lampau seperti romawi kuno atau alexander yang agung-Pun ada di game ini.

Bangunannya pun sangat mirip dan sesuai dengan karakter masing-masing suku. Serta bangunan-bangunan agung yang terdapat dalam game ini pun benar-benar ada. Seperti Colosseum, Pyramid, Colossus, patung seribu tentara di China, Kuil untuk persembahan dari bangsa Aztec, patung Liberty, menara Eifel, sampai roket Apollo pun ada di game ini, dari lampau hingga masa kini. Disetiap zaman pun kita dapat meng-upgrade 4 bagian, yaitu militer, pemerintahan, perekonomian, dan ilmu pengetahuan. Dan setelah 8 zaman telah ter-upgrade, dimana teknologi sudah sangat maju, kita dapat mengupgrade 4 bagian terakhir, yaitu bagian pemerintahan, militer, anti nuklir, serta pemasaran.

Bangsa yang dipilih diambil dari seluruh dunia, seperti Aztec dan Inca dari Amerika latin. Indian dari Amerika utara, Aborigin dari Australia, Mongol, Chinese, Japanese, dan Korean dari Asia. Dari suku Afrika terdapat suku Bantu serta dari eropa terdapat France, British, Dutch (Netherland), Germany, dan Spain. Struktur bangunan pun sangat mirip dengan tipe-tipe bangunan dari masing-masing negara.

Bangunan-bangunan yang terdapat dalam game ini adalah bangunan militer seperti, Barrack tentara jarak jauh (pistol atau unit lempar lainnya), pemanah, dan prajurit jarak dekat. Dizaman terakhir para pemanah menggunakan senjata Bren. Lalu Stable, atau tempat kuda seperti kuda pemanah dan kuda jarak dekat. Dizaman terakhir tempat kuda ini diganti menjadi tempat pembuatan tank. Dan siege factory tempat membuat unit-unit penghancur bangunan yang menggunakan meriam, hingga dizaman terakhir menggunakan rocket launcher. lalu tempat pembuatan pesawat terbang, mulai dari pesawat zaman dahulu hingga pesawat siluman yang tidak menghasilkan bunyi serta tidak dapat dilacak radar. Adapun tempat pembuatan nuklir, dari mulai bom ecek-ecek dengan ledakan kecil. Hingga bom roket dengan daya hancur dan akurasi yang tinggi sampai nuklir ICBM dengan daya hancur 1 kota dalam game tersebut.

Unit pasukannya pun sangat mirip dengan aslinya. Misal, bangsa mongol sangatlah unggul dalam pasukan berkuda. Lalu bangsa korean unggul dalam pemanah, russia unggul dalam nuklir dan chinese unggul dalam jumlah pekerja atau manusia. Bangunan-bangunan agung pun hanya dapat dibangun berdasarkan zaman. Misalnya Pyramid dan colossus dapat dibangun di zaman pertama, lalu colosseum di zaman berikut-nya, hingga rocket Apollo dan Supercolider baru dapat dibangun di zaman terakhir.

Demikian yang saya ketahui tentang game ini, semoga dapat berguna untuk anda semua. Terimakasih telah menyempatkan membaca tulisan saya.

Berikut beberapa screenshots rise of nations:
grafik dari rise of nations keren banget loh!

Untuk download : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XPGMFLBN

ini adalah yg full version dan gratis

“Antivirus Palsu”

Beberapa waktu terakhir muncul banyak “Antivirus Palsu” yang bisa berbahaya jika terinstall di komputer. Jika kita sedang browsing dan tiba-tiba muncul pesan untuk menginstall program atau antivirus tertentu atau pesan bahwa komputer kita terinfeksi virus, trojan, spyware dan sejenisnya, maka harus berhati-hati, bisa-bisa komputer kita di install antivirus palsu.

Mengapa Antivirus palsu ? karena melihat tampilan dan proses kerjanya, kita akan yakin bahwa program ini benar-benar antivirus atau anti spyware, malware dan sejenisnya dan hampir tidak tampak bahwa program ini menyimpan maksud tertentu diluar tampilannya yang terkesan antivirus.

