PeaZip 10.0: new version of open source archive tool released

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

When the makers of the archive tool Bandizip started to make changes that were disliked by part of the userbase, it was PeaZip among several other apps that users switched to.

The open source archiving software is available for Windows, Linux, and macOS. The developers have released version 10.0 recently; reason enough to take another look at it and highlight what is new and changed.

Also worth a consideration:

WinRAR 7.0 Final released: drops RAR 4 archive creation

PeaZip 10.0

The big new change in the new version is one that you may not notice right away. PeaZip launches with a redesigned graphical user interface. That is often cause for concern, but not with this release.

The developers highlight more icon sizes, updated themes, and “better organized menus” as the key elements.

Take a look at the two screenshots below. The first shows the PeaZip 9.x interface, the second the new interface in PeaZip 10.0.

PeaZip 9.x interface
PeaZip’s 9.x graphical user interface.
PeaZip 10
PeaZip 10.0 interface

As you can see, some of the icons have received a color upgrade, which may help differentiate between them better.

You can check out the theming options under Options > Settings > Themes.

There you find plenty of preferences to customize the look and feel. To name a few of those: set the main color, accents, contrast, spacing, colors of toolbars and more.

As far as other changes are concerned, here is what the developers reveal:

  • New options in the File Tools menu: save checksum / hash in GNU Coreutils compatible format., and search hash online for malware.
  • Updated the backends 7z and Pea to the latest version.
  • Supports a total of 234 file extensions as archives.

You can check out the full changelog here.

PeaZip, 7-Zip, or something different? Which archive software do you use mainly, and why? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Mullvad

Mullvad VPN adds protections against AI traffic analysis

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

One of the best things you can do to protect your data and privacy while online is to use a good VPN. Not all VPNs offer equally good protections; some even collect and sell user data.

Mullvad VPN is already offering some of the strongest privacy protections in the industry. This begins with options to buy access anonymously, but does not end there. You may also run Mullvad Browser, a hardened fork of the Firefox web browser.

Also great:

DNS Forge Review: privacy-friendly censorship-free DNS with ad-blocking

Mullvad announced a new protective feature against AI-based traffic analysis in May of this year. Defense against AI-guided Traffic Analysis (DAITA) is designed to protect user data against the growing thread of the use of AI to analyze traffic to identify patterns and users, even when VPNs are used.

This form of traffic analysis works in the following way according to Mullvad:

  • Whenever you visit a website or use a service on the Internet, network packets are transferred.
  • While ISPs and network listeners do not know the content of these packages, they do know a) the size of the packets, b) when and how often they are sent.
  • AI may identify websites, services, and even people you message based on network packages.

DAITA

DAITA is designed to protect against any form of network packet analysis to determine visited websites, services, or communication.

This is achieved in the following way (again according to Mullvad):

  • DAITA changes the size of all packets send over the VPN to be the same size.
  • Random background traffic is added to the communication.
  • Data pattern distortion by sending cover traffic between the client and the VPN server.

DAITA is available in Mullvad VPN for Android already. You need to enable ti manually under Settings > VPN Settings > DAITA.

Note that DAITA works with select servers, Mullvad lists Amsterdam, London, Los Angeles, and New York, at the time.

Do you use a VPN service? If so, which and why this one? What is your take on Mullvad’s new privacy feature? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Opera One R2 interface

Opera One R2 launches with the promise that you can keep on using your classic extensions

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Opera Software introduced several new features to development editions of its browsers in the past couple of months. I reviewed the new tab management and dynamic themes feature just recently.

Today, Opera Software announced the launch of Opera One R2, the next stable version of its web browser. This release is feature-packed, and it includes some good news for users who want to keep using their classic extensions.

The details:

  • Opera One R2 is available for all supported desktop platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac).
  • It introduces several new features, including dynamic themes and the tab management feature.

Existing users may select Opera Menu > Update & Recovery to download and install the update. New users may download the installer from the Opera website.

