TweakHound

Computer stuff...

Friday News

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Misc. Site Notes
– I’ve changed the wording on the intro page for the Windows 10 Tweak Guide to reflect the fact that the guide is still good for 21H2 and is unchanged.
– My Google Pixel 6 has arrived. I’ll post something about it in the coming weeks but suffice to say, I’m not impressed.
– Sorry for the inattentiveness to the site lately. I’m working 6-7 days a week. Tomorrow is the only day off for me this week. Not complaining, it is a good problem to have.

MediaMonkey 5.0.2
Media player. Over 30 improvements and fixes.
Download | Release Info

Audacity 3.1.3
Audio software. A few fixes and improvements.
Download | Release Info

Weekend News

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O&O AppBuster 1.1.1340
GUI changes, settings now saved in user profile folder, Win11 support.
Download & Info | Changelog

Samsung Magician SSD Software 7.0.1
“Bug fix, Security improvement”
Download & Info | Install Guide

Sysinternals Freeware Updates
Bugfixes. Updated apps include Autoruns 14.07, Process Monitor 3.87, and Sysmon 13.31.
Blog Post

Intel Graphics Drivers 101.1191
Download | Release Notes

Deal
$50 Panera Bread Gift Card for $40

Patch Tuesday

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Windows 10 – December 14, 2021—KB5008212 (OS Builds 19041.1415, 19042.1415, 19043.1415, and 19044.1415)
“This update contains miscellaneous security improvements to internal OS functionality. No additional issues were documented for this release.”

Windows 11 – December 14, 2021—KB5008215 (OS Build 22000.376)
“This update contains miscellaneous security improvements to internal OS functionality. No additional issues were documented for this release.“

Google Chrome Updated

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“The Stable channel has been updated to 96.0.4664.110 for Windows, Mac and Linux…This update includes 5 security fixes.”
Download | Release Notes
To update go to Menu (the the dots in upper-right corner > Help > About Google Chrome
or
type this in the URL bar: chrome://settings/help

Updating Firmware on Samsung SSDs

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There were some recent firmware updates for the Samsung 980 Pro lineup. I updated mine and thought I would pass this along…
Download and install/update the Samsung Magician SSD Management Utility.
Although Magician has several uses, the only thing you really need this utility for is updating firmware (unless you want to go through the hassle of creating a boot disk). Firmware updates for SSDs can resolve performance or security issues.
Tips:
– It is not necessary to have Magician running in the system tray. Right-click on the tray icon and remove from startup.
– It is not necessary to have the SamsungMagicianSVC service running all the time. Set it to Manual:
press the Windows + S key > type services > scroll down to SamsungMagicianSVC and double-click it > change it to Manual (optionally stop it too) > click Apply
– I typically check for updates via Magician every month or so, or when it comes to mind.
– Simply running Magician will let you know if there are updates.
– Standard warning: Firmware updates can go wrong…blah, blah, backup, blah blah. In all these years I’ve never had BIOS or firmware updates go wrong and I’ve done too many to count. RTFM

Samsung Flagship SSDs On Sale
Samsung 980 PRO SSD 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD
List Price: $229.99
Price: $169.99
You Save: $60.00 (26%)

Samsung 980 PRO SSD 500GB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD
List Price: $149.99
Price: $109.99
You Save: $40.00


New Intel Drivers

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Intel Memory and Storage Tool (GUI) v1.12
Drive management tool for Intel SSDs and Optane devices.
Changes include:
-Resolved firmware update for Optane P5800X Series
-Added namespace overprovisioning support
-Corrected the capacity calculation displayed in drive info
Download & Info

Intel Ethernet Adapter Complete Driver Pack v26.7
“This zip file contains all of the Intel Ethernet network drivers and software for currently supported versions of Windows, Linux, and FreeBSD for most Intel Ethernet Adapters.”
Download & Info