October 2015

Mozilla implemented a new feature in Firefox 44 in the latest update that improves the handling of notifications in the web browser.

The new feature adds a "do not disturb" option to Firefox which suppresses all notifications for the browsing session when enabled.

This is in addition to controls that Firefox already offers to allow or disallow web notifications for select sites.

The easiest option to check out the new feature is to load about:preferences#content directly in the browser's address bar.

Google revealed the much-anticipated subscription service YouTube Red official at an event in Los Angeles today.

YouTube Red, which will launch officially on October 28, will be a subscription-based service that provides ad-free videos on YouTube to subscribers.

Apart from that, members will get options to download videos for offline viewing and unlimited access to videos, whatever that means.

The most recent Nightly version of the Firefox web browser includes a special notification on websites where login forms are not secured by https to make sure users are aware of the issue.

Not all pages or sites need to be protected by https in my opinion, but there are certain types of sites or pages that should be protected at all times.

This includes online banking services and other services that include financial transactions, sites that store personal information such as photos, videos or messages, and log in pages.

Ashampoo announced a moment ago that it has changed the license of the company's Ashampoo Uninstaller 5 program for Windows from shareware to freeware.

The program, which was available for $49.99 previously, can now be downloaded free of charge. Please note that you need to register an account using a valid email address before you can unlock the application using a license key that you get afterwards.

My new Xiaomi Mi 4c smartphone arrived yesterday after an  interlude with a German customs agent and several days of delay. I first thought that I had to fight my way through a Chinese language interface but that was thankfully not the case.

Since I want to run custom modifications on the device, I had to root it first and foremost. Since I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who wants to root Xiaomi devices, I thought it would be helpful to reveal how I did it.

So, I received a new smartphone today which I bought a couple of weeks ago. It is a Xiaomi Mi 4C which I purchased directly in China after carefully evaluating my options. Since I did not want a large device, I had high hopes initially for the new Nexus 5x but it did not turn out to be what I wanted.

I made the decision long ago not to buy flagship smartphones anymore as it is just not worth it in my opinion. The main idea was to root it and install a mod afterwards to get better control of the device.

Remember Dreamscene, the Windows Vista Ultimate extra that allowed you to use videos as the desktop background instead of static images?

It never really took off and Microsoft removed it more or less quickly from future versions of the Windows operating system (even though you could re-enable it with programs).

Desktop Movie is a free program for the Windows operating system that brings Dreamscene back. Unlike Dreamscene, it is not limited to Windows Vista Ultimate or the video formats that Vista's Dreamscene supported.

Microsoft has created several security solutions in the past that are either available as standalone downloads or integrated in Windows directly.

We have reviewed Driver Talent, formerly know as DriveTheLife, back in 2014 here on TechBits and found it to be an excellent tool to scan for, download, and install driver updates for devices and hardware connected to Windows machines.

The redesigned version of the driver software for Windows features a new modern looking interface. The core functionality has not changed much however.

Windows ships with a couple of native options to display information about installed updates or drivers. You may use the Control Panel for some of that for instance, Microsoft PowerShell or a variety of other tools that provide you with information.

If you want access to a quick overview of installed Windows updates as well as installed drivers, then you may prefer third-party software to that as it may improve how the information are gathered and displayed.