ProcessCritical can close even protected Windows processes
If you’ve identified a malicious process running on your PC then you’ll probably want to close it down, and in theory this seems easy enough (right-click in Task Manager, select End Task). Malware can apply several tricks to escape, though, and one of the easiest is to assign its process the "critical" flag, normally reserved for key Windows processes. Try to close a critical process, and your PC will immediately crash.
Windows provides no standard way to get around this, probably because tinkering with the critical flag can be dangerous. But if you’re an experienced PC user and willing to take the risk, then the open source ProcessCritical should be able to help.
Microsoft announces new friends app for Xbox One
While Microsoft continues its onslaught to control your living room, the company has been slowly revealing features and aspects of the Xbox One. Social media and social sharing have become an expected feature for the console -- not an optional one. Today, Microsoft announces a new friends app for its upcoming gaming machine that brings people together socially.
Microsoft gaming-guru Major Nelson says, "designed around you and your friends, Xbox One will have plenty of room for all your favorite people in the brand new Friends system on Xbox One. Your Xbox 360 friends will automatically be added to your Friends list. With Xbox One you can have 1,000 friends, connect with people instantly by following them and have infinite followers yourself. You can also see all of your Xbox One and Xbox 360 friends and their activity in your Activity Feed".
Rainmeter 3 debuts high quality text rendering
Popular desktop customization tool Rainmeter has today been updated to version 3.0.
The big story comes in the new build’s use of the Direct2D rendering engine when available, which means anyone using Rainmeter on Windows 8 (or a fully updated Windows 7 system) should see much improved text quality.
First Paint.NET 4.0 alpha arrives, offers new features, tweaks and performance improvements
It’s nearly here: dotPDN LLC has released the first alpha of Paint.NET 4.0, a major update and rewrite of its popular freeware image-editing tool for Windows. Featuring a rebuilt rendering engine, improvements to various tools and a tweaked user interface, the new release has finally reached the stage where daring members of the public can test it for the first time.
The new build does come with some restrictions -- as telegraphed at the beginning of its development, Paint.NET 4.0 will only run on Windows 7 or later.
Windows Phone 8 Update 3 meets the public
While there are some Windows Phone 8 customers out there who have only just received the GDR 2 update for their handsets, Microsoft is looking towards the future already, preparing the next iteration of its mobile operating system.
Today the company takes the first step towards pushing it out, announcing features and developer availability.
HTC supersizes it with the fingerprint reader enabled 5.9-inch One max
Fans of smartphones with larger displays have a new reason to celebrate as HTC takes the wraps off the gigantically-screened HTC One max. The new 5.9-inch device joins the HTC One and HTC One Mini, creating quite a family of choice.
The One max is without a doubt the daddy of the group, and in addition to the larger screen it also features HTC Sense 5.5. Just like the One, the One max has an all-metal (well, mostly) body.
What you need to know before upgrading to Windows 8.1
It’s nearly a year since Microsoft released the divisive Windows 8, and this week sees the launch of Windows 8.1 -- an update to the tiled operating system that aims to fix many of the perceived wrongs of the first version, while introducing some very welcome new features.
If you’re a Windows 8 or RT user you’ll be able to download the update for free starting at 4AM PDT (that’s 12pm in the UK) on 17 October. You’ll be able to get it directly through the Windows Store.
Facebook acquires mobile data compression firm Onavo, announces Android alpha program
It looks as though Facebook is trying to help reduce the costs of using the social network on the move with its acquisition of Onavo. Onavo specializes in mobile data compression and data usage tracking, with a goal of helping people use mobile data more efficiently. The company has an office in Tel-Aviv, and this is to be turned into Facebook's Israeli office.
The acquisition comes a couple of months after Mark Zuckerberg launched Internet.org with a view to making the internet available to a larger number of people around the world. Onavo joining forces with Facebook is not unrelated, and the company says it is "eager to take the next step and make an even bigger impact by supporting Facebook's mission to connect the world".
FXiTe: a powerful Notepad replacement with PDF export
If Windows Notepad is too underpowered for your plain text editing needs, then the open source FXiTe could be an interesting alternative. It’s targeted at developers, but don’t let that put you off: there’s plenty here for regular users, too.
