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VMware Giving Away Workstation Pro, Fusion Pro Free For Personal Use
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You Can Get Microsoft Visio 2021 Pro on Sale for $20 Right Now
Microsoft Visio Professional 2021 for Windows is on sale for $19.97 right now (reg. $250) through May 22, its lowest price to date. The diagramming tool simplifies complex data with easy-to-understand visuals, and users can get started with pre-made templates, diagrams, and stencils to create flowcharts, org charts, or floor plans. You can also access templates not available in Visio for the web, auto-generate org charts from sources like Excel or Exchange, link data to live internal or external sources, and use touch-enabled devices to create and annotate. This license is for a lifetime subscription that can be used for one PC, including all the features of Visio Standard, plus additional templates, shapes, and collaboration features, enabling you to build and validate diagrams supporting industry standards like BPMN 2.0, IEEE, and UML 2.5.
You can get Microsoft Visio 2021 Professional for Windows on sale for $19.97 right now (reg. $250), though prices can change at any time.
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- CISO2CISO.COM & CYBER SECURITY GROUP
- QakBot attacks with Windows zero-day (CVE-2024-30051) – Source: securelist.com
QakBot attacks with Windows zero-day (CVE-2024-30051) – Source: securelist.com
Source: securelist.com – Author: Boris Larin, Mert Degirmenci Software Software 14 May 2024 minute read In early April 2024, we decided to take a closer look at the Windows DWM Core Library Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability CVE-2023-36033, which was previously discovered as a zero-day exploited in the wild. While searching for samples related to this […]
La entrada QakBot attacks with Windows zero-day (CVE-2024-30051) – Source: securelist.com se publicó primero en CISO2CISO.COM & CYBER SECURITY GROUP.
10 Easy Ways to Improve (or Replace) Windows 11's Start Menu
Every major Windows update since Windows 8 has come with a redesign of the Start menu, and Windows 11 is no exception. This time, though, Microsoft took a radical approach: The taskbar is centered, the Start menu is devoid of live tiles, and there are only two sections—pinned apps and recommendations.
If you find yourself unhappy with the Start menu's new look and feel, there are changes you can make to improve it—or remove it altogether.
Make the Pinned apps section actually usable
Let’s start by customizing what is now the only major part of the Start menu (RIP Live Tiles). In the Pinned section, you'll see a list of apps that are designated to the Start menu. You can click the “All Apps” button to see a list of all installed applications. But the Pinned section will, by default, only show you a list of mostly Microsoft apps. Once your PC is set up, we recommend unpinning the default apps, and pinning the apps you’re actually going to use.
Right-click any app in the Pinned section and choose the “Unpin from Start” option. Go to the “All Apps” section, right-click any app you want to pin, and choose “Pin to Start.”
Once you have pinned everything you want, drag and drop to rearrange the apps however you’d like.
Remove the bloatware
If you've just bought a new Windows 11 laptop, chances are it came with a bunch of bloatware that's also going to be clogging up your Start menu. Honestly, do you really need to see TikTok in your Start menu every time you try to search for a work app?
Thankfully, Microsoft has made removing this bloatware easy. Go to Pinned section and right-click any app that you want to uninstall. Choose Uninstall from the context menu, and then click Uninstall again from the popup. Repeat this for all unwanted apps. For a more thorough uninstallation process, go to the All Apps section from the Start menu and repeat the same steps there.
Disable the Recommended section
The star of the Start menu, according to Microsoft, is the new Recommended section. This section will show you recent files, new apps, and app suggestions. But it’s not always on point. There’s no way to remove this section entirely, but you can at least make it less prominent.
Go to Settings > Personalization > Start and disable “Show recently opened items in Start, Jump Lists and File Explorer.”
Add quick access folders and shortcuts to the Start menu
In the bottom-right corner of the Start menu, you’ll find the small power button. It’s so lonely out there, though. Give the little guy some company by adding shortcuts and quick access folders to the bottom of the start menu.
Go to Settings > Personalization > Start > Folders. Enable the features or folders that you want to see. (We recommend adding “Settings,” “File Explorer,” “Downloads,” and “Personal Folder.”)
