Wednesday, June 21, 2017 at 11:14AM 
New malware uses old trick – and is a reminder to disable UPnP
Hijacking UPnP is rare, but it's a straightforward trick that will be copied soon enough
Supreme Court: sex offenders can’t be banned from social media
Banning sex offenders from social media violates fundamental First Amendment rights, rules judge
Monday, June 19, 2017 at 11:57AM Just caught this on Paul Thurrott’s site and was initially intrigued but… For $129 it is a bit pricey. Granted it is built into an aluminum case, has finger print recognition, is Bluetooth wireless or USB wired connectivity. Short battery life, 4 months when you compare against Logitech’s line of keyboards although the batteries that come with it are rechargeable. And look at what is operating systems that it isn’t compatible with:
Here is Microsoft’s introductory video:
Monday, June 19, 2017 at 9:37AM Windows 10S overview provided by Windows Central:
Monday, June 19, 2017 at 9:31AM 
This is Microsoft’s newest hardware offering directed to higher education users that is using the new Windows 10S operating system. Microsoft touts that this operating system is more secure so is safer for the users to work with primarily because it only allows applications that are in the Microsoft Store to be installed on the system. Hmmmm…
It all sounds good but I think that the price is a little more than what I would want to pay for Just a LAPTOP! I’d rather spend a few extra dollars and get the Surface Book that gives me Windows 10 Pro (yes I’m a business user) and the detachable screen. I really like those features. I understand that isn’t what everyone is looking for but that’s how I feel.
Monday, June 19, 2017 at 9:13AM Security SOS Week – learn from our top experts for free
Stay up to speed on the latest security topics by joining in the free Sophos Security SOS webinar series next week!
Your daily round-up of some of the other stories in the news!
Sunday, June 18, 2017 at 9:58AM I always love to use applications that are available on all of the devices that I use. OneNote is one of those applications that I rely on ever since it jumped a head of Evernote a few years ago. So here is quick list of the changes that you should see:
Sunday, June 18, 2017 at 9:34AM 
If you have watched any of Intel’s demonstrations of the benefits from using Intel’s new Optane Memory Technology, you would possibly come away with the impression that you could get away with less RAM memory in your system if you use it. They use the fact that accessing files is faster in a system with Optane Memory than without it which is true if it has been cached especially. They also justified the expense by stating that if you decrease the amount of RAM in your system the cost of adding the Optane memory will be about the same without a loss of speed.
This is probably true if you are a one at a time application user. Most of are not so while I agree that the Optane Memory will show the best speed increase with spinning drives, I would suggest that you still shell out the extra cash to get the most RAM possible to help you maximize the speed of the machine.
To learn more about take a look at this Windows Central article.
Friday, June 16, 2017 at 4:55PM An article in Windows Central asked the question whether the Microsoft Surface Dock is worth purchasing at its high price tag. The funny thing is, $200 for a docking station is not really that expensive when you are purchasing one with dual video ports and all of the other accessory ports that you get. See Specs Below: See at Microsoft
The first benefit is that the connector to the surface is the same magnetic connection that you are used to in the smaller power supply that comes with your Surface product. So with the one connection you are not only powering your device but you are adding all of the ports listed above with losing anything on the Surface at all.
The second thing I like are the dual display ports that allow you to connect two monitors giving you three active monitors altogether. They are mini display ports so it easy to convert them to whatever you monitors have on them.
Thee are a total of (4) USB 3.0 ports with power to charge your USB devices if you wish to plug them in. There is also a 1 Gigabit Ethernet port and an Audio out port to complete the group of ports being added to your device.
I drove with my family down to South Carolina for a week of sun and fun and for me training and catching up on work as well. I decided to bring my two monitors from my desktop setup with me and my wireless keyboard and mouse. It ended up being a really great setup and I felt I had an even better setup then I had at home with the three monitor display. I also hooked up a 3TB USB drive and a few other items to round up my desktop. It was really nice.
So to answer the question, heck yea! When you look at some of the other similar products on the market they are all priced right around the same amount so I really don’t feel that you would be paying a premium for this product. So if all of this sounds like something that you would want to do with your setup then I would say do it. You will find that it was well worth it.
Friday, June 16, 2017 at 3:03PM I had just reloaded Windows 10 with the latest release onto my home and office desktops and wasn’t able to reinstall Windows Live Writer 2012 onto either of those two machines even though I had it running just fine on my Microsoft Surface Book. So after a couple of weeks fighting this I found Open Live Writer.
Open Live Writer is an open source application that enables you to author, edit and publish blog posts. It is based on a fork of the my beloved Windows Live Writer code. What I like most is that it allows me to easily post to this SquareSpace blog.
It has a ribbon bar that is very similar to Microsoft’s Word Home Ribbon and makes my life very easy creating quick posts like this one. The image alignment tools are great as well and it allows me to paste pictures quickly to the post with no need to upload the image. It handles the image storage to my blog storage area automatically.
If you are interested in this program you can find it here.
Friday, June 16, 2017 at 12:35PM |
Your daily round-up of some of the other stories in the news!
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You can 'force stop' but the ads will just keep popping back up again
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Your mouse may be telling us more about you than you realise.
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Thursday, June 15, 2017 at 10:05AM 
Jessy just emailed me that there is an issue in the recent Outlook Security patch causing problems with Outlook attachments. He has mentioned that we need to look at the following kb's KB3203467, KB3191898, and KB3191932 and remove them. Microsoft is currently investigating. They were just released a couple of days ago.
