Computer News

Wise Disk Cleaner 10.2.3
Fixes and improvements.
Download (I use portable) | Release Notes

Mp3tag v2.97
Download | Release Notes

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

OK Google, are you listening? Tech giant’s smart speakers eavesdrop on private conversations, investigation finds
“Google’s smart speakers allow contractors for the tech giant to listen to excerpts of private conversations, including some with potentially sensitive information, according to a new investigation from a Belgian public broadcaster.”

DNA-testing service exposed thousands of customer records online
“DNA-testing service Vitagene Inc. left thousands of client health reports exposed online for years, the kind of incident that privacy advocates have warned about as gene testing has become increasingly popular.”

The FTC’s $5 billion fine for Facebook is so meaningless, it will likely leave Zuckerberg wondering what he can’t get away with
“They can fool themselves into thinking they’ve dealt sternly with Facebook, but everyone else knows better. More importantly, Zuckerberg knows better.”

Sports Teams Running out of Fans
“Each year, tens of millions of Americans pour into arenas, parks, rinks, and stadiums to see a professional sporting event in one of the four major American sports leagues — the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB.
But fans are now less inclined to go to games in person. Each league saw a decline in total attendance from 2008 to 2018.”
They list the 12 teams across all major leagues with the highest drop in attendance. Not surprisingly, two of my favorite teams are in the list; the Detroit Tigers and the Washington Redskins who both suck.

Beer Has Medicinal Powers – Here Are 8 Healthy Reasons To Have A Pint Today
I’m gonna live forever!

American Red Cross Emergency NOAA Weather Radio with USB Smartphone Charger, LED Flashlight & Red Beacon
I’ve owned this for almost 3 years. It’s never let me down.
Crank Power & Solar Power / Phone Charger / AM/FM/Weather Band / Alarm Clock / Flashlight
LIMITED TIME DEAL Was: $49.99 With Deal: $37.63 You Save: $12.36 (25%)

Ultimate Windows Tweaker 4.6
Download & Info

AMD Radeon Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.7.1 Optional
Support for 5700 Series, AMD Radeon Anti-Lag, Settings Snapshot. A few improvements too.
Download | Release Notes

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

Steve Wozniak: Get Off Facebook!!! Privacy Concerns Scare Me
“You should figure out a way to get off Facebook.”
The great and powerful Woz has spoken.
Related: Bill Gates praises Steve Jobs ability to ‘cast spells’ on people

FBI, ICE find state driver’s license photos are a gold mine for facial-recognition searches
“Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have turned state driver’s license databases into a facial-recognition gold mine, scanning through millions of Americans’ photos without their knowledge or consent, newly released documents show.”

Top VPNs secretly owned by Chinese firm
“Nearly a third of top VPNs are secretly owned by Chinese companies, while other owners are based in countries with weak or no privacy laws, potentially putting users at risk, security researchers warn…Big Brother Watch recommends that free VPNs should be avoided because they may not be secure and could track users.
“If you want to be sure your online activity stays private, make sure you choose a VPN which does not log your internet activity and online traffic,” the guidance says. “Not all VPNs are the same. Make sure you do your research before choosing a VPN.””

Weightlifting better at reducing heart fat than aerobic exercise
“In the small study, researchers determined that a certain type of heart fat, pericardial adipose tissue, was reduced in patients who did weight lifting, but not in those who worked on increasing their endurance with aerobic exercise”

New Intel Wi-Fi Drivers
Version: 21.20.0 Date: 7/2/2019
Intel PROSet/Wireless Software and Drivers for Windows 7
Intel PROSet/Wireless Software and Drivers for Windows 8.1
Windows 10 Wi-Fi Drivers for Intel Wireless Adapters

How to stop your emails from being tracked
“A single tracking pixel is embedded into the email, usually (but not always) hidden within an image or a link. When the email is opened, code within the pixel sends the info back to the company’s server…There is also a simple basic step you can take to avoid trackers: stop your email from automatically loading images since images are where the majority of these pixels hide.”
You should already be doing this.

