Microsoft says it won't deliver new Windows 10 features to some computers. However, it's vowed to give the affected machines security patches for six years, a major extension on its original policy. Last week it was discovered that as many as 10 ... million computers running an Intel processor named 'Clover Trail' did not get the latest major update to Windows 10 - something Microsoft said was a compatibility issue. Applying the update could have made system text and icons unreadable. Most of the affected machines were combined "2-in-1" models that worked as both laptops ... (view more)
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The FBI has warned parents about privacy risks with 'smart' toys. It's more of a general warning rather than covering a specific product. The agency says the warning covers a wide range of toys which "incorporate technologies that learn and tailor ... their behaviors based on user interactions." The key risk is when the toy has an Internet connection, meaning data can be passed on to a third party. According to the FBI, the risks are particularly great given such toys may contain "sensors, microphones, cameras, data storage components, and other multimedia capabilities ... (view more)
Some computers only a few years old are reporting that they not longer support Windows 10. It's a badly-worded blunder for now, but could be the sign of a major security problem down the line. The problem is occurring when some computers try to ... install the Creators Update, the most recent widely-distributed major update to Windows 10. The message received is worded: "Windows 10 is no longer supported on this PC. Uninstall this app now because it isn't compatible with Windows 10." (Source: pcworld.com ) That's an extremely confusing and misleading message in several ways ... (view more)
Infopackets Reader Bob W. writes: " Dear Dennis, I believe that I have been scalped for a 3 year insurance policy and a 1 year extended warranty from Microsoft for the sum of $200.00. While going to Amazon's website, I received an alert that claimed ... that I was infected and that Microsoft was blocking my computer's further use and a phone number was shown to call. The listed URL was pointing to ' Secure Microsoft Support .' Based on that, I bit! 3.5 hours later and continued phone correspondence with 3 techs, my machine appeared to be functioning perfectly. The firm's name is ' LIVE PC EXPERTS ... (view more)
Russian-based antivirus company Kaspersky Labs has denied working with intelligence agencies in Russia. The denial follows a crackdown on US government agencies using the company's software. The claims follow a series of previously unpublished ... emails sent in 2009 between company founder Eugene Kaspersky and colleagues. They mention a secret project "per a big request on the Lubyanka side." That's a reference to the headquarters of the FSB, the Russian security agency that's the modern-day equivalent of the KGB. In principle the project was to work on defensive software for the FSB, protecting ... (view more)
Microsoft wants to use unused TV frequencies to provide Internet service in rural areas. It believes its size could help bring down the costs of the technology. The system is known as white-spaces technology and uses wireless frequencies that are in ... the band reserved for over-the-air TV broadcasts but aren't currently being used. While Microsoft plans to use some of these frequencies, it wants the government to reserve at least three frequencies in each local area for use with the technology. (Source: nytimes.com ) Tech Works Like WiFi In principle, wireless Internet signals can be sent ... (view more)
Reports that accepting a friend request from a "Jayden K Smith" on Facebook will get your account hacked are a hoax. It's still a smart idea to take care with Facebook friend requests, however. As often happens, the hoax warning is circulating ... widely, likely being shared by people who believe doing so will help inform and protect their friends and family on the site. One version of the hoax message reads "Please tell all the contacts in your messenger list not to accept Jayden K. Smith friendship request. He is a hacker and has the system connected to your Facebook account ... (view more)
Infopackets Reader Jean G. writes: " Dear Dennis I just upgraded to Windows 10. Every time my computer restarts, I receive the error message that ' There was a problem starting c:\windows\system32\logilda.dll / The specified module could not be ... found .' I actually had this message before I upgraded to Windows 10 but I was hoping that the upgrade would have fixed it. Based on what I read, the logilda.dll is a file related to my Logitech keyboard and mouse. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the program multiple times but I still get the error. Can you please help! " My response: I have not had ... (view more)
Infopackets Reader Felix S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10, and now my Outlook won't send or receive email. Every time I try and check for email, I get a 'Cannot send or receive 8004010F' error. I've searched ... the Microsoft website on how to fix this issue but the instructions are absolutely horrible and did not solve my problem. I was wondering if you can help me fix the 'cannot send or receive' error 8004010F? I am willing to pay for your help! Much appreciated! " My response: I asked Felix if he would like me to connect to his system using my remote ... (view more)
Apple is working on facial recognition as an iPhone security measure. It's said to be have it ready for this year's iPhone 8, but may wait until the feature has been fully tested and complete. The idea is to replace fingerprint scanning for ... unlocking the phone. It's not yet confirmed if and when the facial recognition would be extended to other uses, such as using Apple Pay rather than have to type in card details or a PIN code. According to a Bloomberg source, the face unlock takes less than half a second to scan a face, confirm its identity and unlock the phone. The feature ... (view more)
