OK, OK. Enough pestering you guys (Calvin, Ed, Kelly, etc.)! I’m trying out the Opera browser. Actually retrying, it has been a few years.
[Read more…] about Trying Opera Browser
Software
Weekend News
Software Updates
Firefox 55.0.3
Mp3tag 2.84
Start10 1.56
Reason #4,857,354 To Get Off Of Social Media
Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, And It Won’t Tell Me How
Reason #4,857,355 To Get Off Of Social Media
New multi platform malware/adware spreading via Facebook Messenger
(article ironically brought to you by Kaspersky)
Reason #4,857,356 To Get Off Of Social Media
‘Data is the new oil’: Your personal information is now the world’s most valuable commodity
Tuesday Random Stuff…
From Russia With Love
Back in May I linked to an article where DHS and the FBI were questioning Kaspersky’s relationship to the Russian government. Now they are warning businesses that Kaspersky products are an “unacceptable threat to national security“.
The World Is Not Enough
A German site called Born’s Tech and Windows World is reporting that Microsoft “signed a waiver (cease and desist) not to download install files for a new operating system without user’s consensus. This was the consequence of Microsoft’s attempt, to force Windows 10 upgrades to Windows 7/8.1 systems from July 2015 up to July 2016.“.
Tomorrow Never Dies
Acronis True Image 2018 has been released. Bunch of new features I’m not interested in. I’ll be skipping this one.
Spectre
I had mentioned I wanted to see the movie Logan Lucky because it had both James Bond (Daniel Craig) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). This past weekend I did go see it. I thought it was hysterical. Both guys played parts that were absolutely nothing like their most popular characters. This may have been my favorite Daniel Craig performance.
Quantum of Solace
Good grief, not you too Firefox. Neowin is reporting that “Mozilla has announced that it would like to collect anonymous user data in order to “better understand how people use” Firefox. The proposed move is quite contentious for many users because Mozilla is making it opt-out; many users feel betrayed by the move given that Mozilla touts Firefox as a privacy-oriented browser.”
Skyfall
I generally don’t like to rain on person’s parade, at least publically, but…
I’m a Geek. I love space news, space movies, NASA, etc. But I just didn’t get the whole eclipse thing. Yes, I watched it for a few minutes. Yes, I had the glasses on. I didn’t go out of my way for it, I pulled into a parking lot. It was about as unexciting and uneventful as I expected.
One of my favorite reporters was equally unimpressed:
What Happened To Winamp?
Slashdot asks, “What Happened To Winamp?”
[Read more…] about What Happened To Winamp?
New Firefox Focus Browser
Mozilla has launched a new browser for Android and iOS called Firefox Focus. The focus of Focus is ad blocking and tracking protection.
[Read more…] about New Firefox Focus Browser
Monday Morning News
Classic Shell 4.3.1
I mainly use Classic Shell for Classic Start Menu.
“Here’s what’s new:
– Official support for the Creators Update version of Windows 10
– Added a setting to clear icon cache
– Multiple minor improvements and bugfixes
Download
Release Info
Wise Disk Cleaner 9.52
– Improved cleaning for Windows Winsxs Backup.
– Updated various translations.
Download
New CPUs
AMD Threadripper vs. Intel Core i9: The best CPU for enthusiasts
“We pitted both chips against each other in a grudge match… and each walked away claiming victory. If you’re obsessed with single-threaded performance (including games), back the Core i9 and its higher clock speeds. Threadripper 1950X’s outsized core count punches way higher in multithreaded performance, though, and it’s the people’s champion in everyday tasks and price.”
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X and 1920X CPU Review
“These High End Desktop (HEDT) systems are certainly not meant for everyone. Many folks simply do not have a need for this many cores/threads and certainly the expense of the CPU itself and subsequent motherboard and RAM are going to put it out of reach for many. That said, if you do actually have the need for a 1950X or 1920X, you can certainly put these work. Content creation professionals and hobbyists are going to love having these CPUs on their desktops.”
The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X and 1920X Review: CPUs on Steroids
“If I were to turn around and say that Threadripper CPUs were not pure gaming CPUs, it would annoy a fair lick of the tech audience. The data is there – it’s not the best gaming CPU… You need a lot to do in order to fill 16 cores to the max, and for those that do, it’s a potential winner. For anyone that needs hardcore throughput such as transcode, decode, rendering such as Blender, Cinema 4D or ray-tracing, it’s a great CPU to have. For multi-GPUs or multi-storage aficionados or the part of the crowd that wants to cram a bunch of six PCIe 3.0 x8 FPGAs into a system, AMD has you covered.”
Etc
Is Alexa spying on us? We’re too busy to care — and we might regret that
No, the Google manifesto isn’t sexist or anti-diversity. It’s science
Wednesday Morning Random Stuff…
Adobe Updates
APSB17-23 Security Updates Available for Adobe Flash Player
Download for Firefox
Download for Internet Explorer
Google Chrome and IE for Win10 do their own updates. Flash for IE Win10 was part of yesterdays updates (KB4034662).
APSB17-24 Security Updates Available for Adobe Acrobat and Reader
Tor Browser 7.0.4
Download
Release Announcement
Etc.
Best practices for passwords updated after original author regrets his advice
Off Topic
Struggling for inspiration? A pint of beer could release creative block, say scientists
Chrome 59
“The Chrome team is delighted to announce the promotion of Chrome 59 to the stable channel for Windows, Mac and Linux…Chrome 59.0.3071.86 contains a number of fixes and improvements…This update includes 30 security fixes.”
Download: Google Chrome Web 32-bit Google Chrome 64-bit
Wednesday Random Stuff…
CCleaner Updated
v5.30.6065 (23 May 2017)
– Improved Edge Cookie cleaning
– Updated Internet Explorer 10 and 11 History cleaning
– Updated Thunderbird 52 History cleaning
– Updated Windows Explorer MRU Cache cleaning
– Improved SSD detection algorithm
– Optimized Update Checking process
– Minor GUI improvements
– Minor bug fixes
Download
VMware Player 12.5.6
– Day 0 support of the Windows 10 Creators Update (version 1703).
– Bug fixes and security updates.
Download
Latest Video Drivers
AMD Crimson ReLive Edition 17.5.2 (5/18/2017)
Nvidia Ceforce Game Ready Driver 382.33 WHQL (5/22/2017)
MediaMonkey 4.1.16.1836
“It’s a significant update with over 30 fixes and improvements to music syncing, tagging, UPnP, podcasting, playback and more.”
Download & Info
A Few Cool Tools Updated
Sysinternals Tools Updated
Among the ones updated are TweakHound favs:
Autoruns v13.71
This update to Autoruns, a comprehensive autostart execution point manager, adds Microsoft HTML Application Host (mshta.exe) as hosting image so it displays the hosted image details, and now doesn’t apply filters to hosting images.
Process Monitor v3.33
Procmon v3.33 includes bug fixes for destructive event filtering and is signed with certificate installed in the Win7 trusted roots store.
Process Explorer v16.21
This Process Explorer release includes a fix for an intermittent bug in the Virus Total scanning logic, and is signed with Win7 RTM-compatible certificate.
CCleaner 5.30
v5.30.6063 (16 May 2017)
– Improved Edge Cookie cleaning
– Updated Internet Explorer 10 and 11 History cleaning
– Updated Thunderbird 52 History cleaning
– Updated Windows Explorer MRU Cache cleaning
– Improved SSD detection algorithm
– Optimized Update Checking process
– Minor GUI improvements
– Minor bug fixes