Gregarius » BetaNews.Com » octobre 23, 2015

BetaNews.Com (20 non lus)

Anonymous browser Tor is coming to iOS 9 to boost privacy

Publié: octobre 23, 2015, 10:16pm CEST par Mark Wilson

The release of iOS 9 meant a lot of things to a lot a people. For Tor it means that the privacy-focused browser will finally be able to make its way to iPhones around the world. No particular timetable has been set out, but an iOS version of the anonymizing browser is on the cards.

In fact, it is more than just the Tor browser that's on the way -- "there are a bunch of pieces in the works", according to developer Nathan Freitas. Bringing Tor tools to iOS 9 will bring Apple's mobile devices in line with Android, and it's all thanks to new capabilities in the latest version of the operating system.

Talking to the Daily Dot, Freitas said: "iOS has some new capabilities in it. You can create a device-wide virtual private network, and it can be a Tor-based VPN. So we can create an Orbot-like service on iOS 9, which is exciting."

What this means is that Tor's famous anonymization can be shared to other apps, not just the browser itself. This opens up the possibility of routing chats, emails, and any other traffic through the Tor network so all manner of apps can take advantage of the privacy options.

Photo credit: Lucky Team Studio / Shutterstock
There has never been a better time to tweak your Facebook privacy settings

Publié: octobre 23, 2015, 8:19pm CEST par Mark Wilson
Facebook and privacy are not words you tend to find together in the same sentence -- at least not in a positive sense. Just a few days ago, the social network announced that all public posts were to be made searchable -- although it wasn't really billed as such.

You might not be entirely happy with this. While you may now be careful that you only share posts with your friends, a huge number of historic posts have now been made searchable. If you'd prefer to keep your content private, now is the time to act.

In fact, there are a couple of things you need to do -- limit the audience that can access everything you post from this point forward, and limit the audience that can access your past posts. Quite why this could not be covered by a single setting is anyone's guess, but that's just the way it is. Here's what you need to do.
- Fire up your web browser and pay a visit to Facebook.
- Click the padlock symbol in the blue bar at the top of the page, and then click Who can see my stuff?
- From the dropdown menu labelled Who can see my future posts?, select Friends -- or anything other than Public.
- Now click the See More Settings link at the bottom of the Privacy Shortcuts menu.
- Click Limit Past Posts and you can restrict all of your past posts so they can only be seen by people on your friend list.
- Click the Limit Old Post button followed by Confirm, and you're done.
Photo credit: graja / Shutterstock
Number of data breaches prove businesses are over-confident about security

Publié: octobre 23, 2015, 8:17pm CEST par Darren Allan

A new piece of research has raised further worries about data breaches, and specifically, the perception gap between the number of businesses who believe they’ve experienced a breach, and the actual numbers of data breaches occurring.

The research in question is the new Breach Confidence Index from Ilex International, an identity and access management company, which is based on a survey by YouGov that questioned just over 500 IT decision-makers in the UK.

It found a rather misplaced high level of confidence regarding breaches, with 24 percent of those questioned saying they were very confident their organization is protected against a possible breach, and a whopping 59 percent saying they were fairly confident.

In other words, there’s a good level of confidence from 84 percent of businesses in terms of their defenses, which obviously isn’t a realistic figure given the amount of breaches that occur.

Of course, as Ilex pointed out, some firms may not even realize they’ve been the victim of a hack. Half of respondents -- 49 per cent -- said their organization hasn’t been hit by a security breach, yet when you compare that to the actual statistics there is a major disconnect.

The IT decision-makers surveyed were also asked what the most common weaknesses were that resulted in a security breach, and the foremost issue was, unsurprisingly, malware vulnerabilities which were responsible for 22 percent of breaches.

Email security was only just behind that, though, on 21 percent, with employee education (i.e. bad practices or user error from staff) in third place at 15 percent.

Cloud apps were next at 12 percent, also tied with insider threats (malicious actions from staff) on the same percentage.

Thierry Bettini, director of International Strategy at Ilex, commented: "It’s important that businesses come to terms with the reality of data security breaches. If they don’t think they have been targeted yet, they will be and need to be prepared. As technology evolves and brings new security risks, businesses should be doing all they can to educate employees on security best practices and tighten access to sensitive data".

Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved.

Image Credit: Sergey Nivens / Shutterstock
Optimize your mouse movements for a dual display PC

Publié: octobre 23, 2015, 7:59pm CEST par Mike Williams

Set up Windows for a dual-monitor system and your mouse cursor should move smoothly from one display to the next.

This brings real advantages, but you may also notice a few issues, because the cursor doesn’t just stop at the edge of the screen any more. It’s all too easy to move to a scroll bar, or some other control at the far side of one display, and find your mouse cursor overshoots to the other screen.

Dual Display Mouse Manager (DDMM) is an open source tool for Windows which detects when your cursor reaches the edge of a screen, then snaps and holds it there for a user-defined period, reducing the chance of any problems.

The program is very small -- one EXE, one DLL, under 100KB in total -- and there’s no installation required, just unzip and run it.

The default settings work reasonably well, but left-clicking DDMM’s system tray icon displays its various tweaks.

The initial delay time is 150ms, but you can adjust this as required.

If you find the delay can be annoying sometimes, there’s an option to ignore it and restore instant border crossings by holding down Ctrl.

The program hasn’t been updated since 2010, but our first look -- and reports from other users -- suggest it still works well on modern systems.

Mouse handling is simpler on a single PC as the cursor normally stops at the edge of the screen, but this isn’t always desirable -- and it’s just as easy to change.

Run Border-Less Unlimited Mouse and your cursor then wraps around the screen. Drag it below the bottom of the screen, it appears at the top, and if you drag it off the left side of the screen it’ll appear on the right.

This may help anyone who has difficulties with a regular mouse, as it sometimes reduces the distance your cursor will need to travel.

