“Silicon Valley is engineering your phone, apps and social media to get you hooked, says a former Google product manager.”
Very interesting article. Unfortunately it is about a 60 Minutes TV show that you can only see if you subscribe. Nope.
Bottom line. Tech companies engineer their products to get you addicted, to fool you, to manipulate you.
“Look, never before in history have a handful of people at a handful of technology companies shaped how a billion people think and feel every day with the choices they make about these screens.”
The report is about a guy named Tristan Harris. He wrote a paper called How Technology is Hijacking Your Mind — from a Magician and Google Design Ethicist.
I highly suggest you read it. It took me about 10 minutes to read. I will probably re-read it later.
Computer News
Wednesday Random Stuff…
CCleaner Updated
v5.30.6065 (23 May 2017)
– Improved Edge Cookie cleaning
– Updated Internet Explorer 10 and 11 History cleaning
– Updated Thunderbird 52 History cleaning
– Updated Windows Explorer MRU Cache cleaning
– Improved SSD detection algorithm
– Optimized Update Checking process
– Minor GUI improvements
– Minor bug fixes
Download
VMware Player 12.5.6
– Day 0 support of the Windows 10 Creators Update (version 1703).
– Bug fixes and security updates.
Download
Latest Video Drivers
AMD Crimson ReLive Edition 17.5.2 (5/18/2017)
Nvidia Ceforce Game Ready Driver 382.33 WHQL (5/22/2017)
MediaMonkey 4.1.16.1836
“It’s a significant update with over 30 fixes and improvements to music syncing, tagging, UPnP, podcasting, playback and more.”
Download & Info
Tuesday Random Stuff…
New Win10 Update
April 25, 2017—KB4016240 (OS Build 15063.250)
“This non-security update includes quality improvements. No new operating system features are being introduced in this update.”
As always keep an eye on AskWoody for advice on the latest Windows Updates.
I Have No Words
Speed Up Windows by Disabling and Removing HomeGroup
Tweak Guide Worthy?
I experimented with this new feature: Lock your Windows 10 PC automatically when you step away from it
Kinda neat. Would be better if it worked like a USB key (can’t login without it).
Not sure if this is worth putting in the Tweak Guide. What do y’all think?
Does This Make Me Look Fat?
Rafael Rivera says “Yes”. Windows is Bloated, Thanks to Adobe’s Extensible Metadata Platform
Basically Windows images contain a lot of useless data that can be stripped away.
“Windows Explorer, for example, is a critical Shell component in the startup hot path. But despite its importance, it’s comprised of ~20% pure garbage. ApplicationFrame.dll, responsible for Windows app title bars and frame gizmos, is ~41% garbage. Twinui, imageres, and other related components scored with much lower numbers but couldn’t fully escape Adobe XMP.”
Cool Story Bro!
Video at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBG03A49-0Y
“Tom Sitter won The Moth in Madison StorySLAM at the High Noon Saloon February 13, 2017. Tom scored our first ever 10 with his winning story tonight. The memory of the girls he carefully selected to give his five valentines to in 1933 was strong enough that 84 years later he still knew their names.”
Wednesday Random Stuff…
Latest Windows Security Issues
Last week there were sensationalist reports about Windows and the NSA’s hacking tools. In a nutshell the NSA was using security holes to hack what they could. The thing is Microsoft has already patched the holes, at least most of them. The only thing I think you may want to do is eliminate SMB1 from your computers. SMB1 is a 30 year old networking protocol which is unneeded in modern operating systems.
Here is how to remove SMB1 from your computer: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2696547/how-to-enable-and-disable-smbv1,-smbv2,-and-smbv3-in-windows-vista,-windows-server-2008,-windows-7,-windows-server-2008-r2,-windows-8,-and-windows-server-2012 Only disable SMB1.
CCleaner Updated
“Improved, updated, new, bug fixes…”
Download
Firefox 53
This will be officially out today It is up on most mirrors now.
Windows 64-bit (en-US)
Windows 32-bit (en-US)
Other systems and languages
Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 17.4.3
– Support for Windows 10 Creators Update.
– Support for Radeon RX 580 Series Graphics.
– Support for Radeon RX 570 Series Graphics.
Download
Edge Still Dull
Paul (Don’t call me bro) Thurrott is showing his age and giving a run through of Microsoft Edge Browser’s shortcomings. I give the article an A+ for the Stevie Nicks reference.
Thursday Morning News
“The Windows 10 Creators Update will begin to roll out to customers around the world on April 11”
Google Chrome Updated
“The stable channel has been updated to 57.0.2987.133 for Windows, Mac, and Linux…This update includes 5 security fixes.”
Download: Google Chrome Web 32-bit Google Chrome 64-bit
Download Offline Installer: Google Chrome Offline Installer 32-bit Google Chrome Offline Installer 64-bit
Firefox 52.0.2
Download 32-bit(en-US)
Download 64-bit (en-US)
All Downloads
Release Notes
AMD GPU Drivers
AMD Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 17.3.3
For Honor and Sniper fixes.
Weekend Random Stuff…
Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Central Virginia so I rode a section of the Virginia Capital Trail on my new bike.
I finished the day off with a delicious Hardywood Bourbon Barrel Cru and an Ardent Company Man (German-style pils). It was a good day.
Maps Wrong?
