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Wednesday Random Stuff…

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Virtual Machine Host Software Updated
VMware Workstation Player 14.1.3 – 1 bugfix, OpenSSL update, Sprectre/Meltdown patch
VirtualBox 5.2.18 – a few bugfixes
Speaking of VMs. Many of you know I do most of my day-to-day web activity in a Linux VM. In the past I’ve used openSUSE. I have switched to Linux Mint 19 “Tara” Cinnamon. About the only thing I had to add after standard install was Chromium, Tor Browser, and HPLIP (HP printer drivers).

Foreshadow
Great. Just fracking great. Another Spectre type CPU vulnerability.
“Foreshadow is a speculative execution attack on Intel processors which allows an attacker to steal sensitive information stored inside personal computers or third party clouds. Foreshadow has two versions, the original attack designed to extract data from SGX enclaves and a Next-Generation version which affects Virtual Machines (VMs), hypervisors (VMM), operating system (OS) kernel memory, and System Management Mode (SMM) memory.”
Wired has a good breakdown.

The Guardian – How to turn off Google’s location tracking
After Monday’s news, I was gonna write up something on this and saw this article. It is well done.

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

Ajit Pai grilled by lawmakers on why FCC spread “myth” of DDoS attack
“An FCC Inspector General (IG) investigation found that the FCC lied to members of Congress multiple times in letters that answered questions about DDoS attacks that never happened. Pai’s FCC claimed for more than a year that a May 2017 outage in the public comments system was caused by multiple DDoS attacks. In reality, the FCC system crashed because it was unable to handle an influx of comments triggered by comedian John Oliver asking viewers of his program Last Week Tonight to oppose Pai’s net neutrality repeal.”

Mystery Russian satellite’s behaviour raises alarm in US
“Russian intentions with respect to this satellite are unclear and are obviously a very troubling development,” she added, citing recent comments made by the commander of Russia’s Space Forces, who said adopting “new prototypes of weapons” was a key objective for the force.”

Sacramento welfare investigators track drivers to find fraud. Privacy group raises red flags.
“The EFF has a more skeptical view of the data-collection practice and said it’s “disturbing” that millions of people who are not suspected of a crime can be tracked with license plate photos.”

Suns Out, Guns Out
Remember our hero JJ Watt? Dude is ripped. I’m sure he will be destroying people. Don’t know how much NFL I will be watching this year but that is a topic for another day.
The Internet Reacts To JJ Watt’s Freakishly Large Arms In Latest Instagram Post

Patch Tuesday

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All supported Windows and Office versions have patches.
Windows 10 update history (not updated as of this writing)
Windows 7 and 8 have a few bugfixes and more Spectre/Meldown fixes.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4343900/windows-7-update-kb4343900
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4343898/windows-81-update-kb4343898
See below for full breakdown.

Adobe Reader Updated
Download (EN-US)
All Downloads
APSB18-29 Security updates available for Adobe Acrobat and Reader

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

In post-massacre Vegas, security policies clash with privacy values
&
Caesars Palace not-so-Praetorian guards intimidate DEF CON goers with searches [Updated]
“For safety and security, hotel team members will enter rooms and perform a standard wellness check, even if you have opted out of housekeeping services, posted a sign on your door, or otherwise refused team member entry. You may be asked to leave the hotel, if you do not comply with this company policy,”
Blog Post from Marc Rogers “who leads DEF CON’s security team”.
“I do not support or endorse these room searches or how they are executed. I sympathize with the challenge these hotels are facing but believe they need to take a harder look at the efficiency, impact and long term cost of this strategy.
We MUST NOT let our hotels become like our airports. If we do, then the terrorists win.”
Everything you do outside your room is filmed in Vegas, I get that. But inside your room should be another story. I had money stolen out of my hotel room by the maid 20 plus years ago. I haven’t allowed housekeeping in my room since. You come in my room unannounced and we are going at it.

Blue light from phone screens accelerates blindness, study finds
“Scientists say they have found how blue light from smartphones, laptops and other digital devices damages vision and can speed up blindness. Research by the University of Toledo in the US has revealed that prolonged exposure to blue light triggers poisonous molecules to be generated in the eye’s light-sensitive cells that can cause macular degeneration – an incurable condition that affects the middle part of vision.”
My S7 has a blue light filter and I am experimenting with it. Apple calls their blue light filter Night Shift.

