What's New
Why I won’t be using Google’s Inbox
Inbox is a new email service by Google that is currently being available on an invite-only basis. It is available as an application for Android and iOS, and also as a web service.
You can sign in using your Google account after you have received the invite. While it is not tied to Gmail, it shares data with Gmail which means that reading messages in the app or on the web will mark them as read on Gmail as well and vice versa.
DBook Review – Structured And collaborative writing
I started writing a book a while ago in a great tool called Editorially. Regretfully Editorially closed shop this May and in the search for a new app, I found something even better: DBook.
DBook is different from many other tools out there because it forces you to think in terms of structure. While many other apps give you a blank canvas to start writing, DBook makes you create sections. In essence, you have to create your table of contents as you go along and edit each section separately.
File Extension Fixer repairs broken executable file assocations on Windows
Malware that slips by a system's defenses can wreak havoc in many different ways. From spying on users over deleting or encrypting files to modifying system settings to make it difficult for antivirus solutions to clean the PC.
The latter can be extremely frustrating, especially for inexperienced users. Malware can block certain antivirus solutions from running on the system or block file types from being executed at all which can be even more frustrating.
Facebook Privacy Watcher color codes posts based on privacy settings
Content that you post on Facebook is only visible to users that you specify. You can allow your family to view this year's vacation videos, your college class to view last night's party pictures, write something that is visible to everyone, or limit visibility to yourself only.
Facebook highlights the visibility of a post. A privacy symbol is attached to each header that visualizes who sees the post when they open your Facebook page or their timeline.
Microsoft sheds light on Windows 10 security improvements
Microsoft has not really revealed a lot about Windows 10 up to this day. While it has released a preview build of the operating system and a first update for it recently, one could still come to the conclusion that Windows 10 is like Windows 8 but with a start menu and the option to run apps in windows on the desktop.
Bitdefender Adware Removal Tool Beta for Windows released
Bitdefender's Adware Removal Tool has been available for Macintosh systems for some time now. The company has released a beta version of the program for Windows today.
While it is not listed yet on the official website, at least not under free downloads, it is available on third-party sites such as Download Crew already. Update: You can download it from Bitdefender's Lab website.
Arsenal Image Mounter for Windows review
Disk images are used for a variety of purposes. They can be used to backup entire drives, distribute contents, for forensic analysis or to access contents of optical discs on devices that have no optical drive.
Check out out disk image format mounting guide for Windows for detailed instructions and program links.
Arsenal Image Mounter is a free program for Windows that looks like many of the other disk mounting programs on first glance.
How Microsoft could improve the Windows 10 Action Center
Microsoft rolled out the first update for the Windows 10 Preview Build yesterday. The 2.x Gigabyte update did not introduce many new features to the operating system but introduced more than 7000 background changes to the system according to Microsoft.
A first basic version of the Action Center is without doubt the major new feature in the release. It is a port of the Windows Phone feature and displays actionable items according to Microsoft.
The company notes that the feature is not final, especially when it comes to the design and user interface.
Google enables Security Key support for 2-Step Verification
One of the best ways to improve the security of a Google account is to enable 2-step verification for it. The idea behind the feature is to combine the usual account username and password with local information tied to a mobile phone.
So, instead of having to enter your Google email and password to sign in to your account, you also need to enter a code that is generated on the fly when you sign in on untrusted devices.
Skype Qik: mobile video swapping by Microsoft
I have a hard time understanding the concept of sharing photos or videos with other people. While I do understand that it can be useful at times, say wedding photos or special moments, the increase in shared media is what I don't really get.
There must be something to it though if you consider how popular applications such as Snapchat, Instagram or the recently released Skype Qik (pronounced Quick) are.
What is Facebook Saved?
Facebook rolled out Saved a couple of months ago both on the web interface and Facebook apps on Android and iOS mobile devices.
The problem is that it is not really advertised on the web and if you don't know where to look you may not have noticed that the feature exists at all which makes it likely that the feature went by unnoticed largely.
The Saved link in the sidebar on the web is for instance only displayed after you have saved at least one item.
How to move or remove apps in All Apps in the Windows 10 start menu
If you have had time to use the preview build of Windows 10 on a machine you may have noticed the new start menu right away.
While not identical to the Windows 7 start menu, it is a compromise that brings the old (desktop programs) and the new (apps and live tiles) together.
What you may have noticed as well is that you cannot move or remove apps when you open the all apps listing. Here you find listed all installed apps and desktop programs.
Lightweight PDF Reader Sumatra reaches version 3.0
There are two core options when it comes to reading pdf documents on your computer that are hosted on the Internet. The first is to read the document right in the browser, either by using the browser's native option to to so or by using a third-party plugin or extension that adds the capability to the program. Google Chrome and Firefox support this for example out of the box.
Force Flash video on YouTube in Firefox
When you visit the popular video hosting site YouTube in the recent version of Firefox, Adobe Flash is no longer being used by default to stream videos to the device.
HTML5 video is being used instead and there is no option on the site itself to change that. You were able to toggle between HTML5 and Flash video until recently on http://www.youtube.com/html5 but that option is no longer available when you connect using the Firefox web browser (it is also not available in other browsers such as Google Chrome).
Free version of ad-blocking program AdMuncher now available
The author of the popular ad-blocking program for Windows AdMuncher announced some time ago that he would turn the commercial program into a free one in the near future.
That day has come and as of today, AdMucher is available as a free download to everyone.