It also makes control more difficult, but fortunately you can choose which screen edges allow wrapping. Disable the feature at the top edge, for example, and you’ll know you can select a menu option without the risking the cursor moving to the bottom of the screen.

Border-Less Unlimited Mouse and Dual Display Mouse Manager won’t be right for everyone, but they’re both compact and easy ways to play with some mouse fundamentals, and may save you some time and hassle. Worth a try.
Tech specialists make 35 percent more money than other employees

Publié: octobre 23, 2015, 7:05pm CEST par Sead Fadilpašić

If you want to earn more money than your friends, consider a career in tech. Median gross annual earnings for tech specialists in 2014 were £36,600, new figures published this week by Tech Partnership show.

This is more than one third (35 percent) higher than the level for all full-time employees, a follow-up press release reads.

In the three out of the four broad occupational groups into which they fall, tech specialists earn more than their non-tech counterparts, the figures, based on analysis of Office of National Statistics data show.

"This is particularly marked in more senior occupations", the release adds. "Tech specialists operating at Manager, Director and Senior Official level earn 60 per cent more than non-tech specialists at an equivalent level".

There are also discrepancies in terms of location and gender -- one in four tech businesses are located in London, and almost half in London and the South East. There, tech specialists out-earn their equivalents elsewhere by 19 percent.

While salaries for tech specialists are generally higher in the tech industry itself -- a premium of six percent across the UK as a whole -- non-tech firms in London and the North East are paying more highly than tech firms.

In terms of the gender gap -- 17 percent of people employed in tech specialist roles are women. Even though women in tech earn more than women doing other jobs, they take home 15 percent less than their male counterparts (£32,000 median annual earnings vs £37,700 for men).

Finally, tech specialists who make a career in the discipline can expect to see their earnings rise with age. Those under 24 earn £20,700, but peak salaries are taken home by those aged 45 - 54: £42,200.

The full bulletin is available for download on this link.

Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved.

Image Credit: Artem Samokhvalov/Shutterstock
At last! Microsoft brings OpenSSH to Windows

Publié: octobre 23, 2015, 6:50pm CEST par Mark Wilson
It is a few months since Microsoft announced that SSH support was on its way to Windows. The absence of this feature has baffled and frustrated many users for years, and Microsoft admitted that it was one of the most frequently requested features of the PowerShell team.

The project comes after Microsoft decided to get involved in the OpenSSH community. Based on a previous NoMachine port, the Windows port is now in sync with OpenSSH 7.1. It means that secure, remote management of Linux machines from Windows is much easier.

While this release is a major milestone, there is still some way to go. Microsoft warns that "this code is still very early and should be treated as a developer preview and is not supported for use in production". Writing on the PowerShell blog, principal software engineer manager Steve Lee shared the project roadmap:
1. Update NoMachine port to OpenSSH 7.1 [Done]
2. Leverage Windows crypto api's instead of OpenSSL/LibreSSL and run as Windows Service
3. Address POSIX compatibility concerns
4. Stabilize the code and address reported issues
5. Production quality release
The aim is to have a final release within the first half of 2016, and people are encouraged to make use of the current release and provide feedback.

Hit the PowerShell Github repository for everything you need.

Photo credit: Profit_Image / Shutterstock
UK and China sign cyber-attack agreement -- but will it be honored?

Publié: octobre 23, 2015, 6:49pm CEST par Sead Fadilpašić

Chinese president Xi Jinping, and the British prime minister David Cameron, signed an agreement saying the two countries won’t hack and steal each other’s secrets.

A similar agreement was signed between China and the US, just a day before a Chinese cyber-attack against the States.

The agreement was signed during Jinping’s visit to Britain, as the Chinese president tries to fix the country’s reputation of being the world’s biggest hacking menace and the biggest distributor of malware, right after that "hottest chick nearby" ad. "It sets out very clearly what they agree they will not do", a Downing Street spokeswoman said.

In an effort to repair the country’s image, in August the state announced the arrests of 15,000 people suspected of internet security crimes. Pretty much every time a cyber-attack on a state institution, or particular industry is unveiled, the finger is pointed at China.

In one of recent such attacks, which China obviously denied having anything to do with, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) was attacked.

The breach affected OPM’s IT systems and its data stored at the Department of the Interior’s data centre, which is a shared service centre for federal agencies, a DHS official said on condition of anonymity. The official would not comment on whether other agencies’ data had been affected.

It is also being reported that the Chinese are using "Great Cannon" to launch DDoS attacks.

Researchers at the University of Toronto have discovered the Great Cannon after coding site GitHub was grounded by a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS). The attack particularly focused on users of the site with a history of trying to circumvent China’s censorship programs: The New York Times’ Chinese mirror and GreatFire.org.

Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved.

Photo credit: Basar / Shutterstock
Facebook says bad app coding caused iOS battery drain, not location settings

Publié: octobre 23, 2015, 6:02pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Many iPhone users were upset to find that battery life was rather shorter than expected. Fingers of suspicion started to point to the iOS Facebook app, and now the social network has released a fix as well as revealing that poor coding was to blame.

The latest version of the Facebook app goes some way to putting things right, but it is unlikely to be a complete fix. Facebook says it "found a few key issues and have identified additional improvements" in the app, but only "some of which" made it into the latest update. Something the company is keen to stress is that the Location History feature is not responsible, and provides details about two other factors contributing to battery drain.

One of the problems stems from the fact that the app failed to close audio sessions when they finished. This means that iPhones ate through battery life "as if the app was playing audio silently". Ari Grant from Facebook says:

The app isn't actually doing anything while awake in the background, but it does use more battery simply by being awake. Our fixes will solve this audio issue and remove background audio completely.

Another issue relates to CPU spin in network code. The app was using too much processing time -- and therefore battery -- by checking too frequently whether operations had completed. But even with an updated version of the app, Facebook has not managed to fully nail the problem: there are just "some improvements that should start making this better".

