browser

Chrome browser users have been warned to watch out for a sneaky malware attack. The trick involves a bogus on-screen message that claims the user needs to download a missing font. The people responsible are using hacked websites on the WordPress ... platform to operate the scam. They've altered the page so that the text appears to have been corrupted and is made up largely of symbols such as black diamonds and question marks. The page then displays an on-screen message that's carefully designed to look like a genuine Chrome error message, complete with the correct logos, shapes and even ... (view more)

Researchers have found a way to track web users even if they switch web browsers. It could improve security but also weaken online privacy. The researchers at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania were trying to find ways of improving fingerprinting. ... That's a way to attempt to identify an individual user (or at least their computer) without relying on single identifiers such as login details, browser cookies, or an IP address. Instead, fingerprinting involves taking multiple pieces of information provided by a user's browser such as the browser name, it's version, whether they have an ad blocker ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Tom G. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently had to reinstall Windows, which also required reinstalling all my programs. Ever since then, whenever I try to access my work's website (which uses a Java applet), I receive an error ... message that says: 'Your security settings have blocked an application with an expired or not-yet-valid certificate from running.' I cannot proceed past that, and am therefore unable to access the website. The Java applet worked fine before I reinstalled Windows, so how can I get past this error? " My response: I had a sneaking suspicion that the website ... (view more)

Facebook users have been warned to watch out for bogus links in messages that appear to be from friends. While Facebook appears to be on top of the problem for now, it's an approach that could lead to personal data being siphoned off, or computers ... locked. The problem was highlighted by security researcher Bart Parys who became aware of the problem this weekend after a tip-off from a friend. It involves Facebook messages which appear to consist only of an image but are actually a type of file called SVG (scalable vector graphics). 'YouTube' Video Next Step In Scam Normally such ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Ray F. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have a problem with Google Analytics tying up my web browser with a 'waiting for www google-analytics.com' messages every time I visit a site. It shows this message in the action box on the lower ... left of the browser as the page loads. This goes for about 20 to 40 seconds and will not let me pass it; I have to wait for it to complete before the page will fully load. How do I get rid of this? Thanks for a great website and newsletter. " My response: This is a good question. The reason why the analytics is there is so that the website operator ... (view more)

Lately we've been posting a lot of articles about websites and services that have been hacked . One of the primary recommendations we have also repeated is that users should use unique and hard-to-guess passwords for each site, as this will help to ... prevent any further breaches. The reasoning is that if user account data is stolen on one site ( Yahoo is a good example ), the same username and passwords may also be valid on other sites - but only if users are using the same account names, passwords or password hints. Unfortunately this is often the case, because using the same passwords on ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jane T. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently upgraded to Windows 10 and have been using the Edge browser fairly extensively. One thing that really bothers me is that when I first start Edge, it displays a bunch of photos on the ... screen, including: My News feed, News, Entertainment, Sports, Money, Lifestyle, and Autos. Is there any way to disable these permanently so that only Edge shows up? I really don't care to read any of those items - in fact, I'd much rather just have Google as my home page. Can you help? " My response: By default Edge will display the items you mention, ... (view more)

Microsoft claims its Edge browser uses far less battery power on laptops than rivals such as Google Chrome. The claims come as it publishes details of further tweaks to the browser's power demands. To back up its claims, Microsoft has released the ... results of tests it carried out using its own Surface Book computer, along with data gathered remotely from Windows 10 computers. As with any such non-independent tests, it's always worth remembering that not only could the setup of the tests be designed in a way that favors Microsoft, but there's no way of knowing that Microsoft hasn ... (view more)

Microsoft has unveiled a couple of changes to improve Windows 10: smartphone owners will be able to see notifications on their computer screen, while many Chrome extensions could be coming to the Edge browser. A forthcoming update will introduce ... something called "notification mirroring." That will mean pairing a Windows or Android smartphone or tablet with a Windows 10 computer. Users can then automatically have any notifications that normally appear on their smartphone or tablet show up on their computer screen instead. The idea is that while somebody is working on their computer, ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'dbrumley' writes: " Dear Dennis, I've had a problem lately with Firefox when visiting Amazon's website. I get a pop-up window saying a 'script on this page is either busy or not responding'. There are 3 buttons that say Stop ... script, Ignore error, and Debug script, along with an option that says 'Don't ask again'. I've tried using the 'Stop script' button, which closes the window, but the browser slows down and the window re-appears. The 'Ignore error' button does the same thing. The 'Debug script' button opens a window with what looks like HTML, but I can't make heads or ... (view more)