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Random Tuesday Stuff…

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headinsandDiagTrack
My post on DiagTrack was picked up by a number of places including Forbes, Betanews, and Softpedia.
Paul Thurrott seems to be rather upset about “articles like this”. I’m honored!
I wonder what he thinks about this?!
I should note, again, that I did not make this discovery alone. I had help from a reader.

CCleaner Monthly Update
Download
Release Notes
***Pay attention during install. May attempt to install unwanted programs.
FYI – I use the portable version.

Release Notes v5.12.5431 (24 Nov 2015)
– Improved Firefox 42 Cache cleaning.
– Improved Google Chrome Download History cleaning.
– Improved Skip UAC on Windows 10.
– Improved detection and cleaning of portable browsers.
– Optimized cleaning rules loading routine.
– Improved localization and language support.
– Minor GUI Improvements.
– Minor bug fixes.

Aw man, I want one.
Star Trek Communicator prototype was a final frontier too far for Google
cry_1

Lucas Out
George Lucas is done with Star Wars. He gave us episodes 4,5, and 6 but he also gave us episodes 1,2, and 3, and, Jar Jar Binks. Still, that’s too bad.

Monday Random Stuff…

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www_newsPlaying a little catch-up today!

DWS Lite 1.6
Destroy Windows Spying updated.
“FINAL VERSION Spy fully functional blocks at the moment. For the program will be released only bug fixes, and minor changes after this release.”

7-Zip
My go-to Swiss army knife of file extractors has released its 1st non-beta in 5 years!
(Thanks to David M. for the heads up!)

Samsung 850 EVO 1TB Firmware
User A.G. reports that he just got a notification that firmware version EMT02B6Q was available for his drive despite the fact it was reported released in September.
A quick Google search shows a few other folks asking about it this week too. If you have one of these you may want to fire up the latest SSD Magician and check.

Stuff From Around The Web…
TrueCrypt is safer than previously reported, detailed analysis concludes
Administrative Tools in Windows 10
Fedora 23 Xfce review
Windows 10 pilot rollouts will surge in early 2016, says Gartner
Comcast injects copyright warnings into browsers, raising privacy concerns

Windows 10 Privacy Settings

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************ This version is now expired. Updated version here: https://www.tweakhound.com/2020/12/30/tweaking-windows-10-version-20h2/

 

 

 

 

 

Windows 10 Privacy Settings

A companion guide for:

TweakHound’s


Tweaking Windows 10

Version 4.0, last edited 17 May, 2018

Windows 10 Privacy Settings
Page 1 – Intro, Windows Insider Program, Use A Local Account
Page 2 – Windows 10 Built-In Privacy Settings
Page 3 – Telemetry, Cortana
Page 4 – Update & Security, Windows Defender
Page 5 – Services, Microsoft Browsers
Page 6 – Remove Ads And Annoyances
Page 7 – Apps To Tweak Privacy Settings

Windows 10 does a lot of communicating with Microsoft servers. Many people find this to be somewhere between an annoyance to an outright invasion of privacy. Some folks suspect it’s even worse than that. For its part, Microsoft steadfastly insists that they do not invade your privacy, that any information sent back to Microsoft is “anonymous”, and that it is for your own good. I will leave it up to you to decide.

This section will show you your privacy options, the settings I use, and 3rd party apps that can help you configure your settings.

It should be noted that turning off some settings can hamper the ability of some built-in and Microsoft Store apps to function properly. Since I don’t use these things I haven’t run into a single issue.

Windows Insider Program

This is a neat program for those that want updates before everyone else or Geeks that live on the bleeding edge. It also sends the maximum amount of data back to Microsoft. If privacy is a concern, then don’t use this.

More info: https://insider.windows.com/

Use A Local Account

If you are using a Microsoft Account and privacy is a concern you should switch to a Local Account. Be warned you will lose syncing. If this is important to you then skip this.

More info: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/getstarted-microsoft-account

Let switch to a Local account:

Choose All settings

Choose Accounts

Choose Sign in with a local account instead

Enter current user password

Enter the new User name, Password, and Password hint.

Sign out and finish.

Patch Tuesday

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windows securityTH2?
“They” said Threshold 2 would be out today. No sign of it here.
Posted on Nov. 9th by @GabeAul on Twitter: “Not yet, will be a couple more days for ISO”

Time To Run Windows Update
Got Windows and/or MS Office? You’ve got updates.
Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for November 2015

Flash
Adobe Flash patched again? No, say it isn’t so!
APSB15-28 Security Updates Available for Adobe Flash Player
Download Flash
Get Flash for IE in Win 8/8.1/10 via Windows Update.
Latest version of Chrome has it too (see below when released)
Related: 8 of top 10 vulnerabilities used by exploit kits target Adobe Flash Player

Google Chrome Updated
“The stable channel has been updated to 46.0.2490.86 for Windows, Mac, and Linux. This release contains an update to Adobe Flash Player (19.0.0.245) and security fixes.”
Download or update from within the program.

Newegg Premier, 3 Months Free
http://promotions.newegg.com/nepro/15-5150/ (takes a while to get the code)

Other News And Random Stupidity

The geek distrust of telemetry risks making software dumber
What the hell do they put in the water cooler at ZDNet?
smilie_banghead

“Why would you buy a PC anymore?” asks Tim Cook
It’s only Tuesday and we have the winner for Tool Of The Week!

Own a Vizio Smart TV? It’s Watching You
“The tracking — which Vizio calls “Smart Interactivity” — is turned on by default for the more than 10 million Smart TVs that the company has sold.“

Random Thursday Stuff…

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exitblackholeThreshold 2
Lots of folks are thinking the latest insider build (10586) is indeed TH2 RTM.
In an effort to avoid having my every move sent to Microsoft I stopped doing insider builds on my main rig.
Since TH2 official is “supposed” to be released Tuesday I’ll wait.
The place to watch for the real scoop is WZor.net.

New Nvidia Drivers
GeForce Game Ready Driver WHQL 358.87
Release Notes

Rockets Red Orange/Yellow Glare
Last October a NASA rocket exploded at Wallops Island in my state. They just released some awesome pics of the event.
nasa_oct2014

Speaking of NASA
They have the details on some Geeks that spotted something leaving a black hole!

Cool Stars Wars Vids
10 Star Wars Movie Scenes You’ve Never Seen
10 Star Wars Movie Mistakes You Missed

Monday Random Stuff…

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hardocpGet The Latest SSD Info
[H]ardOCP has a great article detailing the recent goings-on with SSD’s. They have buying advice too.

Threshold 2
The “experts” told us TH2 would be released today.
Instead Microsoft will apparently release it on Patch Tuesday, which kinda makes sense, even though Patch Tuesday was supposed to go away.

Firefox 42 Hits Mirrors
Not official yet.
Download (en-US)
Download other systems and languages
Release Notes

AMD Drivers
Changes are afoot.
“AMD is ditching Catalyst Control Center in favor of newly architected solutions dubbed Radeon Settings, which is a critical part of what AMD is calling the Radeon Software Crimson Edition.”
Head over to Hot Hardware for more info and videos!

New Star Trek Series
Oh hell yeah!
“CBS Television Studios announced today it will launch a totally new Star Trek television series in January 2017. The new series will blast off with a special preview broadcast on the CBS Television Network. The premiere episode and all subsequent first-run episodes will then be available exclusively in the United States on CBS All Access, the Network’s digital subscription video on demand and live streaming service.“