Computer News

#DeleteFacebook Edition ( aka GET OFF OF FACEBOOK )
New Poll Up – – – – > > > >

Too Little Too Late?
Facebook – It’s Time to Make Our Privacy Tools Easier to Find
Did they just admit to purposely making them hard to find before?

31% of Tech Workers Say They Will #DeleteFacebook
Percentage of the employees at the top 5 tech companies that say they will delete Facebook:
Amazon – 34%
Google – 38%
Microsoft – 50%
Snap – 46%
Uber – 40%

Playboy Too
No more Facebook for the bunnies.

Off Topic
Fed-Up Chef Breaks Down Deer Leg in Front of Vegan Protesters
Rare White Lion Cub Seen in South Africa

Nvidia Geforce Game Ready 391.35 WHQL Drivers
“Provides the optimal gaming experience for Far Cry 5”
Download | Release Notes

Win10 SCU RTM? ETA???
Diggin’ this military sounding acronym stuff!
Another report saying the latest build (17133) of Win10 is RTM. As of this writing BuildFeed has the last Win10 build released as Build 17133.1 so they may be right.
This build has been released to the fast ring. Downloading and installing now.

BranchScope
New attacks from the same vulnerability that bought us Spectre.
“It’s likely to be years before researchers have determined all the various ways in which the speculative execution hardware can be used to leak information this way, and it will be longer still before robust, universal defenses are available to stop the attacks.”

GET OFF OF FACEBOOK
Facebook Acknowledges It Has Been Keeping Records of Android Users’ Calls and Texts
LOL. Wow. Just…Wow.

It Gets Funnier
“Nearly half of the popular apps from the Google Play Store are sending information about private individuals to Facebook, regardless of whether or not they have an account with the social networking site”

Facebook Container
“Prevent Facebook from tracking you around the web. The Facebook Container extension for Firefox helps you take control and isolate your web activity from Facebook.”
Facebook Container by Mozilla

AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.3.4 Optional
Download | Release Notes

Firefox 59.0.2
All downloads | Release Notes

Win10 For Gamers?
PCWorld thinks Win10 needs a “Gaming Edition“. I can’t argue with that.

GET OFF OF FACEBOOK
Elon Musk hopped on the #DeleteFacebook train. With all the anti-Facebook ranting I have done I should feel vindicated. I don’t. I don’t think that many people will leave it.

Off Topic
Sunken USS Juneau Famous for the Sullivan Brothers Discovered on St. Patrick’s Day
Drivers being blinded by ‘too-bright’ LED headlights on posh new cars, warns RAC

Google Chrome Updated
“The stable channel has been updated to 65.0.3325.181 for Windows, Mac and Linux.”
Various bug fixes and a security fix.
Download

Got Patches?
KB4090007: Intel microcode updates
“Intel recently announced that they have completed their validations and started to release microcode for newer CPU platforms around Spectre Variant 2 (CVE 2017-5715 (“Branch Target Injection”)). This update includes microcode updates from Intel for the following CPUs:” Skylake, Kaby Lake, Coffee Lake.
You have to download and install this manually: https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB4090007

Wise Disk Cleaner 9.7.2
Improved the feature of Common Cleaner. Minor GUI improvements. Updated various translations.
Download (I use the portable version)

AMD / CTS Labs
AMD will patch the security issues found by CTS labs. They will do this via a BIOS update. AMD and others continue to insist the vulnerability is next to impossible to exploit.

#DeleteFacebook
Yep. That’s a thing right now. Here is an article that shows you how to delete your Facebook account.

[H]ard On Nvdia 2
Last Tuesday I linked to an article at [H]ardOCP that took Nvidia to task for the questionable tactics it uses in it’s GeForce Partner Program. A reporter from Forbes saw the article and started asking questions too. Interesting stuff:
“Since publishing the story, all of Bennett’s contacts have gone silent including Nvidia. My own follow-up to his investigation is stalled. I’d secured a commitment from a few companies to speak off the record, but they have also gone dark. Prior to that happening I had two brief conversations that made it obvious the program was troublesome, to put it mildly.”

