Wayne Williams

VPNs (Virtual Private Network) work by routing all of your web traffic to a VPN server through a secure, encrypted tunnel. Their usage has grown substantially in recent years as web users seek not only to circumvent geoblocking, censorship and ISP blocks, but also simply to enjoy a degree of anonymity online.

There are number of free and paid VPNs to choose from. While free might seem like the way to go, the truth is these tend to have restrictions, such as a limited amount of free traffic each month, fewer servers to choose from, and throttled speeds. They’re fine for occasional use, but if you plan to employ VPN protection on a more regular basis, particularly for downloading files via BitTorrent or streaming on Kodi, then a paid solution, like IPVanish, makes a lot more sense.

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If you always feel like there's not enough time in the day to get everything accomplished -- and we certainly do! -- this is the resource that can help change your workday and your life.

Filled with insights into how the most successful people manage distractions, fight procrastination, and optimize their workspace, Successful Time Management For Dummies, 2nd Edition provides an in-depth look at the specific steps you can use to take back those precious hours and minutes to make more of your workday and your leisure time.

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Raspberry Pi’s main operating system, the Debian-based Raspbian, gets updated every two years or so. The last release, Jessie, came out in 2015, and now its replacement has arrived. Say hello to Stretch.

In case you were wondering, Debian releases are named after characters from Disney Pixar’s Toy Story trilogy. Jessie was the cowgirl introduced in Toy Story 2, and Stretch is a purple octopus from Toy Story 3. So what's new in the updated release?

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Kodi is under the spotlight for third-party add-ons that allow pirated content, but it’s far from being the only way for users to view illegal TV shows and movies.

Roku has a feature called 'private channels' (also referred to as 'hidden channels') that is designed to allow developers to test their creations ahead of making them available through Roku’s own store. Perhaps inevitably though, some of these channels are being used to stream pirated (or adult) content, and Roku isn’t happy.

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Learn how to attack and defend the world’s most popular web server platform.

Linux Server Security: Hack and Defend presents a detailed guide for experienced admins, aspiring hackers and other IT professionals seeking a more advanced understanding of Linux security. Written by a 20-year veteran of Linux server deployment, this book provides the insight of experience along with highly practical instruction.

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Kodi has been in the news a lot lately, and not for the best reasons. While the software itself isn’t illegal, using third-party add-ons to watch copyrighted content is, and many of those add-ons have been pulled recently following threats of legal action. Controversial add-on site TVAddons even vanished briefly from the web, before reappearing a week ago.

Despite all this, it’s business as usual for the Kodi Foundation which does its best to distance itself from the piracy accusations so often leveled at it, and the team has just released a new build for the popular open source media player.

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Two months ago, Microsoft accidentally pushed out a buggy Windows 10 build to Insiders that caused chaos but also revealed something interesting -- the company's plans for a new version of Windows 10 aimed specifically at power users.

The leak is now official as Microsoft announces Windows 10 Pro for Workstations, a high-end version of its new operating system.

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Layout in CSS has always been a tricky task: hacking solutions using positioning, floats, and the one-dimensional flexbox has never been very satisfactory.

Fortunately, there is a new tool to add to our arsenal: CSS Grid Layout. It is an incredibly powerful layout system that allows us to design pages using a two-dimensional grid -- offering the kind of fine-grained layout control that print designers take for granted.

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Two months ago, Russian security software firm Kaspersky Labs filed antitrust complaints against Microsoft in Europe, alleging that the software giant was favoring its own Windows Defender over third-party anti-virus software in Windows 10.

In response to that lawsuit, Microsoft has made changes to how the forthcoming Windows 10 Fall Creators Update works with anti-virus software, and an appeased Kaspersky has dropped its complaint.

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Yesterday, Microsoft announced it was rolling out a new beta version for its Outlook.com webmail service. This offers a number of improvements for users, including better performance, a smarter inbox, and greater personalization.

The problem, as with all Microsoft rollouts, is only some users will be able to access the beta. The majority have to wait to be invited, and that could take weeks. Fortunately, there’s a simply trick you can use to access the beta right now.

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Better PHP Development covers a collection of content, providing tools and techniques to make you a better developer.

If you’re just getting started with the language (or perhaps you've been using it a while and have learned some bad habits), you’re in luck. Not only will it be harder to slip up and make mistakes, but content such as this -- hand picked from the excellent SitePoint PHP channel -- will help you get started the right way.

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Outlook.com struggles a bit in the shadow of Google’s Gmail. While the latter is incredibly popular, Microsoft’s webmail service fails to attract users in the same way, which is a shame because it has a lot to offer.

It might be pulling in more users soon though, as Outlook.com is set to receive a big makeover that, in Microsoft's own words, takes advantage of "recent advances in programming, design, and artificial intelligence." Among the promised changes are improved performance, a smarter inbox, and better personalization. If you want to try it out, you can. This is what you need to do.

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The Leadership Journey will help you master the essential skill set of the truly effective leader.

This eBook from Wiley brings world-renown people and talent development expertise to bear in a discussion about 'good' versus 'great' leadership, sharing the 'secret sauce' of successful leadership, and providing an actionable framework for discovering and developing your own leadership skills and potential.

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One of the big complaints people had about Windows 10 when it first launched was how the new operating system spied on its users.

Microsoft has since reigned in this spying and introduced controls to give users greater management over their privacy, and now the software company has issued a lovely piece of spin, with an equally lovely headline -- Your feedback is helping shape Windows privacy -- to convince Windows 10 doubters the problems of the past are rapidly receding.

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It’s a good time to be a Windows Insider. Microsoft is busy cramming in last minute features and changes to the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (also known as Redstone 3), including rather unexpected surprises, and the builds are a lot more stable now.

A week ago, Microsoft introduced the option to bypass any future Fall Creators Updates builds and skip ahead to the Redstone 4 branch. If that sounds like something you would have liked to have done, there’s some bad news -- it’s now too late.

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