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Find out if an USB device is fake with free ValiDrive app for Windows

Fake USB devices continue to be a problem. These devices claim to have higher storage capacities than they actually have. These devices are sold in many different places: from Chinese online shops to Amazon or eBay.

While there are some best practices to avoid fakes, including being cautious when an USB drive is very cheap for the storage space it has or has a large storage space that is not even available yet, it is difficult otherwise to find out if an offer is legitimate or a fake.

Windows 11 KB5048685 Update causes Wi-Fi and Start Menu to stop working

The KB5048685 Update seems to be causing multiple problems for users on Windows 11 23H2. Microsoft released the cumulative update on December 10.

Like most Patch Tuesday updates, this one was meant to fix a slew of security vulnerabilities, over 70 to be specific. But in almost poetic fashion, the patch has introduced some new issues.

Windows 11: issue may prevent further installations of updates

The latest version of Windows 11, version 24H2, has had its fair share of issues already since its release a few months ago. We covered some of them here, for instance the Auto HDR issue, that can make certain games freeze or display colors incorrectly.

Microsoft added another issue to the seemingly ever-growing list of Windows 11 issues.

The details:

In the age of AI, captchas are mostly a burden to humans

Captchas were invented in the early 2000s to tackle an issue on the Internet: bots. Bots were used to quickly snag up auctions on eBay, tickets for a concert or sports event, or to take snapshots of websites faster than any human.

The idea was simple: display a basic puzzle to the user to make sure that a human is performing the action and not a bot. This worked fine in the beginning for the most part. Bots were not powerful enough to solve captures quickly or at all at the time.

AdGuard Mail: email alias and temp email service from the makers of the adblocker

AdGuard announced AdGuard Mail today. The new product is free at the time of writing and designed to improve email privacy.

It is available as a web-based version as well as apps for mobile devices and Windows and works similarly to services such as  Firefox Relay, SimpleLogin, or AnonAddy.

At its core, AdGuard Mail supports two main features:

Microsoft confirms Auto HDR bug in Windows 11 and blocks updates as a consequence

Windows 11, version 24H2 has not been out for long, but its number of issues is already longer than a polonaise at the German carnival.

Gamers faced their fair share of issues already.  The release version of Windows 11 24H2 had some issues already. There was a particular issue with the game Asphalt 8 and also issues with Easy Anti-Cheat applications.

ChatGPT Search is now available for free users

OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Search for all users. Let's take a closer look at how the search engine works.

So far, ChatGPT has attracted users who want to generate text, images, code, write poems, essays, letters, or even create AI-generated videos with Sora. The next step in its evolution is search, a rather important one that plays an essential part in our day-to-day usage, a market that is dominated by Google.

How to enable or disable Wi-Fi in Windows 11

Wi-Fi is next to Ethernet one of the main ways of connecting a device to the Internet. A PC needs a wireless adapter or chip to support Wi-Fi. The majority of mobile devices, for example laptops and tablets, support wireless connectivity.

This guide provides step-by-step instructions on disabling or enabling wireless Internet connectivity on Windows 11 PCs. It also lists examples when this may be useful.

HDMI 2.2 to be unveiled at CES 2025 - requires new HDMI cable

The HDMI Forum plans to unveil HDMI 2.2 officially at a press conference on January 6th, 2025. The organization plans to reveal the new specification of the next-generation of the HDMI standard.

The official press release does not reveal much about the upcoming standard, only this much: " The new specification, with next-gen HDMI(R) Technology and higher bandwidth, enables a wide range of higher resolutions and refresh rates and will be supported with a new HDMI Cable".

The revised Recall on Windows 11 is still recording information that it should not

Recall continues to be a privacy disaster. Reports suggest that the AI feature is recording sensitive information, even with the sensitive information filter enabled.

When Microsoft announced Recall, it did so riding on a wave of positive AI news. The company was preparing nothing other than the next generation of Windows and it wanted to announce a big feature during the main announcement.

Start11 adds support for Vertical Taskbar on Windows 11

Start11 is a popular Start Menu alternative for Windows 11. And now, the app lets you move the Taskbar to the side of your screen.

 

Microsoft does not officially support a Vertical Taskbar on Windows 11, despite it being requested by many users since the operating system was launched. You will have to rely on third-party tools to make changes to the Start Menu and other aspects of Windows.