When it comes to cloud storage, there are a lot of options to pick from. One of the most well-known and popular is Google Drive, and that’s because it’s included for free whenever you sign up for a Gmail account. But over the past couple of years, some enticing new contenders have entered the ring.

One of the most promising is Proton Drive, a privacy-first cloud storage option that uses complete end-to-end encryption while putting full control of who can access your data directly in your hands. It’s a nice change of pace, but can it really stand up to the titan that is Google’s cloud storage service, and is it a good alternative if you're trying to quit Google for good? Here’s how the two compare.

Credit: Proton AG

Storage space and pricing

One of the most enticing things about Google Drive is the free 15GB of storage space it gives you just for signing up. That’s a good chunk of space for backing up photos, emails, and other things—though keep in mind that attachments and other data tied to your email account do count toward your storage.

Proton Drive also offers a completely free option, though it tops off at 5GB, a notable difference from what Google offers. It’s easy to write Proton off because of that missing 10GB, but the competitor does have strengths elsewhere.

Both services also offer more “premium” storage options via monthly subscriptions. Google’s cheapest monthly plan, which is called Google One, is $1.99 a month and gets you 100GB of data, while Proton Drive’s cheapest option is $4.99 a month for 200GB. That’s another pretty big difference between what you’re paying and what you’re getting, so Google does still pull ahead on pure economy.

There are, of course, more expensive options. Google offers plans up to 20TB for $99 a month, while Proton tops out at 3TB for $29.99 a month. If you want more than that, you’ll need to look into the business plans for each service.

With storage and pricing in mind, Google does tend to offer a bit more bang for your buck. But note that Proton’s 3TB plan is technically the family version of Proton Unlimited, which means you can invite multiple people to take advantage of that data, plus you'll get the rest of Proton's services thrown in.

Sharing and features

Cloud storage is great for keeping track of all your personal documents, photos, videos, and so on. But it’s also a great way to share those items with your friends and family. Both Proton Drive and Google Drive make it easy to share those items with the people who matter.

In Google Drive, sharing options let you share either to individual Google accounts or to a list of accounts. You can also select whether people can edit or just view the shared content, and even share through a URL.

Proton also offers these same features, but layers on various extras. For instance, the service allows users to create “timed sharing links” that expire after a set amount of time, allowing you to give people temporary file access. You can even set up password-protected files, something Google Drive still does not do.

Both Google Drive and Proton Drive offer the option to audit your files to see who has downloaded them. This can help you keep track of where your files are going and who has been given access—helpful you’ve shared a publicly accessible link. Both services also offer apps on all the major operating systems, including Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. That means you can easily keep up with your files no matter what system you're using.

Overall, both services offer similar functionality for sharing files with others, and they both support the same types of files as well. The addition of timed sharing links does make Proton Drive a bit more appealing for those who want granular sharing control, but both services allow you to lock content at any time, restricting anyone from accessing it even if it was shared with them previously.

Credit: Proton AG

Privacy

This is the real difference between Google Drive and Proton Drive. Ultimately, it’s hard to beat Google Drive because of just how convenient it is. It’s tied to your Google account, you get 15GB for free, and most of the Google One plans are fairly affordable.

Proton Drive, on the other hand, is a bit more expensive and a bit stingier with the amount of storage space you get. However, Proton Drive takes your privacy a lot more seriously than Google does.

That isn’t to say that Google Drive isn’t secure. Google says that it uses end-to-end encryption to protect your files whenever they are in transit and at rest. However, it stores the keys needed to decrypt those files within its own servers, giving it access to your data should the tech giant ever need it.

Proton Drive, on the other hand, does not keep any access to your data. It is completely encrypted, giving only you and the people that you select access to the data. This provides a higher level of security and means that you can rest easy, knowing that nobody is going to be able to get access to your data through illegitimate means. Proton is also based out of Switzerland, which has some of the best security laws in the world at time of writing.

At the end of the day, Google Drive is perfectly fine for casually storing your documents, photos, and videos. But it doesn’t offer nearly the same level of privacy that Proton Drive does. Its extra premium is the price you pay for the peace of mind that comes with using Proton’s services. So, if you’re choosing between the two, it ultimately comes down to what you find more important—privacy or cost.

