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Weekend Random Stuff…

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WOT Spyware
A German news organization discovered that the popular Web Of Trust (WOT) browser extension was spying on users and selling their data.
Both Google and Firefox have delisted WOT.
Info is a little hard to come by as no one properly sources their news anymore. There is a Github page that contains some info.

Windows 7 gained more new users than Windows 10 in the last 2 months

United Kingdom Readers
This is the first I have heard of this. Can some please explain Investigatory Powers Bill without getting too political?

Downloads
AMD Crimson Edition 16.11.2 Hotfix Drivers
Intel SSD Toolbox 3.4.0 – adds support for new Intel drives.

Off Topic

Geek + Redneck Toy Equals…
Billy Bass giving weather forecasts!

101 Facts About ‘Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them’

Wednesday Random Stuff…

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Google Chrome Updated
“The stable channel has been updated to 54.0.2840.87 for Windows, Mac, and 54.0.2840.90 for Linux.”
Download
Thanks Johan!

Free Password Manager For All Your Devices
Get LastPass Everywhere: Multi-Device Access Is Now Free!
I use it.

More Software Updates
EMDB 2.58 – Free movie collection software.
O&O ShutUp10 1.4.1384 – The Win10 privacy tamer I use.

Well Crap…
I’m looking at Linux as my main OS, specifically openSUSE. Most distros are running Linux 4.4 LTS kernel. There are so many improvements since then that I would love to run newer kernel. I tried the openSUSE rolling release called openSUSE Tumbleweed. It was running 4.8.6 I believe. I ran into a showstopper bug that involved my AMD Radeon RX 480 that is present in kernels beyond 4.4. Kinda sucks but openSUSE Leap 42.2 will be released on November 16. It is using the LTS 4.4 kernel so I will give that a shot. Or, I may try this if I have time.

Friday Random Stuff…

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Woohoo! It’s Friday!

Win10 Updated
Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1607: October 27, 2016
Win10 Update History
Latest Graphics Drivers (Windows)
AMD Crimson Edition 16.10.3 Hotfix (10/27/2016)
Nvidia GeForce Game Ready Driver 375.70 WHQL (10/28/2016)

MBRFilter
“a driver that allows the MBR to be placed into a read-only mode, preventing malicious software from writing to or modifying the contents of this section of the storage device.”
Hmmm… Anyone tried this?

Lenovo Computers
Military Warns Chinese Computer Gear Poses Cyber Spy Threat

Off Topic
Video – Gym Wildlife (NSFW)

See ya next week!
beer

Sign Of The Apocalypse

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I…
I, just, can’t, believe it. I agree with Tim Cook on something.

In terms of the balance of privacy and AI, this is a long conversation, but at a high level, this is a false tradeoff. People would like you to believe you have to give up privacy to have AI do something for you, but we don’t buy that. It might take more work, it might take more thinking, but I don’t think we should throw our privacy away. It’s sort of like the age old argument between privacy and security. You should have both. You shouldn’t have to make a choice.

Well said sir. Well said.

Weekend Random Stuff…

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Sorry for the lack of updates, very busy at work.

The next version of Windows 10, Redstone 2, likely to be version 1703 – Claims it will be released March of 2017. Great, looks like I will be doing another reinstall/reset then.

Newegg Now Owned by Chinese Company – I won’t be shopping there anymore. You can’t delete your account but you can change all your info to nonsense.

AMD Gaming Evolved APP By Raptr No Longer Being Supported By AMD – Good riddance.

Notepad++ 7.1 is out.

Patch Tuesday

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Time To Run Windows Update? Not Anymore.
Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users. I did not think I would ever say this. I am recommending that users NOT install Windows updates as they come out any more. As many of you have heard Windows 7 and 8.1 have gone to a “rollup model”. This means all the updates rolled into one. No more picking and choosing. Although there is some guidance for IT guys running WSUS it is not 100% clear how this is going to hit home users. I think the issue is going to take months to sort out and frankly Microsoft has completely lost my trust.
I’ve always run Windows Update manually. Up until today I ran it as patches came out. Now, I will be waiting a week or so and watching to see what the fallout is.
Windows 10 users. By installing Win10 you basically signed into the mess that has become Windows Update. You can of course disable Automatic Updates. You can do so by disabling the Windows Update service, or via Group Policy (this only works for “feature” updates), or by using software such as O&O ShutUp10. I haven’t tried this myself.

Adobe Flash & Reader Updated
APSB16-32 Security Updates Available for Adobe Flash Player
Download for Internet Explorer
Download for Firefox
I’ve been watching to see if/when Google Chrome will be updated for this. Nothing as of this writing. Watch here.

APSB16-33 Security Updates Available for Adobe Acrobat and Reader
Download Adobe Reader or update from within the program (Help > Check for updates).

Wednesday Random Stuff…

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IMHO it’s been a boring week tech news wise.

No Windows 7 On OEM PC’s After Nov. 1
Ed Bott reminds us that You have one month left to buy a Windows 7 PC.
Not too big a deal as you do have downgrade rights on a Win 10 PC. There’s always ebay for Windows 7 discs for the folks like me who DIY.

Win10 Tweak Tips
Last call for things you think should be in the Win10 Tweak Guide.
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Thursday Random Stuff…

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Must Read: Online Trackers Follow Our Digital Shadow By ‘Fingerprinting’ Browsers, Devices
Not kidding. This is a must read. Read it twice, pass it along.
FYI – I use Privacy Badger as mentioned in the article.

Google Chrome 53.0.2785.143
“The stable channel has been updated to 53.0.2785.143 for Windows, Mac, and Linux. This will roll out over the coming days/weeks… This update includes 3 security fixes.”
Download

7-Zip 16.03
7-Zip is a free file archiver with a high compression ratio.
What’s new after 7-Zip 16.02:
– Installer and SFX modules now use some protection against DLL preloading attack.
– Some bugs were fixed in 7z, NSIS, SquashFS and RAR5 code.
Download and info (be sure to download the right one x86/x64)
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