Best Windows apps this week
One-hundred and sixty-seven in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps and games released for Windows 8.x and Windows 10 in the past seven days.
Microsoft revealed information about the highly anticipated game Quantum Break this week. Initially thought to be an Xbox One exclusive, the company announced that it will also be made available for Windows 10 on the same day.
Adblock Plus wants to know why you're blocking ads (!)
Adblock Plus has been in the headlines quite a lot recently. Adblocking is certainly popular, but the company needs to strike a balance between keeping users happy, and maintaining a good relationship with advertisers. The Acceptable Ads program is part of this, but at its second #CampDavid session there have been some further ideas about the future of adblocking.
There was talk about what should be viewed as an 'acceptable ad', and an Acceptable Ads Committee will oversee this. But the discussion between Adblock Plus and advertisers brought up an important question: just why do people install adblockers?
Social engineering tops the hacking pops
Hackers are constantly seeking new ways to attack systems and gain insider access to data. A new survey from IT security company Balabit reveals the 10 most popular hacking methods to help companies understand how to protect themselves.
The survey of almost 500 IT security practitioners reveals that social engineering is the most popular means of attack. Hackers aim to get a 'low level' insider user account by means of phishing and escalate its privileges.
ISP filters could be harming UK users’ love lives
Content filters are supposed to protect you from bad stuff, but they can have unexpected side effects and block things you want to access.
As we approach Valentine's Day a new survey by UK broadband comparison site Broadband Genie has discovered that filters may be preventing Brits from finding love by blocking online dating sites.
What makes Cryptowall 3.0 the most successful ransomware?
Cryptowall 3.0 is the most successful ransomware of all time, a new report by security firm Imperva says. Ransomware is a type of malware which, once active on a device, encrypts all the data and demands payment from the victim, typically through Bitcoin.
In its report on the dangers of ransomware, and the impotent attitude of the FBI, which usually advises victims to pay the ransom, Imperva says Cryptowall 3.0 has caused $325 million (£225.7m) in damages so far.
Cinemax makes its debut on Sling TV
When Sling TV launched it already had a number of deals with major networks such as ESPN and CNN, bringing real-time TV viewing over an internet connection, and doing so for a reasonable price, especially compared to cable and satellite providers. There were also a number of add-on packages for such things as extra sports and news channels.
Last year, just in time for Game of Thrones, the service landed HBO, and now it has another prize in its lineup, one that may attract even more customers.
Changing the date could permanently brick your iPhone
There have been a few serious iPhone issues discovered recently. Some phones got bricked by the iOS 9 Slide to Upgrade bug, there was a website that instantly crashed browsers and rebooted iPhones, and -- most recently -- Error 53 bricked devices repaired by non-Apple technicians.
Now a new iPhone-bricking bug has reportedly been discovered. And I say reportedly, because I’m certainly not about to try it.
Gmail now warns you if your emails are not TLS encrypted
To celebrate Safer Internet Day the other day, Google gave away an extra 2GB of cloud storage to anyone who completed a simple security audit of their account. At the same time the company also introduced a couple of important security enhancements to Gmail.
The first change sees the appearance of a simple indicator that makes it clear when an email is received through, or is about to be sent through, a service that doesn’t support TLS encryption. A broken padlock icon indicates that TLS encryption is not available, serving as a warning that there is the potential for the email in question to be dangerous or for the message to be intercepted.
Mac tool vulnerability exposes lots of apps to man-in-the-middle attacks
A security specialist has discovered a flaw in Sparkle, a third-party framework that Mac apps use to receive updates, which makes a man in the middle attack possible when unencrypted HTTP connections are used.
If the attacker has the ability to intercept the unencrypted data stream for example on a public Wi-Fi hotspot they could possibly inject malicious code.
SourceForge pledges to clean up its downloader act
Likely just about everyone has installed software from SourceForge at some point in their computing history. In 2013, the software repository enabled a feature called DevShare which developers could opt-in to. This wrapped developer software in SourceForge’s own installer, which also, unfortunately, came with bundled junk -- something many users might breeze right past during an installation.
But last month Sourceforge, along with Slashdot, was sold to BIZX and some changes are going to take place under the new ownership, and that means no more DevShare.
Microsoft is slowly conquering Android
Microsoft may not have a strong presence in the smartphone market as a vendor, but the software giant is trying to make a splash in a different way, by partnering with other players to make its mobile apps available on as many devices as possible. And it stands a very good chance of making serious inroads.
Microsoft has so far teamed up with 74 companies, in 25 countries, to ship its apps on their Android smartphones and tablets. The latest major player to partner with Microsoft is Acer, which will preload some of the software giant's most-prominent Android apps.
How B2B eCommerce is evolving in the cloud [Q&A]
Modern IT architectures have opened commercial off-the-shelf software categories to new forms of innovation. But still, most B2B eCommerce solutions have yet to evolve. The result is that many firms are left with outdated, in-house infrastructures or bulky SaaS tools that hamper operations, leave customers unsatisfied and can’t keep up at the speed businesses demand. Developers today who work with B2B eCommerce tools gravitate toward cloud-based platforms that are more comprehensive, agile and customizable. This allows for the creation of services and workflows that meet their unique needs.
I spoke with Steve Davis, chief technology officer at Four51, which powers B2B eCommerce for over 10,000 businesses and nearly 20 million users, about what B2B eCommerce solutions should entail and what developers’ priorities are -- or should be -- when building a modern day eCommerce site.
Microsoft introduces Windows 10 Mobile update history page
Microsoft has decided to give more information about the updates it releases for Windows 10 by introducing a dedicated update history page on its site, where you can check all the major changes that the software giant includes. And, so that users of its new smartphone operating system are not left in the dark either, Windows 10 Mobile now also gets the same treatment.
However, before you get too excited, just like the update history page for Windows 10 is not exactly filled with all the relevant information you might need, the update history page for Windows 10 Mobile is not yet ready for prime time either.
The Internet Archive now lets you run over 1,000 Windows 3.1 programs in your browser
Windows 3.1 was the first version of Windows I ever used. The Internet Archive, which has over the past couple of years made it possible to play classic DOS games and console games in your browser, has just added over 1,000 Windows 3.1 programs to its catalog.
These include games, utilities and business software, and each can be run in your browser just by clicking on them.
The top threats to watch for in 2016
Messaging and infrastructure security specialist Cloudmark has released its Annual Global Threat Report for 2015 which reveals the biggest current threats based on its crowd sourced security platform, which analyses user behavior from more than a billion subscribers.
Top of the list is the Swizzor malware which delivers unsolicited ads, modifying browser settings without user permission. This silent threat delivers booby-trapped emails to unsuspecting users with varying subject lines. Each email contains a zip file carrying the malware payload, this uses a simple domain generation algorithm for command and control synchronization to create a large number of domains that then clash with legitimate websites and make it difficult for them to be taken down.
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