December 2016

Microsoft released Windows 10 Build 14986 to the Insider Preview Fast Ring. The new build introduces a massive number of new features, improvements and changes.

First, a word of warning. Since this is a preview build, there are things that may not work properly. It is recommended to run these preview builds on non-production machines. If you have important data on a system, make sure you back up the data before you install the new version.

If you needed another reason not to use Flash anymore, a new security report by Recorded Future may convince you to consider this at the very least.

The company analyzed 141 exploits kits that were available between November 16, 2015 and November 15, 2016.

The main takeaway of the research study is that Adobe Flash vulnerabilities made up six of the top ten chart spots.

Microsoft's director of program management, Windows Enterprise and Security Rob Lefferts, highlighted security related changes and improvements coming to the Windows 10 Creators Update due out in March 2017 recently in a blog post.

Windows 10 is different in many regards to previous versions of Windows. One core difference is that it marks the move from releasing a new version of Windows every three or so years to Windows as a service.

What is meant by that is that Windows will follow the same model that Office 365 and other SAAS products offer. Namely, that there won't be a Windows 11, 12 or One, but only Windows 10 that is constantly updated.

Vivaldi is working on version 1.6 of the web browser currently and pushing out updates to the developer channel regularly that introduce new features.

You have probably come across sites in the past that use the page title to indicate that updates are available.

This is mostly done by social sites such as Twitter or Facebook to indicate new posts or messages.

While you may find these hints useful as they notify you when something happens on a social media site, you may have noticed as well that they may impact the page title negatively.

Google announced today that it has implemented a new updating method called file-by-file patching that reduces the size of app updates on Android by 65% on average.

The company started to use the bsdiff algorithm earlier this year to reduce the size of application updates by 47% on average when compared to the full size of the Android app.

VideoLAN, makers of the popular VLC Media Player program for various desktop and mobile operating systems have released VLC 2.2 for UWP today.

VLC 2.2 for UWP, what is that you may ask. When Microsoft released Windows 8, VLC ran a Kickstarter campaign to fund the development of a VLC app for that operating system.

The campaign was successful, and the company released VLC for Windows 8 eventually to the public.

MaterialChess is a free application for Google Android devices that lets you play and train chess in a variety of ways.

One of the most refreshing features of the application is that it is completely free of charge. It does not cost a dime, does not request privacy invasive permissions, does not contain advertisement or in-app purchases.

While that is a great start for an app, it is not the only thing that makes this chess application shine.

Themes in Windows have not changed all that much since the release of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system.

All versions of Windows ship with a selection of themes that you can switch between. Microsoft divides themes up into regular themes and high contrast themes, but that is about it.

Each theme may change the desktop background, color scheme, sounds and screen saver. If you want more customization, you need to patch system files first to install full themes afterwards.

These full themes may change other interface elements, icons for instance.

Trusted Contacts is a new personal safety application for Android devices that allows others to find out your last known location.

The main idea behind the app is to give one or more contacts the status of trusted contact. These can be family members, close friends, parents, or your spouse.