Photo credit: endermasali / Shutterstock
5 great reasons why you should buy Microsoft Surface Book

Publié: octobre 23, 2015, 5:44pm CEST par Mihaita Bamburic

If you are the sort of person who can't see the forest for the trees then Microsoft's new Surface Book is not for you. This much is clear after reading Brian Fagioli's article on why you shouldn't get the device. My colleague pays so much attention to certain details that he fails to see how Surface Book can be a great option for plenty of shoppers in the premium segment -- because those are the folks Microsoft is targeting, not the average Joe who takes issue with the $1,499 starting price.

Yes, Surface Book is a costly affair. But, it is also a unique proposition in today's market, which offers plenty of value for the money, something that cannot be said about most of its apparent rivals. So, without further ado, if you can afford Surface Book, here are five great reasons why you should get it.

1. Versatility

At first glance, Surface Book is a high-end Windows 10 ultrabook that can outperform Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. The latter is considered by many the gold-standard when it comes to performance-oriented ultrabooks.

But, detach the full-size keyboard and you now have a blazing-fast Windows 10 tablet in your hands. It can be used much like a Surface Pro 4 -- albeit not for as-long a period of time -- as a Surface Pen is included in the box.

Of course, unlike Surface Pro 4, Surface Book actually works like an ultrabook when the keyboard is attached, in the sense that it can be used on your lap without any apparent issues or having to fiddle around with the kickstand. It "just works", as some would say.

Surface Book is equipped with two USB 3.0 ports and an SD card reader, which makes it an interesting option for, say, photographers. There is also a mini DisplayPort, which lets you connect it to a big screen when using it at a desk. Lots of storage space? With SSDs that go up in size to 1 TB, you bet.

2. Power

What excites me the most about Surface Book is the fact that Microsoft has somehow managed to cram a dedicated graphics card inside such a small shell. One is not available in every configuration, but the cheapest model with proper graphics can be had for a reasonable $1,699 (well, reasonable for the price-range Surface Book is available in). That means it can handle some games and graphics-intensive programs much better than, say, a 13-inch rMBP.

At the same time, Microsoft does not compromise on processors and RAM either. You have a selection of dual-core, mobile-optimized, Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors, coupled with 8 GB or 16 GB of RAM. Even if you go for the base model, which packs a Core i5 processor, integrated graphics, and 8 GB of RAM, you will be more than happy with the performance it can deliver for every day tasks.

3. Battery Life

Another area where Surface Book impresses is battery life. While the tablet side does not last long on its own, when used as intended the device promises up to 12 hours of video playback before having to plug it in. In testing, around 10 hours of battery life while browsing is achievable. That is pretty impressive.

There is no defending the weak battery life in tablet mode, but, let's face it, no device is ever perfect right from the start. It has taken Microsoft a few tries to get Surface Pro to the point where it can work well -- and for longer than a couple of hours -- as a laptop replacement, and, by that measure, Surface Book is great already.

4. Value

Talking about value in relation to a product that kicks off at $1,499 may sound silly, but let's not forget who Microsoft is really targeting with its new device -- potential buyers for the 13-inch rMBP.

Apple's ultrabook may be $200 cheaper for an equivalent model, but its screen is fixed and does not support touch input. So, if you think about it, adding $200 for the added benefits that Surface Book offers is not a bad deal.

Also, if you want a rMBP with dedicated graphics you have to compromise on size and cost and go for the 15-inch model. That is not exactly cheap, starting at $2,499 (for the dedicated graphics-toting model). By comparison, like I mentioned above, the cheapest Surface Book with dedicated graphics costs $1,699. The barrier of entry is much lower, and even in this segment this is worth pointing out.

5. The Cool Factor

Yes, I am going there. Surface Book is cool. If you believe that this is a silly reason for telling someone to buy it, so be it. But, remember, you are reading this article on a website dedicated to technology enthusiasts with a pulse.

But, I am not just going to say that and be done with it. So let's explain the cool factor.

I'll start with the design. If you are spending this sort of money, you should expect your device to stand out from the crowd. And it does. Put next to any of its rivals, Surface Book looks like a special thing.

Even that hinge has its charm. It will certainly attract people's attention, and there is nothing wrong with that. Heck, I bet plenty of people will be surprised to see that it's Microsoft's logo that's on Surface Book, and not Apple's. And don't get me started on the keyboard...

The display is very impressive too, but also utilitarian. It has a very high-resolution, but unlike on a smartphone that is not wasted on a small panel.

Surface Book's display measures 13.5-inches in diagonal, and thanks to a 3:2 aspect ratio it is also optimized for "real work"... you know, things that don't involve watching YouTube videos. Reading, coding, writing are all easier on a screen with more vertical space.

Hello. Windows Hello. Secure authentication with your face. It's so good that not even your twin can fool it. Need I say more?

Put all these things together and you get an awesome device. Don't just judge it by the merits of its individual components. You have to be able to see the greatness in Surface Book to really appreciate it.
How spam and botnets have become big business [Q&A]

Publié: octobre 23, 2015, 3:02pm CEST par Ian Barker

Botnets are not a new problem, but they remain a key part of the cyber criminal's armoury. The Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group (M3AAWG), a global industry forum dedicated to promoting best practices in cyber security, has issued its first report looking at the level of botnet infection. Based on information provided by ISPs covering over 43 million subscribers in the US and Europe it concludes that around one percent of consumers are infected by a bot. The good news is that notification rates are high with between 94 and 99.82 percent of those infected being notified of the problem by their ISP.

Even on those numbers botnets are a major problem. We spoke to Ken Simpson CEO of outbound traffic security company MailChannels and co-chair of M3AAWG's Botnet Subcommittee to find out about how botnets and spam have become big business.

BN: What is the M3AAWG?

KS: It was founded about 10 years ago by a group of international ISPs. The mission of the organization is to bring together all of the people involved in transacting the world’s email so that they can create standards and work together to fight back against very well-funded criminal networks.

