Articles about Free Software

Vivaldi Technologies has unveiled Vivaldi 6.5 for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android, a pre-holiday release stuffed with useful new features for both desktop and mobile platforms.

Chief highlights include a new Sessions Panel for organizing saved groups of tabs, plus the added ability to sync the user’s full browsing history across all devices.

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A changing regulatory landscape can prove difficult for app developers as they need to make sure they remain compliant and keep up with evolving rule sets.

We spoke to Pedro Rodriguez, head of engineering at AI-powered compliance intelligence platform Checks, to find out how AI can help mobile app developers to handle data responsibly and keep up with ever-changing global regulations,

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The current release cycle of PowerToys sees the development team focusing on "new features, stability and improvements". While a boost to stability and general improvements are always welcome, it's the new features that are of the greatest interest.

And with the release of PowerToys v0.76.0, Microsoft does not disappoint. There are new features aplenty to be found here, with numerous modules benefitting from significant updates -- not least of which is the arrival of new add-ons for File Explorer. But there are also important UI changes across the suite, and a plethora of additions and improvements.

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IObit has released a brand new version of its all-in-one PC maintenance and optimization tool. IObit Advanced SystemCare 17.0, available in both free and paid-for versions for Windows PCs,

The new version opens with the now almost-obligatory user interface refresh, with the promise of improved visual effects and, more usefully, a better user experience.

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Although Microsoft is actively updating Windows 11, fixing problems and adding new features to its latest operating system -- most notably with the introduction of AI in the form of Copilot -- there are still lots of problems evident in the OS.

These issues and design inconsistencies ruin Windows 11 for many users, but thankfully Rectify11 is here to solve those, and the software has just been updated to version 3.0.

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The independent non-profit Krita Foundation has released Krita 5.2, a major point release of its open-source digital painting application for Windows, macOS and Linux.

The new release aims to focus on tackling what the developers describe as some of Krita’s "biggest pain points" in areas including animation, text and the program’s various tools.

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If you want to play Android games on your PC, there are third-party emulators like Bluestacks available to install, or you can make use of the Windows Subsystem for Android on Windows 11.

Surprisingly, though, you can do the reverse and play PC games on your Android device. For this you'll need Winlator. We’ve covered this Android app before, but it’s just been updated to improve compatibility and performance, and fix a number of problems.

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Toast notifications in Windows 10 and 11 provide handy real-time updates and alerts. These notifications pop up from the bottom right corner of the system tray, and display brief, timely information about specific events or actions. They can include text, images, and buttons that allow the user to interact with the notification directly.

Users can choose which apps can send toast notifications, and adjust their priority levels to manage their visibility. They can also set quiet hours, during which notifications will not disturb them. But what if you want to customize things further and choose where these notifications pop up from? We have the answer.

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Six months after its last major point release, LibreOffice 7.6 Community Edition makes its bow on Windows, macOS and Linux. The Document Foundation’s open-source, cross-platform office suite offers three major highlights with this new release: document themes, a navigation panel in Impress and the ability to highlight used styles.

The headline new feature is support for document themes, which allows users to apply consistent coloring across documents. A new Theme dialog -- accessible via the Format menu -- makes it easy for Writer users to quickly switch themes (eight are provided by default, but users can click Add to define their own).

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A few months back, we learned of Microsoft's new Windows Backup app. At the time it was only made available to users of Windows 11 signed up as Insiders on the Dev channel.

Now this handy utility is making its way to Windows 10 as well. For now, it is included in the build pushed to the Release Preview Channel last week, but this means it won't be long until Window 10 users have access to an official backup tool from Microsoft which is about more than just safeguarding files.

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Microsoft has updated the free virtual machines it makes available for download as Windows 11 development environments.

In addition to Windows 11, the virtual machines also include various other developer-centric tools such as Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition and Ubuntu pre-installed in Windows Subsystem for Linux 2. In a nod to the fact that people work with different virtualization platforms, Microsoft has produced VMWare, Hyper-V (Gen2), VirtualBox and Parallels versions of the free VMs.

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Protecting your precious privacy when browsing gets harder by the year. With this thought in mind, privacy focused search engine DuckDuckGo has decided to dip its toes into the desktop web browser market with the recent launch of DuckDuckGo Browser for Windows Beta, which follows hot on the heels of an earlier Mac release.

This may be DuckDuckGo’s first Windows browser, but it’s an already established option on mobile (iOS and Android) in addition to the existing Mac build. Both desktop versions are built from their operating system’s browser systems, which means the Windows build -- unlike most browsers -- isn’t a simple Chromium port. Instead, it's been built from scratch using the same underlying elements as Microsoft’s Edge browser, namely Microsoft’s Windows WebView2 API on top of the Blink rendering engine.

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It’s finally here. Mozilla has unveiled Thunderbird 115.0, a major new release of its open-source, cross-platform email client. The first major release since Thunderbird 102 debuted in late June 2022, Thunderbird 115 is dominated by one major new feature: A brand new user interface named Supernova.

The new Supernova user interface sees Thunderbird move away from its traditional two-pane layout with the option of a three-paned 'Vertical' layout, with the contents of the currently selected email displayed in a separate right-hand pane rather than below the message list.

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It feels as though it has been a while since the last update for PowerToys, but Microsoft has now rectified this. The company has released PowerToys v0.71.0 which sees not only a large number of bug fixes, but also numerous tweaks, improvements and additions.

This is a hugely significant update that adds support for the previewing of archives in the Peek utility, as well as making it possible to use Registry Preview as the default tool for opening .reg files. PowerToys developers have really gone to town with this release; just about every module has been updated and there is an improved look that is more in line with the Windows 11 aesthetic.

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The Commodore Amiga was a very popular home computer. Introduced in 1985 originally as a successor to Commodore's even more popular C-64 home computer, it became a favorite of many with the introduction of the Amiga 500.

The 16-bit Amiga battled it out with the 16-bit Atari ST and several other devices in the 80s and early 90s. Amiga users of the time enjoyed some of the finest games ever produced up to this time. Games like Cadaver, Moonstone, The Secret of Monkey Island and Indiana Jones series of adventures, Lemmings, Cannon Fodder, Wizball, Another World, and Defender of the Crown were some of the defining titles of the era.

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