Dalam dunia Virus-Antivirus (security), program ini masuk dalam kategori Rogue Security Program, yaitu software yang mengaku men-scan/mendeteksi malware ( virus, trojan, worm, spyware dan sejenisnya) atau berbagai masalah lain di komputer, tetapi pada dasarnya berusaha menipu atau mendesak penggunanya untuk membeli program tersebut dengan cara menganggu, menampilkan pesan yang tidak benar tentang kondisi komputer, menampilkan hasil scan yang tidak benar dan sejenisnya. Terkadang aplikasi ini ter install tanpa sepengetahuan pengguna atau tanpa ijin.

Coba dilihat beberapa contoh tampilan program yang mirip antivirus berikut (image credit by sunbeltblog.blogspot.com):

Windows Antivirus

Aplikasi yang sejenis dengan ini adalah Windows Antivirus 2008, info.
Alamat website Windows-av. com

Micro Antivirus 2009

Aplikasi yang sejenis dengan ini adalah MS Antivirus, info
Alamat website Microantivirus2009. com

Antivirus Security

Aplikasi yang sejenis dengan ini adalah XP Antivirus, info
alamat website Antivirussecurity-solution. com

XP Protector 2009

yang juga merupakan clone dari Antivirus XP 2008

Total Secure 2009

Alamat website Totalsecure2009. com

AntiSpyware Pro XP

Aplikasi ini merupakan clone dari Antispyware 2008 XP

Antivirus Lab 2009

Aplikasi yang sejenis dengan ini adalah Antispycheck. Beralamat di Viruslabs2009. com

AntiVirProtect

alamat website : antivirprotect(dot)com

Jika melihat tampilan contoh-contoh diatas, mungkin tidak terpikir jika produk-produk tersebut merupakan produk yang harus diwaspadai. Masing-masing produk tersebut mempunyai tingkat atau level bahaya yang berbeda-beda.

Meski sebagian mungkin hanya menampilkan pesan agar membeli program tersebut, tetapi sebagian lainnya mempunyai tingkat bahaya yang cukup tinggi, seperti membuka celah keamanan komputer, menganggu koneksi jaringan, modifikasi file sistem, mengumpulkan informasi pribadi, menggunakan banyak resources CPU/Memory komputer dan sebagainya.

The Britons (500 On)

Following the withdrawal of the Roman legions to Gaul (modern France) around 400, the British Isles fell into a very dark period of several centuries from which almost no written records survive. The Romano-British culture that had existed under 400 years of Roman rule disappeared under relentless invasion and migration by barbarians. Celts came over from Ireland (a tribe called the Scotti gave their name to the northern part of the main island, Scotland). Saxons and Angles came from Germany, Frisians from modern Holland, and Jutes from modern Denmark. By 600, the Angles and Saxons controlled most of modern England. By 800, only modern Wales, Scotland, and West Cornwall remained in largely Celtic hands.

The new inhabitants were called Anglo-Saxons (from the Angles and Saxons). The Angles gave their name to the new culture (England from Angle-land), and the Germanic language they brought with them, English, replaced the native Celtic and previously imported Latin. Despite further invasions and even a complete military conquest at a later date, the southern and eastern parts of the largest British Isle have been called England (and its people and language English) ever since.

In 865 the relative peace of England was shattered by a new invasion. Danish Vikings who had been raiding France and Germany formed a great army and turned their attention on the English. Within 10 years, most of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had fallen or surrendered. Only the West Saxons (modern Wessex) held out under Alfred, the only English ruler to be called "the Great."

England was divided among the Vikings, the West Saxons, and a few other English kingdoms for nearly 200 years. The Viking half was called the Danelaw ("under Danish law"). The Vikings collected a large payment, called the Danegeld ("the Dane's gold"), to be peaceful. The Danes became Christians and gradually became more settled. In time the English turned on the Danes, and in 954 the last Viking king of York was killed. England was united for the first time under an English king from Wessex.

In 1066 the Witan ("king's council") offered the crown to Harold, son of the Earl of Wessex. Two others claimed the throne: Harald Hardrada (meaning "the hard ruler"), King of Norway, and Duke William of Normandy. The Norwegian landed first, near York, but was defeated by Harold at the battle of Stamford Bridge. Immediately after the victory, Harold force-marched his army south to meet William at Hastings. The battle seesawed back and forth all day, but near dusk Harold was mortally wounded by an arrow in the eye. Over the next two years, William, now "the Conqueror," solidified his conquest of England.

