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March 2017

Exclusive preview of Startpage’s new image search tools

The privacy focused search engine Startpage will launch new image search related tools soon that improve the user experience significantly.

Startpage, just like Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo, offers a dedicated image search option that users can make use of.

While you can use web searches to find sites with images as well, using the image search engine returns image results right away.

Here is the first mockup screenshot of Firefox 57’s new design

Mozilla plans to make Firefox 57 a milestone release by introducing major changes to the web browser when the version is released.

We talked about those in the past already; most notable probably is the focus on WebExtensions in Firefox 57. Classic add-ons will stop working at that time, as they are no longer supported in the stable version of the web browser.

How to enable two-factor authentication on Instagram

Instagram announced on March 23, 2017 that the company did enable two-factor authentication support for all users of the service.

Two-factor authentication adds a security layer to the sign in process on Instagram. What is meant by that is that you are required to complete a second authentication step before you are signed in to your account and can start using the Instagram application.

TTSFox: Firefox Text to Speech add-on that works offline

TTSFox is a new add-on for the Firefox web browser that adds text to speech functionality to the browser, even when the device is offline.

It can sometimes be useful to have something read aloud to you. This can be the case if you do something that is not directly in front of the monitor, or if the Firefox window is not the active window.

Accessibility may also play a role, for instance if your eyesight is not the best anymore, or if you prefer to listen to text as it is easier for you.

You can now watch Netflix in Firefox on Linux

Netflix announced on Tuesday that Linux users may use the Firefox web browser on their devices now to watch video streams on the website.

Netflix started to work on HTML5 compatibility almost four years ago to improve the service's compatibility. The video streaming service relied on the use of plugins, most notably Microsoft Silverlight in the early days, which limited compatibility with devices.

Windows 10: look up data usage for the past 30 days

The following guide walks you through the steps of looking up data usage information on devices running Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system.

It can sometimes be useful to find out how much data is used on a device in a given period of time. Maybe you are on a metered Internet connection and want to make sure that you did not cross any thresholds yet.

Or, you crossed a threshold last month and want to find out how that happened, and what you can do about it.

KB4012218, KB4012219: Windows Update processor generation detection

The March 2017 preview updates for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 introduce Windows Update processor generation and hardware support detection.

Microsoft published KB4012218 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, and KB4012219 for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 yesterday evening.

These previews are only available through the Microsoft Update Catalog, and only include non-security updates.

Learn PowerShell, using PowerShell

PowerShell is more than just a command line shell. It is a configuration management framework that the command line shell is part of, but also a scripting language.

It is more powerful than the Windows command prompt but also more intimidating. While it has been there for more than a decade, most Windows users are probably not very familiar with PowerShell.