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Wednesday Random Stuff…

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Latest Windows Security Issues
Last week there were sensationalist reports about Windows and the NSA’s hacking tools. In a nutshell the NSA was using security holes to hack what they could. The thing is Microsoft has already patched the holes, at least most of them. The only thing I think you may want to do is eliminate SMB1 from your computers. SMB1 is a 30 year old networking protocol which is unneeded in modern operating systems.
Here is how to remove SMB1 from your computer: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2696547/how-to-enable-and-disable-smbv1,-smbv2,-and-smbv3-in-windows-vista,-windows-server-2008,-windows-7,-windows-server-2008-r2,-windows-8,-and-windows-server-2012 Only disable SMB1.

CCleaner Updated
“Improved, updated, new, bug fixes…”
Download

Firefox 53
This will be officially out today It is up on most mirrors now.
Windows 64-bit (en-US)
Windows 32-bit (en-US)
Other systems and languages

Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 17.4.3
– Support for Windows 10 Creators Update.
– Support for Radeon RX 580 Series Graphics.
– Support for Radeon RX 570 Series Graphics.
Download

Edge Still Dull
Paul (Don’t call me bro) Thurrott is showing his age and giving a run through of Microsoft Edge Browser’s shortcomings. I give the article an A+ for the Stevie Nicks reference.

Thursday Morning News

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“The Windows 10 Creators Update will begin to roll out to customers around the world on April 11”

Google Chrome Updated
“The stable channel has been updated to 57.0.2987.133 for Windows, Mac, and Linux…This update includes 5 security fixes.”
Download: Google Chrome Web 32-bit    Google Chrome 64-bit
Download Offline Installer:  Google Chrome Offline Installer 32-bit     Google Chrome Offline Installer 64-bit

Firefox 52.0.2
Download 32-bit(en-US)
Download 64-bit (en-US)
All Downloads
Release Notes

AMD GPU Drivers
AMD Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 17.3.3
For Honor and Sniper fixes.

Weekend Random Stuff…

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Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Central Virginia so I rode a section of the Virginia Capital Trail on my new bike.
I finished the day off with a delicious Hardywood Bourbon Barrel Cru and an Ardent Company Man (German-style pils). It was a good day.

Maps Wrong?
I remember this issue being discussed several years ago but I just saw this article and thought I would pass it along.
Five Maps That Will Change How You See the World
Here is an article from 2014: Why every world map you’re looking at is WRONG: Africa, China and India are distorted despite access to accurate satellite data

Report Wrong
Apparently the original report was wrong, Vulkan’s Multi-GPU Support Isn’t Only For Windows 10. Good news!

Microsoft Wrong
‘Windows 10 destroyed our data!’ Microsoft hauled into US court.
Judge TweakHound’s decision, I’m ruling for the plaintiffs and awarding $10,000 in actual damages and $10,000,000,000 in punitive damages.

Just Plain Wrong
Senate Puts ISP Profits Over Your Privacy
No justification for this.

IoT Security Wrong
“96% of security professionals responding to a new survey expecting an increase in IoT breaches this year”
Thanks to Ed for the link!

Uber Wrong
Uber to Suspend Autonomous Tests After Arizona Accident

Star Wars Never Wrong
Bob Iger Reveals ‘Star Wars’ Han Solo Spinoff Details, Talks Plans After ‘Episode IX’
“You’ll also discover how he got his name.”

Tuesday Morning News

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Win10 Updated
Couple of fixes.
Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 update history
Related:
Mystery update KB 3150513 makes yet another reappearance: “You probably don’t want this update—long implicated in advanced Microsoft snooping—on your Windows system”

New Nvidia Drivers
GeForce Game Ready Driver 378.92 WHQL available.
“Provides the optimal gaming experience for Mass Effect: Andromeda and Rock Band VR”
Download

Weekend Random Stuff…

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Happy Saint Patty’s Day
My 100% Irish Grandfather thought the shenanigans surrounding this holiday here in the U.S.A. was too much.
He said, and I am paraphrasing here to keep this SFW,
“Luck of the Irish my arse.”
Still, I’m gonna knock back a pint or two.
If you celebrate, please don’t drink and drive. Call a friend, a taxi, or Lyft, or Uber.

Win10 Creators Update
“They” say this is right around the corner. But then again, Microsoft released build 15060 to the fast ring yesterday and “They” said this was the final build. Then today Microsoft released build 15061. So what the heck do “They” know. I expect I will be futilely running a few Game Mode benchies this weekend.
DSOG claims that as far as Windows is concerned, Vulkan will support multiple GPUs only in Windows 10. So, that kinda sucks.
Tom Warren (ex of WinRumors and Neowin) over at iVerge claims that all the ads in Win10 “are the final straw“. Glad he has joined the party but “the final straw” implies a response that I don’t see in his article.. You know, “that latest affair was the last straw, I’m leaving.”

