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A look at Microsoft Edge 87's Sleeping Tabs feature

Sat, 19 Sep 2020 16:18:06 GMT

Microsoft plans to introduce a feature called Sleeping Tabs into the company's Microsoft Edge 87 web browser.The feature is designed to reduce the browser's resource usage by unloading background tabs automatically.

The feature is available as an experimental flag in the browser currently; you need Microsoft Edge 87 at least, which is currently available as a Canary channel version.

A total of three experimental flags are available that enable and customize the sleep mode of the browser:

Load edge://flags in the browser's address bar.
Search for sleep; Edge should return three flags.
1. Enable Sleeping Tabs (edge://flags/#edge-sleeping-tabs) -- The main preference. Set it to enabled to enable the sleep mode functionality in the browser.
2. Enable immediate timeout for Sleeping Tabs (edge://flags/#edge-sleeping-tabs-immediate-timeout) --The optional setting bypasses the timeout setting to put background tabs into sleep mode immediately. If you don't want background tabs to be disabled after a very short period, several seconds, keep it disabled.
3. Sleeping Tabs use observed site characteristics heuristics (edge://flags/#edge-sleeping-tabs-site-characteristics) -- The optional setting enables heuristics to identify sites that should not be put to sleep mode, e.g. those with notifications or background tasks such as video or audio playback.
Restart the Edge web browser.

Background tabs that are put to sleep use a light gray color of text to distinguish them from regular tabs that are not sleeping.

Hover over a tab to find out if it is sleeping. Edge displays "this tab is sleeping to save resources" if that is the case.

A click on the tab activates it again and restores it fully in the browser. The loading may take a bit longer if the tab is sleeping but it never took too long during tests. Mileage may vary depending on a number of parameters though.

The Sleeping Tabs feature is currently an experimental feature; this means that it may be introduced in a stable version of Microsoft Edge but that there is also the chance of it being pulled before it even reaches the stable version.

Firefox and Chrome users may use the Auto Tab Discard extension to unload tabs after a certain time of inactivity. The browsers support the automatic discarding of tabs, see our articles on Google's and Mozilla's implementation, but these unload tabs only in memory-critical situations.

Now You: Would you use a browser feature to unload background tabs automatically? (via Deskmodder)

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WinCustom is a freeware tool that can be used to disable various options in Windows

Sat, 19 Sep 2020 06:00:09 GMT

There are many programs that can improve your Windows user experience. Usually this is done by giving you more options to choose from.

WinCustom is a freeware tool that lets you disable many features that are available in Windows, but it is not one of those privacy programs that you may run to disable certain privacy-related features. The program is portable. It displays a splash screen for a couple of seconds when you run it.

The interface displays four tabs: Start Menu, Taskbar & System Tray, Windows Explorer & Desktop, Miscellaneous.

Start Menu

This tab allows you to Hide or unhide the following options: My Documents, Recent Documents, Music, Videos, Downloads, Pictures, Favorites, Recorded TV, Games, Run Command, Control Panel, Default Programs, All Programs, Administrative Tools, Devices & Printers, Help & Support, Connect To, Network, Homegroup, User Profile Folder and My Computer.

It's fairly easy to use. When you click on an option in WinCustom's interface, it will process the command and after a few seconds restart Explorer automatically to apply the changes. The issue here is that you can't select multiple options at the same time, as the program processes the change immediately after you click the box next to a setting. So it takes a while to make a lot of changes.

Some options in WinCustom will only be activated after the computer has been restarted. The CTF Loader process remained open when I tried to disable the Language Bar, I couldn't close it. A restart fixed the issue.

The Start Menu tab allows you to disable App Launch Tracking, Pinning of Programs to the Start Menu, the Context Menu and the Drag-and-Drop behavior.You may choose to disable right-click entirely across the Start Menu, Taskbar and System Tray. The option below it helps prevent users from accessing the settings for the three elements.

Hide the Power menu options including "Shutdown, Restart, Sleep, Hibernate and Log Off options. This doesn't disable the functionality of the options, it just hides them from the menu. Clicking on the Power button just says "there are currently no power options available".

Taskbar and System Tray

Worried that someone may alter your taskbar settings? Disable access to it from the second tab in WinCustom. Prevent the taskbar from being resized or moved, while also disabling button grouping, adding new shortcuts or toolbars.

The Hide Language Bar icon disables the "Keyboard/Input language selection" button. Toggle the elements that are displayed on the system tray like the Action Center, Network, Battery, Volume and the Clock icons.

Note: The toggle for the Action Center doesn't seem to work

Windows Explorer & Desktop Settings

Explorer has a ton of visual elements on the screen. WinCustom can be used to declutter the file manager considerably. Disable the Explorer Menu Bar, Library Pane, Preview Pane, Details Pane, etc. Trim down the Navigation Pane by disabling the Library, My Computer, Network icons.

Hide the options to Show File Extensions, Hidden Files & Folders. Prevent system icons for the Control Panel, Recycle Bin from being placed on the desktop. The program can be used to remove items from the Explorer context menu, so if you don't use Share, Map Network Drive, Disconnect Drive, Restore Previous Versions, you can remove them from the menu.

