Windows, Security & Privacy, Open Source and more
I never really liked the Home page of the Settings app that Microsoft introduced last year in Windows 11. Back then, I described it as half promotion half pointless. Windows 11 users who open the Settings app see the home page by default. It features a mix of quick settings, which Microsoft calls recommended, account…
When Amazon announced that it would introduce ads in Prime Video for all customers, it revealed that customers could pay a few bucks per month extra to avoid advertisement on the service. Prime Video customers from the United States may see ads already when they view shows and movies on the platform. Soon, starting next…
Amazon launched Rufus to a small audience in the United States today. Rufus, a “generative AI-powered expert shopping assistant”, adds something to the shopping experience on Amazon that has been missing until now. Online shopping, as comfortable as it is, lacks interactions with clerks. Even simple questions may remain unanswered on Amazon and other shopping…
Not every Windows vulnerability requires patching according to Microsoft. When Microsoft analyses reported vulnerabilities, it may conclude that a vulnerability does not meet the bar for servicing. Exactly this happened to a security researcher recently who reported a Windows Event Log vulnerability to Microsoft. Successful exploitation of the vulnerability results in a crash of the…
PlayStation users may soon protect their account with a passkey. A support page is already available on the official PlayStation website, but some of the functionality is not yet usable. Passkey is a new technology that promises to be more secure than username and passwords. One of the main advantages is that passkeys are created…
At least for a year, some Chrome users reported that Edge imported data from their browser automatically. Back in May 2023, user Cerevox reported the issue on the official Microsoft Community website. Cerevox claimed that Edge imported bookmarks and passwords from Chrome automatically. In November, another user claimed that Edge imported favorites and browser data…
Mozilla released Firefox 122 for the desktop and for Android a few days ago. The desktop release was a light release. The highlight was a new -.deb package release for Linux users. The Firefox 122 for Android release, on the other hand, introduced several improvements that are noteworthy. The official release notes list just a…
Vividl – Video Downloader is an open source tool for Microsoft Windows devices to download videos from hundreds of websites. The app uses the popular downloader youtube-dl / yt-dlp in the background. It supports downloads of video or audio files from hundreds of sites. Most video streaming sites do not want you to download videos….
Glow is an open source program for Microsoft Windows devices that displays a wealth of information about the system it is run on. What are the features that it offers and how does it compare to popular alternatives such as Speccy? Read on to find out. Glow: a system analyzer Windows displays some information about…
Barely a day goes by without another announcement that some form of AI has been added to a product. Operating systems, web browsers, Office programs ,devices such as smartphones, and yes, toasters, all get AI infusions these days. These AI additions are disabled sometimes, at other times enabled. While it is tempting to try out…