COMPLETE PROTECTION FOR YOUR DEVICE

Monday, 13 March 2017

Microsoft is disgustingly sneaky: Windows 10 isn't an operating system, it's an advertising platform

Don't believe what Microsoft tells you -- Windows 10 is not an operating system. Oh, sure, it has many features that make it look like an operating system, but in reality it is nothing more than a vehicle for advertisements. Since the launch of Windows 10, there have been numerous complaints about ads in various forms. They appear in the Start menu, in the taskbar, in the Action Center, in Explorer, in the Ink Workspace, on the Lock Screen, in the Share tool, in the Windows Store and even in File Explorer.

Microsoft has lost its grip on what is acceptable, and even goes as far as pretending that these ads serve users more than the company -- "these are suggestions", "this is a promoted app", "we thought you'd like to know that Edge uses less battery than Chrome", "playable ads let you try out apps without installing". But if we're honest, the company is doing nothing more than abusing its position, using Windows 10 to promote its own tools and services, or those with which it has marketing arrangements. Does Microsoft think we're stupid?

When Windows 10 first hit computers without a price tag, questions were asked about what the hidden cost might be. We've talked about the various telemetry, privacy-invading and tracking features that are to be found, and this is certainly part of the price one pays for a free operating system ... sorry, ad platform.

But as more and more ads have gradually crept into Windows 10, the implications of using Windows 10 become ever clearer. Microsoft has boasted about the millions and millions of computers that now have Windows 10 installed. These are not just additions to the user-base, they are consumers ready to be advertised at. It is a captive audience staring at screens all around the world -- perfect for pummelling with ads as there's nowhere to hide!

Microsoft is not only incredibly aggressive with its advertising, it is also disgustingly sneaky. Many of the various forms of advertising that can be found in Windows 10 can be disabled, but don't expect this to be easy, particularly if you're not completely au fait with the world of technology. The settings and toggles that need to be changed are far from obviously placed, and the misleading wording used (yes, we're looking at you OneDrive ads in File Explorer...) means many people would simply have no idea what the settings refer to even if they stumbled across them by accident. Seriously... who would think that in order to hide the OneDrive ads, you'd need to flick a toggle labeled Show sync provider notifications?

Over the months since the Windows 10's launch, poor users have been gradually pushed harder and harder. It's as though Microsoft is trying to see just how much it can get away with before people reach breaking point. The company is utterly shameless, and it's high time more people spoke out about it.

Microsoft has found itself in court on more than one occasion for anticompetitive behavior with Internet Explorer, and if its actions with ads are anything to go by it would appear that the company has learned nothing about stopping abusing its position. As each new layer of advertising has been revealed in Windows 10, Microsoft has managed to annoy and alienate more users. Each time there have been plenty of people to jump to the company's defense and stick up for what it is doing. But the sheer prevalence of ads in myriad forms is making Microsoft's actions indefensible.

It might feel as though we're going over old ground here, and we are. Microsoft just keeps letting us (and you) down, time and time and time again.

It's time for things to change, but will Microsoft listen?

Sunday, 12 March 2017

Windows 10 Forced Update Starts Causing Problems

Slowly but surely Windows 10 has been getting better and the sizeable Creators Update due this month will improve matters further. But the biggest (and, for some, deal breaking) problem at the heart of the operating system has surfaced again…

This week Microsoft MSFT +0.31% pushed out a mysterious driver for Windows 10, Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 and it immediately began causing problems.

Listed only as “Microsoft - WPD - 2/22/2016 12:00:00 AM - 5.2.5326.4762” users were left confused as to what it did or what to look for to correct the problem. BetaNews quotes a Microsoft forum post user saying it "is the driver for Windows 10 Mobile devices" and Windows blogger Günther Born claims it is an Android driver.

And this is where Windows 10’s worst feature struck.

Microsoft

Windows 10 is getting better but there is still a problem at its core with now it handles updates. Image credit: Microsoft

For Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users the faulty driver was not a problem as it is an optional update that had to be manually installed. But Windows 10 owners didn’t get that luxury as the operating system installs all driver updates automatically and without warning.

Furthermore Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users who did accidentally install it can simply rollback their systems to a previous restore point, but Windows 10 does not create restore points automatically and the feature has to be manually enabled. This means affected users are in a lot more trouble.

