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German software developer Ashampoo has unveiled Photo Optimizer 8.0, a major new release of its Windows photo-editing tool. The first major update since June 2018, version 8 builds further on the 1-click optimization tool introduced in version 7, plus offers additional manual fine-tuning tools alongside a new perspective correction feature.

Photo Optimizer 8 opens with what Ashampoo admits is a 'significantly improved' 1-click correction tool, designed to detect potential weaknesses in the original photo and provide improvements with no user involvement required. The improved algorithm has undergone two years of development and trial runs, with many thousands of setting combinations tested to help lift photos suffering from dull colors, poor lighting and a lack of contrast.

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Want to know a little-discussed fact about Apple? Despite the company's historic excellence in design, it has never created a good mouse. It's true! Throughout the company's entire history, including today, all Apple mice have been terrible. With that said, its trackpads are absolutely brilliant, and they are still a class-leader. No Windows laptop has a better trackpad than a Mac.

If you like Mac computers but hate Apple mice, there is one excellent solution -- buy a third party mouse. You can never go wrong with a Logitech mouse, and today, the company launches an Apple variant of its popular MX Master 3. In addition, Logitech is launching two Apple-focused keyboards as well -- a Mac-optimized version of the MX Keys and the K380 for Mac Multi-Device Bluetooth Keyboard.

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Microsoft has been quite aggressive in pushing out the Chromium-based version of Edge, and not everyone is happy about it.

There is understandable anger at having a browser that isn't necessarily wanted being forcibly installed -- and to add insult to injury, Microsoft has also made it impossible to uninstall Edge. But there is actually a way to get rid of the browser. Here's what you need to know.

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If you are a Linux nerd or Windows user without much money, you probably use LibreOffice. That free software is actually quite good, although Microsoft's Office is far superior. Regardless of how you feel about the Windows-maker, its office suite of software is second to none. If you use Windows or Mac and can afford it, I always recommend using "real" Word and Excel over knockoffs, such as the aforementioned LibreOffice's Writer or Calc. Sadly, other than the web version, Microsoft Office is not available for Linux. With that said, as a Linux user, I appreciate LibreOffice's existence and use it regularly.

But what if LibreOffice wasn't free? Would people still use it if it cost money? Some folks became very worried about that exactly, as the release candidate of LibreOffice 7.0 labeled itself as "Personal Edition." To some, it was a sign that a paid version of LibreOffice was on the horizon. Well, guess what? They weren't totally wrong. In the future, you might find yourself paying money to use LibreOffice software. According to a new blog post from The Document Foundation Board aimed at quelling fears, however, there is no need to panic.

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New analysis carried out by Kaspersky of attacks on mobile devices has revealed that 14.8 percent of its users who were targeted by malware or adware in 2019 suffered a system partition infection, making the malicious files undeletable.

It also finds that pre-installed default applications have role to play, depending on the brand, the risk of applications that can't be deleted varies from one to five percent in low-cost devices and goes up to 27 percent in extreme cases.

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After giving us a tease of a redesign, Microsoft rolled out the new look Start menu in Windows 10 build 20161.

But while there was a great deal of excitement about the cleaner, more refined look complete with translucent backgrounds, many Windows users were disappointed to find that the new Start menu was not available to everyone. Here's what you need to do to see the new Start menu.

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We've already seen Windows 10 May 2020 Update causing a range of problems for users, including login issues, problems with Storage Spaces and issues with OneDrive. But there are also some people for whom even the installation is problematic.

We've already heard about people being unable to get the update because their "device isn't quite ready". Now there are reports that some users are seeing a message informing them that "this PC can't be upgraded to Windows 10". In the error message, Microsoft tells affected users that: "Your PC settings aren't supported yet on this version of Windows 10".

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If you are a serious PC gamer, I hope you own a mechanical keyboard. Whether gaming on a laptop or desktop, you should absolutely have a high-quality mechanical keyboard and mouse plugged in. After all, there is a good chance your competition is using these things, so why should you be at a disadvantage?