BN: Can you give us an overview of the current state of the spam industry?

KS: A lot of internet users aren't aware that there's actually a huge amount of spam going on. They have spam filters and most of the time the filter keeps spam out.

These days a large proportion of the spam that's sent around the world is not trying to sell you something. What cyber criminals have realized is that trying to sell you some Viagra pills doesn't make as much money as it used to. What they're doing now is focusing on exploitation, financial information and private identity information that they can use to steal money from your bank account or get you to participate in some fraud.

This is a massive problem, the scale of fraud and cyber crime being spread over email has to be in the tens of billions per year. It's not just individuals being targeted either it's institutions of all sizes. What we try to do at MailChannels is provide software and services to help the ISPs who originate the mail traffic protect their users. We help them identify the bad stuff as it goes out onto the internet so that they can block it and protect the rest of the web.

BN: Why would service providers care about providing protection?

KS: If they don't do something the global reputation of their email will suffer and their network will get blocked. This means their users wouldn't be able to send email any more because it would be blocked everywhere else.

BN: How important are botnets in all of this?

KS: One of the leading botnet researchers recently told me that the world of botnets has never been more interesting. There are more sophisticated botnets than ever before and they’re engaging in a wider array of bad behavior. There's a whole eco-system of players who are running these botnets, renting time on them and selling them for different services. If you wanted to carry out some cyber crime yourself you could go to an internet forum and rent time on a botnet to do whatever you wanted -- distribute malware, send spam or run a denial of service attack. It's also very cost effective because it's a competitive marketplace.

BN: There seems to have been a shift in the type of spam recently, towards sending fake invoices for example, is this significant?

KS: There's a move away from traditional spamming, which has an extremely low return per email message, to more concentrated financial fraud. If you get a Viagra spam email then maybe you spend $50 on purchasing pharmaceuticals, but the spammer makes only a tiny slice because he has to source the product and send it out, he may make only $3 or so on the transaction.

But if I manage to convince you that your company owes $5,000 to my fictitious organization and I get you to wire transfer that, then I get $5,000. I don't have to hit as many victims to make that pay off pretty quickly. This isn’t just a few spammers, it's criminal networks with some very nasty people behind them.

BN: Does this activity originate only in failed states or is it a global issue?

KS: There are spammers operating in every country, but the ones operating in places like the US, UK and Canada tend to be the string pullers. They'll develop the infrastructure and they tend to be involved more in traditional spamming, selling products. The actual dirty work will be subcontracted elsewhere.

Countries like the Ukraine have little regulation because the country is so broken by war and corruption. They literally have call centers taking support inquiries for extortion schemes. Government is effectively neutralized by criminal interests, so if you pay off the right people things like ransomware scams can operate pretty much in the open.

BN: So the whole operation has become very professional rather than the common idea of a hacker working from his bedroom?

KS: It ranges across the spectrum, one of the things that my company offers is an outbound protection service for service providers who don't want to spend time trying to maintain their email reputation.

Around two thirds of the attempted signups for this come from spammers and phishers and most of the phishing signups come from northern Africa and Indonesia. They're very open because in their countries there's zero chance of any enforcement finding them. They will phish services like PayPal and even though individually they might not do a lot of damage, collectively they do a lot and they're very difficult to find. They may be committingng all of their cyber crime from a laptop in an internet cafe.

So, while there's sophistication there are also thousands of people operating at a lower 'street smart' level to attempt to extort users of online services. They often work within their own language area, so you get phishers working in Morocco or Algeria targeting customers of French banks for example.

BN: Is phishing cyclical? Do scammers target PayPal one week, Barclays the next, a French bank the week after?

KS: I get the sense that it is because it takes time to develop a campaign, you have to replicate the target website so they do tend to hit one at a time. Because there's lots of these guys working on the same thing many institutions are being hit in parallel but it's not like one person is hitting all of the institutions. Smaller financial institutions see periodic waves where their customers will see nothing for months then get hit by thousands of email messages. Larger ones like PayPal are being phished 24 hours a day, domain names similar to PayPal are being constantly registered, it's like a tidal wave.

You can find out more about the botnet report on the MM3AAWG blog.

Image credit: Gunnar Assmy /Shutterstock
Lumia sales are in the toilet, Surface revenue is down

Publié: octobre 23, 2015, 2:29pm CEST par Mihaita Bamburic

Microsoft has just released its Q1 FY2016 (Q3 CY2015) earnings report, posting revenue of $20.4 billion, operating income of $5.8 billion, net income of $4.6 billion and earnings per share of $0.57 (all GAAP figures). The software giant's numbers beat analysts' expectations, which has added around 10 percent to its stock price in after-hours trading. Here are the highlights of the software giant's quarter.

Microsoft has divided its earnings in three categories, namely Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The good news comes from Intelligent Cloud, where revenue is up by eight percent, while the bad news is in More Personal Computing, where the poor performance of Lumia and Surface devices lead to a 17 percent decrease in revenue, year-over-year.

Revenue from devices decreased by $1.8 billion -- or 49 percent, year-over-year -- thanks to a decrease of $1.5 billion in Phones revenue and a further $236 million in Surface revenue. Microsoft sold just 5.8 million Lumias in Q3, which explains the huge difference compared to the quarter a year prior.

To put things into perspective, Lumia sales have never been this low since Q1 CY2013, when they reached 5.6 million. Lumia sales for Q1 FY2015 were 8.8 million units. Without any major releases in well over a year, it is hardly surprising to see consumers largely ignoring the platform.

As a result of this weak showing, Windows Phone's market share is more than likely to take another dive. We can expect to see some signs of recovery this quarter, however, when Microsoft is set to introduce new Windows 10 Mobile flagships and entry-level offerings.

On the Surface side of things, revenue is indeed down but Microsoft stands a good chance of turning things around with the introduction of Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book, both of which go on sale this month. The software giant blames the weaker revenue on Surface Pro 3's age -- well over a year-old now, being released in June 2014.