Opera One R2: the changes

Opera published a long post on the official blog that details all the changes of the new release. Most of it talks about AI, but there are also changes that are not AI related or at least locally processed instead of in the cloud.

Since I have reviewed one of the features already, I will summarize it quickly only in this article. You can check out the links at the top of the page for detailed reviews.

Dynamic Themes is a new option to customize the look and feel of the browser. They support more than just colors and setting a background image. You may use them to add music, animated backgrounds or change UI elements such as colors. They use the device’s GPU for “smooth rendering”.

Tip: you can reduce animations in the browser in the Settings > Features > User Interface section.

Tab improvements

Opera One R2's Split Tab feature
Opera One R2’s Split Tab feature

While Opera has not introduced support for the new AI-powered tab management feature in Opera One R2, it does introduce the following new features:

  • Split Screen – This enables you to display two tabs side by side to display two sites at once. This is not a unique feature, as browsers such as Vivaldi or Edge supported this for a well.
  • Tab Traces — a memory for the five recently used tabs. Opera adds an underscore to these tabs so that you may identify them quickly from a list of tabs open in the browser.

AI features

Asking Opera's AI Aria to identify an image
Asking Opera’s AI Aria to identify an image

A few AI features are now also available for stable Opera One users.

  • Image generation — Use AI to generate images. The process is started from the AI command bar or sidebar chat in Opera. Limit is 5 images per day for anonymous users and 30 per day for Opera account users.
  • Image understanding — Aria may provide information about images that you upload to the AI.

Other new features

There is more!

  • Control music and video from the sidebar – You may now control playback of media from Opera One’s sidebar. Pause or skip media using the feature. You may also add your “preferred streaming service” to the sidebar.
  • Detachable videos and video calls
  • Multithreaded Compositor – Manages the rendering of the user interface efficiently.
  • Support for Manifest V2 extensions remains – Opera announced plans to support Manifest V2 extensions independently of other browsers.

Now you: what is your take on these features? Anything that you find interesting or would make you switch to Opera? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Google Messages: new protections may cause issues for some

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google announced a range of new security features for its messaging app and service Google Messages.

Google says that the service is used by more than 1 billion users per day and that it filters out 2 billion suspicious messages each month already.

Good to know: the improvements roll out over time and some are currently available for Beta users in select markets. Others will be launching later this year or next year.

Here is what is getting improved:

  • Better protections against scam messages, starting with package delivery and job scams.
  • Improved protections against potentially dangerous links.
  • Option to turn off messages from unknown international phone numbers.
  • Option to turn on Sensitive Content Warning to blur images that may contain nudity.
  • Verification option to confirm the recipient or sender of messages. (next year).

Some of these may require additional explanations.

Google Messages gets improved message and link scanning protections. The first “will automatically move the message into your spam folder” or display a warning. Google says that it is using on-device algorithms to identify scams, which means that the information never leaves the device by default.

Issue: False positives may move legitimate messages into the spam folder. If you are waiting for such a message, but have not received it, you may want to check the spam to make sure it was not improperly classified as a scam by Google.

For links, Google is using two classifications.

  • Links from unknown senders display a warning.
  • Links from suspicious senders blocked automatically.

Controls to turn off messages from unknown senders sounds like a good idea. It is, for most users. It may be problematic if you receive messages regularly from users from other countries.

Issue: If you travel a lot, you may receive messages regularly. If you enable this feature, you may want to check the “Spam & blocked” folder, as they are moved there automatically when the feature is enabled.

Closing Words

Most users will benefit from the new features and options. While it may take months or even longer for them to roll out to all Android users who use Google Messages, they will arrive eventually.

For some users, these protective features may introduce issues, as some legitimate messages or message attempts will be moved to spam or blocked outright.

Now you: what is your take on the new functionality? Do you use Google Messages at all, or do you prefer a different kind of messaging system? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Windows 11: Enhance Pointer Precision explained

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Windows 11 and previous versions use the mouse feature Enhance Pointer Precision by default. This guide helps you understand what the feature does and why, in some cases, it may be better turned off.

