Skip to main content

What's New

 

 

TekBits Technology News

WikiWand is a modernized Wikipedia frontend

Wikipedia is a great service to look up things you are interested in or want a deeper understanding of. While it may not be 100% accurate on everything, it does offer a solid starting point for research or getting an overview on many topics.

Wikipedia stays true to the encyclopedic nature of the site by throwing pages of texts and lots of links at you when you open an article. While you find an occasional picture as well thrown in, it is usually just text and links that it makes available.

Mozilla to integrate tracking protection in future Firefox versions

Tracking is an integral part of advertisement on the Internet. While there are websites that display ads without tracking users to gather information, most forms of advertisement rely on profiles and tracking.

The reason is simple: the more you know about a user the more targeted ads you can display.

Do Not Track (DNT), a method to inform sites that a user does not want to be tracked, may have been a step in the right direction but since it is completely up to the company to honor it, it is not very practicable for users.

10 Programs that Microsoft should integrate into Windows 9

Microsoft has not revealed a lot about its upcoming operating system Windows 9 but from the tidbits the company has released and rumors it appears as if it will be closer to Windows 7 than it is to Windows 8 interface-wise on the desktop.

Since this is somewhat of a restart, Microsoft could use it to integrate programs into Windows 9 that improve the operating system considerable for desktop users.

The best free Desktop Search Programs for Windows

When you need to open a specific file, program or service on Windows you have multiple options to do so. You can use the taskbar or start menu for that, browse a hard drive using a file explorer, or search to find the item of interest.

Windows Search has been integrated into the operating system for a long time and while it does a good job at finding popular services and programs, it is not the best nor the fastest when it comes to anything else.

Desktop search tools offer faster searches, better options and filters, and a better user experience as a consequence.

Control all Firefox add-ons, plugins and themes with Extensor

One of the first things that I do to harden a browser like Firefox is to check for plugins and disable those that are not required at all. The others, I set to click to play to make sure nothing gets loaded without the user knowing about it.

If you disable a plugin on the other hand, you may run into issues when it is required on a website. Say, you disable Silverlight because you don't require it but start using Amazon Prime or any other streaming service that requires it.

Microsoft Security Bulletins For August 2014

Welcome to the Microsoft Security Bulletin overview for August 2014. It offers information about all security and non-security patches released by Microsoft since the last release.

A total of nine bulletins have been released this month which patch security issues in Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Server Software, the .NET Framework and Microsoft Office.

Two bulletins have received the highest severity rating of critical while the remaining seven bulletins a rating of important.

How to test quick changes to web pages before making them

Most developers use a local development environment that replicates the live website. They use it to test any change made to the website before it is pushed to the live server.

This can be an update, for instance a new version of WordPress, the installation of a new script or feature, or a change to a site's layout or design.

It makes sense to test these things locally first as site visitors may otherwise be exposed to them, bad if a change has not the desired result or renders functionality useless on the site.

Modify the Windows taskbar to show icons for each program instance individually

Microsoft changed the way the taskbar works in Windows 7. Among the many changes were options to pin programs and files to the taskbar to improve their accessibility on the system.

Part of the change was a switch from displaying icons and names to only icons by default. This in combination with the fact that icons were stacked on top of each other, say two icons for two explorer windows open on the system, freed up a lot of space on the taskbar.

Adapter is a powerful video, audio and image converter

Adapter is a free converter for Windows and Mac that offers an impressive set of features.

There are lots of methods and options to convert media into different formats. From the excellent Freemake Video Converter to dozens of other programs and various online solutions.

If you are new to the club, you need to distinguish your program from others to make a good first impression. Adapter does that and more.

Save time and money with Atlas Web Browser for Android

While you cannot say that all browsers on Android are the same, many are only marginally different when compared with each other.

Atlas Web Browser for Android is different in several regards though and while I would not go as far as to call it a next gen browser, it certainly introduces several features that will make it attractive to a large audience.

Didn't find what you're looking for? Try. . .