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PeerGuardian 2 Public Beta Now Out!
As the title said. Go download it folks (Read more in extended)

Peer guardian Beta 2 info page (Beware of fake links and spyware attempts around this little piece of software)

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)

Peerguardian Beta 2 info page (Beware of fake links and spyware attempts around this little piece of software)