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April 2016

Microsoft’s Windows 10 Search lock already bypassed

Microsoft announced on April 28, 2016 that it implemented a change on Windows 10 that prevents third-party programs from hijacking the operating system's web search functionality.

It took one day to create a solution to revert the change so that web searches on Windows 10 once again open in the default system browser regardless of whether that is Microsoft Edge or another web browser such as Firefox, Chrome or Opera.

WebExtensions still on track for Firefox 48

WebExtensions, a new browser API for Firefox that Mozilla wants add-on developers to focus on once it has been released, is still on track for a Firefox 48 release.

Mozilla announced the push towards WebExtensions back in mid-2015 and made the decision back then to model the new API after Google's Blink extension API.

Mozilla has several reasons to develop a new API, including making it easier to port extensions from and to Google Chrome and Chromium-based web browsers, making the review process easier, and making add-ons more robust when it comes to browser updates.

Nomacs image viewer with synchronization

Nomacs is an open source image viewer and editor for Windows and Linux that supports an option to synchronize viewing between multiple program instances.

Windows users can download a portable version of the program or a setup version while Linux users find instructions for various Linux distributions on the official project website.

Nomacs

Nomacs supports all popular image formats, RAW files, and ships with capabilities to browse images in zip archives or Microsoft Office files.

ESET Online Scanner review

ESET Online Scanner is a free program for Microsoft Windows devices to run a one-time scan for malicious and potentially unwanted items.

It is an on-demand scanner in this regard that you can run alongside any installed antivirus or security solution.

The program is compatible with all 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows from Windows NT all the way up to the latest version Windows 10. Please note that Windows 8 and 10 are not mentioned on the system requirements page on the ESET website, but the program ran fine during tests on these systems.

Tip: use a secondary browser for Java, Flash and other plugins

While most browser makers plan to drop support for Java, Flash and other plugins such as Silverlight or Quicktime, or have stopped supporting these technologies already, there are still a lot of sites and services out there that can only be accessed if certain plugins are installed in the browser.

If you take Google Chrome for instance you will quickly notice that it supports Flash thanks to a native integration of the technology but no other plugin. This means that Chrome users cannot access content on the Internet that require Silverlight, Java or other plugins.

Microsoft to patch Windows 10 photo importing

Microsoft will release an update for Windows 10 on the next Patch Tuesday (May 10th, 2016) that fixes a photo import issue in the system's official Photos application.

The bug prevents some memory card readers from working properly when the Photos application is being used (which it is by default).

Particularly, SATA-attached readers, which you find used by multi-slot readers and on many laptops, don't work from within the Photos application while USB connected readers, USB Card readers or direct USB connections, work fine.

Fix Thunderbird 45 Enter-key creating two lines

If you have updated the desktop email client Thunderbird to version 45 which the team released recently, you may have noticed several changes that may affect how you are using the application.

One of those changes affects the compose window, and there specifically what happens when you tap on the Enter-key to create a new line.

Previous versions of Thunderbird would jump to the next line automatically when you used the Enter-key in the compose window, but the new version does not anymore.

Don’t like YouTube’s new format? Do This!

Google published updates for the official YouTube Android and iOS application yesterday which introduce a new mobile design in both apps.

The new "clean and simple" format has been designed to "discover and enjoy" according to Google. It is powered by "deep neural network technology" which Google promises will "make it easier to discover videos you'll be excited to watch".

If you check out the new application, you will notice immediately that things have changed a lot.