We can't talk about More Personal Computing without mentioning Windows. Windows OEM Pro and non-Pro revenues are down by seven percent and four percent, respectively, year-over-year. Windows volume licensing revenue is also down, by three percent (on a constant currency basis, however, it would have been four percent higher).

Things are not all bad in More Personal Computing, as search advertising revenue is up by 23 percent ($127 million), and gaming revenue is also up, but only slightly. Revenue from Xbox sales is down, however, thanks to weaker Xbox 360 sales. This was offset by an increase in revenue from Xbox Live and video game sales.

Moving to Intelligent Cloud, Microsoft says the boost in revenue is due to higher revenue from server products and services, and Enterprise Services. Microsoft SQL Server, Windows Server and System Center as well as Microsoft Azure supported this gain. Speaking of Microsoft Azure, the cloud platform saw its revenue grow by 121 percent for the quarter.

In Productivity and Business Processes, revenue is down by three percent (or $184 million), which is blamed on foreign currencies (its impact is said to be 7 percent on revenue). Consumer and commercial Office revenues are down, but Microsoft Dynamics revenue is up.

Office 365 continues to be a strong performer for Microsoft, as the software giant added around three million new subscribers in Q1 FY2015 over the previous quarter. Year-over-year, the number of subscribers increased by 11 million.

Also in the Office department, Microsoft says its Office downloads on Android and iOS devices have exceeded 200 million so far, which has surely helped with growing its number of subscribers.
How to fix Windows 10's worst problems -- Part 2

Publié: octobre 23, 2015, 2:15pm CEST par Wayne Williams

Let’s be honest here, Windows 10 was released a little prematurely. There are inconsistencies throughout, Microsoft Edge is an unfinished mess, and then there are the bugs…

Microsoft has been issuing updates on a fairly regular basis to try and fix various problems with the operating system, but we know from the enduring popularity of troubleshooting articles we’ve published previously, that there are plenty of Windows 10 users who are still having problems with the new OS. With that in mind, here are some more solutions to common problems.

SEE ALSO: How to fix Windows 10’s worst problems -- Part 1

Blurry Font Problem

This is an issue I’ve personally experienced. If you change the DPI scaling in Windows 10 to make text, apps and other items easier to read on your Windows device, then you might end up looking at blurry fonts. The best solution is to use a tool to change the scaling method. I wrote about that here.

Fix Windows Update Issues

With Windows 10 updates being mandatory, you kind of need Windows Update to be working at all times. If it’s failing to find updates that you know should be available, or updates are not downloading properly -- and rebooting hasn't fixed the problem -- you can try resetting different Windows Update components, including fixing invalid updates in the Windows registry, deleting temp files, resetting Winsock settings, and so on.

That might sound complicated, and time consuming, but the Reset Windows Update Agent, which you can download from here, simplifies the process. You'll need to run it with elevated privileges.

Windows 10 Is Stuck In A Loop Following A Failed Update

One of the most annoying problems found in Windows 10 comes with this message: "We couldn’t complete the updates. Undoing changes. Don’t turn off your computer". If you’re lucky you can boot into Windows, try and fix the problem, and reattempt whatever caused the rollback in the first place. If you’re unlucky, you might find yourself trapped in a reboot loop. We covered a solution here, but here's another idea.

Try to get out of the reboot loop and into Safe Mode. Pressing F8 at bootup might work. Once you’re in Safe Mode, open a Command Prompt as administrator and type net stop wuauserv. Hit enter and then type: net stop bits

Browse to C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution and delete all of the contents there, then restart your computer.

SEE ALSO: Fix Windows 10 problems with these troubleshooting tools from Microsoft

The Application Was Unable To Start Correctly (0xc0000018)

Encountered this problem with one or more installed applications? If the obvious solutions don’t work (uninstalling/reinstalling the application, updating to the latest version), you should try rebooting your PC repeatedly, to see if that fixes the problem (yes, turning it off and on again may actually work in this case).

If you still get no joy, try launching regedit and navigating to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Windows. Find APPINIT_DLLS and delete everything in it, or failing that the entire key. If it’s already empty, go back to the rebooting continually option, or look here for more advice.

Stop Windows 10 Messing Up Your Drivers

Windows 10 forces updates on you, which can be a bit annoying. As well as updating the operating system, it also automatically updates drivers, but that can prove problematic for some users. If you’d rather choose for yourself which drivers are updated, and therefore prevent driver-based problems, follow the instructions here.

You Don’t Have Permission To Save In This Location

Another frustrating problem encountered by lots of Windows 10 users, this tends to crop up when trying to save Office documents. The first (and obvious) thing to do is check the permissions of the folder you’re trying, and failing, to save to.

Right-click the folder in question and select Properties. Switch to the Security tab and click Advanced. Check Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object at bottom. Click Apply followed by OK.

If that doesn’t work, you can try setting yourself as an Administrator, if you aren’t already. Open the Run box and type netplwiz. Hit enter, and select your user account. Click on Properties. Open the Group Membership tab and make the user an Administrator. Reboot and see if this fixes the issue.

Force Cortana to use Google

This isn’t a "problem" as such, but it is an annoyance, so worth including. Bing is the default search engine in Windows 10, not only in Edge (here’s how to change it there), but also in Cortana. If you’re a fan of Microsoft digital assistant, but not of the software giant’s search engine, you can switch to using Google (or a different search choice), by following the instructions here.

If you've encountered other problems, or have found solutions that readers might find useful, please write about them in the comments below.

Image Credit: alphaspirit / Shutterstock
Best Windows apps this week

Publié: octobre 23, 2015, 1:52pm CEST par Martin Brinkmann
One-hundred and fifty-one in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps and games released for Windows 8.x/10 in the past seven days.

Microsoft will launch the first major update for its Windows 10 operating system in the beginning of November to all users featuring improvements, fixes and new features alike.