The answer, for me, is pretty clear. Privacy is king in this day and age, and Proton makes it easier to protect my personal information without having to jump through a lot of extra hoops. But for you, the answer might not be so easy to decide on, especially since some of Proton's features are still rolling out to its various apps. At any rate, because both services have free options, there's nothing stopping you from making use of one for some file and the other for the rest.

CISA urges federal agencies to apply mitigations for an exploited Progress Telerik vulnerability as soon as possible.

The post CISA Warns of Progress Telerik Vulnerability Exploitation appeared first on SecurityWeek.

Understanding the New Click Fraud Software for Google Ads

How It Operates and Pricing

Photoshop is the program that's become synonymous with photo editing—so much so that people use its name as a verb—but given the recent furor over the terms and conditions attached to Adobe's products, and how content you save to the cloud can be used to train AI, you might be looking for something else.

Adobe is now scrambling to clarify its approach to content ownership and AI training data, but even if you're happy with the company's policies, Photoshop is still going to cost you at least $9.99 a month. In an era when we're all already signed up to a ton of digital subscriptions, that's something else you might think twice about.

Here, then, are some of the best Photoshop alternatives to consider. These are all either free or less expensive than Adobe's flagship photo editor.

GIMP

GIMP comes packed with features. Credit: Lifehacker

GIMP—that's the GNU Image Manipulation Program—has been around since 1995, and you'll often find it at the top of Photoshop alternative lists. It's completely free and open source, and has an extensive array of features and plug-ins to play around with. If you can do something in Photoshop, you can often do it in GIMP as well, and typically in a similar way.

The program layout is Photoshop-esque too, from the colors to the floating panels, and that makes it a little easier for users of Adobe's package to switch. With support for layers and layer masks, advanced tools such as fuzzy select and gradient fill, it's a comprehensive image editor that has a busy community of loyal developers and users supporting it.

• GIMP, free on Windows and macOS

Photopea

Photopea works right inside a browser tab. Credit: Lifehacker

In recent years, web apps have developed to become almost as capable as their desktop counterparts, and in the image editing category Photopea is one of the best around. As well as a bunch of tools covering brushes, shapes, text, retouching and more, there's support for layers and layer masks, as well as a wealth of Photoshop-style filters.

Photopea has clearly used Photoshop as its inspiration in everything from the layout of the web app to the menu labels, and so those abandoning Adobe's products should feel at home. There's seamless support for PSD files and cloud storage services, and a $5 per month subscription removes the ads, gives you more undos, and adds AI imagery.

• Photopea, free with ads or $5 a month on the web

Paint.net

Paint.net is a well-established Windows image editor. Credit: Lifehacker

Like GIMP, Paint.net has been going for a long time, first appearing in 2004 as a computer science project. Since then it's been a dependable and capable free image editor for Windows users, with a lot of the features also available in Photoshop—think filters and effects, layer manipulations, and all the core drawing and editing tools you need.

While there is a lot you can do with Paint.net, it also manages to be straightforward to use and accessible to image editing beginners, with all the options you need—from colors to zoom levels to object alignment—popping up in obvious places when you need them. There's a lot you can do in terms of tailoring the interface to suit your own needs, as well.

• Paint.net, free for Windows

Pixlr Editor

Use Pixlr Editor anywhere you've got web access. Credit: Lifehacker

Another web-based photo editing package, Pixlr Editor runs speedily in a browser tab, bringing with it Photoshop mainstays like layer management, advanced selections, image healing and retouching, and a bunch of filters—from glows and color washes, to shadows and mosaics. The online app is capable of some seriously advanced photo editing tricks.

The interface works really well, letting you undo changes you don't like at any point, and giving you easy access to all the key tools you'll need. Premium subscriptions are available, from $0.99 a month, if you want to remove the adverts and get features like AI image generation. There's also a simpler Pixlr Express web app that may suit you better.

• Pixlr Editor, free or from $0.99 a month on the web

Krita

Krita does digital art as well as photo editing. Credit: Lifehacker

Krita is more in the vein of Adobe Illustrator than Adobe Photoshop, though it includes so many excellent features that we're including it here—and there's plenty in the way of photo editing as well as digital painting. You get a host of selection, painting, and image tweaking tools to play around with, all wrapped up in an elegant and intuitive interface.