Google News Initiative
IMHO we are an era where almost every news outlet picks a side rather than reporting facts. It seems most people get their news from sites that agree with them politically rather than being accurate.
Google says they aim to fix this. I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting on it.
“There are three specific goals of the Google News Initiative: highlight accurate journalism while fighting misinformation, particularly during breaking news events; help news sites continue to grow from a business perspective; and create new tools to help journalists do their jobs.“

ARSTechnica – Entire broadband industry will help FCC defend net neutrality repeal
“NCTA represents cable companies such as Comcast, Charter, Cox, and Altice. CTIA represents the biggest mobile carriers, such as AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, and Sprint. USTelecom represents wireline telcos with copper and fiber networks, such as AT&T and Verizon. All three groups also represent a range of smaller ISPs.”
Opposing FCC Net Neutrality repeal:
Google
Microsoft
Amazon
Apple
Facebook
Dropbox
Mozilla
EFF
Twitter
Netflix
Snapchat
Spotify
AdBlock
AdBlock Plus
many more…

see also: iVerge – All 535 members of Congress, and how much money they got from ISPs

Firefox 59.0.1
Firefox 32-bit | Firefox 64-bit | All downloads | Release Notes

Intel Will Release New CPUs
“These changes will begin with our next-generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors (code-named Cascade Lake) as well as 8th Generation Intel® Core™ processors expected to ship in the second half of 2018.”
and
“First, we have now released microcode updates for 100 percent of Intel products launched in the past five years that require protection against the side-channel method vulnerabilities discovered by Google.”

Stephen Hawking’s Favorite Places
“At CuriosityStream, we will always be grateful that Professor Hawking passionately shared his enthusiasm for the wonders of the Universe with his fellow humans. In tribute, please enjoy the complete series of Stephen Hawking’s Favorite Places through Friday, March 23rd.”

“Widespread contamination”
“Researchers tested 250 bottles of water in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Thailand and the United States.
Plastic was identified in 93 percent of the samples, which included major name brands such as Aqua, Aquafina, Dasani, Evian, Nestle Pure Life and San Pellegrino.”

The Retail Big Brother
“Major retailers, including Best Buy, JCPenny, Victoria’s Secret and a variety of others, have been tracking the return habits of shoppers and secretly punishing those who are suspected it be abusing return policies.”

Chinese Social Credit System
I saw this article: China will ban people with poor ‘social credit’ from planes and trains
Huh. WTF is “social credit?”
Read the link to this article: Big data meets Big Brother as China moves to rate its citizens
Coming to a college campus near you.

UVA Basketball Makes History
Virginia Ends Historic Season by Suffering Biggest Upset in College Basketball History
“This was a sports version of David and Goliath in a true sense. Virginia entered the game as 20.5-point favorites and would lose by 20. David felled Goliath with a rock to the forehead, but he also cut off the giant’s head.”
My bracket is a disaster and I don’t care. I love that UVA got taken down. Way to go UMBC!

Google Chrome Updated
“The stable channel has been updated to 65.0.3325.162 for Windows, Mac and Linux.”
Download
This does NOT have the flash update. From the comments:
“to download the updated Flash Player, go to chrome://components , and under the entry for Adobe Flash Player click on “Check for update”. ”

Sacrificial Lamb?
An executive at Equifax has been charged with insider trading. It isn’t the big guy.
Thanks Chris!

Big Little Brother
Mobile license pilot study to allow police to ‘ping’ cellphone for a license
Why don’t you just mandate we all have a chip implanted in us?

The Not-So-Friendly Skies
Puppy dies after flight attendant insists it be stored in an overhead bin
United Airlines Just Admitted It’s Now Charging $9 for Overhead Bin Space (It Could Cost More)
United Airlines mistakenly flies family’s Kansas-bound dog to Japan
I hate flying. Cramped seats, rude staff, dirty environment, TSA, the waiting…

Lots of Windows and other software updates today. Full roundup later once they are all out. Until then…

More Win10 Forced Upgrades
Woody is on the case again:
“For the third time in the past four months, Microsoft ‘accidentally’ upgraded Win10 1703 machines to version 1709 in spite of explicit, correctly applied, deferral settings.”
The constant Win10 shenanigans from GWX until now almost gets me nostalgic for Windows Vista. Almost…

[H]ard On Nvdia
Klye at [H]ardOCP takes Nvidia to task for, let us call it anti-competitive behavior:
“I think it [GPP] is going to greatly, and negatively, impact consumer choice in the AIB and OEM computer market. Consumer choice is going to be decimated. Looking at the program guidelines, I truly think that is what will happen and is where my concern lies.”

