Tech Help and Discussions

If you’re worried about the security of mobile banking, you’re not alone. Mobile banking apps use a wide array of complicated passwords, biometric tools (like thumbprint or facial scanning), and two-factor authentication to make sure you’re you before “you” try to mess with your money. But preventing anyone from being able to guess how to log in to your account does no good if your phone’s got malware on it that gives would-be baddies a wide-open back door. As the Wall Street Journal reports, the presence of mobile malware designed to steal banking credentials is on the rise. The software, including programs like Acecard and GM Bot, has drawn the attention of both t…

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Tony D replied August 29, 20168 yr

Google Earth Pro used to cost a staggering $400 a year, but in case you haven’t heard, the intuitive mapping program is now free. Google announced the change back in 2015, but the company’s instructions have since become outdated. Thankfully, the process remains relatively straightforward and quick. The Pro package will be familiar to anyone who has used Google Earth before, but the software comes loaded with a host of extra features. Media companies use the video export feature to supplement reporting, and construction firms can use the tools to digitally survey any location on Earth. Here’s how to get these and other previously expensive features for free, whethe…

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Tony D replied August 22, 20168 yr

T-Mobile has spent the years since its failed acquisition by AT&T building its LTE network and launching new phases of its “UnCarrier” initiative. Today, the provider that started the industry trend away from contracts and handset subsidies is also getting rid of mobile data plans. From here out, it will offer one postpaid option: unlimited voice, data, and text. The change grew out of the Binge On zero-rating service that the company started last year, after seeing how much streaming video and music that customers were happy to gobble up when it didn’t count against their data allotment. Under the new plans, the compression that comes with Binge On will be the …

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allheart55 Cindy E replied August 19, 20168 yr

Fraudsters have embraced a new low by designing an SMS-based scam campaign that preys upon parents' worst fears. ActionFraud, the United Kingdom's national fraud and computer crime reporting center, reports that in one version of the scam, targets receive an SMS message from someone purporting to be their child. That individual then goes on to say they're in the hospital, they can only communicate via text, and they need the target to do them a favor. As quoted by in an ActionFraud blog post, the message reads: "Mum i did try and phone from some else phone signal is really bad, there has been a terrible car accident. I’m in the ICU ward in hospital my phone ain’t…

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AWS replied August 19, 20168 yr

Hey guys, I had worked on an Acer machine which HDD showed a full but could not see any large docs, files, pis e.t.c anywhere on the HDD. I did see a file named "PC" which as a whopping 297GB file but when i tried to open it it kept asking to "connect to the disk on which the files are located". Does this mean that file might have been an image file of another pc please?

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mikehende replied August 19, 20168 yr

Australian authorities hacked Tor users in the US as part of a child pornography investigation, Motherboard has learned. The contours of this previously-unreported hacking operation have come to light through recently-filed US court documents. The case highlights how law enforcement around the world are increasingly pursuing targets overseas using hacking tools, raising legal questions around agencies’ reach. In one case, Australian authorities remotely hacked a computer in Michigan to obtain the suspect's IP address. While I'm sure that the vast majority of us are keen for child abuse websites to be shut down, and their users brought to justice, we are not all c…

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allheart55 Cindy E replied August 16, 20168 yr

When I first saw Mr. Spock talking to the Enterprise’s computer, I thought it was so cool. I still do. But the more I look at Cortana, Windows 10’s inherent virtual assistant, the more creeped out I get. Let’s start with Cortana’s fundamental lust for your data. When it’s working as your virtual assistant it’s collecting your every keystroke and spoken syllable. It does this so it can be more helpful to you. If you don’t like that, well, you’ve got more problems than just Cortana. Google Now and Apple Siri do the same things. And it’s not just virtual assistants; every cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) does this to one degree or another — Google Docs, Office 365…

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allheart55 Cindy E replied August 15, 20168 yr

