Ubuntu-based Linux Lite 5.0 'Emerald' is here to replace Microsoft Windows on your PC

Windows 7 and Windows 10 aren't bad operating systems. In fact, they are both quite good. With that said, the newest version of Windows 10 has many bugs. Unfortunately, since Windows 7 is no longer supported, some of its users are stuck in a conundrum. They have to decide whether to use an unsupported Windows 7 or upgrade to Windows 10 that is full of telemetry and other "spying" that passes their information to Microsoft's servers. Thankfully, there is another option -- switch to Linux. Yes, modern Linux-based operating systems will be supported (unlike the now-obsolete Windows 7) and most… [Continue Reading]

Anker releases $100 24K gold USB-C to Lightning cable for fancy lads

Imagine being a fancy lad — a sophisticated man about town that draws attention and respect from everyone around you. Women want to be with you. Men want to be you. You have style, class, and a bank account that holds much money. Your car is foreign and your clothes are expensive. You of course use an iPhone, because that’s what high-class people own. Android is for peasants! When you need to charge your iPhone, you don’t use the cable it came with, do you? Oh, of course not — that would be so pedestrian. If you are truly a… [Continue Reading]

Samsung Galaxy Book S is first Windows 10 laptop powered by Intel Lakefield hybrid CPU

Now is a wonderful time to be in the market for a laptop. There are many great models powered by the latest Intel and AMD processors. Companies like HP and Dell, for instance, have some very compelling computers out right now, while Microsoft recently released some new Surface devices. If you live on the web, a Chromebook may meet your needs. Heck, even Apple notebooks should be considered, as its entire MacBook line finally has "good" keyboards again. Whether your budget is a few hundred bucks -- or a few thousand -- there is a quality laptop out there for… [Continue Reading]

Here are all the features Microsoft removed or deprecated in Windows 10 May 2020 Update

Microsoft began to roll out the latest big feature update for Windows 10 a couple of days ago, and you can get it via Windows Update, or force the update if it’s not yet showing up for you, although that’s probably not a great idea given the current number of known issues. With each new OS update, however, some existing features get dropped, or stop being actively developed. Here’s what’s missing in Windows 10 2004, the May 2020 Update. REMOVED FEATURES: Cortana -- Cortana has been updated and enhanced in the Windows 10 May 2020 Update. With these changes, some… [Continue Reading]

The secret life of discontinued apps

When a book goes out of print the publishers don't pop round and remove old copies from your shelves. Similarly, when an app is discontinued it can be taken off the app stores but continues to linger on users' devices. Mobile security company Wandera has been taking a look at what happens to these with an analysis of six-months' worth of apps that were removed from the app stores, along with apps that were installed on customer devices prior to the six-month period and, subsequently, removed. It finds productivity accounts for the highest percentage (38.7 percent) of these apps, with… [Continue Reading]

UK government launches fund to boost smart device security

It's estimated that there could be as many as 75 billion connected devices worldwide by 2025, but the increased popularity of 'smart' equipment comes with risk as many products currently on sale lack basic cybersecurity. In response to this threat the UK's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is launching a £400,000 ($490,000) fund for innovators to design schemes to boost the security of internet-connected products. The fund aims to support the development of market of assurance schemes for consumer smart products. Assurance schemes demonstrate that a device has undergone independent testing or a robust and accredited self-assessment process.… [Continue Reading]

Twitter hides Trump tweet for violating rules about glorifying violence

Donald Trump's war with Twitter looks likely to heat up after the social media site hid one of the president's tweets for "glorifying violence". Tweeting about people in people in Minneapolis protesting about the killing of George Floyd by a police officer, Trump referred to the protestors as "thugs". He then went on to say "any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts" -- and it was this phrase which fell foul of Twitter rules. See also: Trump threatens to close social media platforms following Twitter spat Trump accuses Twitter of 2020 election… [Continue Reading]

Best Windows 10 apps this week

Three-hundred-and-eighty-eight in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 on the Microsoft Store in the past seven days. Microsoft released the Windows 10 May 2020 update this week. Mark published a guide on how to get the update at this point (as it is being rolled out gradually). Make sure you check the number of issues that it has before you start the upgrade. As always, if I've missed an app or game that has been released this week that you believe is particularly good, let me know in… [Continue Reading]

Securing the remote workforce during COVID-19 and beyond [Q&A]

The COVID-19 global pandemic has created a cybercrime playground. From phishing scams to ransomware to social media attacks, COVID-19-focused malware campaigns are on the rise. In fact, according to research from Zscaler, there's been a 30,000 percent increase in coronavirus-related attacks. We talked with Mike Kelley, CSO at Navisite, to discuss why the current crisis is causing such a dramatic spike in cybersecurity activity, as well as ways organizations can secure their remote workforce and protect their organization from cyberthreats both now and after the COVID-19 pandemic comes to an end. BN: Why is COVID-19 creating such an opportunity for… [Continue Reading]

