Computer Safety & News

BGR has an informative write-up listing many of the new state-of-art features for the  Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ as follows: http://bgr.com/2017/03/30/galaxy-s8-features-and-specs-top-5/ It’s funny how you can know just about everything there is to know about a new flagship smartphone thanks to rumors and leaks, and yet still be blown away when the phone is […]

The Pew Research Center has a 10 question quiz that users can quickly take to test basic knowledge. Only 1% of users get all 10 questions correct, as there are few tricky ones where is a “most correct” answer. TAKE 10 QUESTION QUIZ in link below (takes about 2 minutes) http://www.pewinternet.org/quiz/cybersecurity-knowledge/ Evaluation of the test […]

Google Home is adding 12 new smart home vendors, which will be compatible with it’s smart “voice activated” speaker system.  This is documented as follows: https://www.cnet.com/au/news/google-home-gets-new-partners-in-its-first-big-smart-home-update/ Starting today, Google’s smart speaker can control a variety of new devices, including locks and sprinklers. With a dozen new companies announcing integrations with its platform, the search giant […]

A new phone scam is circulating where robo-caller software randomly constructs telephone numbers and generates a single ring with an immediate hang-up.  Some users may see this as a missed call or may be curious who has called them from the unusual number.  However, users who call back will have premium charges added to their […]

The Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphone will have a much improved battery design to promote safety, plus a few expected new, as this preview by The Verge documents below.  There may be a few surprises, given the innovation by Samsung as leading mobile phone manufacturer in world: http://www.theverge.com/2017/3/28/15078352/samsung-galaxy-s8-preview-event-announcement-challenges The Samsung Galaxy S8 launches on Wednesday will […]

Intel’s new Optane memory modules has the potential to significantly boost PC performance as shared below: http://www.pcmag.com/news/352632/intel-unveils-first-optane-memory-modules Intel on Monday began selling its first Optane memory modules, which it says will transform the traditional relationship between PC memory and storage, making everything from gaming to web browsing much faster on the mainstream computers most people […]

The new Android “O” version has been released as released as Developer Preview, as documented in the announcement below: https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2017/03/first-preview-of-android-o.html The new mobile OS aims to improve battery life and device performance while offering new features like picture-in-picture display, Wi-Fi Aware support, and more  Android O introduces a number of new features and APIs to […]

As noted by PC Magazine, a special BIOS update is being developed to fix a CPU lockup issue being experienced by AMD Ryzen chips which began to launch earlier this month.   http://www.pcmag.com/news/352538/ryzen-7-chips-are-locking-up-pcs-amd-knows-why All Ryzen desktop processors are suffering from the same problem, and owners are being asked to wait for BIOS updates to solve the […]

Ransomware is a highly destructive family of malware, which is designed to hold the victim hostage to get desired files restored.  A highly effective spamming technique used by malware designers to send out a blank spam email message with malicious zip attachment.  This is called the “Blank Slate” attack and is circulating extensively in the […]

Below are key resources documenting this recent monthly Microsoft Patch Tuesday release http://blog.talosintelligence.com/2017/03/microsoft-patch-tuesday-march-2017.html https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/security/ms17-mar.aspx https://isc.sans.edu/forums/diary/February+and+March+Microsoft+Patch+Tuesday/22185/ https://isc.sans.edu/mspatchdays.html?viewday=2017-03-14 Following a sparse February patch Tuesday, today’s March release brings a bumper crop of fixed vulnerabilities: 17 bulletins covering 140 different vulnerabilities, 47 of which are rated as critical. The critical vulnerabilities affect Internet Explorer, Edge, Hyper-V, Windows PDF […]