Articles

A feature used in several ad blocker tools could be used to "booby trap" websites according to a security researchers. It appears to be a low but credible risk. The problem is all to do with the way many ad blockers work. In simple terms, they ... maintain a blacklist of URLs that host ads and other unwanted material. Whenever a website tries to load an ad from an URL on the list, it's blocked from doing so. Since last summer some ad blockers, including Adblock Plus, added support for a feature called "$rewrite." With this feature, the ad blocker won't just block the unwanted URL from ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jerry B. writes: " Dear Dennis, With Windows 7 reaching end of life in January 2020, I decided to upgrade my machine to Windows 10. Everything went fine without a hitch, except for one small issue. The Windows 10 task bar is very ... difficult to read - especially the clock and any running tasks. I have another Windows 10 machine that I use daily and I can clearly see the writing on the task bar. I have searched Google for ' windows 10 taskbar unreadable ' and 'windows 10 task bar font black' and 'windows 10 task bar text too dark', and similar searches, but I can seem to nail ... (view more)

Microsoft is changing a default setting in Windows 10 that means it's now OK to remove a USB device without properly "ejecting" it from the operating system. It's an acknowledgement that many users simply don't use the "eject" feature. The fact is, ... using the "Safely remove hardware and eject media" on the Windows task bar (near the clock) is the correct way to eject USB media. This method is necessary because of read and write buffers to the device are constantly active. If the buffers are not flushed before the device is properly ejected, it could mean ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Bill H. writes: " Dear Dennis, I was on Amazon.com and suddenly a warning message appeared, stating that my PC was infected with a virus and to call 1-866-666-1917 to fix the problem. There was no way to close the window. I called ... the number and spoke to a fellow at Smart PC Experts ( smartpcexperts.com ), who had a very thick Indian accent . They convinced me that my PC was infected with the Zeus Trojan and it needed to be fixed. I allowed them remote access to my machine and they installed some software. After that, they demanded $499 as payment for their services. I was ... (view more)

Microsoft will add a "tamper protection" feature to the built in antivirus tools in an upcoming Windows 10 update. It's designed to stop malware from switching off key security features in Microsoft Defender. Initially the changes will be available ... for Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, which is a subscription service for businesses. However, Microsoft appears to have revealed it will later become available to home users of Windows 10. (Source: zdnet.com ) The idea is to prevent rogue apps from disabling some of the weapons in the Microsoft Defender arsenal, in turn making it far ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Cindee T. writes: " Dear Dennis, The other day I was using my web browser and suddenly received a message that my computer was infected and to call 855-551-7666 to have it fixed. There was no way to close the warning screen - I ... was scared and didn't know what to do! I called the number and spoke to ' Right PC Experts ' ( rightpcexperts.com ). The person I spoke to had a very thick Indian accent . To fix the virus warning, he remotely logged into my computer and installed a bunch of security programs, by the names of 'Anti hacking', 'Email Security', 'Network Firewall' and ' ... (view more)

Apple has released a patch for mobile devices which covers 51 security flaws. It's sparked debate over Apple's security levels and the way it issues such updates. The patch is for iOS, taking it up to version 12.2. Apple doesn't issue standalone ... security updates. Instead, it builds it into the main update for the system, which also includes new features or bug fixes. (Source: apple.com ) The most notable fix is a bug in an API (application program interface), which lets third party software interact with Apple services. In this case, the API bug could allow malware to access an iPhone, iPad ... (view more)