What's New

In part 1 of this little series we did some updating via CLI. Now, we will once again take a look at how to manage things via the terminal; like how to create and delete users, as well as set/change user passwords.

With that said, I'm focusing this article on users who are running a distribution that is based on Debian, such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint (Based on Ubuntu, but still applicable), etc. The reason for this, is that most users who are brand new to the GNU/Linux world will likely be running one of these systems.

XTR Toolbox is an open source program for Windows to tweak, clean and optimize the operating system. You can download and run the tool without installation but need to know that it requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.2 or higher.

XTR Toolbox is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit versions of all supported versions of Windows. Those are, at the time of writing, Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10.

Mozilla plans to release Firefox 60 with a new preference to disable support for the FTP protocol. The preference is disabled by default so that FTP sites can still be accessed in Firefox 60.

FTP, just like HTTP, is on its way out. Browser makers, site operators and hosting companies move to newer protocols that support encryption among other things to better protect user data against spying and manipulation.

Links are the lifeblood of the Internet. They point from one site to another and are often used to connect similar resources with each other, for attribution, or research.

Links can be clean, e.g., https://www.ComTek4u.com/ or they can be what many consider messy, e.g., https://www.amazon.de/b/ref=unrec_bubbler_2_en?_encoding=UTF8&node=1624983031&ref=unrec_bubbler_2_en&pf_rd_m=A3JWKAKR8XB7XF&pf_rd_s=&pf_rd_r=3YBY614EJ389QBEFV3XP&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=c6c82179-3640-43e2-a115-60abf979c755&pf_rd_i=desktop.

CopyQ is a cross-platform open-source clipboard manager for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X that is easy to use and quite powerful thanks to the advanced features that it offers.

Clipboard managers extend the functionality of the built-in clipboard function of the operating system. The clipboard on Windows is limited to a single entry which means that it erases the previously stored entry whenever a new one os copied.

Most clipboard managers remember multiple copied items and many offer additional functionality besides that.

Simple DNSCrypt is a free open source program for Microsoft's Windows operating system to configure dnscrypt-proxy on Windows-based PCs and devices.

DNS Crypt is a technology that encrypts DNS look ups so that third-parties cannot spy on those. While some programs or services, VPN Services for instance, protect your look-ups automatically, most DNS traffic is not encrypted.

Patch My PC Updater is a free program for Microsoft Windows PCs to run update checks on all installed software programs.

We reviewed the program back in 2011 for the first time, and the release of version 4.0 was incentive enough to publish a new review.

As is the case with update-related programs, it is limited by the supported software programs that it has in its database. You can, however, download and install updates that are available using Patch My PC Updater.

Some Windows application publishers who use "Windows" in the name of published apps received legal notifications from Microsoft in February 2018 to either change the name and branding of applications or have them removed from store instead.

View Image is a browser extension for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox that adds a "view image" button to Google Images so that users can click on it to display the image directly in the browser.

Dark Power is a free browser strategy game that can best be described as a tower defense game. While you defend only your main castle against attacks, you do so by hiring troops and casting spells on the onrushing enemy hordes.

One interesting twist of the game is that you control an undead army and fight against humans, elves and dwarfs that attack the castle.

You switch between battles and upgrades in the game. Battles become increasingly difficult as the game progresses but your forces do get more powerful as well.

Linux Mint 18.3 “Sylvia” is the latest iteration of the hugely popular distribution, featuring a few different desktop environments. I've really grown to enjoy the Cinnamon environment, regardless of what distro I'm using at the time, but obviously when using it within Linux Mint, you're getting the intended experience since Cinnamon was made for Mint.

That said, Cinnamon is the most popularly used environment, so this quick tutorial is based around that, but its pretty easily translatable to the other environments as well!

The developer's of the Internet application suite SeaMonkey have released version 2.49.2 of the application for all supported operating systems. They note that the release won't be offered via the integrated updating feature for most configurations because of changes that it introduces.

Users who want to upgrade to the new version may need to download it from the project website to install it manually because of that.

As a Netflix customer, you may know that the stream quality on Netflix depends on a number of factors. Your subscription plan may give you access to HD or Ultra HD streams, but the Internet Connection and device you watch Netflix on may influence the video quality as well.

Raymond Hill (Gorhill), the developer of uBlock Origin, released the Firefox add-on uBlock Origin dev build to Mozilla's Firefox Add-ons website recently.

Active uBlock Origin Beta users on Firefox may wonder why the development build version was released as a new add-on and not on the beta channel of the primary uBlock Origin add-on listing.

Canonical's Will Cooke revealed in an email to the Ubuntu development list that the company plans to collect more diagnostic data from desktop.

Many programs and operating systems collect diagnostic data. While the degree varies from program to program, it is fair to say that diagnostic data may provide developers with insights into issues and feature popularity.