We live in the age of technology where every day is full of advancements that make our lives easier. At what cost, though? Our Internet security is constantly under fire by hackers and cyber criminals using these technological advances to their ... gain. Through the dark web, a virtual underworld full of criminal activity that can be accessed using specific tools, such activity is made possible. However, many people aren't sure what the dark web actually is. According to Business Insider, it's "defined as all content hosted on darknets, or online networks that require a specific browsing software ... (view more)
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Facebook and Instagram will not strengthen the encryption on their messaging until 2023, a year later than planned. The delay has been linked to complaints that the encryption could help abusers of children. At the moment, both service messages are ... encrypted between the sender and the company's servers and then from the company's servers to the recipient. That means anyone who intercepts the message in transit can't practically read it, but the company itself can. Although the companies say they do not access the messages normally, they may do so in response to a court order, law enforcement ... (view more)
Microsoft is to switch to updating Windows 10 once a year. It's good news both for those hoping to use it for years to come and for those who'd prefer Microsoft to stop making changes for the sake of it. When Windows 10 debuted, Microsoft adopted a ... policy of batching most non-security updates into two releases each year. The plan appeared to be that this schedule would effectively go on forever with Windows 10 being the last totally new "edition" of the system. That was been ditched with the release of Windows 11, leaving some question over future updates. Windows 10 ... (view more)
What's one of the best one-stop video editing software available for both PC and Mac? Answer: Digiarty's VideoProc Converter! From the makers of WinX DVD Ripper and WinX Video Converter comes VideoProc Converter: a multi-award winning software ... program that is a one-stop video processing program that allows you to convert video/audio, rip DVDs, edit video, download videos, video to GIF maker ... plus much more! Note: near the end of the article I've included a link to a FREE trial to the full version, plus link to save 60% off a lifetime license. -- VideoProc Converter: Features Overview A ... (view more)
Microsoft has confirmed it is blocking third party tools designed to overcome several ways it pushes people towards the Edge browser. It affects tools such as EdgeDeflector which works on Windows 10 and 11. The tools take aim at the way Windows and ... some built-in Microsoft applications use links to web pages. Rather than simply linking to a page address, they start with "microsoft-edge://" and open automatically in the Edge browser. This overrides the user's chosen default browser for opening web link. Once Edge opens with the page in question, it also displays a request to set Edge as the ... (view more)
Scammers are using bogus antivirus renewal demands as their latest money-grabbing tactics. The attacks appear to target both people's money and their account details. The warning came from consumer group "Which" after it spotted two different fake ... emails. One supposedly comes from McAfee and the other from Norton Antivirus, both claiming a subscription is about to end. (Source: which.co.uk ) It's another case of playing the numbers game: while many people will either not use these products or will spot the scam, the popularity means that simply spraying out emails will eventually ... (view more)
Google is set to pay a fine of more than $2.5 billion for unfairly favoring its own shopping comparison service in search results. But critics say the fine is too small to have a serious effect on the company. A European Union court has rejected an ... appeal by Google against a 2017 fine imposed by the European Commission for breaking antitrust rules. The case involved the way the main Google Search service handled queries about products. As well as relevant product pages on retailer and manufacturer sites, the results list would often include relevant pages on price comparison services. Google ... (view more)
Google says Chrome will be faster and use less memory with the latest updates. That may not be enough to bring back users who've switched away though. The browser has received three key updates, the first being to the "omnibox." That's the single ... box at the top of the browser used both for typing website URLs and inserting search terms. When users start typing a term, they will now see suggestions, which update as users type more characters. The theory is that they will be able to click on a term and start the search more quickly than typing the term in full. (Source: t3.com ) The ... (view more)
The US government has blacklisted an Israeli company that made spyware used by national governments. NSO Group's tools have reportedly been used against diplomats, journalists and political activists. The move is as much a political signal as a ... practical measure. NSO being added to the group means US businesses must apply for a license to supply it, which will likely be refused. This would primarily affect cyber researchers who sell it information about known vulnerabilities. Although there's no immediate ban on US organizations using NSO's services, it's now clearly frowned upon. Threat To ... (view more)
Infopackets Reader Steve G. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just upgraded my PC to Windows 10 and I noticed that Windows Media Player no longer plays DVDs in Windows 10 . In Windows 7 it worked without a problem. I researched this issue and it appears that ... this 'feature' was removed on purpose because newer PCs and laptops do not have DVD players. As such, Microsoft has dropped all support for Windows 10 DVD playback in Windows Media Player. I plan on purchasing a thin ultrabook laptop (with no DVD player) soon. As such, I'd like to convert my DVDs into AVI or MP4 (for example) so I ... (view more)