What is Enhance Pointer Precision? Put simply, it is designed to improve the accuracy of slow mouse moves.

Maybe you have tried to target a very specific pixel on the screen. Say, a smaller than usual scrollbar, a button or link that is tiny, or anything else that needs precise movements.

Enhance Pointer Precision makes “the pointer work more accurately when you’re moving the mouse slowly” according to Microsoft.

While that may be useful in some cases, it can introduce problems in certain apps or games. Take first-person shooter games as an example. You need to be precise in them, but mouse movement is often rapid.

If you do not want Windows 11 to apply its pointer precision algorithm in those cases, you may turn it off.

Turning off Enhance Pointer Precision

You may toggle the mouse preference in the Settings app. Here is how that is done:

  1. Open the Start menu.
  2. Launch the Settings app from it.
    • Tip: you may use the shortcut Windows-I to launch the Settings app.
  3. Go to Bluetooth & devices > Mouse.
  4. Set Enhance Pointer Precision to Off to disable the feature.

Chance is, you may not see a difference right away. It depends on several factors, including the mouse and its movement.

Tip: you may want to test the change. If you ran into issues with the mouse in certain apps or games, launch those and start tests.

You can undo the change at any time by setting the preference to On again.

Registry offers more control

You may also modify the relevant settings in the Windows Registry. While most users may not need to do so, it is offering more options.

Here is an overview of the available keys:

  • MouseThreshold1 — If mouse movement exceeds this value, cursor speed is doubled.
  • MouseThreshold2 – If mouse movement exceeds this value, cursor speed is quadrupled.
  • MouseSpeed — The speed of the mouse cursor.

The two threshold values need to be higher than the value of MouseSpeed.

Here is how you change those values

  1. Open the Start menu.
  2. Type regedit.exe and press the Enter-key.
  3. Confirm the security prompt by selecting Yes.
  4. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse.
  5. Double-click on MouseSpeed, MouseThreshold1, and MouseThreshold2 respectively to change the values.
  6. To turn Enhance Pointer Precision off, set all values to 0.
    • To enable the feature again, set the values to 1, 6, and 10.

Tip: you can experiment with different values to see if the adjusted parameters work for your use cases.

WinDirStat Interface

WinDirStat: a new version is out 19 years after its last stable release

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

If you have been using Windows computers for at least 2 decades, you may still remember the open source app WinDirStat.

WinDirstat, in a nutshell, visualizes disk usage and supports cleanup operations. Programs like it, or my current favorite WizTree, are helpful in detecting large files and folders.

The programs are useful especially when it comes to cleaning up disk space. If your disk space is running low, these programs may help you find large files or lots of smaller files that you do not need anymore.

Something like a downloaded Windows ISO image or a 4K test movie for example.

19 years later: a new version is released

A new version of the open source tool is now available. While WinDirStat 2.0.1 has been released 19 years after the previous version, it did not took 19 years to develop the new version.

A new developer offered to help last year and the new version is the result of the involvement.

As you can imagine, the new version had a lot of catching up to do. The official changelog reflects that. There is now an official native 64-bit version and a native ARM version. The installer is now using MSI, and compatibility with all recent and not so recent versions of Windows is guaranteed.

Next to these architectural changes, there are plenty of functional changes.

Here is a short list of important improvements:

  • Multiple items can now be selected, e.g. for cleaning or moving.
  • Scan results can be exported as CSV files.
  • Full Explorer context menu now available.
  • Support for long file names.
  • Duplicate file finder supports file hashes now.
  • Improved resolution scaling.

Note: I encountered an issue while running the program. It reported a total disk size of 202.1 TB on the main drive of the laptop I ran it on. This drive has an actual size of just 1 TB. It only reported the physical size incorrectly. The logical size was correctly displayed.

The program is easy to use. While it does not scan drives as fast as WizTree, it does so reasonably fast.

The main interface uses three panes. The first displays folders and files, the second file extensions, and the third a visual representation of the space.

