December 2015

The never ending Winamp story continues. AOL, the then-owner of Winamp announced back in 2013 that it would shut down the platform and software but changed those plans in early 2014 by selling its stake in Winamp to Radionomy instead.

While that was a positive development, things went quite shortly after the acquisition. Winamp is still available for download on the official project website but a new version has yet to be released by the new owner.

Microsoft SmartScreen Filter is a protective feature integrated into the Windows operating system as well as Microsoft's web browsers Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge that protects computer users from certain kinds of Internet-based attacks.

It works similar to Google's SafeBrowsing feature but is broader in scope as it is not limited to a single program but works system-wide.

Microsoft updated SmartScreen's set of security features recently by adding protection from drive-by attacks to the service.

G Data Clean Up is a free tool by German security company G Data which has been designed to scan, identify and remove potentially unwanted programs such as adware, toolbars or plugins from Windows computer systems.

Potentially unwanted programs are a big nuisance in the Windows world which can be attributed mostly to the way they are distributed.

Automatic updates are not necessarily a bad thing as they assist users in keeping their systems and programs up to date, but recent trends diminished the usefulness as companies like Microsoft started to use the feature to introduce updates that part of the user base does not want installed on their systems.

Probably the best example of that is Microsoft's drive to push its Windows 10 operating system on systems running Windows 7 or 8.

So called family features, or parental controls, are designed to provide parent or legal guardians with options to control the computer use of minors.

They are usually controlled by one or multiple adults who manage what minors are allowed to do on a computer. This includes computer time, web browsing, programs they can run or safe guards to protect them against threats on the Internet.

Microsoft improved the family features of the Windows operating system in Windows 10 (and Windows 10 Mobile once it is released).

Panopticlick 2.0 is a new version of the tracking and fingerprinting tool that ships with new tests and capabilities.

Whenever you connect to an Internet site, you reveal information to that site. Depending on how well your browser is configured, you may reveal little information or a lot of them.

The most recent version of Chrome Dev, and probably other versions of the official Google browser as well, have received updates recently that introduce options to switch the interface to Material Design.

The feature is experimental at the time of writing, but it seems likely that Google will make the design the official one for Chrome in the future by switching to it permanently.

Collabora Online Development Edition -- short CODE -- is a virtual machine that brings LibreOffice Online and ownCloud server together.

The edition is an online version of the popular free and open source LibreOffice application with OwnCloud, integrating the viewing and editing capabilities of the Office Suite in ownCloud.

This introduces document viewing and editing capabilities to ownCloud, a service best known for providing users with the tools to run their own private cloud server or rent a privacy-focused cloud server.

Vivaldi Beta 2 has been released a moment ago moving the browser one step closer to a final release. Downloads are available on Vivaldi.com, and via the browser's updater.

The new beta version includes all features and improvements that Vivaldi added to the browser since the launch of the first beta version back in early November 2015.

Firefox user profiles are a mighty tool that most users of the browser probably never come into contact with. While it is fine to use a single profile in many cases, using multiple profiles opens up a new world of possibilities.

I like to work with multiple profiles, profiles that I have created for specific tasks. For instance, I have created a very secure profile for online banking, another to test Firefox add-ons, and a third that is pristine and unchanged as reference.