I remember this issue being discussed several years ago but I just saw this article and thought I would pass it along.
Five Maps That Will Change How You See the World
Here is an article from 2014: Why every world map you’re looking at is WRONG: Africa, China and India are distorted despite access to accurate satellite data
Report Wrong
Apparently the original report was wrong, Vulkan’s Multi-GPU Support Isn’t Only For Windows 10. Good news!
Microsoft Wrong
‘Windows 10 destroyed our data!’ Microsoft hauled into US court.
Judge TweakHound’s decision, I’m ruling for the plaintiffs and awarding $10,000 in actual damages and $10,000,000,000 in punitive damages.
Just Plain Wrong
Senate Puts ISP Profits Over Your Privacy
No justification for this.
IoT Security Wrong
“96% of security professionals responding to a new survey expecting an increase in IoT breaches this year”
Thanks to Ed for the link!
Uber Wrong
Uber to Suspend Autonomous Tests After Arizona Accident
Star Wars Never Wrong
Bob Iger Reveals ‘Star Wars’ Han Solo Spinoff Details, Talks Plans After ‘Episode IX’
“You’ll also discover how he got his name.”
Tuesday Morning News
Win10 Updated
Couple of fixes.
Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 update history
Related:
Mystery update KB 3150513 makes yet another reappearance: “You probably don’t want this update—long implicated in advanced Microsoft snooping—on your Windows system”
New Nvidia Drivers
GeForce Game Ready Driver 378.92 WHQL available.
“Provides the optimal gaming experience for Mass Effect: Andromeda and Rock Band VR”
Download
Weekend Random Stuff…
Happy Saint Patty’s Day
My 100% Irish Grandfather thought the shenanigans surrounding this holiday here in the U.S.A. was too much.
He said, and I am paraphrasing here to keep this SFW,
“Luck of the Irish my arse.”
Still, I’m gonna knock back a pint or two.
If you celebrate, please don’t drink and drive. Call a friend, a taxi, or Lyft, or Uber.
Win10 Creators Update
“They” say this is right around the corner. But then again, Microsoft released build 15060 to the fast ring yesterday and “They” said this was the final build. Then today Microsoft released build 15061. So what the heck do “They” know. I expect I will be futilely running a few Game Mode benchies this weekend.
DSOG claims that as far as Windows is concerned, Vulkan will support multiple GPUs only in Windows 10. So, that kinda sucks.
Tom Warren (ex of WinRumors and Neowin) over at iVerge claims that all the ads in Win10 “are the final straw“. Glad he has joined the party but “the final straw” implies a response that I don’t see in his article.. You know, “that latest affair was the last straw, I’m leaving.”
Ryzen Tips From AMD
In a nutshell:
– Buy fast RAM
– Use High Performance Power Plan
– Overclock
Yes we’ve all been doing that since, well since we’ve been using PC’s.
Google Chrome Updated
“The stable channel has been updated to 57.0.2987.110 for Windows, Mac, and Linux.”
Download: Google Chrome Web 32-bit Google Chrome 64-bit
Download Offline Installer: Google Chrome Offline Installer 32-bit Google Chrome Offline Installer 64-bit
Credit Neowin with links
VM Software Updated
VMware Workstation 12.5.4 Player
VirtualBox 5.1.18
Wise Disk Cleaner 9.44
Info
Download
Audacity 2.1.3
“Audacity is free, open source, cross-platform audio software for multi-track recording and editing.”
Download & Info
March Madness
Got your brackets going?
I’ve got 2 main ones. One at the NCAA site and one at ESPN.
Tuesday Random Stuff…
Installing Windows 7 From Scratch
Woody Leonhard has a chuckle at Microsoft’s “convoluted technique for installing Windows 7 from scratch“.
Best to follow his advice.
Firefox 52 Released
Download 32-bit(en-US)
Download 64-bit (en-US)
All Downloads
Release Notes
O&O ShutUp10 Updated
Version 1.4.1387 – released on 07.03.2017
Following settings were changed:
– Setting “Do not display last users on lock screen” was removed as some users had problems accessing their system
Following errors were fixed:
– Dialogue boxes were defective in high contrast mode
– Crash when clicking links where Google Chrome is set as the standard browser
– Problems detecting some Windows 10 OEM versions
– Notifications that some settings are managed by the organisation did not disappear after applying factory settings
– Factory settings revised
Available in English, German, French, Italian and Russian
Linux Swap Partition
Red Hat Blog – Do we really need swap on modern systems?
“How much swap is recommended nowadays?
This depends on the desired behaviour of the system, but configuring an amount of 20% of the RAM as swap is usually a good idea. More details are in this solution document.
Can I run without swap? Is further tuning possible?
Systems without swap can make sense and are supported by Red Hat – just be sure the behaviour of such a system under memory pressure is what you want. In most environments, a bit of swap makes sense.”
Random Friday Stuff…
Flash Updates In Windows Update
MS17-005: Security update for Adobe Flash Player: February 21, 2017
Thanks to Ed and radosuaf!
Updated Software
Acronis True Image 2017 Update 2
MediaMonkey 4.1.15.1828
Planet Stuff
NASA found some interesting and possibly habitable planets. It’s cool and all but there are a lot of unanswered questions.
See here for some cool posters.
“Back in my day we had NINE planets”
Bring back Pluto!