These are out outlook 2016 group policy settings which should not be blocking any Word or Excel attachments. So why is the patch causing issues for Word and Excel attachments?
See the Microsoft Tech Article here.
Description of the security update for Outlook 2016: June 13, 2017
Thursday, June 15, 2017 at 9:45AM 
Do you have a spare $99's handy? Well that's what this new pen is going to run you. Are you the creative type? Then this pen may well be worth the outlay it will cost you.
This pen responds with 4,096 pressure points to the lightest flick of the point on screen. The lag time is virtually undetectable to help make your drawing experience more lifelike to pen and paper.
Some of the applications that are working with this pen include: OneNote, Microsoft Office, Adobe Suite, Sketchable, Bluebeam Revu, Drawboard, and Staffpad.
Eventually you will have four colors to pick from (Platinum, Black, Burgundy and Cobalt Blue) but only Platinum will be available at first.
Pen Compatibility List:
[1] Surface Pen tilt functionality is available now with Surface Pro. Coming to other Surface devices via Windows Update soon.
Wednesday, June 14, 2017 at 5:18PM
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Friday, June 9, 2017 at 10:52AM 
Here is a quick overview of the three major products that are in the market today, Apple (HomePod), Google (Google Home) or Amazon's (Amazon Echo). Which one of these out performs the other? What other considerations should you be thinking about? Take a look at this article and see if this helps you to decide.
Me, I have already made my commitment to the Echo line of products. Each of the different product lines have their different pro's that might make you lean towards that product. If all you are looking for is good sound for your music, I would probably stick with none of these and jump back to Sonos. It has the widest flexibility but will make the biggest dent in your pocketbook. If you are looking for the add-on apps to make the unit a true assistant, then the Echo is probably the product you should be looking at. If you are heavily into Google products and apps then it might be Google Home. Lot's of things to consider.
Thursday, June 8, 2017 at 5:21AM 
Amazon has announced that it will no longer offer an unlimited storage plan in its Amazon Drive consumer service. In its place, Amazon will price cloud storage at $60 per 1 TB. If you look around, this really isn't a bad deal. Compare to other services out their like Dropbox for one, that has the same offer for $99.
Now, Amazon is offering storage plans of 100 GB ($20 per year) and 1 TB ($60 per year), and anyone who wants additional storage can pay another $60 per 1 TB. Additionally, all Amazon customers get 5 GB of free storage. And if you’re an Amazon Prime member, you get unlimited photo storage. (Which makes this service a good option for those who wisely choose to backup their phone-based photos to multiple places.)
The change is effective today, Amazon says, and customers who are already paying for unlimited storage will retain that perk until their current subscription expires. At that time, they will be switched to a 1 TB plan at $60 unless auto-renew is disabled.
Wednesday, May 31, 2017 at 12:11PM I really love the thought of the Microsoft Surface Hub but I hate the price!
Surface Hub engineer Jordan Marchese, walks us through updates to Microsoft Surface Hub with Windows 10 Creators update. For users of Surface Hub, Jordan demonstrates updated experiences including the new welcome screen; start menu and intelligent Whiteboard; single sign-on for easier access to your content, Office Apps and personal meetings; improvements to ending your Hub session and more. For IT
Thursday, May 18, 2017 at 10:54AM I am trying to get over the hump on this one. I love the idea of it but I can't get over the cost vs. useage. I also really like a REAL keyboard not a screen keyboard but having the dual screen and note taking functions seems like a neat idea to me.
Thursday, May 18, 2017 at 7:04AM 
My first reaction to reading the announcement on this product is that with the combination of image recognition and using location information this would be a great tool to put together an app for self-guided tours of places that we visit.
Of course this comes on the heels and just coming back from a trip out west where I drove from Las Vegas through the Mojave Desert to Palm Desert to visit my mother and her sister. Stopping and taking pictures along the way could have been enhanced by information that could have been pulled up about those places that I was taking pictures of.
My wife and I also enjoy doing self-guided walking tours when we visit Charleston South Carolina and Savannah Georgia and I can't help but Wonder all being able to point your phone at a certain building and being able to pull up the information on that building or monument, Park or Vista would bring much more enjoyment to our tour.
I am looking forward to seeing how this progresses as Google makes this application available.
Saturday, May 13, 2017 at 11:31AM The first thing that struck me is that the application interface much different. It is more Applesque in it's swirl feature for accessing the different applications. You no longer swipe right to access the application interface but you need to press the watch button to wake the watch and then a second time to open the menu.
Taking your finger and twirling clockwise or counter-clockwise allows you to scroll through the menu. Then tapping on the app icon will launch your chosen application. Running your finger across the watch face from left to right closes the application interface.
From the base screen, sliding your finger from top to bottom opens the settings menu which is quite a bit cleaner than the old version. The five main settings that you may wish to access are all on the same screen so it's very quick and easy to be able to go to act Lee where you want to.
Sliding your finger left to right or right to left on the screen brings up the change watch face menu. I'm not sure why this motion seems so prominent comma I never did spend much time changing my watch faces at all. Though I am sure there are many people that love to change them for whatever occasion that they are currently in.
All in all, my first impression is very positive to the changes in this version. I'm just sorry that I can't take advantage of all the new features of the new operating system since the watch does not have the hardware built-in to be capable of doing some of the things that comes along with the new operating system.