Put the Start menu back on the left
It’s not just the Start menu design that’s new. It’s the placement as well. If you don’t like the Start menu being smack dab in the middle of the screen, there is an option to move it back to the left-hand corner.
Go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar Behaviors. Here, from the “Taskbar alignment” option, switch to “Left.”
Right-click for a menu that's actually useful
There’s a secret Start menu that’s arguably a lot more useful than the default Start menu. Right-click the Start button, and you’ll get a list of options. From here, you can quickly open Settings, Task Manager, Terminal, Desktop, and a lot more.
Create the Start menu of your dreams with Start11
Even after making these changes, you might feel like it’s not enough. If you just can’t make the Windows 11 Start menu work for you, it’s time to go back. Install the Start11 app (it’s free to use for 30 days, then costs $5.99). This app will give you the familiar Windows 10-style start menu back. You get a similar, two-pane interface, customizable menus, a search field at the bottom, and more.
Plus, you can customize this as much as you want. You can even go back to the Windows 8 style, full-screen Start menu, if you want.
Use ExplorerPatcher for a no-nonsense Start menu
ExplorerPatcher is a free, open source utility that restores the taskbar, the Start menu, and the File Explorer from Windows 10. It's a very simple, one-click utility that's also immensely customizable. You can use it to go back to a small and simple Start menu. Click here for more detail on how to use ExplorerPatcher.
Make the Windows 11 Start menu much better with StartAllBack
StartAllBack is another fully-featured Start menu replacement that’s focused more on tweaks. You can have a Windows 7 theme if you want, but where this app excels is the sheer amount of changes you can make to the Windows 11 Start menu.
You can change the taskbar icons, bring back the app labels, center your app icons, and keep the Start menu docked to the left. There are also themes available for Windows 7 and Windows 10-style start menus.
Ignore the Start menu and use the PowerToys Run launcher instead
Here’s a radical idea: Stop using the Start menu altogether. Ask yourself, how useful is it anyway? There’s no way to actually disable the Start menu, but you can ignore it and use something better instead. For this, we recommend the PowerToys keyboard launcher. It’s similar to Spotlight on Mac, and it lets you launch apps, actions, and tasks from the keyboard.
Press Alt + Space to bring it up, and type to open an app, a website, or do some math. Here are the best PowerToys shortcuts to know.
FBI/CISA Warning: ‘Black Basta’ Ransomware Gang vs. Ascension Health
Будет! Russian ransomware rascals riled a Roman Catholic healthcare organization.
The post FBI/CISA Warning: ‘Black Basta’ Ransomware Gang vs. Ascension Health appeared first on Security Boulevard.
Lightweight Dillo Browser Resurrected: TLS But No JavaScript
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- CISO2CISO.COM & CYBER SECURITY GROUP
- How Can Businesses Defend Themselves Against Common Cyberthreats? – Source: www.techrepublic.com
How Can Businesses Defend Themselves Against Common Cyberthreats? – Source: www.techrepublic.com
Source: www.techrepublic.com – Author: Fiona Jackson TechRepublic consolidated expert advice on how businesses can defend themselves against the most common cyberthreats, including zero-days, ransomware and deepfakes. Today, all businesses are at risk of cyberattack, and that risk is constantly growing. Digital transformations are resulting in more sensitive and valuable data being moved onto online systems […]
La entrada How Can Businesses Defend Themselves Against Common Cyberthreats? – Source: www.techrepublic.com se publicó primero en CISO2CISO.COM & CYBER SECURITY GROUP.
Backdoors and Miners Amid eScan Antivirus Backdoor Exploit
Recently, a wave of malware attacks has surfaced, exploiting vulnerabilities in the update mechanism of the eScan antivirus software. This eScan antivirus backdoor exploit distributes backdoors and cryptocurrency miners, such as XMRig, posing a significant threat to large corporate networks. In this blog, we’ll look into the details of this eScan antivirus backdoor exploit and […]
The post Backdoors and Miners Amid eScan Antivirus Backdoor Exploit appeared first on TuxCare.
The post Backdoors and Miners Amid eScan Antivirus Backdoor Exploit appeared first on Security Boulevard.
How You Can (Almost) Bring 'Circle to Search' to the iPhone
One of the more interesting and useful AI features recently introduced to Google and Samsung phones is Circle to Search: You just circle something on screen (or tap it, or scribble on it), and you get matching Google results back. It's perfect for getting details of a landmark or finding shopping links for something you're interested in.