How to force your computer to download the Windows 10 May 2020 Update

Microsoft just managed to release the Windows 10 May 2020 Update in May, and many people are eager to get their hands on it -- but not everyone is being offered it straight away. For most people, a simple check of Windows Update will give them access to the update, but this is a staged rollout so it might take a while to appear for you. It is possible, however, to force your computer to download the Windows 10 May 2020 Update. Here's how to do it. See also: Wow! Windows 10 May 2020 Update has a LOT of issues… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft hopes old video games will get people to buy Xbox Series X instead of possibly superior Sony PlayStation 5

It is never fun to buy the same game over and over again as it gets repeatedly re-released for newer and newer consoles. So naturally, backwards compatibility is a good thing. Microsoft seems to be hoping the ability to play old games will make the terribly named Xbox Series X attractive to consumers. In fact, the company isn't just promising backwards compatibility, but the ability to make some old games look and run better on the newer hardware. You will even be able to use Quick Resume -- the ability to start playing exactly where you left off -- with these… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft releases Windows 10 Build 19635

Microsoft began the rollout of the Windows 10 May 2020 Update yesterday, although it won’t be available to all for a while as there are still a number of known issues to be aware of. Today the software giant releases a new test build for Insiders on the Fast ring. Build 19635, in keeping with other recent builds, doesn’t offer anything in the way of exciting new features, but does include the following fixes: Fixed an issue resulting in the apostrophes in the Location not available dialog, Mount File dialog, and File Explorer folder options text not being displayed correctly.… [Continue Reading]

Massive amounts of corporate data now stored on employee USB devices

There has been a 123 percent increase in the volume of data downloaded to USB devices by employees since working from home has become widespread due to coronavirus. What's more, according to a report from SaaS data protection company Digital Guardian, 74 percent of that data is subject to organisation data governance policies. Cloud storage and USB devices have become the most preferred data egress paths after the COVID-19 emergency declaration, accounting for 89 percent of all data moved outside the enterprise. Data egress via all paths (email, cloud, USB, etc.) was 80 percent higher in the first month following… [Continue Reading]

Updated platform offers zero-trust management of multi-clouds

Multi-cloud environments tend to be harder to secure because teams and applications are much more distributed resulting in a larger attack surface. A zero-trust approach deals with these threats but can introduce overheads that make it hard to manage. Morpheus Data is integrating VMware NSX-T and Unisys Stealth technology into its cloud automation framework to enable microsegmentation and dramatically simplify the implementation of zero-trust processes. For VMware NSX-V and NSX-T, customers can manage transfer zones, distributed firewalls, edge gateways, load balancers and more directly from Morpheus plus securely share these network objects in multi-tenant environments. Unisys Stealth is a software… [Continue Reading]

You need to take action if you want to avoid being cut off from Zoom

Zoom has been one of the most used, yet most lambasted, contestants in the video conferencing arena during coronavirus-driven lockdown times, and much of the focus has been on privacy and security issues. Having acknowledged that it had work to do, the company promised to take steps to improve its service and has issued numerous updates to its app in recent months. The release of Zoom 5.0 in April was a major step, and you only have days to upgrade or risk being cut off from the service completely. See also: Zoom is gaining end-to-end encryption following acquisition of Keybase… [Continue Reading]

Turn off the security please, I'm the boss

The C-suite is the most likely group within an organization to ask for relaxed mobile security protocols (74 percent) -- despite also being highly targeted by cyberattacks according to a new study. The report from zero-trust platform MobileIron finds that executives feel frustrated by mobile security protocols and often request to bypass them. More than two-thirds (68 percent) of C-level executives say IT security compromises their personal privacy, while 62 percent say security limits the usability of their device, and 58 percent claim IT security is too complex to understand. More concerning is that 76 percent of C-level executives admit to requesting… [Continue Reading]

Three-quarters of organizations fail to complete legacy system modernizations

New research from Advanced shows that 74 percent of organizations have started a legacy system modernization project but failed to complete it. The report also suggests a disconnect between business and technical teams could be to blame. CIOs and heads of IT are more interested in the technology landscape of their organisation as a whole, whereas enterprise architects are more internally focused. More than two-thirds (69 percent) of enterprise architects cite hardware dependency and other technical influences as the primary reason to modernize whereas CIOs and heads of IT cite business competitiveness (66 percent), security (58 percent) and integration (54… [Continue Reading]