Midway (2019 Movie) Teaser Trailer

New Intel Network Adapter Drivers
Version: 24.1 Date: 6/27/2019
Windows 7 | Windows 8.1 | Windows 10 | Complete Driver Pack

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

Win10 1909 will be a Service Pack: Good news, but many unanswered questions
“Yesterday, Microsoft promised that its second version of Windows for 1909, code-named 19H2, but more consistently known as version 1909, will be a traditional Win10 1903 Service Pack 1. Hooray! What’s next?”
I’m still concentrating on 1903.

House to vote on $15 minimum wage by August
“The House will vote on the first federal minimum wage increase in over a decade this July, The Hill has confirmed
The legislation to be considered is the Raise the Wage Act backed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC). It would more than double the $7.25 minimum wage to $15 by 2024. The current minimum wage has been in place since July of 2009.
Congress actually passed that wage hike in 2007.”
“I’m strong to the finish, ’cause I eats me spinach, I’m Popeye the sailor man!”

Spinach chemical should be put on doping ban list, say researchers
“Cartoon character Popeye is known for munching endless cans of spinach to boost his strength, and new scientific research suggests he might have been onto something.”
See also: Popeye and the Great Spinach Myth

THE CULT Announces ‘Sonic Temple’ 30th-Anniversary Reissues With Bonus Tracks
The Cult – Sonic Temple 30th Anniversary 5xCD boxset
Pre-order Price: $37.49
The best album of a really good band. I’ve only got to see them live once (2008 or 2009).
30 Years Ago Today, The Cult Worshipped At The ‘Sonic Temple’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cult
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_Temple

Sysinternals Freeware Updates
Autoruns, Process Explorer, RAMMap, and Sysmon all updated.

AMD Radeon Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.6.3 Optional
Support for F1 2019, 1/2 dozen fixes.
Download | Release Notes

Other Software Updates
FinalCrypt 5.0.2
Mp3tag v2.96

Apple Moves Mac Pro Production to China
The $6,000 desktop computer had been the company’s only major device assembled in the U.S.
Just one more reason not to deal with that company. You suck Apple.

Win10 1903 Updated
Bunch of “Addresses an issue”.
June 27, 2019—KB4501375 (OS Build 18362.207)

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

Google accused of inappropriate access to medical data in potential class-action lawsuit
The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, is the latest example of how tech giants’ forays into the trillion-dollar healthcare industry are being met by concerns over privacy…The company also noted it would use “de-identified medical records” from Chicago that would be “stripped of any personally identifiable information.”…Wednesday’s lawsuit claims that the company failed to do this. “In reality, these records were not sufficiently anonymized and put the patients’ privacy at grave risk”

Hey China, while you’re in all our servers, can you fix these support tickets? IBM, HPE, Tata CS, Fujitsu, NTT and their customers pwned
“Fresh details have emerged revealing just how deeply Chinese government hackers plundered HPE, IBM, DXC, Fujitsu, Tata, and others, stealing corporate secrets and rifling through their customers’ networks…Beijing’s miscreants had not just access to the internal files of HPE, IBM, Tata CS et al, but also their network-connected customers, putting designs, plans, personal information, and more, at their fingertips…Props to China for its deadpan comedy bit in response to today’s revelations: “The Chinese government has never in any form participated in or supported any person to carry out the theft of commercial secrets.”

Desert Storm Memorial is Way Short of $40 Million Fundraising Goal
“This will not stand. This will not stand, this aggression against Kuwait.” President George H.W. Bush, August 5, 1990
For more info and to donate: The National Desert Storm and Desert Shield Memorial

CCleaner 5.59
3 small fixes that won’t matter to 99.9% of you. Skip this one.
Download (I use portable) | Release Announcement
See also: Blocking A Programs Internet Access Via The Windows Firewall

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

OneDrive Personal Vault
“OneDrive runs on the trusted Microsoft cloud, which has many security measures in place to keep your files safe. But we understand that some people want more protection for their most important and sensitive files, which is why we’re introducing Personal Vault.
Personal Vault is a protected area in OneDrive that you can only access with a strong authentication method or a second step of identity verification, such as your fingerprint, face, PIN, or a code sent to you via email or SMS.1 Your locked files in Personal Vault have an extra layer of security, keeping them more secured in the event that someone gains access to your account or your device.”
I dropped OneDrive a few years ago because the syncing between devices sucked. Has it improved? Right now I just encrypt my sensitive folders.