2019 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Driven: Longer, Lighter, More Fuel Efficient, and Extremely Refined
Base price, I repeat BASE PRICE is $30,000, for a fracking Work Truck.
“The crew cab Silverados I drove — a $50,995 LT Trail Boss and top of the line $62,535 High Country”

Back on the shelves: Samuel Adams OctoberFest
My favorite American Oktoberfest.

[Read more…] about Patch Tuesday

***This Is A TweakHound News Alert***

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Sorry. I’m just having fun at the expense of every news outlet in the country. Everything is “breaking news” or a “news alert”.
Anyway, I thought the story below deserves it’s own post.
AP Exclusive: Google tracks your movements, like it or not

“An Associated Press investigation found that many Google services on Android devices and iPhones store your location data even if you’ve used privacy settings that say they will prevent it from doing so…Google’s support page on the subject states: “You can turn off Location History at any time. With Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored.”…That isn’t true. Even with Location History paused, some Google apps automatically store time-stamped location data without asking…For example, Google stores a snapshot of where you are when you merely open its Maps app. Automatic daily weather updates on Android phones pinpoint roughly where you are. And some searches that have nothing to do with location, like “chocolate chip cookies,” or “kids science kits,” pinpoint your precise latitude and longitude — accurate to the square foot — and save it to your Google account.“

Lots more info there. Good read. Don’t be evil…

Weekend Random Stuff…

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As I mentioned a few weeks back, it is apparent folks are taking much of the summer off. News worthy tech stories are few and far between. That’s probably a good thing.

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

Classic Shell Reborn
Looks like someone has taken over the project.

Microsoft dives down a bizarre non-cumulative rabbit hole with July patches
Woody goes off as only he can.

Microsoft: The Kremlin’s hackers are already sniffing, probing around America’s 2018 elections
“Microsoft says it has already uncovered evidence of Russian government-backed hacking gangs attempting to interfere in the 2018 US mid-term elections.”

[H]ardOCP – How Intel Feels about PC Users
“Have you felt like Intel did not give a damn about the enthusiasts PC users for the last five or six years? From lagging IPC to toothpaste TIMs, I think we are seeing a lot expressed here in a single photograph from its 50th anniversary party that is happening as I type this.”

Ticks that carry Lyme disease are spreading fast
“Think you live in a place that’s free from disease-carrying ticks? Don’t be so sure.
Citizen scientists found ticks capable of transmitting Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses in dozens of places across the United States where the pests had never previously been recorded, a new study reports.
All told, disease-carrying ticks were detected in 83 counties where they’d never been found before across 24 states.”
Insect Repellent:
Picaridin:
Use this on people: Sawyer Products Premium Insect Repellent with 20% Picaridin Consumer Reports says the spray is more effective.
Use this on clothing and gear. NOT people.: Sawyer Products Premium Permethrin Clothing Insect Repellent
*note: If You Spray Your Clothes With Permethrin, Be Careful Around The Cat
Deet:
Ben’s 30% Deet Tick and Insect Repellent best deal is a 3 pack.
The Most Effective Tick Repellents for Humans (and Dogs), According to Science
Consumer Reports – Best Insect Repellent Buying Guide
CDC: Preventing tick bites

Feds want reimbursement for Gwinnett sheriff’s $70K muscle car
“In a recent letter to Conway, the DOJ characterized the sheriff’s purchase of a Dodge Charger Hellcat — a 707-horsepower muscle car that some have called the fastest sedan ever built — as “extravagant.”
But doggone it. How they supposed to catch that Bandit when he comes roaring past Atlanta again?

Here are some of the movie and TV trailers to come out of San Diego Comic-Con 2018
Right now the only one I’m really interested in is, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, even if much of the cast can’t keep their yaps shut.

Omega-3 no protection against heart attack or strokes, say scientists
Don’t worry, there will be a study soon that claims Omega-3 cures everything.

Doctors Give Patients 11 Seconds To Explain Reason For Visit Before Interrupting
Unfortunately I have had a lot of doctors through the years. I have had the good fortune to have some fantastic doctors. I have also had some that were the most arrogant, condescending people I have ever dealt with. Not surprisingly they were also the least competent.

