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TekBits Technology News

HTTPS Everywhere 5 launches with thousands of new rules

HTTPS Everywhere is a browser extension that is published by the Electronic Frontier Foundation that improves privacy and security by enforcing the use of the HTTPS protocol on websites supporting it.

It is of specific use when you are connecting to sites or services that support http and https depending on how you access the site and its contents.

Version 5 of HTTPS Everywhere has been released this week to the public introducing thousands of new rules in the program.

Remove Adware in bulk with Ultra Adware Killer

Have you ever cleaned up the computer of a friend, relative or customer that was filled to the brim with adware and potentially unwanted software?

If there is lots of unwanted software installed, you are in for a long clean-up session as you need to remove programs and browser extensions, and restore system and browser settings as well.

Sometimes, it might make more sense to format the whole computer and start anew.

TrueCrypt Audit Phase II completed: 4 vulnerabilities identified

The recent history of the TrueCrypt encryption software is a strange one. First, there was a crowdfunding campaign to get the software audited for security issues in 2013 after Edward Snowden leaked classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) starting June 2013.

Then in May 2014, an announcement was published on the TrueCrypt website claiming that TrueCrypt was not secure anymore and that users should find another program to use for that purpose.

A first look at 7-Zip 15 alpha

I did use 7-Zip in the past for all archiving needs under Windows until I ran into issues extracting new RAR archive files which 7-Zip does not support.

While the author of the program released beta versions fairly regularly, no stable version has been released since 2009.

I switched to Bandizip, an excellent file archiver supporting all major formats including the new RAR format because of this.

WiFi Basics Part 3: 802.11ac

Like 802.11n, the IEEE released a draft of the amendment before its final release. These early devices are known as “Wave 1”. Unless you 11ac router is less than a year old, it falls into this category. The final release was in January 2014 and the subsequent equipment known as “Wave 2”.

The majority of this article will compare 11ac to 11n because it really is an enhancement of 11n.

Let’s start with what 11ac doesn’t do:

Manage Windows Services with Easy Service Optimizer

Every version of Windows ships with a list of installed services that control features of the operating system.

While some are essential for the operating system others are optional or only required if specific functionality is required.

For instance, if you don't have a printer connected to the computer and never print on it, you may not need toe Print Spooler service.

The same is true for other services such as Remote Registry or Remote Desktop, Bluetooth Support, Bitlocker Drive Encryption or Fax.

NewRetroArcade brings a virtual reality arcade system to Windows

As a kid, I spend most of my money playing arcade games such as Galaga, Space Invaders or Asteroids.

Even though I was a bit late to the party, I enjoyed those games a lot not only because they offered something different but also because of the arcade feeling, the constant noise and the atmosphere in general.

NewRetroArcade brings the 80s and early 90s back to life. You could say that established front-ends such as MAME do that as well and you are partially right in that.

How to install Chrome policy templates on Windows machines

Policies provide system administrators and users with options to configure the behavior of certain features of the Windows operating system or applications available on machines running it.

They are used mostly to control machines of a computer network but since all professional versions of Windows ship with the Group Policy Editor, can be used on individual PCs as well to modify preferences.

Administrators and users who want to control the Google Chrome browser can do so as well but need to download and install policy templates first before that option becomes available.

Noise Control brings tab audio indicators and muting to Firefox

One of the Chrome features that I like a lot is that the browser displays audio indicators if audio is played in a tab in it.

Even better, it offers options to mute that audio with a single click on the tab. Gone are the times where you had to mute the browser's sound output, go through tabs individually to find the offending page, or even close the browser completely to disable the sound from playing on your system.