Computer News

Drivers
AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 22.1.12 Optional Drivers
Realtek Ethernet drivers – Win10 or Win11

Software
Microsoft Office Version 2201 (How to Install Office Updates.)
Autoruns 14.08
Cleanmgr+ 1.50.1300
EMDB 5.02
Firefox 96.0.3
Mp3tag 3.12
Notepad++ 8.2.1

Google Just Gave You the Best Reason Yet to Finally Quit Using Chrome
“Ultimately, that change in the way Google is looking at Chrome–that it isn’t a tool that serves its users, but is a tool that serves up users to advertisers, albeit in a slightly more privacy protective way–is a bad sign.”

Smith & Wesson Border Guard 10in High Carbon S.S. Folding Knife
List Price: $41.99 Details
With Deal: $15.64
You Save: $26.35 (63%)

It took Friday long enough to get here…

Software Updates
Chrome 97.0.4692.99
Firefox 96.0.2
GPU-Z 2.44.0

Understanding MBR/BIOS and GPT/UEFI
“Master Boot Record (MBR) and GUID Partition Table (GPT), are two different ways of storing partition and boot information on a disk. Understanding these partitioning schemes is essential to understanding how information is stored on your storage devices and choosing the correct partitioning scheme for your scenario.”
Short, informative article from the makers of Macrium Reflect.

RIP Meat Loaf

VMware Workstation 16.2.2 Player
Fixes a denial-of-service vulnerability.
Download & Info

VirtualBox 6.1.32
“This is a maintenance release.”
Download | Release Notes

Nvidia Geforce Game Ready Drivers 511.13 WHQL
“provides the best day-0 gaming experience for God of War…support for… Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction, Hitman III, The Anacrusis, GRIT, and Monster Hunter Rise.” plus 5 fixes.
Download | Release Notes

Google Pixel 6 Finally Updated
Too late for me as I’ve moved on. No mention if this update fixes the Bluetooth issues, the December update did not.
Google Pixel Update – January 2022

RIP Ronnie Spector
Another Rock legend has passed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Spector

My first memory of her was as a mysterious yet sexy shadow with a beautiful voice:

Patch Tuesday
Win10 – January 11, 2022—KB5009543 (OS Builds 19042.1466, 19043.1466, and 19044.1466)
Fixes over 70 vulnerabilities.
Win11 – January 11, 2022—KB5009566 (OS Build 22000.434)
Fixes over 60 vulnerabilities.
See also: ‘Wormable’ Flaw Leads January 2022 Patch Tuesday
“Microsoft today released updates to plug nearly 120 security holes in Windows and supported software. Six of the vulnerabilities were publicly detailed already, potentially giving attackers a head start in figuring out how to exploit them in unpatched systems. More concerning, Microsoft warns that one of the flaws fixed this month is “wormable,” meaning no human interaction would be required for an attack to spread from one vulnerable Windows box to another.”

Firefox 96
18 security fixes.
Download | Release Notes
To update, go to Settings > Help > About.

AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 22.1.1 Optional Drivers
Support for Monster Hunter Rise, God of War, and 4 fixes.
Download | Release Notes

Nvidia Geforce Game Ready Drivers 511.17 WHQL
“Includes support for the 12GB GeForce RTX 3080”
Download | Release Notes

PowerToys 0.53.3
Bugfix release.
Download & Info

HandBrake 1.5.1
“This is a minor refinement and bug fix release.”
Download & Info

EMDB 5.01
16 fixes.
Download | What’s New

It’s not about the green bubbles, Apple
“Over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal published a story detailing how this distinction between green and blue chat bubbles has caused social pressure among teens and young people.”
WSJ – “Apple’s iMessage plays a significant role in the lives of young smartphone users and their parents, according to data and interviews with a dozen of these people. Teens and college students said they dread the ostracism that comes with a green text. The social pressure is palpable, with some reporting being ostracized or singled out after switching away from iPhones.”
As I’ve said before, my young niece was bullied on her school bus for having an Android phone.

Latest Downloads
Clonezilla live 2.8.1-12
EMDB 5
PowerToys 0.53.1
VeraCrypt 1.25.7

Leo, Mary Jo, and Paul discuss some phones:
https://youtu.be/CBg1OczFer0?t=2888
• Samsung Launches the Galaxy S21 FE at $699
• OnePlus Previews the OnePlus 10 Pro
• Where is the December Update for the Pixel 6 Series?
• Google Finally Addresses the December 2021 Update for Pixel 6/6 Pro
• Google Delivers January Update for Pixel, But Not for Pixel 6 Series
• I’m Switching to the iPhone <<<--- That's not me.

Linux Mint 20.3 Is Out
I upgraded this morning.
Download & Info
How to upgrade to Linux Mint 20.3
I’ve upgraded my Linux Mint VM from > 20.1 to 20.2 to 20.3. During this time there were many kernel updates. All of the old kernels are saved by default. To save space I’ve deleted all but the last 2 kernels: How to Remove Old Kernels in Ubuntu / Linux Mint [5 Ways]
I just did: sudo apt remove –auto-remove
TweakHound Linux Mint Articles

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

HWiNFO 7.16
Hardware Analysis, Monitoring and Reporting.
This version has improvements and fixes for newer hardware.
Download (I use PORTABLE) | Release History

Nvidia Geforce Game Ready Drivers 497.29 WHQL
Support for GTFO and Horizon Zero Dawn plus a few fixes.
Download | Release Notes

Wise Disk Cleaner 10.8.2
A few fixes and improvements.
Download ( I use PORTABLE) | Release Info

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

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.“