What's also impressive is just how fast Krita runs, so you're not slowed down waiting for panels to open or for one tool to switch to another. There's full layer management here for your images, plenty of filters and effects to make use of, and lots of flexibility in terms of how you want the program's elements to be laid out on screen and how the app behaves.

• Krita, free for Windows and macOS

Affinity Photo

Affinity Photo costs a one-off fee. Credit: Affinity Photo

We're going to mention one paid option here, which is Affinity Photo: At the time of writing It's available for $34.99, which crucially is a one-off fee and not a subscription. There's no free trial, unfortunately, but you get an awful lot back for your money, including hundreds of tools and enough features to create just about any kind of digital photo effect you need.

With fully stacked layer support, the ability to create custom brushes (on top of the extensive library of built-in ones), and comprehensive RAW format handling in addition to all the usual features you would expect to find, this is a choice that would suit advanced users and professionals who want to extricate themselves from the Adobe ecosystem.

• Affinity Photo, $34.99 for Windows and macOS

Adobe is having a rough week. On Thursday, I reported that Photoshop users received a pop-up requiring them to agree to new terms that appeared to give Adobe access to their work. In response to the resultant outcry from furious creators, Adobe issued a response, clarifying their new terms of service document was largely the same as previous versions, with a few clarifying factors added to the update.

This only added fuel to the fire. Adobe wasn't out of the blue demanding access to creators' work; rather, they seemed to be saying, they already had that access. Adobe's press release attempted to assuage concerns, saying that the company would only access cloud-based user data for three specific purposes: Features that required access to content (like generating thumbnails); cloud-based features, like Photoshop Neural Filters; and to look for illegal or otherwise abusive content.

The company claimed it would not access any data stored locally, and would not train any Firefly Gen AI models on user content. However, a deep dive into the terms of service reveals that Adobe takes cloud-based user content, aggregates it with other user content, and uses that to train its "algorithms."

It all turned into a big mess (and a hit to Adobe's stock price), which is likely why the company issued a second statement on Monday, while everyone was distracted by Apple's WWDC announcements. Adobe says it is working on a new terms of service, including clearer language, that it will roll out to users by June 18. Importantly, the statement offers the following clarifications:

• Adobe does not claim ownership of your content, and does not use your content to train generative AI.

• You can opt-out of the "product improvement program," which scrapes "usage data and content characteristics" for features like masking and background removal.

• Adobe will explain the licenses they require you to agree to when using their products in "plain English."

• Adobe does not scan content stored specifically on your machine "in any way." However, they scan everything uploaded to their servers to make sure they aren't storing child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

None of this is really news if you've been following along. Adobe really wants you to know it doesn't access the content stored locally on your computer, nor do they train their generative AI models using your content. However, they will train other AI models with your data—just not AI models responsible for creating anything. Great.

It's good you can opt-out of that AI training if you wish, but it doesn't change the fact that Adobe has demanded quite a lot of access to your cloud-based content. I'm repeating the same advice I gave in my last piece on this issue: If you need to use Adobe products and you don't want the company accessing your work in any way, keep all your data local. That means storing all your Photoshop data on your computer or an external hard drive, rather than in the cloud. It's less convenient, but much more private.

You can get a lifetime subscription to AdGuard on sale for $16.97 (reg. $59) right now until June 17. The family plan covers nine devices and works on iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows. You can block out most, if not all, ad types, including banners, pop-ups, and video ads. If you notice any missed ads, you can block them manually, and you have the option to create custom filters that are helpful for parents to restrict access to certain websites. AdGuard also helps users avoid phishing websites and malware attacks, and you can see a list of websites trying to track you.

You can get a lifetime subscription to AdGuard’s family plan on sale for $16.97 (reg. $59.99) until June 17 at 11:59 p.m. PT, though prices can change at any time.

Update: Adobe responded for a second time on Monday, rolling out a blog post clarifying its terms of service (again). While the company wants to make it clear it doesn't claim ownership of your data, doesn't scan content saved onto your computer, and doesn't train its generative AI models on your work, the situation remains the same: Adobe has a lot of access to your data, and does train some AI models with it—unless you opt out.

Yesterday, I wrote about the controversy surrounding Adobe and its updated terms of service. Creators were irate after receiving a pop-up forcing them to agree to the new terms: If not, they could not access Photoshop, nor could they delete the app from their machines.

