TweakHound

Computer stuff...

Site Online

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No idea how long the site was down. My webhost (InMotion Hosting) had issues. No direct contact from them.
They seem to have restored from a week old backup. I’m not happy with them.
This was the message when I tried to chat with support (this wasn’t working either):
“Our Systems Administration team identified an issue with the file system on shared server ecngx245 that requires a file system check (fsck). A file system check requires the file system to be offline while the file system is checked and possibly repaired, which can take a number of hours depending on the disk size. Unfortunately, until the file system check is complete, the server will be offline. There is not currently an estimated time for this issue to be resolved, but updates will be provided when possible.“

Wednesday News

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Windows Updates
Addresses 19-20 security vulnerabilities depending on Windows version..
Win10 – May 9, 2023—KB5026361 (OS Builds 19042.2965, 19044.2965, and 19045.2965)
Win11 – May 9, 2023—KB5026372 (OS Build 22621.1702)

Google Chrome Updated
“The Stable and extended stable channel has been updated to 113.0.5672.92/.93 Windows and 113.0.5672.92 for Mac and Linux”
Bugfixes
Download | Release Info

HWinfo 7.46
Free hardware info tool. 4 fixes, Improved Intel Arc GPU support.
Download (I use portable) | Release Info

FileZilla Server 1.7.0
“free open source FTP and FTPS Server”
Bugfixes and minor changes:
– Additional updater improvements
– Validate passive mode port ranges, it is now an error if the range overlaps any of the regular listeners
Download

Audacity 3.3.2
Free, open source, cross-platform audio software. v3.3.0 has several improvements and fixes.
“This is a hotfix release.”
Download & Info

Baby Hawks
We’ve had a nesting pair of hawks out back this year. Their babies hatched a few weeks back, pretty sure there are 3. Young hawks are called eyas. I’ve kept my distance during this time. The nest is visible through the window over the kitchen sink and I watch them often with binoculars. Spring foliage is making viewing a little harder. The eyas are becoming increasingly restless. Here is a couple of pics taken from my back deck using a 7-8 year old Canon PowerShot SX710 HS at the max 30x zoom:
[Read more…] about Wednesday News

Wise Disk Cleaner 11.0.1

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Freeware system cleaner.
1. Appearance upgraded: light mode and dark mode.
2. Optimize the engine for scanning files, faster and safer.
3. Skips UAC when Wise Disk Cleaner starts.
4. Improved the rule of cleaning the Font cache, Log files, Explorer MRU list, and Recent Documents.
5. Supported cleaning TikTok, Facebook Messenger, GitHub Desktop, IObitAdvancedSystemCare, IObitDriverBooster, AVG TuneUp, SkypeAlyzer, and Xmind.
Download (I use portable) | Release Info

Wednesday News

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Google Chrome Updated
“Chrome 113.0.5672.63 (Linux and Mac), 113.0.5672.63/.64( Windows) contains a number of fixes and improvements…This update includes 15 security fixes.”
Download | Release Info
Chrome for Android updated too.

Nvidia Geforce Game Ready Drivers 531.79 WHQL
Support for Redfall, Showgunners, the upcoming Diablo IV Server Slam, and a couple of bugfixes.
Download | Release Notes

OBS Studio 29.1
Free and open source software for video recording and live streaming (Windows, Linux, Mac).
Lots of updates, changes, and bugfixes.
Download & Info

HWiNFO 7.44
Free hardware info tool.
Download (I use portable) | Release Info

Google Security Blog: So long passwords, thanks for all the phish
“Starting today, you can create and use passkeys on your personal Google Account. When you do, Google will not ask for your password or 2-Step Verification (2SV) when you sign in…
Passkeys are a more convenient and safer alternative to passwords. They work on all major platforms and browsers, and allow users to sign in by unlocking their computer or mobile device with their fingerprint, face recognition or a local PIN.
When you add a passkey to your Google Account, we will start asking for it when you sign in or perform sensitive actions on your account. The passkey itself is stored on your local computer or mobile device, which will ask for your screen lock biometrics or PIN to confirm it’s really you. Biometric data is never shared with Google or any other third party – the screen lock only unlocks the passkey locally.
Unlike passwords, passkeys can only exist on your devices. They cannot be written down or accidentally given to a bad actor. When you use a passkey to sign in to your Google Account, it proves to Google that you have access to your device and are able to unlock it. Together, this means that passkeys protect you against phishing and any accidental mishandling that passwords are prone to, such as being reused or exposed in a data breach.”