You can use the options menu to hide some of the panes. A click on a folder expands it and shows subfolders and files that it contains. Each folder is listed with its size and number of files.

It is relatively easy to spot large folders and files. The program lacks an option to display the largest files though, which may make the process a bit cumbersome.

You may delete files right away or use the cleanup menu, which offers various options.

Closing Words

It is good to see that WinDirStat has been revived from the dead. While I still prefer WizTree, as it is faster and has better functionality, it is a solid alternative.

Do you use disk space analyzers? If so, which is your favorite and why? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Windows 11 24H2: Firmware update addresses crash issue for Western Digital and Sandisk SSD

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

News about BlueScreen crashes on Western Digital or Sandisk SSD systems broke shortly after Microsoft’s release of Windows 11, version 24H2.

Affected user systems crashed regularly after the upgrade to the new version of Windows 11. Users started to collect information about the issue and even suggested a fix that involved making an edit to the Registry.

Microsoft, in the meantime, added an upgrade block for systems with affected hardware. This block prevents the upgrade to Windows 11, version 24H2 via Windows Update.

The block did not help users who upgraded already. Some downgraded their systems to resolve the issue, others applied the Registry fix.

Firmware Update

Western Digital and SanDisk have released a firmware update for affected storage devices that resolves the issue.

A page on the official SanDisk support website provides the details.

Note: it is recommended to back up important data before you apply firmware updates to storage devices. A BlueScreen crash during the process could corrupt the device and make the data unreadable.

In a nutshell:

  1. Download the Wester Digital Dashboard software using the provided links on the website.
  2. Run the downloaded application.
  3. Select the install button to install the application on the device.
  4. Keep “launch dashboard” checked and activate the finish button.
  5. Select the Tools section.
  6. Click on Update Firmware and then on proceed.
  7. Activate shutdown now at the end of the process.
  8. Power the computer on again.

The new firmware is now installed on the device and the crashes should be a thing of the past.

Affected Western Digital and SanDisk devices

The following Solid State Drives are affected by the issue:

NameModel Number Starting WithUpdated Firmware Version
WD_BLACK SN770 NVMe SSD 2TBWDBBDL0020BNC, WDS200T3X0E731130WD
WD_BLACK SN770M NVMe SSD 2TBWDBDNH0020BBK, WDS200T3X0G731130WD
WD Blue SN580 NVMe SSD 2TBWDBWMY0020BBL, WDS200T3B0E281050WD
WD Blue SN5000 NVMe SSD 2TBWDBS3F0020BNC, WDS200T4B0E291020WD
SanDisk Extreme M.2 NVMe SSD 2TBSDSSDX3N-2T00
Copilot key laptops

Windows 11 24H2: Microsoft confirms Asus Bluescreen issue

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Microsoft confirmed three more issues that affect devices that are upgraded to Windows 11 version 24H2.

Probably the most severe of the lot is the issue that may cause a BlueScreen error during the upgrade from earlier versions of Windows 11.

Here are the details:

  • Some Asus devices, including 415KA and X515KA models, are affected.
  • The upgrade does not complete and may result in a BlueScreen error.
  • The issue is linked to “certain hardware components” used in affected models.

Microsoft is blocking (some?) Asus devices from upgrading to Windows 11, version 24H2 using a compatibility hold. This feature blocks the upgrade on the devices, but only when Windows Update is used.

Microsoft recommends that device administrators do not attempt to install the update manually, for instance by using the Windows 11 Installation Assistant or Installation media.

Two additional issues confirmed

Microsoft confirmed two additional issues. These are:

  • Voicemeter app may close unexpectedly and throw a BlueScreen error that may highlight a memory management error. Link
  • Camera use may cause some apps to become unresponsive. This may happen if object or face detection features are enabled. Link

A compatibility hold is now in effect for both issues. While it is easy enough to identify devices with Voicemeter, Microsoft does not reveal which devices are affected by the camera issue.

Administrators are asked not to upgrade to Windows 11, version 24H2 using any other method while Microsoft is investigating and creating patches to address the issues.