TSA Illegal Searches?
The ACLU of Northern California is suing the TSA to get access to info as to why the TSA is searching domestic passengers electronic devices:
“TSA is searching the electronic devices of domestic passengers, but without offering any reason for the search,” Talla added. “We don’t know why the government is singling out some passengers, and we don’t know what exactly TSA is searching on the devices. Our phones and laptops contain very personal information, and the federal government should not be digging through our digital data without a warrant.”
I applaud the ACLU here. Perhaps next they could defend the Oakland Police against the discrimination happening across the bay.

ETC. Other stuff I’ve bookmarked this week.
The ability to feel empathy—or not—is shaped by your genes
Bono’s anti-poverty campaign faces claims of harassment
Mom has nearly all her limbs cut off after docs failed to spot deadly disease

I’m a tad under the weather so I hope my semi-coherent ramblings aren’t worse than usual.

Windows 10 S Mode
Years ago I advocated dual booting the same OS with a “daily driver” version and a game only version. Operating systems have changed quite a bit since then, especially memory management. Once you get an operating system system setup properly with a few performance tweaks here and there you are good to go. The old tweaks that had such a dramatic change in performance either make little change or don’t work at all. But this Windows 10 S Mode has me thinking about the possibilities…

That Name S*%#+
People are whining about the next Win10 version maybe being called “Spring Creators Update“.
In the words of my millennial friends, “DGAF.” My generation would say, “Get a life.”
Whatever it is called, I would not be in a hurry to update. The next version of a bloated OS isn’t gonna change your life. Let someone else beta test it.
On a personal level I would appreciate MS going to a once yearly update cycle. We all have enough to do without worrying about our PCs being hosed twice a year.

Speaking Of Millenials
They are beginning to understand social media sucks:
– > 50% are “seeking relief from social media”
– 34% say they have deleted social-media accounts entirely.
– The most popular apps to quit permanently are Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as the dating app Tinder. Snapchat, on the other hand, escaped most teens’ wrath.(didn’t know 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 are teens)
(FYI – The survey looks at 18-24 year olds. The creators of the term define millennials as being born between 1982 and 2002 which would make them 16-36. The Pew Research center has recently defined them as “Anyone born between 1981 and 1996 (ages 22-37 in 2018)”)

Reader Emails
Q – The motive from my contact is that lately I’m having a few troubles with Bit Defender 2018, I searched in TH about AV’s but I only found a 2013 article, which helped me a lot btw, but I was wondering if you can bring an fresh update about that matter. An AV recommendation, maybe what AV do you use, etc…
A – I don’t have an AV recommendation. I use Windows Defender + Virtual Machines + Common Sense + Backups.
I should have added: I have dabbled with Norton in the last couple of years. Dunno, I guess it is OK. I will not even consider AV from companies in countries that are openly hostile to my own.

ETC. Other stuff I’ve bookmarked this week.
Lawmakers Continue Fighting For Net Neutrality in the US Senate, Courts, and States
China’s Long Arm Reaches Into American Campuses
DC Veterans Affairs hit by scathing report citing ‘failed leadership at multiple levels’
Galveston teen receives sweet surprise after helping elderly customer at Waffle House
Harry Potter: A History of Magic – Explore the wonders of the British Library exhibition

Chrome 65
“This update includes 45 security fixes.”
Download

New AMD Drivers
Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.3.1 Optional
Support for Final Fantasy XV, Warhammer, Vermintide II, DOTA2

“We know all about you”
MoviePass CEO, “We get an enormous amount of information…We watch how you drive from home to the movies. We watch where you go afterwards.”

Peek Squad At It Again
“EFF filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit last year to learn more about how the FBI uses Geek Squad employees to flag illegal material when people pay Best Buy to repair their computers. The relationship potentially circumvents computer owners’ Fourth Amendment rights.”