Ryzen Tips From AMD
In a nutshell:
– Buy fast RAM
– Use High Performance Power Plan
– Overclock
Yes we’ve all been doing that since, well since we’ve been using PC’s.

Google Chrome Updated
“The stable channel has been updated to 57.0.2987.110 for Windows, Mac, and Linux.”
Download: Google Chrome Web 32-bit    Google Chrome 64-bit
Download Offline Installer:  Google Chrome Offline Installer 32-bit     Google Chrome Offline Installer 64-bit
Credit Neowin with links

VM Software Updated
VMware Workstation 12.5.4 Player
VirtualBox 5.1.18

Wise Disk Cleaner 9.44
Info
Download

Audacity 2.1.3
“Audacity is free, open source, cross-platform audio software for multi-track recording and editing.”
Download & Info

March Madness
Got your brackets going?
I’ve got 2 main ones. One at the NCAA site and one at ESPN.

Tuesday Random Stuff…

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Installing Windows 7 From Scratch
Woody Leonhard has a chuckle at Microsoft’s “convoluted technique for installing Windows 7 from scratch“.
Best to follow his advice.

Firefox 52 Released
Download 32-bit(en-US)
Download 64-bit (en-US)
All Downloads
Release Notes

O&O ShutUp10 Updated
Version 1.4.1387 – released on 07.03.2017
Following settings were changed:
– Setting “Do not display last users on lock screen” was removed as some users had problems accessing their system
Following errors were fixed:
– Dialogue boxes were defective in high contrast mode
– Crash when clicking links where Google Chrome is set as the standard browser
– Problems detecting some Windows 10 OEM versions
– Notifications that some settings are managed by the organisation did not disappear after applying factory settings
– Factory settings revised
Available in English, German, French, Italian and Russian

Linux Swap Partition
Red Hat Blog – Do we really need swap on modern systems?
“How much swap is recommended nowadays?
This depends on the desired behaviour of the system, but configuring an amount of 20% of the RAM as swap is usually a good idea. More details are in this solution document.
Can I run without swap? Is further tuning possible?
Systems without swap can make sense and are supported by Red Hat – just be sure the behaviour of such a system under memory pressure is what you want. In most environments, a bit of swap makes sense.”

Random Friday Stuff…

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Flash Updates In Windows Update
MS17-005: Security update for Adobe Flash Player: February 21, 2017
Thanks to Ed and radosuaf!

Updated Software
Acronis True Image 2017 Update 2
MediaMonkey 4.1.15.1828

Planet Stuff
NASA found some interesting and possibly habitable planets. It’s cool and all but there are a lot of unanswered questions.
See here for some cool posters.

“Back in my day we had NINE planets”
Bring back Pluto!

Weekend Random Stuff…

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Sysinternals Freeware Updates
Several programs updated including; Autoruns, Process Explorer, and Process Monitor.

Mp3tag 2.81
Several new features and fixes. Download

GeForce Hotfix Driver 378.72
This is GeForce Hot Fix driver version 378.72 that addresses the following:
– Fixed hardware encoding in Steam (In-Home Streaming).
– Resolved PhysX being forced to CPU when “Optimize for Compute Performance” setting is OFF.
Download

Patch Tuesday Called Off

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Microsoft has called off Patch Tuesday
“Our top priority is to provide the best possible experience for customers in maintaining and protecting their systems. This month, we discovered a last minute issue that could impact some customers and was not resolved in time for our planned updates today.
After considering all options, we made the decision to delay this month’s updates. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this change to the existing plan.”

Despite the fact that this news spread around the web like wildfire I held off on posting this until I could run Windows Update after Patch Tuesday updates are released (1300hrs EST).
I’ve checked Windows 7 and Win10 on 4 machines. No updates.

Adobe Flash
APSB17-04 Security updates available for Adobe Flash Player
Download

Nvidia
Nvidia GeForce Game Ready Driver 378.66 WHQL
“Provides the optimal gaming experience for Sniper Elite 4, For Honor, and Halo Wars 2 ”

Patch Tuesday Random Stuff…

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Happy Valentines Day!
It’s patch Tuesday. I’ll post all that jazz once all of it is released this afternoon. Until then…

AMD Drivers
AMD Radeon Crimson ReLive Edition 17.2.1 drivers are out. Several fixes for games, multi-gpu setups, and others.
Download

Windows Vista Broke PC Audio
So says a dude from Creative in this Podcast. Start at about the 13 minute mark to avoid the babble.
So how about you guys from Creative work on Linux drivers? There is no support for your newer cards.

CCleaner 5.27
“Improved…Updated…improvements…bugfixes”
Download