Wayne Williams

Windows 10 has always had a bad reputation for snooping on users. While that was a valid issue at the start, each new feature update has made changes to the privacy side of the operating system, and users now have much greater control over things.

When you perform a clean install of Windows 10, the operating system connects to a large number of sites for different purposes, including -- naturally enough -- to send and receive email, download apps and security updates, and so on. The sheer number of endpoints that the operating system connects to might surprise you however. It's a very, very long list.

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Malwarebytes is one of the better tools for keeping your PC safe from the many threats you can encounter on the web, and today the company introduces a browser extension for both Firefox and Chrome.

Called simply, Malwarebytes Browser Extension (BETA) it blocks malicious websites and filters out unwanted content, which the company says results in "up to three times faster webpage load times".

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When is the most popular time for ordering pizza, Chinese food, or other forms of takeout? You might think there's no set answer, but it turns out that wherever you are in the world there’s a particular time when most people think about getting food.

Actually, that’s not completely true. There are two times.

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It’s been a couple of weeks since Microsoft last rolled out a new Windows 10 Redstone 5 build to Insiders on the Fast ring, but today the wait is over. In addition to new RS5 Build 17723 the software giant also releases a new build for Insiders who have opted to join (or rejoin) the Skip Ahead ring.

Build 18204 is the first release on the 19H1 (Redstone 6) branch that will become the first feature update of 2019. Because these two builds have just split, they are largely the same -- as you might expect -- but this will change, going forward.

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If you’re a business leader, you’ve heard, read or thought about it more than you probably want to: the ceaseless war to protect your company’s network and data from a hacker.

The next big data breach is always lurking around the corner, but businesses don’t have to live in fear of losing critical data.

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Much of the world is experiencing a prolonged heatwave at the moment. These sunny days are great for topping up a tan, and enjoying the beach, but not so great for using a mobile phone -- and not only because of the risk of it overheating.

If you have an iPhone, you will likely have encountered the issue of the screen brightness suddenly changing. One moment you’ll be able to see things just fine, and the next it will be too dark to view properly in the sunshine. Adjusting the brightness won’t make any difference either, but don’t worry, there is a secret setting you can use to stop this behavior.

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iOS 6 made its debut six years ago, in 2012. It wasn’t the most ground-breaking version of Apple’s mobile operating system, focusing mostly on refining elements, although it did introduce a number of new features, including Apple Maps, Do Not Disturb, and Passbook (now called Wallet).

With iOS 12 due this fall, most people have long forgotten about iOS 6, but the 2018 Edition shows why it was good, and how adding 3D Touch can improve things significantly.

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Google recently rolled out a big update to Gmail, introducing a number of welcome new features.

One the big new additions is 'Confidential Mode' which you can enable from the compose window. This is designed to restrict how the emails you send can be viewed and shared, and you can also set an expiration date for messages. If you have the need to send and receive emails of a sensitive nature, then you might think this is the prefect solution. There’s just one problem -- messages sent using it aren’t confidential.

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We live in an age where TVs offer amazing picture quality -- 4K HDR really makes the picture pop. But it’s no good having a fantastic image on screen, if the accompanying sound quality is rather lacking.

Enclave Audio's Cinehome HD 5.1 Wire Free Home Theater System is an easy-to-setup HD 5.1 digital surround system that delivers 24-bit HD quality audio without the need of speaker wires.

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It’s very easy to install Windows apps from the Microsoft Store. You just need to go to the app’s page there, click the 'Get the app' button, and wait.

But what if you want to download a copy of the app for installing later, or on multiple systems? Well it turns out there is a way to do this.

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Windows Essentials (also called Windows Live Essentials) was a suite of desktop applications that included various Microsoft programs, like Messenger, Mail, Movie Maker, Photo Gallery, Writer, and OneDrive.

The last version of the suite was released in 2012, with the final update in 2014, and reached end of support on January 10, 2017. Microsoft removed the pack from its site last year, and while it is officially no longer available for download, you can still get it -- if you know how. And the good news is tools like Movie Maker work fine on Windows 10.

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Timeline is an excellent addition to Windows 10, introduced as part of the April 2018 Update. It remembers what documents and web pages you’ve been working on recently, allowing you to quickly pick up where you left off.

As good as it is, however, it has one major flaw and that’s it only remembers web pages you’ve opened in Microsoft Edge. If you don’t use that browser -- and let’s be honest, that’s most people -- then Timeline’s usefulness is greatly reduced. Thankfully, there’s a way to get it to remember pages you’ve visited in Chrome or Firefox.

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It’s no secret that Microsoft wants you to use its Edge browser in Windows 10. It’s tried a lot of ways to persuade users to switch from Chrome, Firefox or other browsers, including advertising Edge in Windows and even recently made a change to a Redstone 5 Insider preview so that links clicked in Windows Mail opened directly in the browser.

Windows 10 users will be aware that Edge is already the default browser for certain links and actions. If you run a web search using the Cortana search box, for example, the results -- provided by Bing -- will open in Edge. But a handy program can redirect these links to whatever browser you have set up as the default.

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Malwarebytes already offers a decent security app for Android, but the company has never had a version for iOS -- until now.

While iPhone and iPad users are less at risk from malware than their Android counterparts, thanks to Apple’s walled-garden, they aren’t necessarily completely safe -- the threat of spam calls, scam websites, fraudulent texts and bad ads remains.

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Apple today announces that it has refreshed its MacBook Pro with the latest Intel processors for faster performance, True Tone displays, and quieter keyboards.

The switch to newer processors brings a big improvement to performance. How big a boost? According to Apple, the 8th-generation quad-core Intel Core processors in the 13-inch MacBook Pro will make it twice as fast, while the 8th-generation 6-core Intel Core processors in the 15-inch model will deliver 70 percent better performance.

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