For some odd reason after certain Windows Updates, I will find a Homegroup or Network icon on my desktop after rebooting. Normally to remove unwanted icons, one would simply drag it to the recycle bin or right-click and delete. Doesn’t work for this pesky icon. Removing it is quite simple though: Go to your Windows Desktop (Windows Key + D) Right-click on your desktop and select Personalize On the Personalization screen left side click Change Desktop Icons You may notice Network (even though the Homegroup or Network icon is on your desktop) is not checked, put a check in the box and click…
August 2015
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On August 6, 2015 Mozilla released an emergency security update for Firefox 38 ESR and Firefox 39 with the Firefox 38.1.1 ESR and Firefox 39.0.3 releases. These releases were a result of MFSA 2015-78: Same origin violation and local file stealing via PDF reader. From The Mozilla Security Blog: The vulnerability comes from the interaction of the mechanism that enforces JavaScript context separation (the “same origin policy”) and Firefox’s PDF Viewer. Mozilla products that don’t contain the PDF Viewer, such as Firefox for Android, are not vulnerable. The vulnerability does not enable the execution of arbitrary code but the exploit was able…
So a couple things missing from Windows 10 were Solitare and native DVD Player. Solitaire is now in the Windows Store, and is free but video ad-supported. Don’t want the annoying 30-second video ads before each game? Then give Microsoft MSFT 425,43 +5,25 +1,25% $1.49 a month (or get a year’s “subscription” for $9.99) and you can have an ad free game and some other ‘upgrades’. The scary thing is, I could see Microsoft making a lot of money off of this. The missing native DVD Player (I still don’t understand this one) can be replaced with the (may be free)…
Mozilla has allowed extension signing not to be enforced on the Nightly and Developer Edition (Aurora) builds for add-on developers. However, it is enabled by default though when you install or update to these builds. To turn off the extension signing follow these steps: In a new tab type: about:config in Firefox’s address bar and hit enter. Confirm you will be careful if a warning message is displayed. Search for xpinstall.signatures.required. Double-click on the preference name so that its value is set to false. Restart the browser to reactivate any disabled extensions The release version of Firefox 41 (September 2015) will still…
I had talked about OAuth2 briefly a couple weeks ago, but hadn’t really tried it since my Gmail accounts were already setup in Thunderbird. A few days ago I created another Gmail account to handle everything associated with my Firefox Blog as well as Bugzilla emails. I had been using an @ffextensionguru.com address I had setup up through my hosting provider. The problem is this provider only does POP for free. If I want IMAP support then I needed to upgrade to a business email (5 Boxes with Unlimited Space) for about $96 / year. Since I monitor this email address on…
As I mentioned before, the installation added $Windows.~BT & $Windows.~WS folders plus a windows.old folder. Some of this is the installation media, some of it is a backup of your Windows 7/8.1 data. If you are certain everything is working fine and your data and apps have transferred over, you can free up some disk space (about 16 GB in my case) by removing these folders. This can be done via the Windows Disk Cleanup Tool which you will need to be logged in as an administrator to access the ‘Remove System Files’ feature. SuperSite for Windows provides detailed step-by-step directions on…
What do the upcoming Firefox 41 (Windows 64-Bit) and Chrome 45 have in common? Neither will support Microsoft Silverlight. However, Netflix will continue to work on Chrome 45, because Netflix on Chrome use HTML5, not Silverlight. The same can not be said for Firefox though, where Netflix still uses Silverlight. Up until Firefox 33 in October 2014, with the introduction of the Open H.264 Video Codec provided by Cisco Systems plugin Firefox did not support HTML5. But, Netflix (being a paid service) uses DRM which was not supported until Firefox 38 in May 2015 when Mozilla added the Primetime Content Decryption Module by Adobe…
Something I have learned over the years, Microsoft is never going to offer you something via email and if it looks fishy it is! So, now there is a ransomware email going around originating Thailand (with the address update@microsoft.com) claiming to be from Microsoft with a Windows 10 installer already attached (how handy!) First red flag should be getting an unsolicited email from Microsoft, much less one WITH an attachment. Windows Insider Program participants will get emails from Microsoft, but those will not have attachments. Next, there is an encoding issue with the email (likely since it originated from Thailand) though overall…
Windows 10 launched on July 29th and has already been downloaded over 14 million times. But why? MicrosoftMSFT -0.36%’s decision to make Windows 10 freeplays a big part (especially given warnings to wait) but it is also just the tip of the iceberg. So let’s weigh up the main differences between Windows 10, Windows 7 and Windows 8. There are a large number of pros but also some significant cons, including a few potential deal breakers. via Forbes > Gordon Kelly
One of the first things I wanted to check out was how Mozilla had worked around Microsoft disabling the default browser API. I downloaded and installed Firefox 40 Beta on the freshly upgraded Windows 10 machine and upon first run I was asked if I wanted to make Firefox my default browser (Chrome was currently default and then I had switched it to Edge later for testing purposes). Firefox detected it was NOT the default browser Once you click the Use Firefox as my default browser button the Windows 10 Settings > System > Default Apps screen opens which is a…