During the remainder of the Middle Ages, the successors of William largely exhausted themselves and their country in a series of confrontations and wars attempting to expand or defend land holdings in France. The Hundred Years War between England and France was an on-and-off conflict that stretched from 1337 to 1453. It was triggered by an English king's claim to the throne of France, thanks to family intermarriages. The war was also fought over control of the lucrative wool trade and French support for Scotland's independence. The early part of the war featured a string of improbable, yet complete, English victories, thanks usually to English longbowmen mowing down hordes of ornately armored French knights from long range.

The English could not bring the war to closure, however, and the French rallied. Inspired by Joan of Arc, a peasant girl who professed divine guidance, the French fought back, ending the war with the capture of Bordeaux in 1453. The English were left holding only Calais on the mainland (and not for long).

The Mongols (1206 to 1405)

The Mongols were nomads from the steppes of Central Asia. They were fierce warriors who fought each other over pasturelands and raided developed civilizations to the east and south. At the beginning of the thirteenth century, the Mongol clans united and began a campaign of foreign conquest. Following in the hoofprints of the Huns, their predecessors by a thousand years, they carved out one of the largest empires the world has yet seen.

The Mongols inhabited the plains south of Lake Baikal in modern Mongolia. At its maximum, their empire stretched from Korea, across Asia, and into European Russia to the Baltic Sea coast. They held most of Asia Minor, modern Iraq, modern Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tibet, parts of India, parts of Burma, all of China, and parts of Vietnam.

The Mongol clans were united by Temuchin, called Genghis Khan ("mighty ruler"), in the early thirteenth century. His ambition was to rule all lands between the oceans (Pacific and Atlantic) and he nearly did so. Beginning with only an estimated 25,000 warriors, he added strength by subjugating other nomads and attacked northern China in 1211. He took Beijing in 1215 after a campaign that may have cost 30 million Chinese lives. The Mongols then turned west, capturing the great trading city Bukhara on the Silk Road in 1220. The city was burned to the ground and the inhabitants murdered.

Following Genghis Khan's death in 1227, his son Ogedei completed the conquest of northern China and advanced into Europe. He destroyed Kiev in 1240 and advanced into Hungary. When Ogedei died on campaign in 1241, the entire army fell back to settle the question of succession. Europe was spared as Mongol rulers concentrated their efforts against the Middle East and southern China. Hulagu, a grandson of Genghis, exterminated the Muslim "Assassins" and then took the Muslim capital of Baghdad in 1258. Most of the city's 100,000 inhabitants were murdered. In 1260 a Muslim army of Egyptian Mamelukes (warrior slaves of high status) defeated the Mongols in present-day Israel, ending the Mongol threat to Islam and its holy cities.

Kublai Khan, another grandson of Genghis, completed the conquest of China in 1279, establishing the Yuan dynasty. Attempted invasions of Japan were thrown back with heavy loss in 1274 and 1281. In 1294 Kublai Khan died in China, and Mongol power began to decline in Asia and elsewhere. In 1368 the Yuan dynasty in China was overthrown in favor of the Ming.

In the 1370's a Turkish-Mongol warrior claiming descent from Genghis Khan fought his way to leadership of the Mongol states of Central Asia and set out to restore the Mongol Empire. His name was Timur Leng (Timur, "the Lame," or Tamerlane to Europeans and the Prince of Destruction to Asians). With another army of 100,000 or so horsemen, he swept into Russia and Persia, fighting mainly other Muslims. In 1398 he sacked Delhi, murdering 100,000 inhabitants. He rushed west defeating an Egyptian Mameluke army in Syria. In 1402 he defeated a large Ottoman Turk army near modern Ankara. On the verge of destroying the Ottoman Empire, he turned again suddenly. He died in 1405 while marching for China. He preferred capturing wealth and engaged in wholesale slaughter, without pausing to install stable governments in his wake. Because of this, the huge realm inherited by his sons fell apart quickly after his death.