Health Insurers Are Vacuuming Up Details About You — And It Could Raise Your Rates
“The companies are tracking your race, education level, TV habits, marital status, net worth. They’re collecting what you post on social media, whether you’re behind on your bills, what you order online. Then they feed this information into complicated computer algorithms that spit out predictions about how much your health care could cost them.”

Millennials Most Likely To Post Deceptive Vacation Photos To Make Social Media Followers Jealous
“More than one third (36 percent) of Millennials (ages 18-34) have aimed to deceive their followers by posting social media vacation images that make trips look better than they are, according to the 10th annual 2018 Vacation Confidence Index*, released by Allianz Global Assistance. The study found that 15 percent of Gen X’ers (ages 35 – 54) and five percent of Baby Boomers (ages 55+) have done the same.”
I’m shocked, shocked I tell you!

Francesco Molinari wins The Open after holding off Tiger Woods, Justin Rose & Rory McIlroy
It was a great final round to watch. Good to see Tiger do so well. Rory had a heck of a charge going until the last 3 holes. Congrats to the winner, Francesco Molinari. He is the first Italian to win a major.

UNC Football Coach Larry Fedora Says An Emphasis On Player Safety Will Be The Downfall Of America
I first started reading the article because Red Hat Software (Fedora Linux) is like 1/2 hour away from UNC, which I found hysterical. Then I read good ol’ Larry’s statements:
“I believe the game is under attack right now. I really do. And if we’re not careful, we’re going to lose what the game is all about… I fear that the game will get pushed so far to one extreme that you won’t recognize the game 10 years from now. That’s what I worry about. And I do believe if it gets to that point, that our country goes down, too.”
and
“I don’t think it’s been proven that the game of football causes CTE, but that’s been put out there. We don’t really know yet.”
From wikipedia: “The Tar Heels finished the 2017 season 3–9, 1–7 in ACC play to finish in last place in the Coastal Division.”
You Heels fans need to get a new coach.

China is waging a ‘quiet kind of cold war’ against US, top CIA expert says
“Beijing doesn’t want to go to war, a top CIA expert on Asia said, but the current communist government, under President Xi Jinping, is subtly working on multiple fronts to undermine the U.S. in ways that are different than the more well-publicized activities being employed by Russia.
“I would argue … that what they’re waging against us is fundamentally a cold war — a cold war not like we saw during THE Cold War (between the U.S. and the Soviet Union) but a cold war by definition,” Michael Collins, deputy assistant director of the CIA’s East Asia mission center, said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.”

Wednesday Random Stuff…

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FYI
I am slowly working on updating the Win10 Tweak Guide. I’m reviewing it page by page. It’s is surprising how little of significance has changed given the chaos the last few major updates have caused. Win10 is just… Well, it’s no fun.

Rufus Version 3.0 (2018.05.29)
“Rufus is a utility that helps format and create bootable USB flash drives, such as USB keys/pendrives, memory sticks, etc.”
Changes: UI redesign, drop XP & Vista support, downloads are SSL, other fixes.
I use Rufus to create install media.
Download & Info

About That Free VPN
Some of them are selling your data.
I use TorGuard. Use coupon code TweakHound for 50% Off for Life.

Off Topic

Stuff I’ve bookmarked recently:
Tesla hits parked California police vehicle; driver blames ‘Autopilot’
If one of us hit a cop car we’d still be in jail.

Glasses wearers really are more intelligent – it’s in the genes
That explains a lot. My dumb a** was born with 20/20 vision.

How spies can use your cellphone to find you – and eavesdrop on your calls and texts too
I can’t imagine how bad a spy must have screwed up to be assigned to monitor to my boring phone conversations.

Daniel Craig Refused To Play James Bond For 25th Installment, Then Money Happened
Let’s assign him to monitor my calls and texts!

Child’s Lemonade Stand Shut Down For Lack Of Permit
You hear about stuff like this every year of two. Everyone involved in shutting these kids down is an a**. I don’t even wanna here “I’m just doing my job” or “The laws is the law.”

Most vitamins are useless, but here are the ones you should take
IMHO this is old news. Can’t remember how long ago I heard that “all vitamins create is expensive urine”.

