Computer stuff...
Firefox 109.0.1
4 fixes.
Download | Release Info
Notepad++ 8.4.9
Freeware feature packed notepad replacement.
Bugfixes and a few new enhancements.
Download & Info
SAMSUNG 980 PRO SSD 2TB PCIe NVMe Gen 4 Gaming M.2 SSD
List Price: $379.99
-50% $188.49
Freeware to manage your Samsung SSDs.
Version 7.2.1 released.
No release notes as usual and I cannot find a clue in the install guide as to what the update is about. I suspect it may have to do with “rapid health drops” of the 990 Pros.
Download | Magician Software Installation Guide
Samsung SSD Magician Home
Mp3tag 3.19
Freeware audio tag editor.
“Extended Auto-Numbering Wizard…Cleanup in Menus and Configuration Settings…Improved handling of Configuration Data when uninstalling”
Download | Release Info
EMDB 5.17
Freeware movie database software.
8 fixes + a new print/export tags option.
Download | Release Info
CPU-Z 2.04
Freeware portable system info tool.
Support for new hardware.
Download | Home Page
Audacity 3.2.4
Freeware audio editor.
This is a hotfix release. It fixes the following bug:
#4057 Fixed the meters not retaining size
Download | Release Info
“The Stable channel has been updated to 109.0.5414.119 for Mac and Linux and 109.0.5414.119/.120 for Windows…This update includes 6 security fixes.”
Download | Release Info
Chrome for Android updated too.
Nvidia Geforce Game Ready Drivers 528.24 WHQL
Bugfixes for several programs including Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro.
“This new Game Ready Driver provides the best day-0 gaming experience for the latest new games supporting NVIDIA DLSS 3 technology including Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Hitman 3, and Deliver Us Mars. Additionally, this Game Ready Driver supports the launch of titles supporting NVIDIA DLSS technology including Dead Space and Forspoken.”
Download & Info
dBpoweramp R2023-01-20
Batch ID could be negative with unintended consequences
RIFF64 support (decoding and encoding: enable RIFF64 support in dBpoweramp Control Centre >> Audio Codecs ‘List / Options’: Wave Encoder)
dsd decoder – added option (Control Center) to decode to 32 bit, float 32 or 64 bit float
Wavpack updated to 5.6.0
DSD (DSF) supports files with ID3 chunk at start of the file (which breaks the DSF specficiation), also can show the positions of the chunks if Riff Chunks enabled in popup info
Wave encoder supports 64 bit float option
Added sort tags to naming and new tag selection in editor
if edit tags in editor and press escape, or cancel, then asks user if should save changes
Bug Fix: AIFF decoder crash
Bug Fix: VST DSP effect compatibility improvements
Download | Release Info
Went to update Macrium Reflect Free this morning and saw this:
Macrium Reflect Free – Service Announcement
This is to notify that Macrium Reflect Free Edition is being retired. Security patches will be provided until 1st January 2024, but there are no planned feature changes or non security related updates following this update.
Note: This notice only applies to Macrium Reflect Free.
Please see the section ‘Macrium Reflect Free Product – End Of Life (EOL)‘ in our support policy for more information.
This just plain sucks.
Also, Macrium Reflect Free was updated:
Bug fixes and Improvements v8.0.7279 – 10th January 2023
viBoot – VirtualBox VMs sometime would not show in viBoot GUI. This has been resolved.
Imaging – When reading some Bitlocker volumes, Reflect could attempt to allocate an erroneously large block of memory. This has been resolved.
System Restore – Staging a system restore from Windows would sometimes fail to automatically reboot after the restore completed within the rescue environment. This has been resolved.
General – Lower than actual write speed values were shown in Disk Write Performance tool. This has been resolved.
Download
*EDIT – 1600hrs
Just to clear things up. While unfortunate, this isn’t an immediate emergency/issue. Macrium Reflect Free will continue to work for years and should at least work through the demise of Windows 11, at least and especially for how I use it. I make a bootable USB drive that uses WinRE, This insures that the appropriate drivers for my computer are included. I also occasionally create another USB drive that uses Windows PE, with this I include a host of drivers good across many computers. This USB drive is the only way I create and restore images.
See:
The Macrium Rescue Environment
What are the differences between WinRE and WinPE? And which one should I use?
“The Chrome team is delighted to announce the promotion of Chrome 109 to the stable channel for Windows, Mac and Linux…Chrome 109.0.5414.74 (linux),109.0.5414.74/.75( Windows) and 109.0.5414.87(Mac) contains a number of fixes and improvements…This update includes 17 security fixes.”
Download | Release Info
New in Chrome 109
Windows Updates
There are over 60 security vulnerabilities patched in both Win10 and Win11.
Win10 – January 10, 2023—KB5022282 (OS Builds 19042.2486, 19044.2486, and 19045.2486)
“This update addresses issues that affect the Local Session Manager (LSM)…addresses a known issue that affects apps that use Microsoft Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) SQL Server Driver (sqlsrv32.dll) to connect to databases…addresses a known issue that might affect startup on some Windows devices. They might receive an error (0xc000021a) and have a blue screen.”
Win11 – January 10, 2023—KB5022287 (OS Build 22000.1455)
“This update addresses issues that affect the Local Session Manager (LSM)…addresses a known issue that affects apps that use Microsoft Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) SQL Server Driver (sqlsrv32.dll) to connect to databases…addresses a known issue that might affect startup on some Windows devices. They might receive an error (0xc000021a) and have a blue screen.“
I’m asked several times a week about Windows 11 and if I’m doing a tweak guide for it. So, I imaged my rig this weekend and once again did a test drive of Windows 11…
[Read more…] about Windows 11 Thoughts
Wise Disk Cleaner 10.9.7
A few minor fixes and improvements.
Download (I use portable) | Release Info
Audacity 3.2.3
“This is a patch release for Audacity 3.2”
Download | Release Notes
Hackers stole encrypted LastPass password vaults, and we’re just now hearing about it
Last month, the company announced that threat actors had accessed “certain elements” of customer info. Just as many US workers are leaving for a holiday break, the company reveals that meant their encrypted passwords.
What’s in a PR statement: LastPass breach explained
“Right before the holiday season, LastPass published an update on their breach…Their statement is also full of omissions, half-truths and outright lies.“