The Franks (509 On)

The Franks were one of the Germanic barbarian tribes known to the Romans. In the early part of the fifth century, they began expanding south from their homeland along the Rhine River into Roman-controlled Gaul (modern France). Unlike other Germanic tribes, however, they did not move out of their homelands but, rather, added to them. Clovis, a Frankish chieftan, defeated the last Roman armies in Gaul and united the Franks by 509, becoming the ruler of much of western Europe. During the next 1000 years, this Frankish kingdom gradually became the modern nation of France.

The kingdom of Clovis was divided after his death among his four sons, according to custom. This led to several centuries of civil warfare and struggle between successive claimants to the throne. By the end of the seventh century, the Merovingian kings (descendants of Clovis) were rulers in name only. In the early eighth century, Charles Martel became mayor of the palace, the ruler behind the throne. He converted the Franks into a cavalry force and fought so well that his enemies gave him the name of Charles the Hammer. In 732 the Frankish cavalry defeated Muslim invaders moving north from Spain at the Battle of Poitiers, stopping forever the advance of Islam from the southwest.

Charles Martel's son, Pepin, was made king of the Franks by the pope in return for helping to defend Italy from the Lombards. Pepin founded the dynasty of the Carolingians, and the greatest of these rulers was Charles the Great, or Charlemagne, who ruled from 768 to 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire and was responsible for a rebirth of culture and learning in the West. Charlemagne's empire was divided among his grandsons and thereafter coalesced into two major parts. The western part became the kingdom of France. Later kings gradually lost political control of France, however. Central authority broke down under the pressure of civil wars, border clashes, and Viking raids. Money and soldiers could be raised only by making concessions to landholders. Fiefs became hereditary and fief holders became feudal lords over their own vassals. By the tenth century, France had been broken into feudal domains that acted as independent states.

In 987 the French nobility elected Hugh Capet their king, mainly because his fief centered on Paris was weak and he was thought to pose no threat. He founded the Capetian line of kings, who worked slowly for two centuries regaining the power by making royal roads safe, adding land to their domain, encouraging trade, and granting royal charters for new towns and fiefs in vacant lands. By allying themselves with the church, the Capetians took a strong moral position and benefited from the church's cultural, political, and social influence. Royal administrators were made loyal to the king and more efficient by eliminating the inheritance of government offices.

Beginning with Philip II in 1180, three superior rulers established France as one of the most important nations in Europe. They improved the working of the government, encouraged a booming trade, collected fees efficiently, and strengthened their position atop the feudal hierarchy. Although a national assembly called the Estates General was established, it held no real power and was successfully ignored.

From 1337 to 1453 France and England fought the long conflict called the Hundred Years War to decide ownership of lands in France that had been inherited by English kings. The eventual French victory confirmed the king as the most powerful political force in France.

The Teutons (919 to 1250)

The origin of Germany traces back to the crowning of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor in 800. Upon his death the empire was split into three parts that gradually coalesced into two: the western Frankish kingdom that became France and the eastern kingdom that became Germany. The title of Holy Roman Emperor remained in Charlemagne's family until the tenth century when they died out. In 919 Henry, Duke of Saxony, was elected king of Germany by his fellow dukes. His son Otto became emperor in 962.

The Holy Roman Empire that Otto I controlled extended over the German plain north to the Baltic, eastward into parts of modern Poland, and southward through modern Switzerland, modern Austria, and northern Italy. From the outset, the emperors had a difficult problem keeping control of two disparate regions-Germany and Italy-that were separated by the Alps.

The Holy Roman Empire was successful at first because it benefited the principal members, Germany and Italy. The Germans were not far removed from the barbarian condition. They had been conquered by Charlemagne only a century earlier. They benefited greatly from Italian culture, technology, and trade. The Italians welcomed the relative peace and stability the empire ensured. Italy had been invaded time and again for the previous 500 years. The protection of the empire defended the papacy and allowed the city-states of Italy to begin their growth.

The imperial armies were manned partially by tenants of church lands who owed service to the emperor. A second important contingent were the ministriales, a corps of serfs who received the best training and equipment as knights but who were not free men. These armies were used to put down revolts or interference by local nobles and peasants or to defend against raids by Vikings from the north and Magyars from the east.

