An independent website is listing companies that have failed to publish clinical trials results, despite being legally required to do so. The site could help reduce the problem of drug companies keeping quiet about results that don't help their ... business. Critics of the pharmaceutical industry say that although published trial results may be genuine, they can still be misleading. That's because a company might publish the results of a trial that suggests their drug is effective while not publishing trials that are less clear-cut. That's led to calls for all clinical trial results to be made ... (view more)

Microsoft says it used artificial intelligence to not only spot and identify and attempted malware attack, but to block it more than a thousand times in the next half hour. It says the defense was possible thanks to Windows Defender being used ... locally on the victim's computer, as well analyzing the snippet of code using cloud-based antimalware. The company calls it an example of machine learning. This means computers are able to figure things out for themselves, rather than simply following 'true or false' routines that are part of a program. Similar to antivirus, the most basic level of anti ... (view more)

Google has revealed a security flaw with the Microsoft Edge browser before Microsoft released a patch. It's a controversial move with arguments across both the tech and security industries. The flaw in question is somewhat complicated. In very ... simplified terms, the flaw is to do with how Microsoft Edge converts website code into what users see on their computer screen when visiting a website. Google realized that it could work out precisely when the browser would access part of the computer's memory and use this knowledge to effectively set a booby trap. That could then force the computer to ... (view more)

Visitors to more than 5,000 websites had their computers hijacked to earn money for scammers. But the attack would have earned them less than $25 - and they aren't getting paid anyway. The attack involved compromising screen reader software called ... BrowseAloud. Websites can add the software to their site to make it easier for visitors with vision problems to browse the pages. Because the software is so widely used, compromising it was an effective way to reach a large number of computers - regardless of whether the owners needed to use a screen reader. The software is particularly popular ... (view more)

The recently debuted 'Facebook Protect' feature has sparked controversy. Facebook says it's a tool to protect user privacy, but critics suggest it is nothing more than a tracking tool designed to collect user activity. The tool appears in the ... iPhone/iPad app for Facebook. Although the menu option is listed as 'Protect', it's actually a virtual private network (VPN) tool called "Onavo." A VPN works by creating the virtual equivalent of a private "tunnel" on the Internet. The tunnel then allows data to flow back and forth between a user's computer and the website or service they are ... (view more)

Facebook is increasingly becoming a site for older users according to an online measurement company. eMarketer says last year saw a drop in younger users that was nearly three times bigger than it forecast. This time last year the company predicted ... that the number of 12-17 year olds using Facebook would drop by 3.4 percent. That was significant as it was the first time it predicted any form of drop among any age group. Retirees The Main Growth Area A new report from the company says in reality the drop was 9.9 percent. It also says there was an overall fall in users among under-25s, something ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Paul P. writes: " Dear Dennis, I've been using OpenVPN, coupled with Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) to connect my laptop to my home PC when I'm on the road. It's worked great for a while now, however, suddenly remote ... desktop has stopped working and I can't connect to my PC anymore. The strange thing is that OpenVPN seems to complete the connection, so I am not sure why my RDP won't work any more. Can you help? " My response: I asked Paul if he would like me to connect to his laptop using my remote desktop service in order to investigate the problem further, and ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jeff W. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am having a problem with Windows 10 not updating - it keeps telling me that KB4058258 and KB4074595 won't install. It will attempt to install the updates, then when I check Windows Update again ... those two updates are there again. KB4058258 is a cumulative update for Windows 10 whereas KB4074595 is a security update for Adobe Flash update. Can you help? " My response: I asked Jeff if he would like me to connect to his system using my remote desktop support service , and he agreed. I have been receiving a lot of inquiries about this lately and ... (view more)

Scammers have found a new trick that "locks up" a user's browser in an attempt to panic them into paying a bogus fee. Fortunately there's a simple way to get around the problem. The technique is the latest variant on a well-established scam in which ... compromised websites show bogus error messages claiming the computer has been infected with a virus. The user is encouraged to call a "tech support hotline," (usually in India) then tricked into making a credit card payment to the scammers to supposedly fix the problem. In some cases, scammers demand remote access to the computer and ... (view more)

Microsoft is ditching a special version of Windows 10 that was based around security and low costs. That said, Windows 10 S had some major restrictions on the programs it could run. Though it will no longer be available as a standalone edition, it ... will now be included as an optional mode in some Windows computers. That means Microsoft is likely continuing to target schools with the option. To many analysts, Windows 10 S was Microsoft's take on the Google Chromebook range. The distinguishing feature of Windows 10 S was that it only ran apps that were downloaded and installed from the Windows ... (view more)