Computer News

Updated April 1, 2018, 08:30(EDT) – added a few links

Intel SSD Toolbox 3.5.2
Download | Release Notes

Where Ya Been CNN?
CNN just discovered what we Geeks have known for years about Microsoft. To quote myself,
“The philosophy has become cloud first, mobile first, subscription-based twaddle.”

GET OFF OF FACEBOOK
As the (unscientific) poll stands now around 70% of the respondents aren’t on Facebook with another 13% leaving.
You guys are truly the best of the best of the best!
As for Fbook, the bad news continues:
Well, These New Zuckerberg IMs Won’t Help Facebook’s Privacy Problems

Growth At Any Cost: Top Facebook Executive Defended Data Collection In 2016 Memo — And Warned That Facebook Could Get People Killed

Report: Facebook Staff Suddenly Concerned About Privacy, Specifically Theirs

Americans are losing trust in Facebook — here’s why they’ll keep using it anyway

Etc.
‘He Broke Boundaries With His Mind’: Public Pays Tribute At Stephen Hawking’s Funeral

Why the rush to defend Amazon?

OFF TOPIC
From beer league to big league: 36-year-old goalie Scott Foster makes emergency debut in Blackhawks’ 6-2 win

DEF LEPPARD Guitarist Says ANGUS YOUNG Should Resist Urge To Make New AC/DC Album With AXL ROSE: ‘It’s Lost Its Integrity’

Terry Myerson Out
Microsoft’s head of Windows is done. The only reasons I see given right now are speculation though most if it suggests he was asked to leave. I know almost nothing about him personally so I’ve no opinion on the man. As the head of Windows however…
One comment I saw said it perfectly re Myerson’s departure, “Rearranging chairs on the Titanic.” Microsoft, or at least the Windows for PCs part, has been headed in the wrong direction since Windows 7. The philosophy has become cloud first, mobile first, subscription-based twaddle. IMHO there are many people within the Microsoft hierarchy that need to go. Starting at the top.

Mp3tag 2.87 Released
Download | Release Announcment

It’s Opening Day
MLB is back. The Detroit Tigers game got postponed so I’m gonna watch my homeboy, World Series Champion, and Kates’s hubby Justin Verlander on the mound.

#DeleteFacebook Edition ( aka GET OFF OF FACEBOOK )
New Poll Up – – – – > > > >

Too Little Too Late?
Facebook – It’s Time to Make Our Privacy Tools Easier to Find
Did they just admit to purposely making them hard to find before?

31% of Tech Workers Say They Will #DeleteFacebook
Percentage of the employees at the top 5 tech companies that say they will delete Facebook:
Amazon – 34%
Google – 38%
Microsoft – 50%
Snap – 46%
Uber – 40%

Playboy Too
No more Facebook for the bunnies.

Off Topic
Fed-Up Chef Breaks Down Deer Leg in Front of Vegan Protesters
Rare White Lion Cub Seen in South Africa

Nvidia Geforce Game Ready 391.35 WHQL Drivers
“Provides the optimal gaming experience for Far Cry 5”
Download | Release Notes

Win10 SCU RTM? ETA???
Diggin’ this military sounding acronym stuff!
Another report saying the latest build (17133) of Win10 is RTM. As of this writing BuildFeed has the last Win10 build released as Build 17133.1 so they may be right.
This build has been released to the fast ring. Downloading and installing now.

BranchScope
New attacks from the same vulnerability that bought us Spectre.
“It’s likely to be years before researchers have determined all the various ways in which the speculative execution hardware can be used to leak information this way, and it will be longer still before robust, universal defenses are available to stop the attacks.”

GET OFF OF FACEBOOK
Facebook Acknowledges It Has Been Keeping Records of Android Users’ Calls and Texts
LOL. Wow. Just…Wow.

It Gets Funnier
“Nearly half of the popular apps from the Google Play Store are sending information about private individuals to Facebook, regardless of whether or not they have an account with the social networking site”

Facebook Container
“Prevent Facebook from tracking you around the web. The Facebook Container extension for Firefox helps you take control and isolate your web activity from Facebook.”
Facebook Container by Mozilla

AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.3.4 Optional
Download | Release Notes

Firefox 59.0.2
All downloads | Release Notes

Win10 For Gamers?
PCWorld thinks Win10 needs a “Gaming Edition“. I can’t argue with that.

GET OFF OF FACEBOOK
Elon Musk hopped on the #DeleteFacebook train. With all the anti-Facebook ranting I have done I should feel vindicated. I don’t. I don’t think that many people will leave it.

Off Topic
Sunken USS Juneau Famous for the Sullivan Brothers Discovered on St. Patrick’s Day
Drivers being blinded by ‘too-bright’ LED headlights on posh new cars, warns RAC

Google Chrome Updated
“The stable channel has been updated to 65.0.3325.181 for Windows, Mac and Linux.”
Various bug fixes and a security fix.
Download

Got Patches?
KB4090007: Intel microcode updates
“Intel recently announced that they have completed their validations and started to release microcode for newer CPU platforms around Spectre Variant 2 (CVE 2017-5715 (“Branch Target Injection”)). This update includes microcode updates from Intel for the following CPUs:” Skylake, Kaby Lake, Coffee Lake.
You have to download and install this manually: https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB4090007

Wise Disk Cleaner 9.7.2
Improved the feature of Common Cleaner. Minor GUI improvements. Updated various translations.
Download (I use the portable version)

AMD / CTS Labs
AMD will patch the security issues found by CTS labs. They will do this via a BIOS update. AMD and others continue to insist the vulnerability is next to impossible to exploit.

#DeleteFacebook
Yep. That’s a thing right now. Here is an article that shows you how to delete your Facebook account.

[H]ard On Nvdia 2
Last Tuesday I linked to an article at [H]ardOCP that took Nvidia to task for the questionable tactics it uses in it’s GeForce Partner Program. A reporter from Forbes saw the article and started asking questions too. Interesting stuff:
“Since publishing the story, all of Bennett’s contacts have gone silent including Nvidia. My own follow-up to his investigation is stalled. I’d secured a commitment from a few companies to speak off the record, but they have also gone dark. Prior to that happening I had two brief conversations that made it obvious the program was troublesome, to put it mildly.”

Google News Initiative
IMHO we are an era where almost every news outlet picks a side rather than reporting facts. It seems most people get their news from sites that agree with them politically rather than being accurate.
Google says they aim to fix this. I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting on it.
“There are three specific goals of the Google News Initiative: highlight accurate journalism while fighting misinformation, particularly during breaking news events; help news sites continue to grow from a business perspective; and create new tools to help journalists do their jobs.“