Articles about Internet Archive

The Wayback Machine has suffered a colossal security incident after the Internet Archive fell victim to a huge data breach.

Data breach notification service Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) says that a 6.4GB SQL file containing registered users’ authentication information has been shared. In all, 31 million email addresses have been found to be part of the database, and tests have shown the the data is genuine.

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You may remember that earlier this year Google took the decision to retire cache links from its search results. At the time this caused annoyance and frustration, but these feelings were tempered by the possibility of some form of future resurrection of the feature.

And now that time has come. Teaming up with the Internet Archive, Google search results now link back to cached Wayback Machine versions of pages in addition to the one that is currently live. The Internet Archive sees it as a continuation of its “commitment to preservation”.

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The DDoS cyber-attack currently targeting the Internet Archive and its Wayback Machine has entered its third day, causing intermittent disruptions in service. The nonprofit research library is best known for housing millions of historical documents, preserved websites, and media content.

The ongoing intrusion has involved the launch of tens of thousands of fake information requests per second, though the source of the attack remains unknown.

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Google has decided to retire a useful and much-loved feature of its search engine. The 'cache' option used to appear as a link in a search result, giving the option of accessing a previously cached version of a page, but it was removed recently.

For now, the feature remains accessible using the search format cache:domain, i.e. cache:betanews.com, but this option is going to be killed off too. There are hopes that the option to view cached versions of web pages may be restored, perhaps using the Internet Archive, but this is yet to be set in stone.

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It’s been a decade since the Internet Archive first began offering software that you could run in your browser. Since then, it has added new sections and games to its collection, and there are now over a quarter of a million items available to run for free.

If you haven’t visited The Emulation Station in a while -- or indeed, ever -- then it’s well worth taking a look. Sections on offer include Console Demos, Console Living Room, Handheld History, Internet Arcade, Software Library, and Calculator Drawer.

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Not everyone is running Windows 11 on their PC -- there are many who are not even running Windows 10. If you are one of a surprisingly large number of people still rocking an old version of Windows, you will be well aware that Windows Update no longer works.

The Windows Update Restored project can help though. This is an unofficial, community-led operation that makes it possible for Windows 95, NT 4.0, 98, Me, 2000 and XP users "to obtain updates like they used to".

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Linux live disks provide a convenient and versatile solution for trying out various distributions without the need for installation. These bootable USB drives or CD/DVDs allow users to run a fully functional operating system directly from the removable media before committing to a full installation.

If you prefer Microsoft's operating system, it is now possible to create a live disk for Windows 11 -- fantastic news for anyone uncertain about whether the new OS will suit their needs and would like to try it first.

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If you want to run a modern operating system like Windows 10, but miss the simplicity and aesthetics of Windows XP, then we have some great news for you.

Windows EXPERIENCE Freestyle Update is a free Windows 10 mod that does a fantastic -- and virtually flawless -- job of mimicking Windows XP, and you can download and install it now directly from the Internet Archive.

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The Internet Archive is home to all manner of emulated hardware, including retro handhelds and vintage consoles.

Now the archive offers a new family of emulators for people to play around with online -- calculators! Like the various console emulators, this has been made possible thanks to the power of MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator).

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There are moments in everyone’s lives when they become aware that they are living through history. The COVID-19 pandemic, with its global lockdowns, was definitely one of those times.

In a bid to document the "personal, cultural, and societal impact" of the global pandemic from a number of different perspectives, the Internet Archive has created a giant COVID-19 web portal for anyone to explore.

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The Internet Archive is unquestionably one of the most useful sites on the web. The Wayback Machine makes it possible to find snapshots of most websites at any given point in their history, and the archive itself is also home to a wealth of books, magazines, games, software, movies and more.

You probably don’t give too much thought (or any thought for that matter) to the day-to-day running of the archive, but it relies on a long-term support server distribution of Ubuntu Linux and everything on its servers (with the possible exception of the JP2 compression library) is free and open-source software.

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January 1 is not only New Year’s Day, but also Public Domain Day. This is the day where certain previously copyrighted works enter the public domain, allowing anyone to use or creatively reinterpret them without needing to seek permission or pay a fee.

In 2021, copyrighted works from 1925 will enter the US public domain, and the list of books, movies and songs included is an impressive one. The BBC has even stated that 1925 could well be the greatest year for books, ever.

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The Internet Archive began life back in 1996, and today it has copies of over 430 billion web pages accessible through its Wayback Machine, as well as collections of classic DOS games, console games, early Apple Mac and Windows programs, 1990s animated GIFs, and much more.

Now, in preparation for when Flash finally dies at the end of the year, the Archive has started emulating classic Flash animations, games and toys.

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Cloudflare’s Always Online service caches a static version of any sites that use it. Should a site’s server get taken offline for any reason, such as a DDoS attack, visitors will still be able to view a recent version of it.

Today Cloudflare announces it is joining forces with the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine to make the web more reliable.

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Three months ago, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdown, the Internet Archive created a National Emergency Library with over 1.4 million books that you could borrow immediately.

By suspending waitlists for books in its lending library, the Internet Archive hoped to best serve the nation’s displaced learners. The plan at the time was to offer this Emergency Library "through June 30, 2020, or the end of the US national emergency, whichever is later".

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