Polarr Photo Editor is the app of this week. While not cheap, it features an impressive set of tools to edit photos.

As always, if I missed an app or game that has been released this week that you believe is particularly good, let me know in the comments below or notify me via email instead.
Discounts This Week
Red Stripe Deals are back. Microsoft added them to the new Windows 10 Store. You find them listed under Collections when you open the store.
- Gro Garden. organic gardening educational app for kids for $0.99
- Reading Trainer, app to improve reading speed and retention for $1.99
- Doodle Kingdom, popular puzzle game for $0.99
- 16bit Trader, mixture of trading game and adventure for $0.99
- Fate of the Pharaoh Full, an adventure game in ancient Egypt for $2.49
- The Phenomenon, an adventure game for $1.49
- Token2Shell/WP, SSH client for Windows for $0.99
Best app of the week

Polarr Photo Editor (14.99, free trial available)

The photo editing application has been designed to be the ideal photo editor for bloggers, students and photo professionals.

It supports the most popular image formats as well as RAW images, 50 presets to apply filters quickly to photos, and tools to make manual adjustments to the loaded image.

The tools enable you to change colors, exposure or temperatures among many other things, and the batch export option makes sure that you can save all processed photos in one go at the end.

The app ships with tutorials that explain the basic concepts of improving images using the tools provided by the app.

Other apps

Space Marshals ($4.99, no free trial)

Space Marshals is a tactical top-down shooter that combines Wild West adventures and Science Fiction.

It plays similar to games like X-Com that use the same mechanics. It features different characters and different types of weaponry, as well as armor and other useful items like grenades.

The game won't work with mouse and keyboard, only touch or with a gamepad.

Cortanium ($1.99, no free trial available)

The application adds more than 20 commands to the personal assistant Cortana.

Among the commands are options to get TV recommendations, your daily horoscope, to check the free space on OneDrive, to generate a random password or to quickly check in to FourSquare.

You may request additional commands to be added to the app once you have purchased it.

Trival Pursuit & Friends

This is a new spin on the popular board game Trivial Pursuit. While you are still answering questions to beat your opponents, you are not moving across a board anymore but answering sets of three questions directly.

There is a time limit for answering questions and lots of social features like playing against your friends on Facebook or on the system you are using.

The game supports premium currency which you can use to spin again to pick another category or to get help answering questions.

Good news is, you don't need to connect the app to Facebook if you don't want to.

Monster Truck Destruction

The racing game puts you behind the wheel of a monster truck. Play single events or the championship, pimp the truck and buy better trucks once you have earned enough money to do so.

The game features a practice mode that you can use to get acquainted with the controls before you play drag or freestyle races.

Graphics are quite nice for a Windows Store application but not comparable to the graphics of cutting-edge PC games.

Doodle God: 8-bit Mania

This is an 8-bit spin-off of the popular Doodle-series of games. It is a puzzle game at its core but this time with 8-bit style graphics and sounds for that special retro-feeling.

The game itself has not changed at all: mix and match different elements to create new ones and use them to build things.

Notable Updates
- The official Nascar application is ready for Windows 10.
- The Guardian app has been released as a beta app for Windows 10.
- Timber, the Tinder client for Windows supports "superlikes" now.
- Tiny Troopers 2 update with special Halloween uniforms.
Technology and you: Staying protected while always connected

Publié: octobre 23, 2015, 12:48pm CEST par Pat Peterson
We live in a connected world. We wake up and the first thing we do is check our social media feeds and the weather. If we take the bus to work, we can pull out our tablets to read the news, or pick up where we left off with our favorite Netflix show. If we drive to work, we have Bluetooth enabled so that we can listen to a podcast or two during the commute. The first thing we do when we get into our office is boot up our laptop and check emails. Gone are the days where smartphones, tablets and laptops act independently of each other.

Today’s devices talk to and interact with one another, all with the intention of delivering a personalized experience. Our online self is an extension of our physical self. However, with more devices, comes more risk. According to a Consumer Reports survey, 34 percent of all smartphone owners do nothing to protect their device. Since we are constantly connected, it is important that all of us become educated on cybersecurity and have a strong understanding of how to keep our devices and data safe.

In light of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, the following question needs to be answered: How do you keep your information safe, while also staying connected to and active on your networks:
- Be careful with what you share and when you share it.
- Use real world common sense in the online world.
- Know what networks you should avoid.
The What and When of Sharing

Whether it was a toy car or a doll, we were born with the innate ability to share with others. As we mature, we find ourselves constantly sharing in a slightly different way. When it comes to cybersecurity however, sharing does not necessarily equate to caring.

When traveling, we want to keep others updated by checking-in, tweeting, snapping, etc. during our entire trip. However, this social media activity can put your information and yourself at risk. When thinking about what and when to post consider the following questions:
- Does this post clearly indicate that I am away from home?
  - Will criminals know that my house is currently unoccupied?
- Does this show my exact location?
- Do my social media profiles contain too much information?
  - Common security questions include "Mother’s Maiden Name" and "Birth City" -- things that can be clearly found on almost any Facebook page.
When in doubt, err on the side of caution.

Use Real World Common Sense in the Online World

When using different devices consider the following points:
- Passwords
  - These should not include your name, address, or anything that could be easily obtained from your social media profiles.
  - Add complex characters and create passphrases ("This is my password" could be Th1sI$MYP@sSwRd).
  - Do not have one password for everything -- If you do, as soon as hackers obtain it, they can have access to your bank information, email, and all other accounts.
- Virus protection
  - You would not leave your door unlocked when you go on vacation, so do not leave your device easily accessible to cyber criminals.
    - According to Verizon, two-thirds of breaches start with a phishing email. Make sure all of your devices are safeguarded with the latest virus protection software.
  - Logistics
    - If someone approached you on the street and said they had a package for you, you would not accept it. When you receive an email saying the same, ask yourself if this is authentic and always take real world precautions.
  - If anything feels or looks fishy -- do not risk it
    - If you are in doubt, take the extra time to confirm directly with the company.
Know What Networks You Should Avoid

It is inevitable that you will want to use open Internet while going about your day, but be sure to think before you connect.
- Public Wi-Fi is not secure or private -- do not go on any financial sites and/or input personal information
- When possible, use direct web access on your phone via a cellular data connection
Technology is a wonderful innovation and we are constantly using it to help us with our day-to-day jobs. Even though being constantly connected to our devices presents great security risks, if you avoid over-sharing, use real world commonsense and know what networks you should avoid, you will be three steps closer to keeping your data and devices safe.