The underlying technology is actually based on Google Lens—Circle to Search just makes it easier to access, from whatever app or website you happen to be looking at—and because of that, you can replicate the feature on an iPhone (more or less).
This is all made possible through an iOS shortcut developed by Minsang Choi, who is a design manager at Google Lens. It replicates most of the functionality of Circle to Search, only there's no actual circling (or tapping or scribbling)—instead you take a screenshot to activate the visual search in Google Lens.
Set up Circle to Search on iOS
First, you need to install the Google app for iOS, if you haven't already. This brings a variety of Google tools to your iPhone, including the standard search engine, the Discover page of links, the Gemini AI bot, and the Google Lens search functionality relevant to what we're trying to do here.
Next, open up a web browser on your iPhone, and grab the Search your screenshot shortcut (just tap Get Shortcut). If you're not familiar with shortcuts, they're automated routines you can execute on Apple devices, and we've written before about how much time they can save you (and how to do more with them).
When the Shortcuts app opens, tap Add Shortcut to confirm the action. This adds the new Search your screenshot routine to the Shortcuts tab in the Shortcuts app, and you can tap on the three dots on the shortcut thumbnail itself if you want to see the actions it takes (or even add some of your own).
All that remains is to pick a way to launch the shortcut. If you've got an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max, you could use the new Action button (which mutes and unmutes your phone by default): From iOS Settings, pick Action Button, then swipe left to get to Shortcut, then pick Choose a Shortcut.
Alternatively, you can use a double-tap or triple-tap on the back of your iPhone, gestures that can be set up as part of the Accessibility settings in iOS. Open Settings, then select Accessibility, Touch, and Back Tap: You can pick either Double Tap or Triple Tap, then select Search your screenshot.
With that done, you're ready to launch Circle to Search for iPhone (sort of). Press and hold the Action button, or double-tap or triple-tap the back of your iPhone, to take a screenshot of whatever's on screen and send it directly to Google Lens (the first time you do this, tap Always Allow to confirm you're okay with the sharing between apps).
Google Lens runs a visual search on Google based on what's in the screenshot. It may already select the part of the image that it thinks is the most relevant, but you can adjust this using the four white corner handles. You'll see results underneath, together with a text box for adding to your search (you might want to ask where a particular place is, for example, or what other foods go well with the food in the image).
Wayve, an A.I. Start-Up for Autonomous Driving, Raises $1 Billion
You Can Get Microsoft Office 2019 on Sale for $25 Right Now
You can get Microsoft Office 2019 lifetime licenses for Windows or Mac on sale for $24.97 right now (reg. $229) through May 22. Both versions include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote; and the Home & Business edition for Mac also includes Teams. The Professional Plus version for Windows comes with Publisher and Access.
Hardware and software requirements are pretty straightforward: Macs need at least macOS Monterey, 4GB of RAM, and 10GB of free device space, while PCs need a minimum of Windows 10, 1GB of RAM, and 4GB of space. Licenses come from a trusted Microsoft partner.
You can get a Microsoft Office 2019 lifetime license for Windows or Mac on sale until May 22 at 11:59 p.m. PT, though prices may change at any time:
Lifetime license to Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 for Windows, $24.97 (reg. $229)
Lifetime license to Microsoft Office Home & Business 2019 for Mac, $24.97 (reg. $229)
How to Create a Portable PC on a USB Drive
Now that so many of us are signed up to cloud storage services, USB drives aren't as ubiquitous as they once were, but they still have their uses. One of those uses is running an entire computer system entirely on the USB stick, which you can then bring anywhere. Your files and apps are always with you rather than being left at home or at the office, and if you're at a new desk you don't have to spend time getting everything set up the way you want—just plug in the drive, and you're up and running.
How it works
Of course you can't take an entire PC around with you on a USB stick—you need a monitor, a keyboard, a motherboard, and everything else. That said, all of the software and storage can be handled on a portable USB drive: As long as you have access to a computer with a spare USB slot, you can run your portable PC.