If you are in the market for a mechanical keyboard, I have good news. Kingston's gaming division, HyperX, launches a new model today. Called "Alloy Elite 2," it is the successor to the wildly popular first-gen Alloy Elite. This time, you get "pudding" keycaps, which feature translucent sides for a brighter and more colorful RGB experience. Thankfully, the volume wheel and media buttons make a return.

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Microsoft has acknowledged OneDrive connectivity problems on some devices that have been upgraded to Windows 10 May 2020 Update (Windows 10 version 2004).

An error message reading "OneDrive cannot connect to Windows" informs affected users that Files On-Demand require an internet connection to function. The problem means that people are unable to access some of their files -- at least until they apply a workaround.

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If you want to store your data externally, you can always go with a mechanical hard disk drive. That makes sense, as HDDs are typically a more cost effective option when compared to solid state drives. With that said, SSDs have dropped in price a lot lately, and are getting larger storage capacities all the time. For instance, both Sabrent and Samsung recently showed off 8TB SSDs. Not to mention, solid state drives are faster and have no moving parts, making them worth the premium for some consumers.

Lexar recently announced a new portable SSD that uses USB-C for connectivity, and it is rather affordable. Called "SL200," it appears to use a SATA drive internally, so it isn't the fastest option on the market. With that said, it is still significantly faster than a USB hard disk drive. Your PC doesn't have USB-C? Don't worry. The attractive drive comes with both a USB-C to USB-C cable and a USB-C to USB-A cable in the box.

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Microsoft's cloud storage and Google Drive rival, OneDrive, is in line to receive a number of new features, the company has revealed. Personal and business customers are due to gain access to features that will make life easier, including a new Add to OneDrive option for easy file and folder sharing.

Add to OneDrive is a business-centric feature that will be a big help for collaborative work, but home users have a lot to look forward to as well. Key new features include the ability upload files of up to 100 GB in size, and the arrival of a dark mode option for the web-based version of OneDrive, bringing it in line with the mobile apps.

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People are starting to care more about privacy these days, and rightfully so. It feels like we are constantly hearing about data breaches and software vulnerabilities that can lead to spying. While Windows 10 is a great operating system, it does have some intense telemetry that can pass your activity to Microsoft's servers. That is part of the reason so many people are switching to Linux these days.

If you are switching to Linux for privacy reasons, you have to check out Purism. That company sells computers running a Debian-based Linux distro called "PureOS". These machines have hardware kill-switches for the webcam, microphone, and wireless radios. Today, the company announces the 14-inch Librem 14 Linux laptop. It has a 1080p display and is powered by the hexacore Intel Core i7-10710U processor. It can be configured with up to 32GB of RAM.

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New research into global patent registrations and information on the economic value of patents in the AI sector reveals that Samsung, IBM and Tencent dominate with the highest number of patents filed.

But the study from specialist in the law and economics of IP, OxFirst,  also shows fierce competition between the US and China which overshadows other countries, including those in Europe.

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Microsoft has been teasing users with images of its refreshed Windows 10 Start menu for a while now, and you can finally try it out for yourself.

But that’s not all the software giant is changing in Windows 10. In addition to a much nicer looking Start menu, it’s introducing a personalized taskbar, an improved notification experience, and also adding extra features to Alt+Tab.

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Facebook has sneakily used a blog post purportedly about "protecting people's data" to reveal that it has failed to do precisely that. In a post in its almost ironically titled Privacy Matters series, Facebook admits that it shared private user data with thousands of app developers when it should not have. Two years ago, Facebook implemented a privacy policy that stopped apps that had not been used for 90 days from sharing data with developers, but it turns out that data was in fact still shared.

The social media giant shamelessly tries to save face in saying that while the way in which this user data was shared ran counter to its own privacy policy, the "issues" didn't result in the sharing of personal information which people had not previously given permission to be shared. This is either deliberately missing the point, or treating users with a callous off-handedness, sharing little in the way of meaningful information about the incident.

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