Image credit: Brilliant Eye/Shutterstock

Patrick Peterson is Agari's CEO and visionary leader and a pioneer in the email business. He joined IronPort Systems in 2000 and defined IronPort's email security appliances. He invented IronPort's SenderBase, the industry's first reputation service. In 2008, after Cisco's acquisition of IronPort, Patrick became one of 13 Cisco Fellows, where he led breakthrough cybercrime research focused on "follow-the-money" investigations into spam, scareware sypware, web exploits, and data theft.
TalkTalk breach puts details of four million customers at risk

Publié: octobre 23, 2015, 11:47am CEST par Ian Barker

UK telecoms provider TalkTalk says it's been hit by a "significant and sustained" cyber attack which could have exposed the personal information of its four million customers.

In an official statement the company says that data including names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers and payment details may have been accessed.

TalkTalk says it's working with cyber crime experts and the police to find out what happened and the extent of information accessed. A Russian jihadist group has claimed responsibility for the attack online although this has yet to be verified.

The Metropolitan Police says it's aware of speculation surrounding the perpetrators but that its enquiries are ongoing and no arrests have been made.

This is the third attack TalkTalk has suffered in the past year. In February customers were warned about the theft of thousands of names and account numbers, and in August its mobile sales site was breached.

The latest breach appears to have started with a DDoS attack which may have been used to distract the company's security team while the data theft took place.

Dido Harding, TalkTalk's CEO, says, "TalkTalk constantly updates its systems to make sure they are as secure as possible against the rapidly evolving threat of cyber crime, impacting an increasing number of individuals and organisations. We take any threat to the security of our customers’ data extremely seriously and we are taking all the necessary steps to understand what has happened here. As a precaution, we are contacting all our customers straight away with information, support and advice around yesterday’s attack".

If you're a TalkTalk customer the company should be getting in touch, however, it warns people to beware of scammers and says it won't email or phone asking for bank details or passwords, or ask people to download software onto their machines.

In the meantime you're advised to change your passwords and monitor your bank accounts for unusual activity. Anything suspicious should be reported to Action Fraud via www.actionfraud.police.uk or on 0300 123 2040.

TalkTalk's share price dropped 10 percent when the London Stock Exchange opened this morning.
HP to 'sunset' Helion Public Cloud in 2016

Publié: octobre 23, 2015, 11:37am CEST par Sead Fadilpašić

HP is going to shut down its cloud business, and this time it means it. Seriously. The company’s executive, Bill Hilf, wrote a post on the HP blog, where he announced that the Helion service will be put out of its misery next year.

"We will sunset our HP Helion Public Cloud offering on January 31, 2016", he writes. Instead, the company will focus on turning its hardware gear into the building blocks for private enterprise clouds.

"As we have before, we will help our customers design, build and run the best cloud environments suited to their needs -- based on their workloads and their business and industry requirements", he adds.

"To support this new model, we will continue to aggressively grow our partner ecosystem and integrate different public cloud environments. To enable this flexibility, we are helping customers build cloud-portable applications based on HP Helion OpenStack® and the HP Helion Development Platform".

According to the blog post, Hewlett-Packard will expand its support for Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure -- two clouds that have run the IT titan out of town.

"We also support our PaaS customers wherever they want to run our Cloud Foundry platform -- in their own private clouds, in our managed cloud, or in a large-scale public cloud such as AWS or Azure".

"All of these are key elements in helping our customers transform into a hybrid, multi-cloud IT world", Hilf boldly states.

"We will continue to innovate and grow in our areas of strength, we will continue to help our partners and to help develop the broader open cloud ecosystem, and we will continue to listen to our customers to understand how we can help them with their entire end-to-end IT strategies".

Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved.

Photo Credit: Saikom/Shutterstock
Giveaway: Get 6 months of ransomware protection for free with Bitdefender Internet Security 2016

Publié: octobre 23, 2015, 10:53am CEST par Wayne Williams

Bitdefender Internet Security 2016 was only released recently but it’s already received multiple awards, such as Product of the Year (AV-Comparatives), Editor’s Choice (PC Magazine), and Best Protection for four years straight (AV-Test).

The software usually retails for $51.97, but why pay when you can get it for free?

For the next three days, starting October 23, BetaNews is giving away six-month subscriptions to Bitdefender Internet Security 2016 to protect your devices against ransomware, password stealing, data theft, malware interception of your payments, hidden spying software, and infections that render your device inoperable or cause massive slowdowns.

The suite comes with a number of new features and a range of improvements to fight off modern threats, secure your digital experience and streamline your work.

Bitdefender Internet Security 2016 has a built-in module for ransomware protection. Even if your system becomes infected, the module denies access to your files and brings the encryption process to a grinding halt. You can customize the areas of your file system that you want to protect.

Complex passwords are difficult to memorize, so the new Password Manager now syncs your credentials between the devices that you own.

Bitdefender Internet Security 2016 also comes with a brand-new firewall that offers superior performance in pinpointing intrusions, effectively filtering incoming and outgoing traffic. It supports multiple network profiles (Public, Private, Work) and ensures that your device’s data does not get accessed while connected to public hotspots.

Grab this offer while you can by pointing your browser to the special page here, and enjoy six months' peace of mind.

