TweakHound

Computer stuff...

Friday Random Stuff…

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CCleaner Updated
They added an “opt out” option in the privacy menu. (Thanks Arthur!)
Download
***Warning – the free, installer version contains a Google Chrome and a Google toolbar installer. That is why I do not install CCleaner. I use the portable version that eventually shows up on their “Builds” page.

Video – Speculative Store Bypass in 3 minutes from Red Hat
Video
“Speculative Store Buffer Bypass is a security vulnerability that allows unauthorized users to steal sensitive information through websites. Similar to the Spectre and Meltdown threats in early 2018, it exploits speculative execution–a process most computers use to speed up routine tasks (to learn more about speculative execution, watch our previous video Spectre and Meltdown in 3 Minutes – https://youtu.be/syAdX44pokE). This 3 minute video shows you how Speculative Store Buffer Bypass is different and what’s being done about it.”

Off Topic

My Solo: A Star Wars Story “Review”
Solid movie. Great actors and cameos. Secrets of the past revealed.
Woody Harrelson is a welcome addition to the Star Wars universe. The Mother of Dragons is stunning in looks as well as character. Donald Glover is as smooth as Billy Dee. L3-37 is as annoying as it is funny. Surprised at the ending. Questions linger. Sequel!
8/10

You’ve Been Pouring Guinness All Wrong

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.

Windows 10 Updates

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There are currently 3 supported versions of Windows 10:
1703 (Creators Update), 1709 (Fall Creators Update), and 1803 (April 2018).
This last week has seen updates to all 3 (Windows 10 update history):
1703 – May 17, 2018—KB4103722 (OS Build 15063.1112)
1709 – May 21, 2018—KB4103714 (OS Build 16299.461)
1803 – May 23, 2018—KB4100403 (OS Build 17134.81)

All of these are “quality” releases, what the rest of the computing world calls “bugfixes”.
1803 supposedly fixed the problem with some SSDs.

Tuesday Random Stuff…

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Unreal Gold Free
If you want it better grab it quick.
https://www.gog.com/game/unreal_gold 48 Hours only
https://store.steampowered.com/app/13250/Unreal_Gold/ “limited time”
Unreal (1998 video game) at Wikipedia

Tired Of This
Another Spectre-like vulnerability. More patches coming with more performance hits.
INTEL-SA-00115 – Q2 2018 Speculative Execution Side Channel Update

Wireshark Updated
Version 2.6.1 brings a bunch of bugfixes.
Download | Release Notes

Off Topic

Amazon urged not to sell facial recognition tool to police
“People should be free to walk down the street without being watched by the government,” the groups wrote in a letter to Amazon on Tuesday. “Facial recognition in American communities threatens this freedom.”

This is America’s favorite burger brand
“Five Guys is America’s favorite burger chain, according to Harris Poll’s 30th annual EquiTrend study.
Harris surveyed a total of 77,031 people to determine the “brand equity” of 17 different burger chains — Jack in the Box, Hardee’s, White Castle, Carl’s Jr., Checkers/Rally’s, DQ Grill & Chill, Burger King, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, SONIC America’s Drive-In, Five Guys, In-N-Out Burger, Culver’s, Steak ‘n Shake, Whataburger, Shake Shack, Smashburger.”
NO. No to every single one of them. Agreed, some of these burgers will do in the absence of a non-chain alternative and almost any burger is better than a salad.
#1 burger. Grilled. Grilled on the back deck. Grilled over the fire at the campsite. Bonus points for bacon.

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.

When We Wake Up, Will It Be Too Late?

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The Selfish Ledger
iVerge managed to get their hands on a 2016 internal video from Google. The video is embedded in the magazine style header at the top of the page. Someone uploaded a copy to YouTube if you prefer. There is also an excellent video breakdown of the issue at the bottom of the article worth watching. I would recommend watching it first. YouTube video here.
If this video doesn’t creep you out then either you don’t understand it or there is something wrong with you. Google plays this off as a “thought experiment”. Maybe, but it sure is a telling one.

“The Selfish Ledger positions Google as the solver of the world’s most intractable problems, fueled by a distressingly intimate degree of personal information from every user and an ease with guiding the behavior of entire populations. There’s nothing to suggest that this is anything more than a thought exercise inside Google, initiated by an influential executive. But it does provide an illuminating insight into the types of conversations going on within the company that is already the world’s most prolific personal data collector.“

Is this the future? Will we become what “they” want us to become? And, who watches the watchers?

It’s OK To Be Evil
With it’s bad behavior and publicity, I’m sure Google was tired of getting it’s “Don’t be evil” motto thrown back it’s face.
Solution? Remove the motto.

Thursday Random Stuff…

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Start10 Updated
Start10 is a Windows 10 start menu alternative. It is $5 and is my preferred start menu replacement.
Start10 v1.60
– Updated for Windows 1803 to fix searching in start menu
– Added new blur option for Windows 1803 (on by default)
– Links to the Games and Homegroup folders on Windows 1803 will not work(Microsoft deprecated those locations)
Download | Changelog

Off Topic
‘Solo’ is the worst ‘Star Wars’ movie since ‘Attack of the Clones,’ according to critics
“You will find only what you bring in.” – Yoda