Wednesday Morning Random Stuff…

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Chrome 67
“Chrome 67.0.3396.62 contains a number of fixes and improvements…This update includes 34 security fixes.”
Download
Download standalone(full)
Download standalone 64-bit Windows version(full)

VLC 3.0.3
Download | Release Notes

California Consumer Privacy Act
Some dude in California is trying to get the California Consumer Privacy Act on the ballot out there:
– You have the right to tell a business not to share or sell your personal information.
– You have the right to know where and to whom your data is being sold or disclosed.
– You have the right to protections against businesses who do not uphold the value of your privacy.
And whaddya know, a spokesman for a group that “represents major tech companies, including Google, Facebook and Netflix” doesn’t like the idea.

Venmo A Spy Tool?
I don’t know a thing about Vemno other than it’s an app you can pay people with. People are using it “to spy on cheating spouses“.
“Venmo has had a social component since it launched in 2009. Users see a feed of both their own friends’ payments and total strangers’ activity every time they open the app, and it’s easy to look up users. Exact amounts aren’t listed, but you can see who’s paying who and which words or emoji they use to describe the payment.”
That is truly bizarre to me.

CCleaner…

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This past 24 hours has seen a wave of fake news and hysteria over CCleaner supposed snooping.
As far as I can tell there is no new data collection. They have introduced a new privacy options section.

From a forum post:
Your privacy is very important to us and we commit to ensuring the continued confidentiality and security of all data we collect and process. We also require that any and all parties which have access to our data adhere to strict security standards and best industry practices. This protects your privacy, whether you are an EU resident or not.
As part of this commitment, we’ve updated our Privacy Policy and added a new ‘Privacy’ tab into our software. If you’re a CCleaner user, in this tab you can adjust your privacy settings. Privacy settings are unavailable for Free users as we do not collect any personal identifiable information, so Free users are essentially anonymous.

Tuesday Morning Random Stuff…

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The Future Of Cortana?
Microsoft bought an AI company. The only bright side to this is maybe in the future we can get our robot overlords to BSOD.

Speccy 1.32
Hardware info tool. Freeware.
Detection
Improved SSD detection for newer SSD devices
Improved SSD detection for laptops
Settings & Preferences
Added new Privacy menu
Download (I use the portable version)

VMware Workstation Player Updated
VMware Workstation 14 Player Version 14.1.2 is a free upgrade for all VMware Workstation 14 Player users.
Windows 10 2018 Spring Creators Update (Version 1803) as host and guest
Ubuntu 18.04 support as host and guest
VMware Workstation 14 Player Version 14.1.2 also contains bug fixes, security updates and performance improvements.
Download

Off Topic

Banned From Amazon: The Shoppers Who Make Too Many Returns

Monday Morning Random Stuff…

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Monopoly
“Oh, yes, of course Google’s a monopoly. In fact they’re a monopoly in several markets. They’re a monopoly in search. They’re a monopoly in search advertising…People tell their search engines things they wouldn’t even tell their wives. I mean, it’s a very powerful and yet very intimate technology. And that gives the company that controls it a mind-boggling degree of control over our entire society.”
Report on 60 Minutes
Video HERE. The section on Google starts at 2:09.

A bug in cell phone tracking firm’s website leaked millions of Americans’ real-time locations
“It represents a clear and present danger, not just to privacy but to the financial and personal security of every American family. Because they value profits above the privacy and safety of the Americans whose locations they traffic in, the wireless carriers and LocationSmart appear to have allowed nearly any hacker with a basic knowledge of websites to track the location of any American with a cell phone”

Secunia PSI Dead
“Thank you for your interest in PSI. PSI is Flexera’s free computer security solution that identifies missing security patches on user’s private PC, and automatically installs them when possible. This product has reached End-of-life on April 20, 2018, and therefore, no longer available. Existing installations of PSI will no longer function and should be uninstalled.”
Apparently this is old news. Thanks Mike.

***New poll up in the right sidebar: Google – Evil or Not Evil?

Off Topic

People who live in small towns and rural areas are happier than everyone else, researchers say
Not surprising. John Cougar would be proud.

Cheap Trick’s New Single “The Summer Looks Good On You”
Stream it here: https://cheaptrick.lnk.to/Summer
Video here: https://youtu.be/2DeSdkz4dmo

New Magnum P.I.
Not sure how I feel about this. Still like the old series. Tom Selleck was the man. The new “Higgy baby” is kinda hot.