Note: This is the full version, not some featured limited "special" edition.
Google just made Chrome for iOS much better -- Split View and Autofill are here

Publié: octobre 23, 2015, 5:36am CEST par Brian Fagioli

As soon as I come home every day, the first thing I do is grab my iPad. My iPhone gets connected to the charger and then it is tablet time. While I use a lot of apps, the one I use most is Safari. Yes, on the device with the best apps, I spend a lot of time surfing the web.

While I am totally satisfied with Safari, I am open to trying an alternative. On both Ubuntu and Windows 10 I use Chrome, so maybe I should use Google's browser on my iPad too. Well, today, the search giant makes its browser much more attractive to iOS users. The iPad version now offers Split View for compatible devices, while all iOS devices gain Autofill.

"Often on the web, we're doing a ton of things at once -- reading up on an exotic travel location, catching up on social media or booking a hotel. With that in mind, we’re introducing Split View for your iPad (Air 2 or mini 4) to our latest version of Chrome", says Abdel Karim Mardini, Product Manager and Multitasker, Google.

Mardini further explains, "we're also working to make it easier to make purchases on the go. We're shopping more often than ever on our phones and tablets, but it can be a pain to re-enter credit card information every time you buy something. That's why we’re bringing Chrome’s Autofill from desktop and Android to iOS. No matter what device you use, you can shop for what you need easily and securely".

Since I don't normally use Chrome on iOS, I am actually surprised that these features are only just being introduced. While Split View is fairly new, many companies with far fewer resources than Google have implemented it sooner. Autofill should have been available at the same time as the Android version.

Oh well, the features are here now, and that is all that's important. While I love Safari, it can't hurt to try Chrome on iOS. Will you join me in trying the updated Google browser on your Apple device? Download it here and tell me what you think in the comments.
Best Buy shares hottest tech gifts for the 2015 holiday season -- Apple takes top spot

Publié: octobre 23, 2015, 4:29am CEST par Brian Fagioli

The fourth quarter of each year is my favorite. Why? Well, besides wearing hoodies and drinking pumpkin spice lattes, I love the holidays. Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas are three of the best. Christmas is great for the religious aspect, but regardless of your beliefs, it can be great for spending time with family and exchanging gifts.

As a tech guy, I love getting new gadget gifts (this year I want an Apple Watch), but I have more fun giving them. Presenting a family member with their first computer or tablet just warms my heart. If you are not sure what tech to buy for your friends and family this year, don't panic. Best Buy, the popular electronics retailer, has conducted a survey and determined the hottest tech for the 2015 holidays. If you stick to this list, you cannot go wrong. Do you agree?

The list is below.

1. iPad
2. Bose QuietComfort 25 Noise Cancelling Headphones
3. MacBook
4. Samsung 48" Smart 4K Ultra HD TV
5. Sharp 43" Smart HDTV with Roku
6. Microsoft Surface
7. Bose SoundLink Mini Bluetooth Speaker II
8. Fitbit Charge HR Heart Rate and Activity Tracker
9. Samsung Galaxy Tab S2
10. Dyson V6 Absolute Bagless Cordless Vacuum
11. Vizio 43" Smart 4K Ultra HD TV
12. Apple Watch
13. SONOS PLAY:1 Wireless Speaker
14. iRobot Roomba Vacuum Cleaning Robot
15. GoPro HERO4 Action Camera

Quite frankly, I am not surprised at all by this list. The iPad remains the most popular tablet, and is the most desired tech product. As the owner of the all-new iPad mini 4, I totally get this -- it is a joy to use.

Microsoft's Surface line comes in at number six, which is really great to see. The Surface 3, Surface Pro 3 and the new Surface Pro 4 are wonderful choices. If you know someone that needs a new computer for school, work or business, you really cannot go wrong with one of Microsoft's hybrids.

Prices have dropped dramatically on 4K televisions, so many people will likely get one under (or next to) the Christmas tree this year. If your existing TV works fine, I wouldn't recommend upgrading from 1080p yet. However, if you need a new TV, you might as well invest in 4K.

What tech are you pining away for this year? Tell me in the comments.

Photo Credit: vita khorzhevska/Shutterstock
Ubuntu 15.10 is howling at the moon -- 'Wily Werewolf' is finally here

Publié: octobre 23, 2015, 12:59am CEST par Brian Fagioli
Halloween is growing nearer every day. Soon, the streets will be full of children dressed like Frankenstein, Dracula and the Werewolf. More importantly, there will be much candy to eat.

Ubuntu users do not have to wait until October 31st for frightful fun, however, as today the Wily Werewolf starts howling at the moon. Yes, Ubuntu 15.10 is finally here, ready to transform your computer into a powerful monster!

"Codenamed 'Wily Werewolf', 15.10 continues Ubuntu's proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution. The team has been hard at work through this cycle, introducing new features and fixing bugs", says Canonical.

The company further explains, "under the hood, there have been updates to many core packages, including a new 4.2-based kernel, a switch to gcc-5, and much more. Ubuntu Desktop has seen incremental improvements, with newer versions of GTK and Qt, updates to major packages like Firefox and LibreOffice, and stability improvements to Unity".

Once again, like the last several releases, the latest desktop version of Ubuntu is rather uneventful and yawn-worthy, but that is not a bad thing. I have been testing various beta versions and while there is very little new eye-candy for end users, it is the under the hood updates that reign supreme. Ubuntu 15.10 (Unity) is stable and fast -- those are the most important things, dear Linux users.

If you do want to test some new visual goodness, Canonical offers the ability to test out the upcoming Unity8 in this release. While you won't want to use it full time, it is definitely cool to check out -- it is the true future of Ubuntu. Don't worry, you can easily switch back to Unity7.

To try Ubuntu 15.10 (Unity) yourself, you can download the 64-bit version here. You can buy a computer pre-loaded with the operating system too.

Not a Unity fan? Download the alternative environments using the below links (I recommend Ubuntu Gnome).
Photo Credit: Kar/Shutterstock