It is only two months since Microsoft released Windows 10 May 2020 Update, and it has already earned itself an 11 percent share of the market, according to figures released by AdDuplex.

The uptake of Windows 10 version 2004 is by no means the fastest of any edition of Windows 10, but considering the number of problems that have emerged in this particular update, it's pretty good going.

Continue reading →

Everybody and everything seems to have its own day in the modern age, and today it's the turn of sys admins to enjoy their moment in the spotlight as it's System Administrator Appreciation Day. Let's hear it for sys admins!

Okay, now we've got that out of the way, remote monitoring software specialist NinjaRMM has released the results of a survey which shows that admins have indeed earned some extra kudos during the current crisis (COVID-19 just in case you’re reading an archived version of this in 2030).

Continue reading →

Charities handle billions in funds every year and hold financial and personal information that cybercriminals increasingly see as a tempting target. Yet, according to the UK's Charity Commission only 58 percent of charities think they are at risk from cybercrime.

But for a sector, whose success is built on its reputation and the goodwill of its supporters, the loss of any sensitive information or fraud through phishing attempts can be devastating.

Continue reading →

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

Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system turned five this week. Check out Wayne's look back at how it all started out and why things are not better than they are right now.

Continue reading →

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people were dubious that new Apple smartphones would hit stores this September like they often do. Then, more recently, there were several rumors that new iPhone 12 devices (which should have 5G compatibility) wouldn't hit stores until October.

Earlier today on a conference call, Apple CFO Luca Maestri confirmed these reports, saying "As you know, last year we started selling new iPhones in late September. This year, we project supply to be available a few weeks later." Many technology news websites were quick to say that Apple iPhone 12 was "delayed." Actually, that isn't true at all.

Continue reading →

Star Wars sucks. There, I said it. Other than A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, the films are all horrible nonsense. Many current fans of the franchise are older men simply clinging to nostalgia. It's sad that Disney takes advantage of them, cranking out terrible new films and TV shows while selling them plastic tchotchkes. For the love of God, people, please stop buying figurines and make-believe laser swords.

If for some reason you are still a fan of the Star Wars franchise, I have some good news. You know that TV show The Mandalorian on Disney+? Remember that Baby Yoda puppet thing that fanboys went gaga over? Well, you can soon have Baby Yoda ears for you 3rd gen Amazon Echo Dot. Yeah, it is an Echo Dot holder with friggin' Baby Yoda ears jutting out from the sides. It is just for decoration, and it adds no features to the device.

Continue reading →

Biometrics have been a game-changer for consumer security. Not only can you unlock computers, tablets, and smartphones with facial recognition and fingerprints, but also, your finger can be used to decrypt encrypted storage devices. Are biometrics infallible? No. But still, the convenience makes consumers less likely to develop bad habits like having no password or pin at all on their devices! Never let perfect get in the way of better, folks.

Today, Google announces that it is integrating WebAuthn biometrics into its Chrome browser for Android. If you choose to store your credit and/or debit cards in the browser for easy checkout while shopping, you can now use your face or fingerprint rather than having to enter the CVC code from the card. In addition, Google is adding touch-to-fill, allowing you to easily fill in your information with one hand.

Continue reading →

Tonight the National Basketball Association season officially kicks off with the Pelicans at the Jazz and the Clippers at the Lakers. Hopefully this will go smoother than the start of Major League Baseball season did for the Marlins, who have had 17 positive tests for coronavirus already.

You can debate if the last season is starting late, or the upcoming season is starting early -- the NBA would prefer you to believe it’s the season that would have ended months ago, and that’s how they’re billing it.

Continue reading →

The growth of coronavirus cases in a number of countries has led to talk about a second wave of the pandemic. According to WHO, disturbing news is coming from China, the US, Israel, South Korea, Iran and other countries. At the same time, privacy problems are arising with new force in COVID mobile apps.

It is a common opinion that Android app users don’t know how exactly their personal data and the information transmitted by the apps are actually used. Alarm signals of privacy breaking are coming from different places around the world. If you add to that the shortcomings and even errors on the part of developers -- the threat of unauthorized access to personal information increases even more.

Continue reading →

A serious vulnerability dubbed BootHole has been discovered in the GRUB2 bootloader. Millions of systems run the risk of being exposed to hackers -- primarily those running Linux, but Windows is also affected. Discovered by security researchers at Eclypsium, the BootHole vulnerability has been assigned CVE-2020-10713 ("GRUB2: crafted grub.cfg file can lead to arbitrary code execution during boot process") and a CVSS rating of 8.2.

The flaw can be exploited to gain arbitrary code execution during the boot process, even when Secure Boot is enabled and virtually all Linux distributions are affected. But more than this, the vulnerability also leaves Windows systems that make use of Secure Boot with the standard Microsoft Third Party UEFI Certificate Authority open to attack.

Continue reading →

It's important for security teams to be able to respond quickly and effectively to threats and part of being able to do that is having good intelligence.

With this in mind, Netenrich is launching two new tools, Knowledge Now (KNOW), a free global threat intelligence tool, and Attack Surface Intelligence (ASI) combine to deliver rich, actionable context for faster, more proactive response to known and emerging cyber threats.

Continue reading →

We've been talking about the cybersecurity skills gap for more than a decade, but new research from the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA)  and independent industry analyst firm Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) reveals it's not going away.

The shortage has impacted 70 percent of organizations, with consequences including increasing workloads, unfilled open job vacancies and an inability to learn or use cybersecurity technologies to their full potential.

Continue reading →

Google announced today that it will make some features of its Google One subscription-based service free for all Google users provided that Google One is available in the country of origin for a particular user.

If you have never heard of Google One before, you may find Brian's article on the launch of the service useful.

Continue reading →

If you have tried to install the Windows cleanup utility CCleaner recently, you may have noticed that Microsoft Defender springs into action warning you that it is a potentially unwanted application (PUA).

This is not the first time Piriform CCleaner has got on the wrong side of Microsoft -- it was previously blocked from being mentioned in the Microsoft Community forums. The Avast-owned software has been popular with people seeking to tidy up and optimize Windows 10 for a number of years, so what's going on and why does Microsoft flag it up as a PUA?

Continue reading →

Whenever I call Microsoft an open source champion or leader, the Linux fanboys come out in droves to tell me I am wrong. Unfortunately for them, I am extremely correct on the subject. Look, I get it, Microsoft was hostile towards both the open source and Linux communities years ago, but things change. The Windows-maker contributes to countless open source projects while also providing Linux programs, such as Procman. It is time for the open source and Linux communities to soften their stance on the company -- Microsoft is not your enemy!

Today, Microsoft proves once again that it is a friend of the open source community. You see, the storied company has become a Corporate Gold member of the Blender Development Fund. What does that mean? Essentially, Microsoft has handed over some of its money to help the development of popular open source program Blender -- free software for 3D creators.

Continue reading →