It wasn't only the fact that the terms were mandatory that alarmed so many users, however. The new language seemed to suggest that Adobe was claiming the right to access creators' work for a myriad of reasons: That rubbed many the wrong way, as many professionals have NDAs in place for their work with Adobe apps. Of course, legal situations notwithstanding, many also rejected the idea that Adobe could access work produced by these creators, simply because Adobe made the apps they were using in the first place.

Adobe remained silent on the issue, until publishing this blog post. In it, the company explains that its changes to its "Terms of Use" were actually small adjustments, and were meant to bring clarity to the company's moderation policies. The company posted a snippet of the terms to the blog post, with new additions highlighted in pink (including any items that were deleted from the previous terms):

Credit: Adobe

According to Adobe, what's new here is the company says it "may" (rather than "will only") access your content through automated and manual methods, and that it reviews content to screen for illegal content, including child sexual abuse material. If an automated system thinks something is illegal, then it flags the item for human review. The rest of the terms are apparently the same as they've always been, and the pop-up that appeared was a routine re-acceptance campaign for users to agree to the small changes.

Since that "access" was at the crux of the controversy, Adobe went into more detail in the blog post about why it needs it. The company says it needs access to user content for three specific reasons: to run standard functions in apps (like opening files or creating thumbnails); for cloud-based features, like Photoshop Neural Filters and Remove Background; and, as mentioned in the terms above, to screen for illegal activity or other abusive content.

Further, the company says it does not train Firefly Gen AI models on your content, nor will Adobe ever "assume ownership" over your work. If you're wondering why the company specifically says Firefly Gen AI models, and not a more general statement on training AI in general, that's because the company does use the content you store in the cloud, including images, audio, video, text, or documents, to train its AI. Any data you upload to Adobe's servers is fair game for this process, and is aggregated with everyone else's data in order to train Adobe AI to "improve [Adobe's] products and services."

This is not explicitly laid out in the blog post, but Adobe's support article says you can opt-out of this training by heading to the privacy settings of your account, then deactivating the toggle for Allow my content to be analyzed by Adobe for product improvement and development purposes under Content analysis.

What's the bottom line?

Adobe is likely not constantly scraping your work looking for insider secrets on your projects, and it flat-out says it won't claim ownership of your projects. However, the company can access anything you upload to Adobe servers: This access lets Adobe scan for illegal content, but also lets the company scrape your work to train its AI models.

While opting out of AI training is wise, the best way to continue using Adobe apps without worrying about Adobe's access is by keeping all projects local on your machine. If you don't use Adobe's cloud-based services, the company can only access your work for app-related tasks, like generating thumbnails—if the terms are to be believed.

These rules have also largely been in place for an undisclosed amount of time: The pop-up you may have seen this week was for you to agree to the small tweaks Adobe made to the terms, not to agree to sweeping changes. You already agreed to those policies—you just didn't know it. My recommendation? Limit your cloud-based work with Adobe going forward, unless you absolutely need to for work. The more of your content you can keep on your machine, the better.

You can get Microsoft Office Pro 2021 for Windows on sale for $59.99 right now (reg. $219.99). Office 2021 includes Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, OneNote, Publisher, and Access for one computer, which are the latest versions of the single-payment software suite before Microsoft introduced the cloud-based 365 subscription. It's a one-time download, but security and basic software updates are included. Unlike Microsoft 365, you only have to pay once with no monthly or yearly subscription needed. PCs need Windows 10 or 11, 1GB of RAM, and 4GB of hard disk space.

Get Microsoft Office Pro 2021 for Windows on sale for $59.99 right now, though prices can change at any time.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Using a Microsoft account with Windows 11 is the best way to access all of its features, including Microsoft Copilot, OneDrive, and more. But some people just don’t want to use a Microsoft account and have all of their data connected to the cloud, and that’s fine. If you’re one of those people, or if you just plan to give the PC you’re setting up to a friend, you can follow these steps to use a local account instead.

How to set up a local account on Windows 11

One of the best and easiest ways to set up Windows 11 without a Microsoft account used to be by putting in a fake email address. When you did that, Microsoft would kick you to a screen to create a local account. While the company seems to have patched that trick in its most recent updates, there are still a few other ways to break through the Microsoft account requirement.