A judge has thrown out a lawsuit which accused Facebook of tracking web users after they logged out of the site. Judge Edward Davila said the people bringing the case hadn't proven any financial loss or a breach of reasonable privacy expectations. ... The case involves website cookies, which are small text files created by a browser and stored on a user's computer. The cookies are readable by websites and can be used to identify the user and customize the content they see when visiting a page. In this case, the cookies were being read by third party websites that included a "Facebook ... (view more)
Microsoft is adding a new feature to Windows 10 that could make it harder for ransomware to lock up files. It could be useful, but is certainly not a complete defense. The feature, called "Controlled Folder Access," is part of the Windows Defender ... security tool and is already being tested by users who've volunteered for advanced access to Windows 10 updates. The idea is that specific folders can be protected which means that only specified applications or programs can create, alter or delete files in those folders. This includes encrypting the files, which is the key tactic ... (view more)
Infopackets Reader Susan M. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently bought a new laptop that came with Windows 10 pre-installed. Last week, I received a Windows 10 update and now my battery keeps draining - even with the power plugged in! This doesn't ... make any sense to me; also my laptop is brand new! The balloon over the battery icon is reading '93% available (plugged in, not charging)'. I looked on the Internet to see if I could figure out what was causing this, and there are a lot of people having the same issue. Do you know why my laptop won't charge and how I can fix the 'plugged in, not ... (view more)
Infopackets Reader "Sundeep" writes: " Dear Dennis, I am using Windows 10 and my email is always open and accessible. I want to be able to log out of my emails so no one else can see them. How can I make it so that my email is kept private, so no ... one else can see it on my computer when I'm away from the machine? " My response: If you don't want your emails accessible whenever you are signed in, there are a few options. Lock the machine or sign out when it is not being used. If you lock the machine, everything on the desktop will remain where it is until you sign back in. If you log out, ... (view more)
Google has been fined $2.7 billion for unfairly favoring its own shopping services in search results. It's also got 90 days to stop the practice. The decision comes from the European Commission, the body that oversees competition law in 28 European ... countries. At the end of an investigation that started back in 2010, it now says Google did breach antitrust rules. The case relates to shopping comparison services, which let users see prices from multiple retailers. When people search Google for a particular product, the list of results will often include links to the relevant pages on such ... (view more)
Businesses around the world are reporting computer problems that appear to be another rapidly-spreading ransomware attack. It appears likely to be exploiting the same Windows flaw as the recent WannaCry attack. Details were still emerging at the ... time of writing, but high profile businesses including drug giant Merck, a British advertising agency and a Danish shipping company are known to have been compromised. Ukraine's government network also appears to have been hit. (Source: nytimes.com ) File Index Compromised As with WannaCry, the malware appears to be designed to lock up and encrypt ... (view more)
Google is to stop scanning Gmail messages for advertising purposes. The move was driven largely by a need to satisfy business customers. The company announced that "Consumer Gmail content will not be used or scanned for any ads personalization after ... this change." A company spokesman said this would bring the consumer service into line with the G Suite service for businesses. Business Users 'Put Off' By Scanning Diane Greene said that although business customers "have never had their messages scanned for use in advertising, many potential customers were nonetheless put ... (view more)
Infopackets Reader Mike B. writes: " Dear Dennis, I run a Windows Server 2003 box that has been fine until two days ago. Now, my CPU usage is 100% with multiple 'Update_Windows.exe' processes running. I've deleted the Update_Windows.exe tasks in ... Task Manager, but it keeps propagating. I did a virus scan, but it did not find anything; Malwarebytes antimalware also is not reporting anything. Prior to the infection, I installed the emergency May 2017 update to avoid the Windows SMB exploit / WannaCry ransomware infection . I understand Windows Server 2003 is no longer supported by Microsoft and ... (view more)
Infopackets Reader Dan L. writes: " Dear Dennis, I imagine that you might soon be hearing from your users about Roboform having suddenly lost its toolbar feature in FireFox. If not, here's the answer: starting with the recently issued Roboform ... 8.3.7, the RoboForm extension will no longer include a full static toolbar above the content pane of Firefox . Instead, you get a button with a message that reads ("Click this button to show RoboForm commands") with a vertical menu, similar to how Roboform works in Chrome. I found an article at RoboForm that explains the changes - and it seems that ... (view more)
Political discussion on social media is often driven and manipulated by automated "bots," a university department claims. The word "bots" is a short form for "robot," and refers to online activity carried out using an automated program. The Oxford ... Internet Institute says it studied events in nine countries and found the bots played a role in every case. However, social media groups have questioned such studies saying they are often based on flawed research methods. The study looked at activity on Facebook and Twitter among users in Brazil, Canada, China, Germany ... (view more)