The good news is Microsoft has been quick to acknowledge the problem. The company took to Answers Forum to admit:

“An incorrect device driver was released for Windows 10, on March 8, 2017, that affected a small group of users with connected phones or portable devices. After installation, these devices are not detected properly by Windows 10, but are affected in no other way. We removed the driver from Windows Update the same day, but if the driver had already installed, you may still be having this issue.”

Image credit: Microsoft

Windows 10 will give you more control over your updates in the Creators Update but that doesn't help users with bad updates. Image credit: Microsoft

And this is the problem in a nutshell. Windows 10’s permissive approach to updates has the benefit of keeping Windows 10 computers up to date, but it also relies on Microsoft getting every update and driver release 100% bug free for thousands of PC hardware combinations. Mistakes do happen and Windows 10 Home users in particular have no easy way to protect themselves.

The good news is the Windows 10 Creators Update will bring a little more control to Home users with the opportunity to delay updates. But until Microsoft trusts users enough to give them full control over what their computers can and cannot install (more than the Metered Connections hack), those wedded to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 are unlikely to be ungrading any time soon…

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Wednesday, 8 February 2017

Our favorite way, and the fastest method, for getting up and running with Kali Linux is to run it “live” from a USB drive. This method has several advantages:

It’s non-destructive — it makes no changes to the host system’s hard drive or installed OS, and to go back to normal operations, you simply remove the “Kali Live” USB drive and restart the system.
It’s portable — you can carry Kali Linux in your pocket and have it running in minutes on an available system
It’s customizable — you can roll your own custom Kali Linux ISO image and put it onto a USB drive using the same procedures
It’s potentially persistent — with a bit of extra effort, you can configure your Kali Linux “live” USB drive to have persistent storage, so the data you collect is saved across reboots

In order to do this, we first need to create a bootable USB drive which has been set up from an ISO image of Kali Linux.

What You’ll Need

A verified copy of the appropriate ISO image of the latest Kali build image for the system you’ll be running it on: see the details on downloading official Kali Linux images.
If you’re running under Windows, you’ll also need to download the Win32 Disk Imager utility. On Linux and OS X, you can use the dd command, which is pre-installed on those platforms.
A USB thumb drive, 4GB or larger. (Systems with a direct SD card slot can use an SD card with similar capacity. The procedure is identical.)

Kali Linux Live USB Install Procedure

The specifics of this procedure will vary depending on whether you’re doing it on a Windows,Linux, or OS X system.

Creating a Bootable Kali USB Drive on Windows

Plug your USB drive into an available USB port on your Windows PC, note which drive designator (e.g. “F:\”) it uses once it mounts, and launch the Win32 Disk Imager software you downloaded.
Choose the Kali Linux ISO file to be imaged and verify that the USB drive to be overwritten is the correct one. Click the “Write” button.
Once the imaging is complete, safely eject the USB drive from the Windows machine. You can now use the USB device to boot into Kali Linux.

Creating a Bootable Kali USB Drive on Linux

Creating a bootable Kali Linux USB key in a Linux environment is easy. Once you’ve downloaded and verified your Kali ISO file, you can use the dd command to copy it over to your USB stick using the following procedure. Note that you’ll need to be running as root, or to execute the dd command with sudo. The following example assumes a Linux Mint 17.1 desktop — depending on the distro you’re using, a few specifics may vary slightly, but the general idea should be very similar.

WARNING: Although the process of imaging Kali Linux onto a USB drive is very easy, you can just as easily overwrite a disk drive you didn’t intend to with dd if you do not understand what you are doing, or if you specify an incorrect output path. Double-check what you’re doing before you do it, it’ll be too late afterwards.

Consider yourself warned.