Closing Words

Microsoft confirmed several issues affecting Windows 11, version 24H2 already. It is possible that some of these will get resolved when the optional update for the operating system gets released later this month.

On a personal note, I did not experience any issues on a test system that I upgraded to Windows 11, version 24H2.

What about you? Did you upgrade a device to the latest Windows 11 version already? How did it go? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Opera

People love Netflix with ads

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Netflix’s reported strong earnings, revenue, and an increase in subscribers for the third-quarter of this fiscal year.

One of the most important takeaways is that people seem to love the ad-powered Netflix plan. Netflix says that more than 50 percent of all subscribers in the third-quarter selected the Standard with ads plan. Compared to last quarter, membership of the ad-powered plan rose by 35% alone.

The development is not really that surprising, here is why: Standard with ads is available for less than half the price of the Standard plan. In the US, it is available for $6.99 instead of $15.49.

It is all about the price of membership. Standard with ads and Standard offer nearly identical features. The only difference that matters is that some movies and TV shows are not available in the ad-driven plan.

Everything else, including downloads on two supported devices and 1080p streams are identical. So, a nearly identical feature set for users.

Ad-powered plan subscribers pay less to Netflix each month, but they have to sit through advertisement whenever they tune in. This means, effectively, that they pay with their time, as it takes longer to watch a movie or show, as the playtime of ads needs to be added to the total time.

The next couple of quarters

Here are my top predictions:

  • Netflix will continue to see growth, especially when it comes to the ad-powered plan, in the next quarters.
  • Growth will slow down eventually. Netflix may then increase the price of the ad-powered plan for the first time to make up for this or increase the number of ads.

Closing Words

I do not have much use for streaming services nowadays. Most shows and movies that they produce are bland, in my opinion. There is the occasional exception, but this almost feels like winning the lottery nowadays.

This is not a Netflix-specific problem. When I look at Disney+ or Amazon Prime Video, I come to the same conclusion.

I’ll stick to my subscribe for a month every now and then strategy, but it has changed from switching every second or so month to maybe subscribing once or twice a year only for a month.

What about you? Are you subscribed to any streaming platform? If so, is it an ad-powered plan or an ad-free plan? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Chrome

Google Chrome 130: fixes 17 security issues

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google released a new stable version of its Chrome browser today. The new version is a security and feature update.

As far as security is concerned, users no longer have to worry about 17 security issues, as Google patched them in the new release.

Three of the publicly disclosed one are rated high, which comes second only to critical. Google makes no mention of exploits in the wild, which means that it is not aware of attacks targeting any of the fixed issues.

Chrome users may want to upgrade the web browser to the latest version as soon as possible. This is done automatically on most systems, but you may speed up the installation on the desktop by selecting Menu > Help > About Google Chrome.

Windows users may also run winget upgrade google.chrome.exe to upgrade the browser from the command line.

Did you know?

Chrome for Android may move and delete Tabs automatically

You can check out the full list of disclosed vulnerabilities that Google patched in Chrome here.

As far as new features or changes are concerned, there is little information from Google about those.

Developers may check out the Platform Status page for Chrome 130 to get an overview of development related changes.

The Enterprise and Education lists some of the changes that apply to users.

Here are the most noteworthy ones:

  • Chrome is going to start to display “small chips” after certain user actions. The example that Google gives is that when users add something to the reading list, Chrome displays a Toast that confirms the action and offers a link to the reading list side panel.
  • Some users get a new account menu when they select the avatar in Chrome for iOS on the new tab page.
  • PDFs display “seamlessly” in Chrome 130 for Android now.
  • Chrome freezes a tab that “has been hidden and silent for more than 5 minutes and uses a lot of CPU” when Energy Saver is enabled. TAbs with audio- or video-conferencing functionality and tabs that control external devices are exempt.
  • Chrome’s URL parser parses non-special URLs correctly now.
  • Chrome on Android supports third-party autofill and password providers now.

Google has also started to turn off classic extensions for first users.