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Just because people can't go out to stores doesn't mean they've stopped buying things and a new study by app marketing specialist Liftoff and fraud prevention firm Adjust shows a boom in mobile shopping apps.

Engagement has surged 40 percent, with 14.7 percent purchase rates compared to last year's 10.5 percent. Looking at data over the past two years and the trend is even more apparent, with purchase engagement up a huge 110 percent.

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Initially derided as a limited modern take on netbooks, Chromebooks have gathered loyal followers over the years as app support grows. In addition to web apps, there is also support for Android and Linux apps, but Chromebook owners have long dreamed of the day they can run Windows software.

Thanks to a partnership between Google and virtualization specialist Parallels it will not be too long before Windows apps in Chrome OS becomes a reality. The bad news is that there is a slight caveat.

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New research from Bitdefender shows that half of information security professionals didn't have a contingency plan in place -- or didn't know if they did -- for a situation like COVID-19 or similar.

Yet 86 percent admit that attacks in the most common vectors have been rising during this period. Cyberwarfare and IoT as an attack vector were reported to be up by 38 percent, and APTs, cyberespionage IP theft and social media threats/chatbots by 37 percent -- all of which could turn 2020 into a bumper year for breaches.

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As we reported a few days ago, two recent Windows 10 updates started to cause problems with printing for many users. Following an investigation into the KB4560960 and KB4557957 updates, Microsoft has now released an out-of-band update to address the issues.

For now, Microsoft has published patches for versions 1909, 1903, 1809 and 1803 of Windows 10 with the promise that "other affected versions of Windows will have updates released in the coming days".

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Both Intel and AMD make great processors, but for the most part, Intel has long been the market leader for enthusiasts. When building a gaming PC, consumers have historically chosen Intel for its superior performance in games -- particularly when multi-core doesn't matter. In 2020, however, things have changed. Many enthusiasts and gamers are turning to AMD for its excellent Ryzen and Ryzen Threadripper chips. Not only does AMD rule multi-core computing, but in many gaming benchmarks, it is on par with Intel nowadays. And so, now is the time for AMD to shine and for Intel to take a step back.

AMD seems unwilling to rest on its laurels, however, as today it launches a trio of new Ryzen 3000XT processors which have higher boost frequencies. These Zen 2-based 7nm processors are AMD's first desktop CPUs to to carry the "XT" branding. This is significant, as "XT" is typically reserved for AMD's Radeon graphics cards. It seems like AMD really wants PC gamers to consider these processors for their next build. Ultimately, it looks like Ryzen 3000XT is AMD's way of slam dunking on the competition. In other words, AMD is giving Intel the Frédéric Weis treatment...

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The solid state drive market is evolving very fast lately. Not only do we now have an M.2 drive with a huge 8TB storage capacity, but PCIe 4.0-capable motherboards are becoming more prevalent. Why is PCIe 4.0 so important? Bandwidth, baby. Compared to PCIe 3.0, the new 4.0 has double the bandwidth. From a storage perspective, this means PCIe 4.0 solid state drives will provide insanely fast speeds.

Today, Silicon Power unveils an all-new SSD that uses PCIe 4.0. Called "US70," the company promises some impressive performance. For instance, read speeds can reach 5,000 MB/s, while write can go up to 4,400 MB/s.

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For a while, Wi-Fi 6 (aka 802.11ax) was the future of wireless connectivity, but now, it is the present. Yes, with more and more devices having Wi-Fi 6, it is time to finally buy a compatible router now. If you already have a Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) router that you love, you probably don't need to run out and upgrade immediately. However, if you find yourself needing a new wireless router, it would be foolish not to go with 802.11ax -- there is no downside.

Today, Linksys unveils its latest wireless router, and it is very affordable. Called "MR7350," it supports Wi-Fi 6 and has a USB-A port on the rear for connecting a USB storage device. In other words, the MR7350 can pull double-duty as a makeshift NAS. Best of all, it has mesh support baked in, so you can set up a mesh network using other compatible Linksys products.

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Change is coming to the Windows Insider Program. Yesterday Microsoft announced that it would be replacing its current ring system with channels, and today it rolls out the first build for the next big feature update of Windows 10, which it is officially calling 20H2.

Build 19042.330 (20H2) is arriving in the Beta Channel -- that’s what used to be the Slow ring -- but it won't be delivered to you automatically.

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Although it’s causing a bit of a trail of destruction in its wake for some users, the latest Windows 10 feature update -- version 2004, or the May 2020 Update -- is currently rolling out to compatible machines, and Microsoft is turning its attention to the follow up.

Windows 10, version 20H2 -- the next feature update’s official name -- will be released in the second half of this year, and Microsoft says it will be "delivered in an optimized way for anyone running the Windows 10 May 2020 Update". In other words, the next version will install like a monthly update for those on 2004.

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Tools like checkers and brute forcers freely available on the dark web are helping unskilled criminals launch automated attacks against organizations' websites.

A new report by Recorded Future also reveals the industries most affected by these tools are software, media and entertainment, eCommerce, finance, and telecommunications.

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A new report shows that 82 percent of security operations centers are confident in their ability to detect cyberthreats.

This is despite just 22 percent of front line workers tracking mean time to detection (MTTD), which helps determine hacker dwell time, and 40 percent of organizations still struggling with SOC staff shortages and finding qualified people.

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Spotting potentially fraudulent customers and transactions is difficult. But a new tool from identity verification firm Ekata uses machine learning to help identify good and bad customers.

Network Score uses the Ekata Identity Network, a proprietary global dataset of billions of customer transactions, to reduce the number of false transaction declines and increase the precision of fraud detection.

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Four out of ten IT security professionals still see usernames and passwords as one of the most effective means to protect access to their IT infrastructure, even though most hacking-related breaches are a result of weak, stolen or reused credentials.

A new report on access management from Thales also reveals that a majority of respondents say their organization plans to expand the use of usernames and passwords, even though the limitations could pose security challenges.

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When working in offices, people have access to business-level printers that can handle large volumes of printing with ease. But with more and more people working from home, consumer-level printers currently have far greater demands being made of them.

Now, HP announces its new HP ENVY 6000 printer series which aim to address this situation. There are two models available -- the Envy 6055 and Envy Pro 6455.

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Windows 10 has always had a number of recovery options for when the time comes to reinstall the operating system. One of these is called Fresh Start, which gives you the option of reinstalling Windows 10 while retaining files and some settings and apps.

In Windows 10 May 2020 Update (Windows 10 version 2004), this handy recovery tool seems to have vanished. In fact, Microsoft has even updated its support pages to indicate that Fresh Start is only available in Windows 10 version 1909 and earlier. But the functionality of Fresh Start is still available -- you just need to know where to look.

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