This starts with its extreme ease of use. The program is compact (a 1.29MB download), and portable, you can just unzip and go. The interface looks a little odd -- the toolbar has colored buttons, rather than icons -- but there’s nothing too complicated, and you’ll be creating and editing plain text files without any problems at all.
Legacy apps holding you hostage? 7 ways to safely migrate off Windows XP
"Windows XP will essentially have a 'zero day' vulnerability forever". These spot-on select words come from Tim Rains, who penned a stellar TechNet blog post back in August on the impending XP doomsday. That entry, aptly titled "The Risk of Running Windows XP After Support Ends April 2014" goes into a deep discussion about the underpinning reasons as to why it's so critical that organizations start moving their fleets off the now 12 year old OS.
I've been writing extensively about the end of XP for some time now myself, advocating customers begin their planning well ahead of the support sunset date.
hubiC offers 1TB online storage space for $136 a year
Online storage services are a great way to make your most important files available everywhere, but they can be expensive. Those monthly fees soon mount up, particularly if you need a high capacity account.
If you’re looking for low prices, though, hubiC will appeal right away. You get 25GB for free; 100GB is around $18 a year, 500GB is about $82, and 1TB is an annual $136 (all prices plus tax). You can even expand this to 100TB, if you really must. Not bad at all.
Steve Ballmer is right, and I was wrong
Steve Ballmer's departure from Microsoft will be a series of epitaphs written over the coming months. Many arm-chair pundits and analysts will scrutinize his 13-year tenure as chief executive, and you can expect him to be the scapegoat for all things wrong with Microsoft. Most assuredly, Ballmer could have done many things better, but he also contended with forces out of his control: government oversight for anti-competitive practices conducted under predecessor Bill Gates' leadership; maturing PC software market; and rise of the Internet as the new computing hub, among others.
For all Microsoft's CEO might have done wrong, he was right about something dismissed by many -- and I among them: Google. Ballmer started treating the search and information company as a competitive threat about a decade ago. Google as Microsoft competitor seemed simply nuts in 2003. How could search threaten Windows, particularly when anyone could type a new web address to change providers? Ballmer was obsessed, chasing every Google maneuver, often to a fault. Execution could have been better, but his perception was right.
Logitech UE MINI-BOOM -- small size but huge sound [Review]
When it comes to Bluetooth speakers, they usually come with compromise. If they have good highs, they often lack bass. If they have good bass, they often sound muddy and muffled. Finding the perfect one is quite laborious -- especially when you want it to be attractive too (which I do). However, I am no audio-snob, I prefer to find value rather than throw money at the problem. After all, in this current economy, disposable income can be scarce.
When I first saw the Logitech UE MINI-BOOM, I was mesmerized by the design -- and the $99 price tag. It appeared subtle and well-made and I just adored the small size. However, sound is the most important thing; even though they are important, beauty and durability are secondary. And so, I obtained two of the speakers for testing. Why did I get two? Read on for that.
The most popular stories on BetaNews this past week: October 6 -- 12
In another busy week, Microsoft continued to promote Internet Explorer 11 by showing off some of the new features that will be available to Windows 8 users. At the same time, the company released a tool that lets Windows 7 users block the update. Microsoft also announced that it would speed up the approval process for apps submitted to the Windows Store, so initial certification can be complete within five days.
Moving away from the desktop, champagne corks were popping as it was revealed that Raspberry Pi has sold 1.75 million units. After the launch of Mavericks, Mihaita was taken with his MacBook Air, and I was quite impressed with the Tesco Hudl -- although it's not going to be replacing my Nexus 7 any time soon.
Happy birthday Windows Phone! 3 years old today!
It is three years ago today that Windows Phone first saw the light of day. Microsoft's mobile operating system has now been with us for a full 36 months, when Windows Phone 7 took the baton from Windows Mobile. There isn’t much in the way of celebration from Microsoft, and the anniversary was quietly ushered in by the company's Joe Belfiore in a tweet:
Happy Bday, "MetroUI"! 3 yrs ago today WP7 launched. In just a few countries on just one chip with only a handful of apps...
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