First, you’ll need to identify the device path to use to write the image to your USB drive.Without the USB drive inserted into a port, execute the command

sudo fdisk -l

at a command prompt in a terminal window (if you don’t use elevated privileges with fdisk, you won’t get any output). You’ll get output that will look something (not exactly) like this, showing a single drive — “/dev/sda” — containing three partitions (/dev/sda1, /dev/sda2, and /dev/sda5):
Now, plug your USB drive into an available USB port on your system, and run the same command, “sudo fdisk -l” a second time. Now, the output will look something (again,not exactly) like this, showing an additional device which wasn’t there previously, in this example “/dev/sdb”, a 16GB USB drive:

Tuesday, 26 January 2016

More Incredible, But Unexplainable Facts About India Because There Is So Much Mystery To This Nation

Some things in life do not have answers. You cannot tell why certain things happen. Perhaps, these parts of life are best left that way - unanswered. Maybe the answers come later, when they are meant to be found.

India, too, has its fair share of mysteries, like the many mysteries of life. There are phenomenon that you just cannot explain, which will have you wondering about them for days on end. Here is a list of some such unexplained mysteries in India.

1. Death Of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose

Image credit: www.netaji.org

Even after decades, the death of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose remains an unresolved mystery. After the plane that he was on crashed in Taihoku, Taipie, in 1945, many are of the opinion that he died of third-degree burns as a result of the plane crash, while others believe that it was just a ploy to assist Netaji in getting underground and escape to USSR. There is yet another set of people who believe that he died in a Soviet jail, years after the alleged crash in Taiwan, and that the then Indian ambassador to Russia, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, was permitted to meet him in some undisclosed place in the Soviet Union.

Many official endeavors have been made to find the truth, but not much has been achieved.

2. The UFO base at Kongka La Pass

Image credit: UFO Sighting Shots Spot

A disputed, no-man’s-land between the India- China borders, The Kongka La Pass, is chiefly known for the UFO activities in the area. Also called the UFO base, this area is watched over by both the countries, but neither patrols or occupies it. With almost no human interference, many UFOs are believed to be visiting the area quite frequently.

Many people have claimed to have spotted gigantic flying saucers disappearing in the ground in the area. It is widely believed that the aliens have made an underground base here, and that many UFOs are hidden underground along the pass! Though unconfirmed, it’s alleged that the governments of both the countries are well aware of the alien activities taking place in this region

3. Taj Mahal Or Tejo Mahalaya

Image credit: www.tajmahal.org.uk

India's wonder in white marble, Taj Mahal, is often spoken of as the epitome of love immortalized by Shahjahan for his beloved wife Mumtaz. However, is that really the case? Renowned historian P.N. Oak states that the Taj was not built by the emperor Shah Jahan, but that it is in reality a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, Tejo Mahalaya, and that the emperor usurped it from the then king of Jaipur, Raja Jai Singh. What's more, Prof. Marvin Miller of New York has revealed that the riverside doors of the Taj date back some 300 years before Shahjahan’s reign!

Oak maintains that there are many rooms in Taj Mahal which remained sealed during Shah Jahan’s time, and still remain inaccessible to the general public. In these rooms are a headless statue of Lord Shiva and some other objects commonly used for worshipping Indian gods.

4. The Immortals Of The Himalayas

Image credit: Wikipedia

If rumors are to be believed, somewhere in the Himalayas exists a mysterious city which is inhabited by equally mysterious immortal beings. The city is called Gyanganj, and it is so well camouflaged within a different plane of reality that not even the most modern mapping devices could succeed in discovering it.

The immortals beings remain aloof from the outside world, though they are said to influence the world's happenings in many subtle ways. Many accomplished saadhus and enlightened ones claim to have visited Gyanganj, but the truth still remains veiled in the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas.

5. Kuldhara - The Village Cursed for Eternity

Image credit: Every Corner Of World

The village of Kuldhara was once inhabited by not less than 1500 residents. One dark night, they simply disappeared from the scene, with no trace left behind. It is believed that the inhabitants neither died, nor were they abducted…they simply left. The real reason behind this decision is unknown till date, but folklore offers many possible answers. Some say that it was a decision by the village chief to protect their women from an evil landlord, while others say they left to evade heavy taxation from the authorities. It is also believed that while leaving the village, the villagers cursed the village for eternity, as a result of which Kuldhara remains deserted even after 500 years of the mass evacuation.