Unfortunately, most of the other options for setting up a local account require jumping through a lot of hoops, like using Rufus to set up an entirely new Windows ISO and then configuring it to work the way you want it to. While a longer workaround, this method is handy because you can customize other things, like whether Windows 11 checks for the various requirements Microsoft has set for it.

Use Rufus

To start, you'll want to download a Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft's website. You'll also need to install Rufus, a free third-party tool for creating bootable USB drives, and you'll need a USB drive with at least 8GB of free space. Make sure to back up any data on it beforehand as it will be erased in process.

Once everything is downloaded, connect the USB drive, then open Rufus. Select the USB drive in the control panel, then select the Windows 11 ISO you downloaded, and click Start. You should see a pop-up asking if you want to customize your Windows installation. Select Yes, then check these options:

• Remove requirement for 4GB+ RAM, Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 (only needed if you're installing on an unsupported PC)

• Remove requirement for an online Microsoft account

• Create a local account with username

• Disable data collection (Skip privacy questions)

Let Rufus do its thing, then move the USB drive to the computer that you need to set up. Turn on the power once the USB drive is plugged in, then press F11 or DEL to bring up the boot menu. Select Boot from Drive, then follow the instructions that appear on-screen, which should allow you to install Windows 11 without any of the Microsoft account requirements. If you want more in-depth instructions on how to go through this process, you can check out our guide on how to upgrade an unsupported PC to Windows 11.

Trick Windows into letting you set up a local account

If you already have Windows installed, though, then using Rufus is going to be a bit of a pain. There is another method you can try, but it can be hit or miss. During your Windows 11's device setup, you'll need to press Shift + F10, then enter the command OOBE/BYPASSNRO and press Enter. This should force the system to reboot, and, once it does, you should see an I don't have internet option when you get to the network selection point of Windows setup. From here, Windows should allow you to create a local account, since you need internet to connect a Microsoft account here. Keep in mind this method has always been finicky, and Microsoft could patch it out at any point. They may even force you to turn your local account into an online account from Settings > “Your profile name” > Your Info > Sign in with an online account.

If all else fails, there are other ways to customize how you install Windows 11, like creating a fully customized Windows 11 install using Tiny11Builder. This option will not only let you install Windows 11 without a Microsoft account, but strips away all other bloatware and junk as well. It's a lot more in-depth, though, and should only be undertaken by folks who are confident navigating the multitude of steps required to pull it off.

Disconnect your Microsoft account from the cloud

If you already have Windows 11 installed with a Microsoft account, you're not out of luck. In fact, you can change it to a local account and disconnect your Microsoft account from the cloud. That way, you'll be able to access Microsoft account info you had saved previously, but your PC itself won't be locked to that account. Head to Settings > Account > Your Info > Sign in with a local account instead, enter a password for the new account, then confirm.

For more information about this method, check out our guide here.

What features do I miss out on when I use a local account?

One of the key reasons that Microsoft tries to get you to sign up for an online account is because of all the various features it offers. Now, I’m not going to go on a tirade about how these features tie into privacy standards, because like any online account, these features are intended to collect some data for you to help Microsoft in some way—whether that’s ads, training up Copilot, or just improving the features overall.

That being said, here’s a list of some key Windows 11 features you’ll miss out on if you don’t sign up for an online account:

• Copilot access

• OneDrive syncing

• The Microsoft Store

• Restoring Windows from backups saved to OneDrive

• Personalization syncing

Whether these features matter to you or not is personal, of course. But, if you want to get the most out of Windows 11 and all the things Microsoft is adding to it, you’ll probably want to sign up for an online account instead.

Malicious Pirated Copies of Microsoft Office and Other Programs

• OrcusRAT: A remote access trojan with extensive capabilities like keylogging, webcam access, and remote screen control.
• XMRig Cryptominer: Configured to stop mining when resource-intensive apps are running to avoid detection. Also kills competing miners and security products.
• 3Proxy: Injects itself into legitimate processes to open a backdoor proxy server.
• PureCrypter: Fetches and runs additional malicious payloads from attacker-controlled servers.
• AntiAV: Disrupts security products by repeatedly modifying their configuration files.