How To View Someone’s LinkedIn Profile Anonymously Without Account
I wanted to do this recently and found the above guide. Of the first 3 or 4 methods I found Gooogling, this was the only one that produced results. Limited but it works for the basics. I’m not on nor am I interested in being on Linkedin.

‘Dark patterns’ are steering many internet users into making bad decisions
“Even if you’ve never heard the phrase “dark patterns,” you’re almost certainly familiar with them. They’re the sneaky ways online companies trick you into agreeing to stuff you’d normally never assent to.
Classic example: You encounter a prompt asking if you want to sign up for some program or service, and the box is already checked. If you don’t uncheck it — that is, if you do nothing — you’re enrolled.
A bipartisan bill has been introduced in Congress that would prohibit websites and online platforms (hi, Facebook!) from employing such deliberately deceptive tactics, and would empower the Federal Trade Commission to crack down on sites that keep trying to fool people.”

You cannot be ‘too clean’ health experts warn, in bid to debunk myths
“You cannot be “too clean”, millennials are being told, as public health experts attempt to debunk myths around hygiene. The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) said incorrect theories which became popular in the 1990s were fuelling confusion and unhygienic habits among subsequent generations.”
“Millennials”…

Cars.com’s 2019 American-Made Index: What’s the Most American Car?
1. Jeep Cherokee
2. Honda Odyssey
3. Honda Ridgeline
4. Honda Passport
5. Chevrolet Corvette
13. Ford F-150

NJ ‘Least Patriotic’ State In US, Study Says
The above article led to this one: 2019’s Most Patriotic States in America

Winaero Tweaker 0.15
Download | Release Info | Home Page

Goodbye, Chrome: Google’s web browser has become spy software
“In a week of Web surfing on my desktop, I discovered 11,189 requests for tracker “cookies” that Chrome would have ushered right onto my computer but were automatically blocked by Firefox. These little files are the hooks that data firms, including Google itself, use to follow what websites you visit so they can build profiles of your interests, income and personality.”

Dell software designed to protect you from vulnerabilities has another vulnerability
“Dell’s SupportAssist software, a Windows toolkit designed in part to protect your computer from security vulnerabilities, has yet another vulnerability of its own that makes running older versions of the software a risk to your system”
Y’all know to uninstall all that OEM crap right?

Win10 Updated
All supported versions of Win10 have been updated except the newest version, 1903.
30+ “Addresses an issue”.
Windows 10 Release History

Firefox 67.0.4
“Security fix”
Download | Release Notes
This means Tails has been updated and Tor Browser will be.

Intel Graphics Windows 10 DCH Drivers
Highlights:
Launch Driver: Steel Division 2 & The Sinking City
Performance improvements: The Sinking City & Unreal Engine 4
Download | Release Notes

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

Microsoft’s Chromium Edge browser now available on Windows 7 and Windows 8

The sky is falling for fast food, but not for Chick-fil-A. Here’s why.
“Where total restaurant traffic increased less than 1 percent, Chick-fil-A saw double-digit growth…“The level of customer satisfaction is highly differentiated from many of their fast-food peers.”…Chick-fil-A’s customer service is legendary…“Half of all meals are now eaten in restaurants, half of those as fast food, and half of those are just 10 companies. Chick-fil-A is now one of them”
My fav fast food chain. I’ve got the app on my phone. I usually get:
Spicy Chicken Sandwich, Fruit Cup, and a large diet Lemonade. If I’m really hungry I will get 2 sandwiches and eat them without the bun. I wish they had spicy nuggets or strips.