The Better Business Bureau has warned the public to ignore text messages that appear to be wrong numbers. It says it's the first step in an ongoing scam using automated chat bots to scam people. The scam is not particularly sophisticated in ... principle but uses automation to play the numbers game. In the current form it tries to take advantage of base desires, though the BBB warns the format could change. According to the warning, one example of the opening text message reads: "Hey is this John? It's Amanda. We chatted on Tinder before when I came to visit my cousin but we never met if I recall ... (view more)
A change giving Apple users more control over their data has cost four major tech companies nearly $10 billion in lost ad revenue according to one estimate. But the drop is nowhere near as big as Facebook had warned. The change, which took effect in ... April, affects a tag called Identifier for Advertisers that links to a specific iPhone. It lets advertisers combine data from multiple sources and build up a picture of the device owner's interests, helping them better target advertising. Individual apps must now ask for permission (via an on-screen prompt) to access the tag, giving users greater ... (view more)
A company that sells location data has apologized after some details were collected without permission. Huq says the data remained anonymous despite the lack of consent. The company's business model is to partner with app developers to collect ... location data, aggregate it, then sell the overall details to clients. These included businesses trying to figure out patterns in where potential customers will be, and local governments that want to know which areas are busy at what times, for example to prioritize repairs of street lighting. (Source: bbc.co.uk ) The problem appears to be that Huq ... (view more)
Using the average phone a year longer would have the same environmental impact as taking 636,000 cars off the road each year according to campaigners. It's a claim that's sparked calls to end the habit of manufacturers to produce a new model every ... year. The calls come in the run-up to a major climate change conference, but remains unclear what incentive gadget-makers have to respond. The 636,000 cars figure comes from the Public Interest Research Group, whose campaigns include giving consumers a right to repair devices. It told The Register that an average of 416,000 US cellphones are ditched ... (view more)
The United States is the third safest country for cyber crimes according to a newly-published study. However, the methodology means that might not reflect the actual risk to users. The figures come from Seon, a security company that specializes in ... automatically detecting online fraud. That makes the results (and the decision to publish them) a little surprising as such a company would have an obvious interest in suggesting cyber crime is a particularly big risk in larger, wealthier countries full of potential customers. Overall the results showed Denmark as the safest country, just ahead of ... (view more)
Intel says a shortage of computer chips could last until 2023. It's particularly bad news for video game players but could make it harder to buy affordable PCs. Pat Gelsinger, Intel's CEO, says the shortage is likely at its worst point now. He says ... the situation should improve throughout next year, mirroring his counterpart at AMD who believes supply should pick up in the second half of next year. However, Gelsinger believes it will be 2023 before production is back at a point where supply can meet demand. (Source: eurogamer.net ) Shutdown Means Slowdown The shortage is largely a result of ... (view more)
A browser that promotes privacy as its key feature is ditching Google as its default search engine. Brave will instead use its own search service, though users are free to change back. Although Brave is based on the same Chromium code as Google ... Chrome, it's marketed towards users worried about privacy. By default it blocks all third-party ads and tracking tools. Until now, the browser has used well-known search engines as the default search tool. These include Google in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom and DuckDuckGo in Germany. However, Brave has been developing its own ... (view more)
Internal Facebook documents suggest automated moderating will never pick up more than a small portion of the hate speech posted on the site. The figures suggest Facebook has used some creative wording when publicly arguing how well its systems are ... working. The company has a natural interest in using automated moderation, particularly with artificial intelligence that doesn't simply follow rules to spot content that breaks site rules, but develops its own methods for detecting it. That's because it's highly unlikely Facebook could every employ enough humans to manually moderate posts (before ... (view more)
Canon is being sued for allegedly blocking multifunction printers from scanning or faxing because the printer ink is empty. The customer bringing the case has asked for class action status. David Leacraft bought an "all-in-one" Pixma device with ... printing, document scanning and faxing features. When his ink ran out, he found the other features no longer worked. According to the lawsuit, multiple posts and replies on an official Canon support site suggest this is by design. One reply from a Canon "Product Expert" read: "The Pixma MG6320 must have all ink tanks installed in the printer and they ... (view more)
Apple has released a patch for a potentially serious iPhone bug. It's worth double-checking the patch was installed automatically and forcing it to do so if it has not. The fix comes in version 15.0.2 of iOS and patches an actively exploited ... zero-day bug. That means attackers not only know about the security hole but were already using it before Apple could release a fix. In other words, Apple had a "zero days" head start in the battle between patching and hacking. The bug involves memory corruption and means a correctly-targeted attack could allow malware to access parts of the memory that ... (view more)
Are you in a hurry because you're actively being blackmailed with sextortion? Contact me here using the contact form. I'll call back as soon as I can. In case I'm not immediately available, I'll also send you a link to a recent call I had with one ... of my clients so you can start on this straight away! The call is similar to 95% of all calls I take , though your circumstances may vary slightly. It provides insight to this crime, including an explanation of who might be blackmailing you, useful tips, and also explains how I can help. It's quick, convenient and 100% anonymous. If you have time, ... (view more)
