setting

Users have reported Microsoft Edge opening up and displaying tabs they'd just had open in Chrome. The most generous reading is that a "helpful" feature is triggering by mistake. Users have been extremely confused to start up their computer and not ... only find Edge open unexpectedly, but that it had replicated the sites they'd been using on Chrome. The Verge's Tom Warren noted he didn't even realize it was Edge running at first until he investigated why he was logged out on several of the open sites. The mystery isn't how this is happening but rather why it is happening. Edge has several ... (view more)

Google is to pay $93 million following claims it misled people about location tracking . The company allegedly deceived users about their ability to opt out of tracking. The payment will settle a case brought by California's Attorney General. The ... terms of the settlement do not require Google to make any admission of wrongdoing or illegal activity. The case was based on two main allegations. The first is about the way Google "collected, stored and user a person's location data." The claim is that Google continued doing this for people who has turned off a setting labeled "Location History." It ... (view more)

Microsoft is changing a default setting in Windows 10 that means it's now OK to remove a USB device without properly "ejecting" it from the operating system. It's an acknowledgement that many users simply don't use the "eject" feature. The fact is, ... using the "Safely remove hardware and eject media" on the Windows task bar (near the clock) is the correct way to eject USB media. This method is necessary because of read and write buffers to the device are constantly active. If the buffers are not flushed before the device is properly ejected, it could mean ... (view more)

Users frustrated with Windows 10's complicated privacy settings have an alternative option. A third-party tool called ' ShutUp10 ' offers a one-stop dashboard to control exactly what data is shared. The free tool can be downloaded directly from the ... developers O&O Software . It's a standalone application meaning you can run it without having to install it first, in turn meaning there's none of the bundled 'crapware' that comes with some free applications. Once opened, the tool lists just over 100 settings in 13 categories: Privacy App Privacy Security Web ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Steve J. writes: " Dear Dennis, Thanks so much for your website and all the wonderful tips you have provided us over the years. I recently upgraded my main PC to Windows 10 and with your advice I installed Classic Shell to replace ... the horrid Start menu that comes default with Windows 10. I proceeded to click the Start button after the installation finished, but for some reason my Classic Shell Start menu is blank and it's been like this for a few weeks now. I installed Classic Shell on my laptop as well and it has all its icons. What gives? " My response: Whenever I work on ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Mike T. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just installed Windows 10 over this past weekend, but my LCD monitor's display seems to be shifted to the right, and the fonts are fuzzy. The left side of the screen has a small black border around ... it. In fact, the clock appears to be missing the 'AM' or 'PM', and the date shows only the month and day, but not the year. Any ideas what is going on? Should I upgrade my video driver or do I need to whack my monitor? Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me, and many, many thanks for all you have taught me over ... (view more)

A Chinese company has developed a wireless router with a setting that supposedly protects pregnant women. Rivals have accused Qihoo 360 of using bogus science to try to scare customers into purchasing the device. The router has three settings with ... names that translate as "wall penetration", "balance", and "pregnant women." The difference between the 3 settings has to do with the signal strength, with the "wall penetration" setting having the highest, and the "pregnant women" setting having the lowest. According to the Qihoo, the signal ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Bob C. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just read your CryptoPrevent Review in regard to the CryptoLocker virus. Good job! You are so right with your comment 'If you do become infected [with CryptoLocker], the only 100% fail safe way to ... undo the damage is to restore your files from a backup -- but only if you backed up your files in the first place.' I have a question regarding my USB hard drive which I use for backups. Can you recommend a program that will allow me to disable and enable USB ports that my USB hard drive is plugged into, but still allow my USB keyboard, mouse and ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Michael C. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have a USB drive attached to my router. This drive is shared by several computers through the router on my home private network. My question is: if one of my computers became infected by a file ... locking virus such as CryptoLocker , would the network drive or the connected computers become infected or encrypted? If so, is there a way to prevent this? " My Response: It is possible for a virus to self replicate and infect other computers on the network, but that depends on the type of virus. At the time of writing, CryptoLocker is not a self ... (view more)