Eric (a.k.a. TweakHound)

Happy New Year!

Software Updates
Firefox 57.0.3 (fixes a single issue) Thanks Scott!
Intel Graphics Driver for Windows 10, version 15.60.1.1.4901 (28DEC2017)
Macrium Reflect 7.1.2801
Wise Disk Cleaner 9.6.2.685 (improved Microsoft Edge Session cleaning)

Use An Ad Blocker
Online ad companies are using “browsers’ built-in login managers (also called password managers) to retrieve and exfiltrate user identifiers without user awareness.”
Most adblockers block this behavior.
Original paper: No boundaries for user identities: Web trackers exploit browser login managers

Off Topic
2 Supermoons this month!

Corsair Hydro Series, H100i v2 CPU Water Cooler $85
That is $45 / 35% off!

Bye Bye HomeGroup
“with today’s build you’ll start to see us retire the HomeGroup service.”
As an ex-network guy I never used the HomeGroup and disabling the HomeGroup Provider service is one thing I’ve always done.

Exposed, Again
“a California-based data analytics firm, was left publicly exposed, revealing massive amounts of sensitive personal information for 123 million American households. Exposed within the repository are massive data sets belonging to Alteryx partner Experian, the consumer credit reporting agency, as well as the US Census Bureau, providing data sets from both Experian and the 2010 US Census. While the Census data consists entirely of publicly accessible statistics and information,”
Jail. People need to start going to jail.

GET OFF OF FACEBOOK
In 2017, key Facebook builders disowned their creation – iVerge
“We have created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works.”
“It probably interferes with productivity in weird ways. God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains.”
“Facebook did not set out to increase political polarization and empower bad actors to undermine democracy, but this outcome was inevitable,”

Facebook Aiding Discrimination
Dozens of Companies Are Using Facebook to Exclude Older Workers From Job Ads
“Among the companies we found doing it: Amazon, Verizon, UPS and Facebook itself. “It’s blatantly unlawful,” said one employment law expert.”
GET OFF OF FACEBOOK

Package Thieves – Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Cold

Still trying to get everything installed and tweaked on my new rig. Thanks for the comments. More articles to follow.

Software Updates
Autoruns v13.81
EMDB 3.09
Google Chrome 63.0.3239.108

Firefox Idiots
I’ve obviously been busy this last week but I did read about the Firefox Looking Glass saga. Apparently Mozilla delivered an extension without any user knowledge or consent. I say apparently because I have FF on multiple machines and VMs and I never saw it. Anyway, folks were rightfully pissed off and now Mozilla is apologizing. Stupid move bros.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Many Star Wars fans seem to hate The Last Jedi:
The Last Jedi Is the Most Divisive Star Wars Movie Between Fans & Critics
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/star_wars_the_last_jedi/
I enjoyed the show very much. Aside from the ridiculous Leia space flight I thought the movie was damn good. It closed the door on much of the past and opened new doors for the future. I’ll be going to see it again.

Off Topic
Really, really off topic.

Grisly Scene
I live in a rural area. I was coming home last Thursday night. About a mile from my house I round a corner and see a dozen police cars. The next morning this story is on the local news site. Within days the story is world wide. The gnarly details follow. If you are squeamish stop reading here…
Official story a couple of days out:
Two giant pit bulls turned on their master and killed her. Scene described as “grisly”.
Actual story:
When she was in elementary school, this woman attended the school where my wife works. Goochland, Virginia is a small county population wise. I once heard someone say, “They ain’t no secrets here.” Double negative aside it is pretty much true. I’ve known this info for days. It is official now so…
Remember my warning above. I’m serious. If you are squeamish stop reading here…
The dogs turned on her. Puncture wounds all over her body including neck and face. She was torn up bad. Really, really bad. She had been dead for a while when the police showed up. The deputies actually watched the dogs eating her. Yes. Eating her. Why they didn’t drop those animals on site I don’t understand.
FYI: Google news search for pit bull attacks.
More reading:
Goochland sheriff described ‘grisly’ scene after woman mauled to death by her pit bulls
Goochland sheriff reiterates belief that pit bulls killed woman, says foul play ‘narrative doesn’t fit’