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Mageia isn't one of the most popular Linux-based operating systems, but it has its share of fans. The operating system is primarily a KDE affair, although GNOME and Xfce are available desktop environments too. It is a quality distro that you should check out if interested.

The last major release of Mageia was version 7, which came out nearly a year ago. Today, Mageia 8 Alpha 1 becomes available for download. Despite many Linux distributions stopping development of 32-bit variants, Mageia is apparently not giving up -- you can download a special 32-bit ISO that uses the Xfce desktop environment.

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Intel's diminutive NUC bare-bones computers are quite a bit of fun. Not only are they cute and tiny, but once you add RAM and storage, they can run both Windows 10 and Linux brilliantly. Hell, I am currently running macOS on one as a "Hackintosh" (Shh! Don't tell Apple). The only knock on the NUC is that you can't really upgrade the GPU. Unless your NUC has Thunderbolt 3 and you add a pricey eGPU, you are essentially stuck with Intel's ho-hum onboard graphics.

With the unveiling of the "Ghost Canyon" Intel NUC 9, however, this changed. While obviously bigger than earlier NUC models, this unit can accommodate a proper gaming card from AMD or NVIDIA (if you choose to add one). You can even eventually upgrade the CPU with what Intel calls replaceable "compute elements." And now, if you have some money to spare, you can finally buy the top model of Ghost Canyon -- the drool-worthy Intel NUC 9 Extreme is available today!

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Microsoft has released two off-schedule patches for serious vulnerabilities in the Windows Codecs Library affecting Windows 10 and Windows Server.

With the updates, which have been released through the Microsoft Store, the company is addressing the "critical" CVE-2020-1425 and the "serious" CVE-2020-1457. Both are Remote Code Execution vulnerabilities, and both have been addressed with little fanfare from Microsoft.

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New research from security management platform Exabeam reveals that 88 percent of UK security practitioners have accelerated their move to the cloud, driven by the need to support a remote workforce.

Significantly, almost half of respondents (44 percent) are now using cloud-based security products to protect their corporate financial information. This is a sharp increase compared to Exabeam's earlier study where just 12 percent were protecting corporate financial information in this way.

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In the first quarter of this year, DDoS attacks rose more than 278 percent compared to Q1 2019 and more than 542 percent compared to the previous quarter.

This is among the findings of the Nexusguard Q1 2020 Threat Report. Researchers attribute the sharp rise in incidents to malicious efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, causing DDoS attacks to interrupt service for large companies and individuals alike.

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Increasingly customers expect personalized experiences that are relevant to their unique situations and needs. However, with the increased reliance on technology needed to provide this, the human angle can go by the board.

We spoke to Jon Perera, CMO at sales and marketing software specialist Highspot to learn more about how people, processes and technology can be aligned to offer optimum customer experience.

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Microsoft has been making incredible progress with the return of the much-loved PowerToys utilities for Windows 10. Over a series of releases, the company has given tweakers and power users all manner of useful toys to play with.

Now PowerToys v0.19.0 is here, and Microsoft has gone on a bug-fixing rampage, fixing more than 100 issues. This release also sees improvements to the annoying installer.

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We have had 64-bit processors in the mainstream for many years now, but for some reason, developers have continued to maintain 32-bit versions of operating systems. This includes Microsoft, who still supports 32-bit Windows 10 in 2020 (although the company plans to wind that down). Thankfully, many Linux distributions such as Fedora, Tails, and Linux Mint have killed off their 32-bit versions, choosing to instead focus on 64-bit.

And now, another major Linux distribution follows suit. You see, as of today, Manjaro Linux 32-bit is dead. This is a very wise move, as 32-bit computers are obsolete and maintaining a 32-bit variant of an OS is a waste of resources. Anyone that disagrees is very wrong.

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When I first cut the cord and switched my television service to YouTube TV, the price was a very manageable $35 per month. Then the monthly charge went to up $40 and ultimately landed at $50. When it hit the $50 mark I became nervous, as it was approaching cable TV pricing. Sadly, today, the price jumps once again, this time to $65. Uh oh.

At this new price, YouTube TV is definitely more expensive than cable TV would be for me. In fact, if I was to switch back to cable TV, I wouldn't only save money, but I would get more channels too. So I will be switching back to cable TV, right? Surprisingly, no. I will be sticking with YouTube TV.

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Mozilla has released Firefox 78.0, the latest in a long line of major updates to the veteran browser. Available for Windows, macOS and Linux, the new release is joined by Firefox ESR 78.0, the first major update of the Extended Support Release browser since Firefox 68 last year.

The release sees the Privacy Protections screen renamed to Protections Dashboard. It also gains two new features: the ability to track the number of resolved breaches directly from the dashboard itself, plus an option to check to see if any saved passwords have been exposed in a data breach. Type about:protections to access the dashboard quickly.

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M.2 PCIe solid state drives are definitely preferable to 2.5-inch SATA variants, but there is a big problem -- the majority of active computers in the world don't have M.2 slots! In other words, even though M.2 PCIe drives are faster, if they aren't compatible with a user's computer, it is a moot point. Ultimately, 2.5-inch SATA SSDs are here to stay for many years.

Thankfully, there is no shortage of manufacturers willing to produce SATA solid state drives. One of the most notable is Samsung. Its drives are well respected by enthusiasts and regular computer users thanks to reliability, speed, and reasonable pricing. Today, Samsung releases its latest 2.5-inch SATA SSD and it looks like another winner. Called " 870 QVO," this QLC SATA solid state drive comes in capacities ranging from 1TB all the way to an impressive 8TB!

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While many people are happily working from home during the pandemic, for others a switch to remote working has thrown the deficiencies of their home internet connections into perspective.

UK comparison site Uswitch has found that people have been performing 44,000 searches per month in the hope of fixing their broadband issues. The top 10 searches are all related to technical issues and two thirds (62 percent) of all searches are related to speed.

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The T2 chip included in more recent Macs helps to boost security in a number of ways. As well as preventing unsigned software from booting, the chip also secures the entire boot process and handles drive encryption.

But T2 chip can also cause headaches for owners of such machines. The security built into the chip forces users to perform some system repairs -- such as the Touch ID sensor -- with Apple rather than a third party. It can also cause huge problems when it comes to data recovery; that is, unless you're using EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac.

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Readers have been asking me to comment on Apple’s decision, announced at last week’s World Wide Developers’ Conference, to start switching to Apple-designed ARM processors for its Macintosh computers. I usually don’t like to do second-day (or, in the case, second-week) stories unless I can add something new to the discussion. Oddly, I usually can and that’s the case here, where Apple’s move to ARM has a big-picture strategy component that is absolutely vital to the company’s continued success. It also doesn’t seem to be covered yet anywhere but here.

Forget all the talk about Apple moving to ARM because the chips are better than Intel’s or consume less power. You can even forget the idea that using its own chips allows Apple to be more secretive. While these points are all true, Apple would still be moving to ARM even if they weren’t. The switch is all about money, which comes down to Apple’s cost of goods on one hand and Apple’s market capitalization on the other.

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The transition to PCIe 4.0 is in full effect, with more and more new motherboards having the new standard. You can thank AMD for that, by the way, as Intel is dragging its feet and still embracing the older PCIe 3.0. Oh well. That really shouldn't come as a surprise, as AMD is the leader these days.

One of the best aspects of PCIe 4.0 is faster solid state drives. For instance, today, TEAMGROUP unveils a new M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD. Called "CARDEA Ceramic C440," this speedy gaming-focused SSD features a ceramic heatsink -- a very unique cooling option for a drive. Not only should the ceramic heatsink help with performance, but it looks very pretty too.

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