6. Roopkund – The Skeleton Lake

Image credit: Haunted India

Amidst the rock-strewn glaciers and snowy peaks of Uttarakhand lies a mysterious lake in which hundreds of human skeletal remains are visible at the bottom when the snow melts! The said glacial lake is called Roopkund, lying at an altitude of 5,029 mt. in Uttarakhand, the Indian state of picturesque landscapes. Though many attempts have been made to explain the existence of these skeletons, the mystery has not been solved entirely yet.

Regional lore has it that these remains are from to 9^th century CE, and that they belong to the king of Kannauj and his pregnant wife, as well as hundreds of attendants of theirs. Some people believe that these remains belong to Japanese soldiers who died of exposure at the spot, while others believe that they belong to several groups of people from different parts of the country who were doomed to death! Where were these people heading to and what they were doing in such inhospitable terrain remains questions to be answered.

7. The Mysterious Prahlad Jani

Image credit: Jungle Key

Prahlad Jani is an Indian saadhu and an ardent believer of Goddess Amba. It is believed that he has not had a single morsel of grain or a drop of water since 1940, but is still hale and hearty. He claims that Maa Amba sustains him in the form of liquid in his body, which has kept him alive all these years. Till date, he has been examined twice by experts, and been made to stay in a sealed room for 10 days with just 100 ml of water per day. The experts have been surprised at the results - Jani was perfectly healthy and active even after 10 days of fasting. Though his weight had gone down slightly, he hadn't urinated or defecated. The most shocking observation was that he did have some liquid in his bladder! What that liquid it was and how he survives without food or water till date remains a mystery.

8. The Sonic Boom Of Jodhpur

Image credit: It Indian Times

A sudden, deafening sound startled the people of Jodhpur on the morning of 18^thDecember, 2012. The sound was loud enough for the locals to believe that an explosion had occurred but, as it turned out, no explosion had happened even in the neighboring areas, let alone in Jodhpur city! On being contacted, the army denied any ammunition accident in the area. There was no aircraft flying over the city at that time with sound-breaking speed, either.

What, then, was the cause behind that inexplicable sonic boom in Jodhpur? Scientists are yet to find an answer to it.

9. The City of Twins - Kodinhi

Image credit: Haunted India

On an average, out of every 1000 births in India, only four babies are twins, statistics tells us. However, in a far-flung village of Kerala, called Kodinhi, 45% of every 1000 births are twins! Mysterious, isn’t it?

The village of Kodinhi has close to 2000 residents, of which 250 are officially registered sets of twins. Unofficial figures say that there as many as 400 sets of twins in the area. The number of twins born in the village is increasing every year. Experts are yet to find a satisfactory reason for this unusual phenomenon!

10. Shanti Devi - A Reincarnation?

Image credit: Phulme

In 1934, a bizarre case shocked India, when a four-year-old girl claimed that she was, in fact, a woman named Lugdi who had died many years ago while giving birth to her son! On being asked, she furnished exact details of her ‘real’ house, family, and her husband who owned a cloth shop in Mathura. Her parents at first rubbished it all, but over time, they got quite worried when she repeatedly narrated a number of incidents from her previous life. She told them that she was not living in her real home and that she must return to her husband and son soon.

She called herself Chaubine (wife of Chaube), and also mentioned that her husband had a large wart on his right cheek and was very fair. She was later taken to Mathura, where she led her parents to the house she was married in. Once there, she surprised everyone by recognizing her husband in the first instant. On being asked if she could tell something else besides being his wife, ‘Lugdi’ gave the minutest details of her delivery and how her ill health led to her tragic death! Throughout her lifetime, many scientists and experts tried to researched memories of her past life. Some were convinced, some were not, but none could prove her a fake!

11. Baba Harbhajan Singh - The Sepoy- Saint

Image credit: Wikipedia

He is worshipped as a saint, and the Indian Army treats him as a soldier who never died! We are talking of Baba Harbhajan Singh, who is believed to grant wishes and safeguard the lives of the soldiers posted in and around the shrine dedicated to him, on the road in between the Nathu La and Jelep La Pass, approximately 64 km from Gangtok.