We have important information for those who want the August 2nd release of Windows 10 Anniversary Update today! Download Windows 10 Pro Anniversary Update Build 14393.5 ISO (US ENGLISH 64-BIT) Code: CRC32: 790CDB93 MD5: F19FF1C27459BB44B4063F0B1AAE2A05 SHA-1: A5928F2BCB57856B7233AA726B89603108A24413 Filename: en_windows10_pro_14393_x64_dvd.iso Filesize: 3.10 GB (3,333,619,712 bytes) Windows 10 Pro US English 64-bit Download Windows 10 Pro Anniversary Update Build 14393.5 ISO (UK ENGLISH 64-BIT) Code: CRC32: 9CE96E65 MD5: 5FA38DE257F600ED94910C96B95D31CC SHA-1: 5029542D63B3FD0446437912D390BDB1D40AD672 Filename: en-gb_windows_10_pro_14393_x64_dvd.iso …

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DSTM replied August 13, 20168 yr

Here’s a bit of unexpected Friday news: Google is building a completely new operating system. As in, not just an upgrade to Android or Chrome OS, but instead, a new system that’s not derived from the Linux kernel. It’s called Fuschia. While Google hasn’t officially announced anything about the OS, it released details about the project on GitHub with the cryptic description “Pink + Purple == Fuschia (a new Operating System).” Another conference. “Great.” This one’s different, trust us. Our new event for New York is focused on quality, not quantity. Find out more Android Police dove deeper into the documentation and found some interesting tidbits. First off, …

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allheart55 Cindy E replied August 13, 20168 yr

Microsoft is scrambling to fix an issue that unlocks Windows tablets, phones, and other devices protected by Secure Boot. Security researchers my123 (@never_released) and slipstream (@TheWack0lian) are warning that attackers can use a special script to install operating systems not issued by the Redmond-based tech giant onto Windows. Why is that a problem? Well, that includes malicious OS packages, or "bootkits," which attackers can use to eavesdrop on unsuspecting users' communications or to steal their credentials. Let's get into the weeds of this issue by answering the following question: what is "Secure Boot"? Secure Boot remedies the insecurities of the S…

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allheart55 Cindy E replied August 11, 20168 yr

In its latest tribute to retro gaming, the Internet Archive has uploaded a treasure trove of games, applications, and demos for the Amiga family of computers. You can play all of them for free, directly in your browser, but be warned — you might run into a few glitchy titles. There are more than 2,000 games online, including classics such as Bubble Bobble, R Type, and Double Dragon. However, our searching couldn't find a number of well-loved Amiga titles, such as Elite, Cannon Fodder, and The Secret of Monkey Island (all of which were available on other platforms as well). There are also thousands more applications and demo titles, designed to shown off the hardware's …

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allheart55 Cindy E replied August 9, 20168 yr

Infosec researcher has fun at a crook's expense Ivan Kwiatkowski, a security researcher living in France, has turned the tables on a tech support scammer and fooled him into installing a copy of the Locky ransomware on his own PC. Kwiatkowski's encounter with a tech support crew came after his parents had navigated to a dodgy website that tried to trick them into thinking they were infected with the Zeus banking trojan. "This horrible HTML aggregate had it all: audio message with autoplay, endless JavaScript alerts, a blue background with cryptic file names throwing us back to Windows' BSoD days, and yet somehow it displayed a random IP address instead of the vis…

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starbuck replied August 8, 20168 yr

People really weren't joking about needing extra batteries to play Pokémon Go. Battery pack sales doubled in the US during roughly the two weeks that followed the game's release, according to The NPD Group. It reports seeing a year-over-year growth of 101 percent, with 1.2 million mobile battery packs being sold between July 10th and July 23rd, just days after the game's July 6th release. For those extra-long pokéwalks Pokémon Go really seems to be the only explanation here. NPD notes that while battery pack sales have generally been increasing from 2015, sales were only up 4 percent in the weeks prior to the game's release. So Pokémon Go very much seems to be w…

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allheart55 Cindy E replied August 7, 20168 yr

It is tough out there, folks, and sometimes it seems like the world just wants you to fail. And it's hard not to feel that way when shit happens to you day in and day out. Check out 20 signs the world is against you.

