Computer Safety & News

https://redmondmag.com/articles/2020/02/28/edge-blocks-unwanted-apps.aspx The new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser is getting the ability to block potentially unwanted applications (PUAs), Microsoft announced on Thursday.  Microsoft’s PUA blocking service will be available in the Edge browser, starting with version 80.0.338.0. The service is part of Windows Defender SmartScreen, a Web site reputation-checking service in Windows 10, which needs to be turned […]

https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/current-activity/2020/02/28/national-consumer-protection-week National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW) is March 1–7. This annual event encourages individuals and businesses to learn about their consumer rights and how to keep themselves secure. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and its NCPW partners provide free resources to protect consumers from fraud, scams, and identity theft. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency […]

Some of the RDP exposures recently patched by Microsoft in recent months during “Patch Tuesday” — are important as a technical defense against new innovated malware attacks https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hackers-use-windows-10-rdp-activex-control-to-run-trickbot-dropper/ A group of hackers is using the remote desktop ActiveX control in Word documents to automatically execute on Windows 10 a malware downloader called Ostap that was […]

As Microsoft continues to change it’s educational programs — the highly respected MCSA MSCD & MSCE certification programs will be retired by mid-2020 in favor of the newer professional designations.  These changes have occurred due to the popularity of cloud based computing & demand for professional talents.  All 3 existing designations will continue to be […]

New Roku players and Roku TVs are coming in 2020 as described below https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/new-roku-tvs-roku-players-are-coming-in-2020-here-is-what-we-know/ New 8K Roku TVs — In 2020, TCL has announced that new Roku TVs are in the works including the new 4K TCL 8-series Roku TVs. No exact date has been announced for when the new 8K Roku TVs from TCL will come, […]

https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/current-activity/2020/02/26/new-cwe-list-common-security-weaknesses-0 MITRE has released version 4.0 of the community-developed Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) list. Previous CWE list versions describe common software security weaknesses. With version 4.0, the CWE list expands to include hardware security weaknesses. Additionally, version 4.0 simplifies the presentation of weaknesses into various views and adds a search function to enable easier navigation of […]

CISA highlights two back-to-back Google Chrome v80 security updates which usually apply automatically. https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/current-activity/2020/02/25/google-releases-security-updates-chrome Google has released Chrome version 80.0.3987.122 for Windows, Mac, and Linux. This version addresses vulnerabilities that an attacker could exploit to take control of an affected system. CISA encourages users and administrators to review the Chrome Release and apply the necessary updates. https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/current-activity/2020/02/21/google-releases-security-updates-chrome […]

Ars takes the new Opera R2020 browser for a spin & it bundles in some advanced UI features that Firefox and Chrome don’t have currently. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/02/browser-review-opera-r2020-and-opera-touch-are-well-worth-a-look/ When the topic of Web browsers comes up, most people only think of Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and whatever Microsoft’s doing this week. (Just kidding, Microsoft—the new Edge is […]

Windows Central reviews best Windows 10 “YouTube to MP3 Converters” which must be in accordance with proper digital copyright legal requirements https://www.windowscentral.com/best-youtube-mp3-converters-windows YouTube has an almost infinite library of music, podcasts, and audio to listen to. Sometimes, you want to grab an audio source and place it into a video or listen to it offline. […]

For Windows 10 corrupted system files, Windows Central shares an excellent guide to possibly fix this issue using the System File Checker tool. https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-sfc-scannow-command-fix-problems-windows-10 QUOTE: On Windows 10, when you start noticing random errors, problems booting up, or features not working as expected, there’s a good chance that one or multiple system files might have […]