Because Germany remained a collection of independent principalities in competition, German warriors became very skilled. The most renowned German soldiers were the Teutonic Knights, a religious order of warriors inspired by the Crusades. The Teutonic Knights spread Christianity into the Baltic region by conquest but were eventually halted by Alexander Nevsky at the battle on frozen Lake Peipus.

A confrontation between the emperors and the church over investiture of bishops weakened the emperors in both Germany and Italy. During periods of temporary excommunication of the emperor and outright war against Rome, imperial authority lapsed. The local German princes solidified their holdings or fought off the Vikings with no interference or help from the emperor. In Italy, the rising city-states combined to form the Lombard League and refused to recognize the emperor.

Political power in both Germany and Italy shifted from the emperor to the local princes and cities. The ministriales rebelled, taking control of the cities and castles they garrisoned and declaring themselves free. During desperate attempts to regain Italy, more concessions were given to the local princes in Germany. By the middle of the thirteenth century, the Holy Roman Empire existed in name only. The throne remained empty for 20 years. The German princes cared only about their own holdings. The Italian city-states did not want a German ruler and were strong enough to defend themselves.

Future emperors in the Middle Ages were elected by the German princes but they ruled in name only, controlling little more than their own family estates. Germany remained a minor power in Europe for centuries to come.

The Saracens (613 On)

The name Saracen applied originally to nomadic desert peoples from the area stretching from modern Syria to Saudi Arabia. In broader usage the name applied to all Arabs of the Middle Ages. These desert nomads erupted suddenly in the seventh century and established a far-reaching empire within a century and a half. Their conquest was fueled by faith and high morale. Following the teachings of the prophet Mohammed, their intent was to change the religious and political landscape of the entire planet.

By 613 the prophet Mohammed was preaching a new religion he called Islam. Largely ignored in his home city of Mecca, he withdrew to Medina, built up a strong following there, and returned to attack and capture Mecca. Following his death in 632, his teachings were collected to form the Koran, the Islamic holy book. In 634 his followers began their jihad, or holy war. Within five years they had overrun Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. Their tolerance of Jews and Christians eased their conquest because these people had been suffering some persecution under the Byzantines.

In the next 60 years, both North Africa to the west and Persia to the east fell to Islam. In the early eighth century, Saracens from Tangiers invaded the Iberian Peninsula and conquered the Visigoth kingdom established there after the fall of Rome. In Asia they took Asia Minor from the Byzantines and attempted to capture Constantinople with a combined attack from land and sea. The great walls of the city frustrated the land attack and the Saracen fleet was defeated at sea. In the west, Charles Martel of the Franks stopped a Saracen invasion of modern France in 732 at Poitiers.

Frustrated in the west, the forces of Islam turned east. By 750 they had conquered to the Indus River and north over India into Central Asia to the borders of China.

In 656 the Muslim world fell into civil war between two factions, the Sunnites and the Shiites. They differed on several points, including who should be caliph and interpretation of the Koran. The result of the 60-year war was that the Islamic state broke into pieces, some governed by Sunnites (the Iberian Peninsula) and others by Shiites (Egypt and modern Iraq). The new Islamic states acted independently, thereafter.

Muslim Spain developed into one of the great states of Europe during the early Middle Ages. Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together in relative harmony, and a rich culture rose out of these multiple influences. There was a flowering of the arts, architecture, and learning. By 1000, however, Muslim Spain had divided into warring factions. This civil war facilitated the slow reconquest of the peninsula (the Reconquista) by the emerging states of Castile and Aragon, completed finally in 1492.

Asia Minor and the Middle East were conquered by Muslim Turks in the early eleventh century. In response to a call for aid from the Byzantines, a series of Crusades was launched from Europe to regain Palestine from the Turks. The independent Muslim states in the area lost Palestine and the Eastern Mediterranean coast to the First Crusade. In the last part of the twelfth century, the great Saracen leader Saladin succeeded in uniting Egypt, Syria, and smaller states, and he retook Jerusalem.

The Muslim states remained independent long after the Middle Ages and eventually developed into the modern Arab nations of the Middle East and North Africa. They went into economic decline, however, when the European nations opened trade routes of their own to Asia in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.