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allheart55 Cindy E replied August 7, 20168 yr

Yesterday my colleague Sam Byford beefed about Apple’s habit of selling outdated laptops and desktops, some of which haven’t had spec bumps in years despite the availability of faster components like CPUs and GPUs. That got me to wondering: how old is your primary laptop or desktop computer? There was a time that I would never consider using a laptop or desktop that was more than a few years old. I’m talking back in the days when Macs were used primarily as digital hubs in the home and workplace PCs needed new Intel or AMD processors just to keep pace with the latest versions of Windows and Office. Now, however, we’re keeping our computers longer, thanks in …

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Tony D replied August 6, 20168 yr

Users who have Avast’s antimalware solution on a PC with Intel microprocessors are reporting Blue Screens of Death (BSODs) when installing the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. Avast users report that when the AU process is kicked off, the PC will eventually crash with a “system thread exception not handled” error. The system then reverts to the previous version of Windows, forcing the user to re-download the update (if they hadn’t previously downloaded it to a USB stick) and begin the update process anew. I have a machine running Avast, and I had the same experience as others reported. Why this matters: Every new piece of code has the potential to introduce bugs, …

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Tony D replied August 5, 20168 yr

Microsoft's free upgrade offer for Windows 10 ended last week, or did it? The software giant has introduced a "free upgrade offer extension" for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users who use assistive technologies. While, technically, the free upgrade offer for the general public has ended, Microsoft has introduced a loophole with this extension that lets anyone get Windows 10 for free. Microsoft isn't checking who is using the upgrade extension. All you need to do is download an EXE file from Microsoft's hidden away accessibility site, and the Windows 10 upgrade will commence without any checks. Microsoft says it has not announced an end date for the upgrade extension,…

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allheart55 Cindy E replied August 1, 20168 yr

Hi, An interesting and recent problem which is proving difficult to understand and resolve: The Event Viewer reports an IBM Trusteer Rapport file as failing the security audit when the computer starts. This has suddenly happened with no obvious cause. I've already contacted IBM Trusteer but they have been unable to help. They did suggest running secpol.msc but that is only included in Windows 7 Professional and higher and not available in Windows 7 Home premium which I have. They suggested I contact Microsoft - I have done this via the Microsoft Community but so far suggestions have not worked. The error I get is: =============================================…

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Kick replied July 31, 20168 yr

Hey guys, I tried a few tutorials but not seeing how to get to the Internet options in Internet Explorer, help please?

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DSTM replied July 29, 20168 yr

Microsoft released Windows 10 almost a year ago on July 29th, 2015. The software maker has offered its latest OS to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users as a free upgrade for the past year, but that offer is about to run out. You only have one day left to upgrade to Windows 10 for free if you're currently running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. After July 29th, Microsoft will start charging $119 for upgrades to Windows 10, and if you upgrade during the free period you'll also get the Anniversary Update (launching August 2nd) free of charge. The upgrade is an easy process which you can initialize from the taskbar upgrade notification on eligible machines, or you can follow Microso…

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allheart55 Cindy E replied July 28, 20168 yr

In just a few short days, Microsoft will be celebrating Windows 10’s first birthday. It has been a busy year that has seen a number of Windows 10 updates with new features and improvements, but the biggest one is arriving on August 2nd. Microsoft’s free Anniversary Update to Windows 10 includes some highly requested features, but overall it’s full of minor additions that really make the OS feel a lot more polished. I’ve been testing Windows 10’s Anniversary Update for months now, and I’ve witnessed it progress to a point where it’s ready for the masses. Here are the 10 best new features coming to Windows. Windows Ink Windows Ink is without a doubt the best part of the…

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Tony D replied July 25, 20168 yr

The cheeky japesters at Avast created a series of fake Wi-Fi networks at various locations around the Republican National Congress in Cleveland, as Silicon Angle reports: Avast’s team set up several networks, using names such as "Trump free Wifi" or "Google Starbucks," which were designed to look as though they were set up for convention attendees. Upon connecting, trusting a random and unprotected network they found in a public setting, the users unwittingly gave Avast access to spy on their devices. Over the course of a day, Avast found over a thousand attendees that were completely negligent in their device’s security. Over 60 percent of the users who connected h…

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allheart55 Cindy E replied July 24, 20168 yr