Google says it will no longer place ads on pages that make false claims about climate change. The move is as much about keeping advertisers happy as it is a political statement. The policy doesn't affect whether pages appear in Google search results ... or how highly they are ranked. Instead, its all about the ads which Google places when acting as a middleman between advertisers and websites. It also affects ads shown before, during or beside YouTube videos. The move "demonetizes" the content in two ways. Sites affected by the move will no longer be allowed to carry Google advertising, nor be ... (view more)
Google is giving free USB security keys to around 10,000 users whose accounts are at particular risk. They include politicians and human rights activists. The move follows a targeted campaign linked to Russian hackers to try to trick such users into ... revealing their passwords. The attackers could then not only look for sensitive information in email archives but also use the hijacked accounts to spread misinformation. The USB keys use the two-factor authentication approach , adding an extra level of protection, meaning that simply getting somebody's password wasn't necessarily enough to get ... (view more)
Google is switching on two-factor authentication by default for 150 million users. It's also making it mandatory for two million people who upload videos to YouTube. The system means no longer relying on passwords as the only way to control access ... to account. Instead it adds a second method such as getting a security code on a particular phone. Two-Factor versus "Two-Step" Verification Google calls the concept two-step verification, though that doesn't really describe it properly. The more commonly used "two factor" term refers to the idea of combining different types of ... (view more)
Scammers have developed a new tactic to spread malware. It's a piece of evil genius with the emphasis strictly on the evil. The scam involves a piece of malware that targets Android phones. It's dubbed FluBot, though that appears to be more a ... reference to the way it's designed to quickly spread rather than having any connection to human illnesses. FluBot first appeared earlier this year in a fairly conventional form. It starts with unsolicited text messages claiming to be from a courier company that was unable to make a delivery. The culprits appear to have been taking advantage of people ... (view more)
Google is testing two key changes to it search tools. The idea is to make both searching and Search History tools more useful. The first change is to searches themselves. At the moment, users see a search results page and choose one to click on and ... visit the page in question. If they don't find the page useful, they'll click the back button and look for another possibility in the results list. That can be a little fiddly, particularly on some mobile devices where the back option isn't always easy to use. It also makes it even more annoying when a website (against all good design practices) ... (view more)
New to marketing? Short on time? Need to boost your time management and organizational skills? Look no further! It's a fact: marketing specialists heavily rely on the web and Internet-centric apps to collect, analyze, categorize, and interpret data ... based on thousands of different indicators. These utilities help with content marketing and also to plan, schedule, and communicate - especially if working with a team. If you are new to Internet marketing, it's easy to become overwhelmed because there are so many options online. But fear not: we've got a list of 12 of the best tools that will help ... (view more)
Microsoft has announced a range of updates to Skype. It's something of a surprise given the tool has taken a major backseat in recent years. With remote working on the increase since the start of the pandemic and more people making video calls to ... friends and family they couldn't see in person, other services have come to the forefront. In particular Microsoft has put more emphasis on its business videoconference tool Teams, while many home users have switched to Zoom. Some had even speculated Microsoft would ditch Skype altogether. Instead its promising changes both in user functions and ... (view more)
Google says it has successfully used beams of light in the air to carry an Internet signal. It says the technology won't work everywhere but could be a useful solution in specific places. Project Taara works on a broadly similar principle to fiber ... optic cables, with pulses of light carrying a signal that translates into the 0s and 1s of computer code. The "Free Speech Optical Communications" system uses a narrow beam of light invisible to the human. It's a similar technology to that which Google used in a previous project to connect balloons in the sky. The new system instead connects ... (view more)
New laws in Europe could mean all phones have to use the same charger plug. It's uncertain if they will take effect but they could force manufacturers to make changes worldwide. The proposal would mean most portable electronic devices sold in ... European Union countries would have to have a USB-C charging port. If manufacturers supplied a charger with a power plug, the connection to the phone could be USB-C or USB-A. The rules would apply to phones, tablets, cameras, portable speakers, headphones and portable game consoles. Specific exemptions would include ear buds, fitness trackers and smart ... (view more)
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My name is Dennis Faas and I am a senior systems administrator and IT technical analyst specializing in cyber crimes (sextortion / blackmail / tech support scams) with over 20 years experience; I also run this website! If you need technical assistance , I can help. Click here to email me now; optionally, you can review my resume here. You can also read how I can fix your computer over the Internet (also includes user reviews).
My name is Dennis Faas and I am a senior systems administrator and IT technical analyst specializing in cyber crimes (sextortion / blackmail / tech support scams) with over 20 years experience; I also run this website! If you need technical assistance , I can help. Click here to email me now; optionally, you can review my resume here. You can also read how I can fix your computer over the Internet (also includes user reviews).
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