February 2017

PeaUtils is a collection of file management tools that enables you to run more than a dozen file related tools on your system.

The open source program is created by the makers of the popular archiver Peazip, and available for Windows and Linux.

Windows users can download a portable version of PeaUtils for 32-bit or 64-bit versions of the operating system, or download the installer instead.

Maxon Cinebench is a free benchmark software for Windows and Mac devices by Maxon, a company best known for the 3D graphics package Cinema 4D.

Benchmarks can be useful in determining the performance of hardware components or a computer system.

Useful to find out how fast a component or the computer really is, in picking the right component for a job, or for comparing the performance of a component over time.

Benchmarks that don't offer comparison are mostly useful if you have different components at your disposal that you can compare against each other.

Microsoft pushed patches to devices running Windows 7 and 8.1 in recent time that collect information and transfer data to Microsoft regularly.

One of the main issues that Windows users may have with telemetry is that Microsoft does not reveal what it is collecting, and what is included when telemetry data is transferred to the company.

VPN Lifeguard is a free open source software program for Windows devices that adds a kill switch to VPN connections to avoid IP leaks.

A VPN is one of the better ways to improve privacy while your connected to the Internet. The main reason for this is that it blocks sites and services from identifying your device's IP address.

While there are ways to get around this, WebRTC comes to mind for instance, it is without doubt adding a protective layer to the connection.

Opswat Metadefender Endpoint is a free security scanner for computer systems running Microsoft's Windows operating system.

The program checks settings, installed programs and security, and computes a score based on that. It furthermore provides you with options to remove potentially unwanted programs from the computer system.

You need to fill out a form on the Opswat website before downloads for Windows or Mac OS X become available. The information is not verified though, and download links are provided right after you enter the information and submit the form.

The Tor Project released ooniprobe designed to run checks to see if you are being censored for Android and iOS mobile devices.

The app is designed to run a series of tests to find out about evidence of censorship, and information on the speed and performance of the network used by the mobile phone.

Before you can use it however, it walks you through a series of informational pages, a quick test that you have to pass, and a configuration page for the program's data collecting functionality.

Here we go again. Microsoft re-released the Windows 7 telemetry update KB2952664 and the Windows 8.1 telemetry update KB2976978 yesterday.

YouTube Go is a new application for Android by Google designed for markets where available bandwidth and reception may be lacking.

While the official YouTube application for Android works well in many situations, it is not the lightest of applications.

YouTube Go has been designed by Google to improve the experience by creating a lighter app that is not as taxing to the device, and plays better in low-bandwidth or bad reception scenarios. It features a couple of unique features, but lacks also many classic YouTube features such as commenting or channels.

The Vivaldi web browser ships with an interesting option to block all keyboard shortcuts on the active web page.

It happens that I use keyboard shortcuts accidentally in the browsers that I'm using. Hitting F12 for instance opens the Developer tools, or Ctrl-Shift-B the bookmarks manager (when I intend to hit Ctrl-Shift-V to paste without formatting).

Opera Software has just released Opera 43 to the Stable channel introducing performance improvements and classic Opera's link selection method to the browser.

The three new features that Opera Software highlights in the new release are instant page loading, PGO for Windows, and classic link selection.