Continuous Reinfection and Distribution

You can get Windows 11 Pro on sale for $24.97 right now (reg. $199) through June 10. It upgrades two compatible PCs and unlocks the new user design and Windows Copilot. The new assistant uses an advanced version of GPT-4, and this Pro version of Windows also has features not found on the free Home version, like remote desktop, BitLocker device encryption, Azure AD, Hyper-V, assigned access, and Windows Sandbox. System requirements include a minimum 4GB of RAM and 64GB of available storage.

You can get Windows 11 Pro on sale for $24.97 right now (reg. $199) through June 10 at 11:59 p.m. PT, though prices can change at any time.

Google Calendar falls into that category of apps that you probably just load up and use without too much thought. It's designed to be clean, lightweight, and functional by default, and that's perfect when you need to quickly check up on your schedule.

However, you've got more options for changing the look of Google Calendar on the web than you might have realized. Dig a little deeper into the settings, and you'll find you're able to tweak what's on screen in a variety of ways, from the number of days you can see at once, to how recurring and past events are handled in the interface.

If Google Calendar is a key tool you rely on, it makes sense to get it set up in the way that will be most useful to you—providing less clutter, quicker access to the info you need, and less time wasted clicking through to additional screens. Here are all the different settings worth adjsuting.

Custom views

Whatever view you're currently using for Google Calendar on the web, you can change it by clicking on the drop-down menu in the top right corner, to the right of the gear button. It'll be labeled with the name of the current view, like Month or Week. The same drop-down menu features some basic view options, such as whether or not declined events and weekends are shown on screen.

To really take control over what you can see, you can create a custom view. Click the gear button (top right), then Settings and View options. In the Set custom view drop-down menu, you'll see you can choose everything from 2 days to 4 weeks as the time period displayed when you load up Google Calendar in your web browser.

Get Google Calendar to show a specific number of days on screen. Credit: Lifehacker

The setting is saved automatically, and will appear as the last option in the drop-down menu on the main Google Calendar screen (with the Month and Week options in it). Unfortunately, the same custom view option doesn't sync to the mobile Google Calendar apps—you have to make do with the default ones

Back on the View options page, there's another drop-down menu that lets you control what day the week should start on—Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. This changes the layout of any view where you're looking at more than seven days together at once. Last but not least, there's a keyboard shortcut you can make use of in the Google Calendar web app to quickly jump to your custom view: Just tap the X key.

Other view options

Click the gear icon (top right), choose Settings and View options, and you'll see there are several other ways to configure the look of Google Calendar, besides creating your own custom view. Use Reduce the brightness of past events to have older calendar entries look more faded on screen, for example—a handy way of helping you see where you're up to in your current schedule.

There are check boxes for showing or hiding weekends, showing or hiding events you've declined invitations to, and showing or hiding completed tasks. Getting some of these details off screen can reduce the clutter in Google Calendar, making your timetable easier on the eye. Number labels for the weeks can be shown or hidden too.

You can change the density of the layout and the color choices too. Credit: Lifehacker

Open up the Time zone tab on the Settings page, and you're able to get a secondary time zone displayed on the day and week views—this makes it easier to see how events are scheduled across different parts of the world. You can also enable several time zone clocks in the side panel on the left, via the World clock tab: You can see at a glance what time it is in a city (and what the weather's currently doing, too).

Then you've got the settings you can edit on the actual Google Calendar view itself. Click the three horizontal lines (top left) to show or hide the left-hand side panel, and in that panel use the check boxes to show and hide individual calendars—a quick way of focusing on what you really need to see. You can also click the gear icon (top right) then Density and color to tweak the text size and label colors used.

Getting the Windows experience on a Mac computer has become more difficult with the arrival of Apple's own chipsets: The Boot Camp Assistant developed by Apple that allowed dual-booting doesn't work at all with Apple silicon computers, while emulators like Parallels aren't quite as straightforward to use on these newer systems either.

With that in mind, if you do need to get a Windows program running on macOS, it's easier to just focus on that one app—rather than emulating the entire operating system. There are a couple of user-friendly tools for macOS that can help here, so you can bring over your favorite Windows apps to your Mac without too much trouble.

