News in the Software category

Are Recent Google Chrome Changes Alienating Hardcore Users?

Google has made a few changes to recent Chrome versions that most users are bound to disagree with since it takes away some of their control over the browser.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- January 30, 2017
- 12:05 PM
- 3
Windows Insider Build 15019 brings us a Game Mode for Increased Gaming Performance

Today Microsoft released Insider Preview Build 15019 for PC to insiders in the fast ring, This release includes a big update for Xbox Gaming including built-in streaming, new Games section in settings, and new mode called Game Mode that is supposed to help with game performance.
- Allen Lydiard
- January 27, 2017
- 06:35 PM
- 6
Chrome Plans to Limit the Activity of Background Tabs to Improve Performance

Google Chrome engineers are working on a throttling system that would impose a limitation on the number of JavaScript (timers) operations that unfocused background tabs can perform.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- January 26, 2017
- 08:16 AM
- 0
Former Mozilla Engineer: Disable Your Antivirus Software, Except Microsoft's

"Antivirus software vendors are terrible; don't buy antivirus software, and uninstall it if you already have it (except for Microsoft's)." This is how Robert "Roc" O'Callahan, a former Mozilla bigwig engineer started a blog post today, in which he details a long list of issues that antivirus software have caused to browser vendors.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- January 26, 2017
- 06:40 AM
- 10
Dropbox Kept Files Around for Years Due to 'Delete' Bug

Dropbox engineers have fixed what appears to be a very ancient bug that during the past two weeks has resurfaced previously deleted folders for several Dropbox users.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- January 24, 2017
- 11:35 AM
- 1
Firefox 51 Released with Support for FLAC, WebGL 2, and Improved Security

Mozilla will release later today Firefox 51, the latest version of its famous browser, which will include a series of small upgrades, but which will make a difference in the long run.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- January 24, 2017
- 08:00 AM
- 1
College Successfully Sues IT Admin After Losing Access to Email System

A former IT administrator for the American College of Education (ACE) in Indiana was ordered to pay damages of $248,350 after a court found him responsible after the institution lost access to its email system.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- January 22, 2017
- 06:30 AM
- 0
Firefox 51 to Show Better Warnings When Logging in via Insecure HTTP Pages

Mozilla's security team previewed today a new set of indicators that will be added to Firefox 51, set for launch on Monday, January 23, and subsequent Firefox versions.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- January 21, 2017
- 05:52 PM
- 1
Oracle to Block JAR Files Signed with MD5 Starting with April 2017

Oracle says that starting with April 18, 2017, Java (JRE) will treat all JAR files signed with the MD5 algorithm as unsigned, meaning they'll be considered insecure and blocked from running.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- January 20, 2017
- 06:02 AM
- 0
ProtonMail Is Now Available via a Tor Address to Avoid Global Censorship

ProtonMail, today's largest provider of encrypted email services, has announced today a Tor URL that users can utilize if the service is blocked in their country by ISPs or the central government.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- January 19, 2017
- 09:25 AM
- 0
Mozilla Reveals New Logo Following Seven-Month Search

The Mozilla Foundation has launched a new logo and visual identity today to replace the old red dinosaur head that previously stood as its official logo.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- January 18, 2017
- 02:12 PM
- 2
Opera Presto Source Code Leaks Online

An unknown third-party has leaked the source code of the old Opera Presto browser engine on GitHub, and later on Bitbucket, two services for hosting and sharing source code online.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- January 17, 2017
- 09:50 AM
- 3
CryptoSearch Finds Files Encrypted by Ransomware, Moves Them to New Location

Named CryptoSearch, this tool identifies files encrypted by several types of ransomware families and provides the user with the option to copy or move the files to a new location, in hopes that a decrypter that can recover the locked files will be released in the future.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- January 15, 2017
- 05:00 PM
- 19
Internet Archive Launches Chrome Extension That Replaces 404 Pages With Archived Copies

The Internet Archive has launched on Friday a Chrome extension that will detect "Page not found" and other web errors and replace them with a copy from its Wayback Machine, if available. The extension is already available on the Chrome Web Store.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- January 15, 2017
- 08:30 AM
- 0
FLAC Support Coming to Chrome 56, Firefox 51

Two major browsers makers, Mozilla and Google, are adding support for the FLAC audio format this month, with the releases of Firefox 51 and Chrome 56.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- January 14, 2017
- 08:20 AM
- 6
Researcher: WhatsApp Bug Exposes Encrypted Messages

Security researcher Tobias Boelter has discovered a bug in the encrypted communications system used by WhatsApp that allows a determined third-party actor, possibly Facebook, to intercept encrypted messages.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- January 13, 2017
- 02:22 PM
- 1
Opera Launches New Neon Concept Browser

Opera Software released today a new concept browser called Opera Neon, on which the Opera devs said they've worked for more than a year and claim gives a "glimpse into the future of desktop browsers."
- Catalin Cimpanu
- January 12, 2017
- 06:45 PM
- 4
New Fingerprinting Techniques Identify Users Across Different Browsers on the Same PC

A team of researchers from universities across the US has identified different fingerprinting techniques that can track users when they use different browsers installed on the same machine.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- January 12, 2017
- 11:35 AM
- 1
Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Update Installs Chrome Browser Extension

Adobe released yesterday Acrobat Reader DC 15.023.20053 that included fixes for 29 security issues. Along with the security fixes, this update package also silently installs the Adobe Acrobat extension into the user's Chrome web browser.
- Catalin Cimpanu
- January 11, 2017
- 05:10 AM
- 7
Adobe Updates Adobe Flash, Acrobat, and Reader to Fix 42 Vulnerabilities

Adobe has released updates for Adobe Acrobat, Reader, and Flash that resolve a total of 42 security vulnerabilities. As many of these vulnerabilities are rated as Critical, it is strongly advised that anyone using these products immediately update them to the latest version.
- Lawrence Abrams
- January 10, 2017
- 08:30 PM
- 1