Local legend says that Sepoy Harbhajan Singh of the 23^rd Punjab Regiment went missing some 35 years back. A manhunt was initiated, and his body was found after three days of extensive combing of the area. It is said that the spirit of the man, Baba, himself led his fellow soldiers to his body. Soon after, the soldiers in the regiment started reporting of Baba appearing in their dreams and directing them to make a shrine in his memory. Asamadhi was raised in his name, soon. It is believed that till date, Baba visits the shrine every night, dons his uniform, and performs his rounds! The army venerates him as a sepoy-saint who, until retired recently, was dully adorned with ranks and granted leaves every year! Is he a sepoy or a saint or both? That still remains to be found.

12. Jatinga - Where Birds Commit Suicide

Image credit: Acharya 90 Tantrik

Assam, well known for its unspoiled natural beauty and substantial biodiversity, is famed for a phenomenon that boggles one’s mind, too. This phenomenon is a mysterious one, of birds committing mass suicides in a small, unnoticeable village called Jatinga. Every year, late in the monsoons, hundreds of birds migrate to this place to commit suicide en masse, every single night!

The tribals believe there are evil spirits at play in the region, while ornithologists claim that the 'suicides' take place due to dense monsoon fog and high altitudes, the birds get dazed. When these dazed birds try to find their way, they get attracted by the lights in the village houses, get hit by the buildings and trees, leading to serious injuries and even deaths. That said, there are no clear answers to questions like why these birds fly in the night and why they get trapped in the same place every year. Can Assam, roughly shaped like a soaring bird, anything to do with these suicides? Nobody knows.

13. Yeti - The Abominable Snow Man

The villagers residing in the Himalayas often speak in hushed voices about a towering, fur-covered creature that is half man and half ape - The Yeti. In local parlance, the creature is called ‘Migoi’ or ‘Meh–teh’ meaning 'wild man of the snows'.

Not only the villagers, but many others have reported encountering the elusive giant, who appears from nowhere only to vanish somewhere in the snow! Apparently, he has such a foul smell that induces one to nauseate almost at once. The Yeti is often depicted as the God Of Hunting, and appears in totems in temples and villages, holding a stone weapon to slay whoever dares to enter its domain. Known to be an important part of religious rites in the pre-Buddhist era, the Yeti appears to be a menacing ape-human hybrid, who roams around the perilous mountain ranges of Nepal and Tibet. Many known names in mountaineering, including Sir Edmund Hillary, have reported seeing weirdly large footprints on the mountains, way too large to belong to a human being. Whether the Yeti is folklore or a real species is something that, till date, remains unclear.

14. The Pillar That Has Been Hanging For Centuries

Image credit: Indian Globetrotting

Another riddle that boggles the human mind is the ‘hanging pillar’ in the 16^th-century temple of Lepakshi in Anantpura, Andhra Pradesh. As many as 70 pillars have been supporting the weight of the temple for centuries now, but amongst these is one pillar that does not touch the ground at all! The said pillar just ‘hangs’ from the rooftop! Yes, you read that correctly; the pillar actually hovers in the air a few inches above the ground. A thin piece of paper or a cloth can even be passed from under the pillar, indicating that it is not touching the floor at all.

A regal tribute to the genius of temple builders of medieval India, Lepakshi creates questions in the onlookers' minds, like how the pillar stands at all and why this particular pillar was chosen to stay in the air. These unsolved riddles have baffled people through the centuries!

15. Was Shivkar Talpade the first person to fly an aircraft?

Image credit: Mysteries Explored

In the year 1895, a full eight years before the Wright brothers flew the first aircraft, it is believed that an unmanned aircraft touched the sky at a height of more than 1500 feet, at a speed of 40,000 km per hour! The aircraft, rightly named ‘Marutsakha’ (meaning ‘friend of the winds’) was the creation of an Indian scholar, Sri Shivkar Bapuji Talpade. The unprecedented event took place on the crowded Chowpatty beach of Mumbai, and was attended by people like Mahadeva Govinda Ranade and H.H.Sayaji Gaekwad. Though Marutsakha could not operate to its full limits due to technical reasons, it was still able to sustain flight for several minutes before falling down to earth.

In the absence of reliable documents, it has not been possible to confirm whether Talpade was the first man to fly an unmanned craft, well before the Wright brothers. At the same time, it is not an event that can just be dismissed, either!

Here are some more mysteries that have baffled us in the past.

Which of these mysteries fascinates you the most? Do you know of any other events that can make it to this list? Do let us know in the comments!