Sysinternals ships Sysmon 5.0, Process Explorer 16.20

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Microsoft Sysinternals has released updates for some of its best tools, including Sysmon 5.0 and Process Explorer 16.20.

Sysmon gets a major update, with new support for recording file creations, Registry create and delete options, value sets and key and value renames.

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Zorin OS 12 Ubuntu-based Linux distribution now available -- a Windows 10 alternative

Zorin12

Windows 10 is a really great desktop operating system, but it is not for everyone. For those that care deeply about security and privacy, an open source Linux-based operating system is a wise alternative. The problem? Learning a new user interface can be hard for some. If you have always used a Windows OS in the past, moving to a desktop environment like GNOME or Unity can be confusing and scary.

Luckily, for those that have difficulty with change, there are some Linux-based operating systems that are designed for Windows-switchers. One fairly popular such offering, Zorin OS, has now reached version 12. It is designed to be familiar to former users of Microsoft's OS. While the company does charge for an "Ultimate" version, the "Core" edition of Zorin OS 12 is entirely free.

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Prevent forced system shutdowns and restarts with shutdownblocker

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Shutdownblocker is a simple tool which intercepts and blocks shutdown, restart, logoff and related commands.

The program offers some protection from user mistakes or poorly designed software which forces a restart, as well as preventing forced Windows 10 Update restarts.

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UPDATE: Scale of Three customer data breach massively downsized, but identity theft remains a risk

Three

Late yesterday, Three admitted to a breach of its customer databases which potentially put 6 million people at risk. Today the company has spoken out, indicating that far fewer customers were affected than first thought.

In fact, data from just over 130,000 accounts was accessed, with varying levels of access meaning different customer information was exposed. Three says the primary goal of the database breach was to intercept handsets rather than for other purposes, and it stresses that no financial information was stolen.

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Plextor EX1 SSD targets Apple MacBook Pro (2016) with USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C interface

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Apple's all-new MacBook Pro looks to be a very well-designed machine. It features Thunderbolt 3/USB Type-C ports only -- something I think is a wise choice. True, those that want to leverage USB Type-A and other ports will need to use dongles, but in a couple years, consumers will be glad to have nothing but the latest-and-greatest connector on their machine. For comparison, look at FireWire, floppy disk, and optical drives -- Apple was panned for their removal too.

If you need to expand storage on your new Touch Bar MacBook Pro, you unfortunately cannot upgrade the internal SSD. Instead, you will need to leverage an external drive using the aforementioned Type-C ports. Plextor has an elegant new product that should meet those external storage needs. Called simply "EX1", it is a USB 3.1 Gen 2 SSD with Type-C connector.

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Google Cloud Platform will offer GPU options next year

Google Cloud Platform updated to run Windows applications in the cloud

Google has announced that early next year it will be adding graphics processing units (GPUs) as a service to its Cloud Platform in order to better compete with its rivals.

GPU as a service is already available on Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and IBM's Bluemix, but Google's Cloud Platform will seek to differentiate itself by offering a variety of GPUs for customers to choose from. The company will allow users the option to use two AMD FirePro S9300s or either a Nvidia Tesla P100 or K80.

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Best Windows 10 apps this week

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Two-hundred-and-five in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 on Windows Store in the past seven days.

Microsoft released a new Windows Insider build this week. You can check out what is new here.

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Facebook fake news guru Paul Horner credits himself with getting Donald Trump elected

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Fake news stories are on the rise, spreading across the internet via social media. They spread at a quickening rate thanks, in large part, to well-known people sharing them. Now some services are cracking down on these stories, but is it too late?

Just recently we learned that both Google and Facebook are clamping down on the spread of fake news stories, with Google withholding ads that appear on sites it deems to contain misleading content.

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IBM launches new services to help enterprises with cloud migration

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Businesses are turning to the cloud as a way of coping with ever larger amounts of data. But moving to the cloud at the same time retaining control of where data resides and how it’s accessed is a challenge.

To help enterprises migrate and more easily generate business insights, IBM is announcing a range of new services on its Bluemix cloud platform.

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Amazon finds another way for you to spend money

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Black Friday is still a week away, but that hasn't stopped stores from beginning the sales rush. The deals have been announced and some are already available.

Now Amazon has a unique idea to make shopping simple, but it does have one requirement -- you have to be an Alexa customer to benefit.

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New Nokia smartphones will debut in 2017

Nokia could boomerang back into the mobile market with Alcatel-Lucent purchase

We've known for quite some time that Nokia will make a comeback in the smartphone industry. But this time around the Finnish company will not be the one building the smartphones, as it has instead opted to license its brand to HMD. It is a clever move, as if things work out Nokia will reap the rewards, but if these efforts fail the damage will be unsubstantial.

The company's fans have surely wondered when exactly a new smartphone adorning the Nokia brand will see the light, and the answer is "pretty soon". An official presentation reveals that the "return to smartphones" will happen next year.

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How to enable Windows 10's Block at First Sight protection in Windows Defender

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Windows Defender in Windows 10 may not be the best security solution, but it will keep your system safe from threats if you don’t have a third-party anti-malware program installed. Microsoft made several improvements to it in the Anniversary Update, and as a result it's now much more useful.

Newly introduced features, available from Build 1607, include Limited Periodic Scanning, which can intermittently scan your system and notify you of any threats (even if you are using another anti-malware program and have Windows Defender turned off), and Block at First Sight protection.

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The paperless office is a dream

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After last month’s report from AIIM, which said we were actually inching closer to a paperless office thanks to the unrelenting digitization, a new report from Danwood now says exactly the opposite.

Not only are we not moving towards the paperless office, but away from it, and worse of all -- it’s digitization’s fault. After surveying 1,000 office workers, almost half (46 percent) say they print something every day and 84 percent say this is an "important aspect of work". So how does this relate to the digital transformation?

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Almost half of businesses have suffered a ransomware attack in the last year

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A new survey of over 500 businesses in the US, UK, France and Germany shows that in the last 12 months, 48 percent have fallen victim to a ransomware campaign, with 81 percent having suffered three or more attacks.

The study from endpoint security company SentinelOne reveals employee information (42 percent), financial data (41 percent) and customer information (40 percent) are the types of data most often affected by these attacks.

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Apple launches costly repair program for iPhone 6 Plus 'touch disease'

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The iPhone 6 Plus' so-called "touch disease" has been known about for some time now, but Apple has only just got around to launching a repair program -- the Multi-Touch Repair Program for iPhone 6 Plus.

But in addition to taking its sweet time in getting round to addressing the issue, Apple is set to upset large number of users by charging them $149 for the privilege.

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