Wineskin

Wineskin is the free option here, and it uses the Homebrew package manager. You need to open up Terminal on macOS, type the following command, then hit Enter:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Once the Homebrew installation process completes, you'll see instructions to run the following commands to complete the setup, with your account name listed where is (hit Enter after each one):

(echo; echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"') >> /Users//.zprofile

eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"

With Homebrew set up successfully, you're ready to install Wineskin. At the Terminal prompt, enter the following text and press Enter:

brew install --cask --no-quarantine gcenx/wine/unofficial-wineskin

When you see the message telling you that Wineskin has been installed, you can close down the Terminal and open Wineskin from the Applications folder in Finder, or by looking for it in Spotlight.

Setting up Wineskin on macOS. Credit: Lifehacker

First up, you need to install an engine by clicking on the + (plus) icon—it's fine to select the default one that pops up, but sometimes different Windows apps need different engines, so you may need to swap if you're experiencing problems. Then, click Update Wrapper to get the latest master wrapper, which packages your app of choice in a way that means it can run on macOS.

With that done, click Create New Blank Wrapper. At this point you need to give your new wrapper a name to identify it and the program it's running. Your wrapper will be set up in Finder, in the Wineskin folder in your user applications list (you'll be asked if you want to jump straight to it when the initial setup process has been completed).

You'll need to point Wineskin to a Windows executable. Credit: Lifehacker

Launch this wrapper, and you're then ready to choose the Windows executable you want to run. Try Install Software first, as this is the easiest option: You can point Wineskin to a setup file, or a folder of files (for portable apps). Wineskin should handle the process of getting everything configured, and you can then run the wrapper whenever you like to use the Windows application.

If this doesn't work for the program you're using, click Advanced on the main Wineskin dialog to access more options—you can point the tool towards specific executables, change how Windows keys are remapped to macOS keys, and customize various other aspects of the way Wineskin tries to run this particular program.

CrossOver

CrossOver offers a library of Windows software to install. Credit: Lifehacker

CrossOver is the paid option: It'll set you back $74, but there is a free 14-day trial available so you can see if it's worth your while before parting with any cash. It's a little more user-friendly than Wineskin and gives you more help along the way, so some people will find it the better choice even with the cost attached.

Get the software installed and set up, then simply search for the Windows program you want to run—like Steam, for example, if you want to do some gaming. You'll see each app title is accompanied by a star rating that tells you how well the program works through CrossOver on macOS (which can save you some money buying apps and games that aren't going to work great).

Setting up a Windows app on macOS with CrossOver. Credit: Lifehacker

When you've got the program you want, click Install, and everything is handled for you. CrossOver gets the Windows application set up, and within a few minutes you should be enjoying your Windows software on macOS. CrossOver keeps a list of your installed programs as "bottles" in its main interface, and you can select them from there to run them and configure various aspects of how they're deployed on macOS.

If the program you want to run isn't listed in the Install screen in CrossOver, click the Install an unlisted application option on the right. The process here is a little bit more involved, but not overly so—you'll need to give CrossOver more details about the application that you're trying to install, and where the setup executable is.

Possible Defense Against Ongoing Remote Monitoring Campaign

• Organizations not using SuperOps RMM should verify the absence of network activity associated with the domain names: [.]superops[.]com, [.]superops[.]ai.
• Improve employee cyber hygiene.
• Use and constantly update anti-virus software.
• Regularly update operating systems and software.
• Use strong passwords and change them regularly.
• Back up important data.

Ukrainian Financial Institutions Also on Smokeloader’s Radar

“Manually check for file 'fffmeg.exe': If the malicious file is found or detected, we recommend a full re-image of the PC and a reset of any credentials used by the user on that computer.”

“Simply uninstalling the software is insufficient, as attackers may have implanted additional backdoors or malware. Re-imaging provides a clean slate,” Rapid7 advised.

Source: www.bleepingcomputer.com – Author: Mayank Parmar A massive Microsoft outage affects Bing.com, Copilot for web and mobile, Copilot in Windows, ChatGPT internet search and DuckDuckGo. Microsoft outage started at approximately 3 AM EDT and seems to have primarily affected users in Asia and Europe. According to user reports and our tests, if you try to open Bing.com, […]

La entrada Microsoft outage affects Bing, Copilot, DuckDuckGo and ChatGPT internet search – Source: www.bleepingcomputer.com se publicó primero en CISO2CISO.COM & CYBER SECURITY GROUP.