A man killed when his semi-autonomous Tesla car crashed ignored multiple warnings issued by the vehicle, newly-released documents show. The papers also suggest subsequent changes to the way the car's Autopilot feature works should prevent a repeat ... of the incident. Tesla's Autopilot feature is a brand name that covers a technology that's often classed as being "driver assistance," rather than strictly self-driving. The features in question covered a cruise control that kept the car at a constant speed while taking account of nearby vehicles, and an auto-steer function that ... (view more)
Google says it will use a combination of artificial intelligence and human expertise to combat online videos promoting hatred and terrorism. It's also going to tackle videos that follow the letter but not the spirit of its rules and will ... intentionally promote videos that can counter terrorist recruitment. The four steps are part of what Google and YouTube calls an ongoing program to enforce the principle that "there should be no place for terrorist content on our services." Step one is to improve the way Google's systems automatically spot videos that promote terrorism and ... (view more)
Infopackets Reader Steve V. writes: " Dear Dennis, I came across your post on screenconnect.com, entitled ' Mono eating too much memory (Linux) ' and am having the same issue. It seems that ScreenConnect is uncontrollably eating memory - for ... example, when I click on client previews, the mono process eats 300mb+ of RAM and will continue to do so for each click. Surely this is not right! At this point I receive 'Internal error' on my ScreenConnect browser control panel (where I can view my clients). Ultimately, /var/log/messages reports 'Out of memory: Kill process xxxx (mono) score xxx or ... (view more)
Infopackets Reader Ian S. writes: " Dear Dennis, Recently I noticed through Task Manager that I have very high CPU usage, even with the computer idle. I looked at Task Manager and it says that 'IAStorDataMgrSvc' is eating 25% of my CPU constantly. I ... read that this is an Intel program and that my computer's BIOS may not be set up properly, which is causing the problem. I also read that if I set the BIOS improperly (in order to correct the issue), my computer may get stuck in a blue screen loop. I am afraid to make any changes for fear that it may screw something up. Can you help? " My response ... (view more)
Facebook has announced four changes to its Safety Check feature for dealing with local crises. The changes will offer more detail about what's currently happening, coordinate local help, and help make fundraising easier. Safety Check is a feature ... that lets people in the geographic area of a natural disaster, terror attack or other crisis quickly mark themselves as "safe." The idea is that this saves people exchanging a plethora of messages in order to check if somebody is OK. That's particularly important with voice calls and text messages, which can easily overload local ... (view more)
Microsoft has issued three updates to fix flaws in older, unsupported versions of Windows. It's an unusual move that follows the discovery that both the National Security Agency (NSA) and outside hackers are exploiting the flaws , similar to the one ... that allowed the WannaCry Ransomware worm to spread just a few weeks ago. The updates cover both Windows and Windows Server editions going right back to XP . They'll be issued through the usual automated updates, which means people on Windows 8.1 and later shouldn't need to do anything. Those on earlier systems may need to manually ... (view more)
Russian-backed hackers appear to have the ability to remotely shut down power stations, researchers claim. However, the cyber weapon appears to only have been successfully deployed once so far. Two companies, Dragos Inc and ESET, have revealed their ... analysis of malware that was used in an attack on a transmission station in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, last December. The outage lasted for an hour and blacked out buildings that normally use 20 percent of the city's electricity. (Source: washingtonpost.com ) Malware Easily Customized The researchers say the malware, which they've dubbed ... (view more)
Infopackets Reader Gail S. writes: " Dear Dennis, On April 26, 2017 I received an email about the new Roboform 8 release. I have been running Roboform 7 (desktop) for a few years, and have only paid a single fee to register the program. I did not ... want to upgrade to Roboform 8 because I wasn't sure if it was free or not. That said, the following week I received a notification from Roboform 7 that an update was available - I chose to download it. During the setup I was warned that the update was irreversible. Afterward, I realized that I had actually installed Roboform 8! I clicked 'Help -> ... (view more)
Infopackets Reader Howard N. writes: " Dear Dennis, In regard to the WannaCry Internet worm which can infect all Windows PCs that have not yet been patched using Windows Updates - how can I make sure that my Windows Update is operating properly, and ... that I am receiving my updates automatically? I enjoy your newsletter - please keep it up and have a nice day! " My response: Generally speaking: you should be able to go to the "Windows Update" service within Windows, and it should tell you when updates were last received. If you haven't received any updates for a while - or if you have your ... (view more)
Security firm Kaspersky Lab has filed a formal complaint accusing Microsoft of acting unfairly over the way it promotes its own security products. Microsoft says it is acting to keep Windows users protected. Kaspersky previously complained to the ... Federal Anti-monpoly Service in its home country of Russia. That led to several changes to Microsoft's policy, including rewording a message that suggested users uninstall third-party security software and use the built-in Windows Defender instead. Now Kaspersky has taken the issue to the European Commission, which oversees competition issues ... (view more)
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I can help! Send me a message on the bottom left of the screen (using the Zopim Chat button), or click my picture to read more about how I can fix your computer over the Internet. Optionally you can read all about my credentials, here.
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