May 2015

How secure is the router your computer and devices are connected to whenever you are using the Internet? The free Android app RouterCheck tries to find that out by running a series of tests to reveal security issues or even vulnerabilities affecting the router.

Most home computer users connect to the Internet using a router or modem making these devices the gateway to the Internet.

What many don't know is that these devices may be as vulnerable to attacks as computer systems.

So called Game Boosters are designed to improve PC gaming performance by limiting background operations when PC games are played on a computer running Windows.

The core idea is to kill services, processes, background tasks and programs that are not required to run the game or the operating system to free up RAM, reduce CPU load and disk activity.

Most programs allow you to switch between game mode and normal mode with the press of a button, and some even recognize games automatically which makes things even more comfortable.

CloneApp is a specialized backup program for Windows that has been created specifically to back up profile folders and Registry configurations of Windows programs.

The free program ships with a large list of default applications that it presents to you on start. It makes no distinction and it is up to you to select the programs from the list that you want to back up.

Classic programs such as Dropbox, CCleaner, Firefox, Google Chrome or KeePass are supported by the application.

By now you have probably heard about Suggested Tiles, a new feature coming to the Firefox browser's New Tab page in the near future.

Suggested Tiles are already available in pre-release versions of Firefox and we were among the first to publish an article about it here on this site.

If you download software programs regularly for Windows, you probably do your due diligence when it comes to making sure that the programs are safe and not malicious in nature.

While you find lots of clean programs on the Internet for the operating system, there is probably an even greater number of infected programs out there.

The following guide discusses precautions that help reduce the risk of downloading malware on the Internet.

1. The source

Yandex published a beta version of its minimalist browser today that it first revealed back in 2014.

The interface has not changed much on first glance, but the switch from alpha to beta introduces a new set of privacy enhancements and features in the browser.

One of the bigger changes in the beta version is a new Stealth Mode extension that the browser ships with. The extension is off by default but linked directly in the browser's main toolbar.

The most recent public build of Windows 10, build 10122, ships with an updated version of the operating system's default browser Microsoft Edge.

Microsoft is under a lot of pressure currently. Not only is it putting all its eggs in the Windows 10 basket hoping that the operating system won't tank like Windows 8 did, it is also developing a new core browser for the system called Edge that is replacing Internet Explorer as the default web browser.

If you have set up a test system with a preview build of Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system, you may have encountered the update error 0x80246017 before.

I encountered the error yesterday when I tried to to download the newest build on Fast Ring, 10122. Instead of downloading and installing the build, Windows Update would display the error message fbl_impressive Professional 10122 - Error 0x80246017 instead.

Private browsing sessions are handy if you don't want certain activities to be recorded on the local system. While there are still traces on the local system if you dig deep enough -- the DNS cache for instance may reveal which sites you have opened -- there are also remote traces that you need to take into consideration.

The recent update to BitTorrent Sync 2.0.120 introduces several usability improvements to the file synchronization and sharing application.

The new version introduces a search function, optional columns to display additional information in the program interface and an option to hide offline devices in the My devices list.

The update has been released for all supported desktop operating systems and both free and pro licenses.