There's no interference with the existing setup on the computer you're using either, so you can borrow one from a colleague or a friend without causing them any hassle. You reboot the PC, tell it to load up your USB stick rather than what's on the internal drive, and your operating system appears. When you're done, shut down the computer, unplug your USB drive, and you've left no trace behind.
It's great if you're always moving between locations, and want to have access to the same desktop interface wherever you go. It can also be useful if you're trying to troubleshoot problems with your hardware setup, or if you want to try out different operating systems without installing anything permanently on your computer.
You do need to bear in mind some caveats, though. A USB drive isn't as fast or as capable as a full desktop or laptop system, so you're limited to basic computing tasks. This doesn't really work on Macs either, because of their different architecture—if you need to run a separate system on macOS, the best approach is setting up a virtual machine.
Choosing an OS
When it comes to picking an operating system for your USB PC, you can use Windows if you'd like to—via a third-party tool such as WinToUSB—though you will need a paid license for it, and the user experience isn't the best. A better idea is to go for a flavor of Linux: Not only is the software free to use, it's also more lightweight, which means you're not putting as much stress on the USB drive and everything should run more smoothly.
If you're new to Linux, it's an open source desktop OS that comes in a wide variety of flavors known as distros. It doesn't offer the same kind of broad software selection or hardware support as Windows or macOS, but all the core computing apps are covered: You can browse the web, check your email, do some work, edit images, and plenty more on Linux.
When it comes to choosing the distro you want to use, it's really up to you: Just about any version of Linux can be run fairly easily from a USB stick. Make sure you look for a feature called "persistence" in the distro documentation, though—this means you're going to be able to save settings and files to the USB drive, rather than starting up fresh with a clean slate every time you boot it up.
Ideally, you want to choose a distro that's lightweight and basic, to give you the smoothest operation possible. Puppy Linux and Linux Lite are often recommended for this particular purpose, while Tails is great if security is a priority—it automatically connects to the Tor network when you go online. Ubuntu is an excellent choice too, offering a polished interface and plenty of help documentation.
Getting started
Head to the official website for your Linux distro of choice, then look for an ISO download—this is essentially the operating system in its entirety. Downloads like this can often run to several gigabytes in size, so you might have to wait a while. It's also worth checking in the distro's documentation to see if there are any notes or recommendations regarding USB installation.
Next, you need a program to put the ISO on the USB drive for you—not just to copy over the file, but to make the drive bootable. There are a few options here, including Rufus, but we've gone for Etcher for this guide: It's really simple to use, and you can run it on both Windows and macOS (and, indeed, Linux).
Fire up Etcher, and you'll see there are three stages: Pick Flash from file to pick the ISO from disk, then Select target to choose a USB drive connected to your computer, and then click Flash to complete the operation. As far as USB drives go, a capacity of at least 8GB is recommended, plus the fastest read/write speeds you can find—you might find more requirements listed on the pages of the distro you've chosen.
With all that taken care of, you can use your USB drive by putting it in a spare USB port on any computer, then restarting the computer and choosing to boot from the USB stick. How this is done varies, but it usually involves pressing a key to choose a boot device while the computer's starting up—look for a message on screen or check the documentation that came with the computer, if you're not sure.
Psychoacoustics: The World's Loudest Lisp Program
One and done: Elden Ring’s first DLC expansion will also be its last
The good news for Elden Ring fans is that the two-plus-year wait for the game's first DLC, "Shadow of the Erdtree," will end in just a couple of months. The bad news is that "Shadow of the Erdtree" will also be the last bit of DLC for FromSoftware's multimillion-selling action RPG.
In a wide-ranging interview with Chinese site Zhihu (machine translation), Elden Ring producer Hidetaka Miyazaki said "Shadow of the Erdtree" contains a lot of existing lore and content that was created for the original game but couldn't fit into the final package. Miyazaki said the team decided to release all of that unused content as one large DLC expansion, rather than multiple smaller bits, because "if they were sold separately, the freedom of exploration and sense of adventure would be reduced."
As for just how big the DLC will be, Miyazaki balked when the interviewer asked how long it would take players to complete. Miyazaki brought up memories of being called a liar after estimating in an earlier interview that the original game would only take about 30 hours of play to complete—crowdsourced game-length database HowLongToBeat puts the "main story" estimate closer to 60 hours.