RIP Gordon Lightfoot

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Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian Folk-Rock Troubadour, Dead at 84
“Lightfoot’s deceptively simple songs, which fused folk with pop and country rock, have been covered by everyone from Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash to the Grateful Dead, Barbra Streisand, Jerry Lee Lewis, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Buffett, and the Replacements.”
“I can’t think of any Gordon Lightfoot song I don’t like,” Bob Dylan once said. “Every time I hear a song of his, it’s like I wish it would last forever.”

My post from 2 summers ago: The SS Edmund Fitzgerald
“My family moved from Richmond, Virginia to Houghton Lake, Michigan in the fall of 1975. On November 10, 1975 the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank on Lake Superior and it was big news in Michigan for a long while. In August the following year, Gordon Lightfoot released his iconic song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”. As a young boy I would sit on the dock in the evening and wait for the song to play on my little transistor radio. I would imagine the voyage while listening. This haunting event still holds my interest.”

Documentary on Amazon: Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind
Gord’s Gold comprehensive greatest hits CD (save a couple of bucks and buy used)
Gordon Lightfoot greatest hits on Spotify.

Friday News

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AMD Software Adrenalin 23.4.3 WHQL Drivers
Support for STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor plus a couple of fixes
Download | Release Notes

Audacity 3.3.1
Free, open source, cross-platform audio software. v3.3.0 has several improvements and fixes.
Version 3.3.0 was released a few days ago. Version 3.31 is a bugfix for that release.
Download & Info

Windows 10 EOL
Stories about this issue were all over the web yesterday like is was big news.
“Windows 10 will reach end of support on October 14, 2025. The current version, 22H2, will be the final version of Windows 10, and all editions will remain in support with monthly security update releases through that date.”
There is no real news here. I spoke of Win10s EOL date of October, 2025 back in 2021 and it wasn’t news then.

Another Chrome Zero Day

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“The Stable and extended stable channel has been updated to 112.0.5615.137/138 for Windows and 112.0.5615.137 for Mac…This update includes 8 security fixes…Google is aware that an exploit for CVE-2023-2136 exists in the wild.”
Download | Release Info
Chrome for Android updated too, “This release includes stability and performance improvements.“

Tuesday News

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Nvidia Geforce Game Ready Drivers 531.68 WHQL
Support for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Dead Island 2 and a few game related fixes
Download | Release Notes

VirtualBox 7.0.8
Freeware, open source virtualization software. Lots of fixes and improvements.
Download | Extension Pack | Changelog

GPU-Z 2.53.0
Freeware portable video card/GPU info tool. Support for new hardware.
Download & Info

Google CEO Sundar Pichai warns society to brace for impact of A.I. acceleration, says ‘it’s not for a company to decide’
Some snippets:
“We need to adapt as a society for it,” Pichai told Pelley, adding that jobs that would be disrupted by AI would include “knowledge workers,” including writers, accountants, architects and, ironically, even software engineers…
“When warning of AI’s consequences, Pichai said that the scale of the problem of disinformation and fake news and images will be “much bigger,” adding that “it could cause harm…”
However, fears of the consequences of the rapid progress has also reached the public and critics in recent weeks. In March, Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak and dozens of academics called for an immediate pause in training “experiments” connected to large language models that were “more powerful than GPT-4,” OpenAI’s flagship LLM. More than 25,000 people have signed the letter since then…
“You don’t fully understand how it works and yet you’ve turned it loose on society?” Pelley asked.
And here is the daft, baffling response from Pichai:
“Let me put it this way, I don’t think we fully understand how a human mind works either.”