Miscellaneous

The Miscellaneous tab in WinCustom can be used to disable the Task Manager, Windows Error Reporting, Windows Update (and Auto Update), and legacy applications such as Mail, Messenger, Media Center, Marketplace, Games Info & Updates or Limit the preservable bandwidth for QOS to 0.

The program works with Windows 7 and above. WinCustom is an unusual tool for customizing your Windows, but it is definitely not for the average user. I'd advise caution while using such programs, especially since this one doesn't have a "reset to default" option. Create a backup before you use it.

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Mozilla improves the reliability of Firefox's Sync service

Sat, 19 Sep 2020 05:34:15 GMT

Firefox users may use built-in sync functionality to synchronize data between instances of Firefox. These instances can be on the same computer, e.g. different profiles, or on different local or remote machines.

Syncing is useful to make sure that certain data, say bookmarks and passwords, are always identical between devices that you use.

One of the main issues with Firefox's sync service was that it was not designed to be a backup service. While it did support syncing data to the cloud to push the data to other devices, it happened at times that the service would lose some of the data.

Mozilla started to work on a new Rust-based sync service for Firefox and has revealed it now in a new blog post on the official Services blog.

One of the core differences between the old and new Sync backend is that the new one behaves like a backup service now; this means that it won't lose databases or data anymore as it relies on a distributed database to store the data secure.

A lot of folks expected it to be a Backup service. The good news is, now it is a backup service. Sync is more reliable now. We use a distributed database to store your data securely, so we no longer lose databases (or your data echos).

Mozilla's Support site lists quite a few cases of lost data, e.g. of users who formatted their PC, reinstalled Firefox, enabled Sync, only to find out that Sync was not finding any data.

A typical answer that users received for the issue they experienced is published below:

Firefox Sync is NOT A BACKUP SERVICE. It was not designed to be one, nor does it function like one. There's not necessarily a permanent or complete copy of your data on the Firefox Sync server.

Additionally, some account actions (like changing password) cause the Firefox Sync data to be erased.

The data is stored using Google Cloud's Spanner database, and the new backend is compatible with old and new versions of Firefox that support sync, and self-hosting as well. Users who self-host the Sync server need some patience though as Mozilla is still working on getting rid of bugs and other issues. Adventurous users can help Mozilla by providing feedback after setting up a self-hosted solution.

Additional information is available on the Syncstorage RS repo on GitHub.

Closing Words

The quintessence is that Firefox's Sync service will be more reliable in the future, and that the days of sync data not being available anymore are finally over once the migration completes.

Now You: Do you use Firefox Sync?

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Get a free copy of Football Manager 2020 and Watch Dogs 2 on the Epic Games Store

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 11:35:34 GMT

Epic Games continues its year-long promotion of the company's Epic Games Store with three games that are free to get this week. Football Manager 2020, Watch Dogs 2, and Stick it to the man are available for free until September 24, 2020 on the Epic Games Store.

You do need to download the store to your device and sign-in with a free account to claim the games, but that is all the only hurdle in the entire process.

Once signed-in, scroll down to the free games section on the start page. There you find listed the latest free games, and may also browse upcoming free games if you choose to.

All that it takes from that point on is to click on the game you are interested in to open its store profile page. You find the "get" button that page and the price should display as free. Hit the get button and follow the checkout process; since you don't have to pay anything to get the game, it is not necessary to enter payment information. Just select "place the order", and agree to the refund and right of withdrawal information to complete the process.

A notification should be displayed stating that the game you selected is ready to be installed on the device. You find it under your games listing in the Store interface as well at any time to install it from that location.

In case you are wondering, here is a quick summary of each of the games that you can get for free currently on the Store:

Football Manager 2020 is the latest in Sega's Football Manager series of games for PC. It features 116 leagues inn 53 countries as well as national teams. As the manager of a football club, it is your responsibility to develop the club in career mode, convince players to join the team or sell them, use the tactics generator, manage youth operations, watch games, and a lot more. Supports cross-platform play with Steam users who own the game as well.
Watch Dogs 2 is the second Watch Dogs title; the first was released in 2014 and it received favorable reviews but was criticized heavily for the discrepancy between preview imagery and graphics quality of the actual game. The second part is an action-adventure game with a hacking-focus just like the first. Released in 2016, it improved many of the main points of criticism of the first.
Stick It To The Man is a rather crazy sounding title as the entire game world is made out of paper and stickers. It is an adventure game featuring interesting visuals and good voice acting.

Closing Words

Football Manager 2020 is an excellent game and if you are into open world explorative games, Watch Dogs 2 may be too. Unless you are opposed to using the Epic Games Store, there is little reason not to grab these games before September 24, 2020.

Now You: do you use online game stores? If so which and why?

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How to fix blurry text in programs on Windows 10

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 09:34:44 GMT

Recently, a friend of mine asked for my help with an unusual issue. He told me that some programs on his computer had blurry text in their GUIs.

This is what affected applications looked like on his monitor. Observe the picture closely, and you will see that the text isn't very clear. Did you also happen to notice that even the icons appear to be sort of distorted?

This made it quite difficult to use the applications. He had even tried using beta versions of the programs to see if there was some setting that could resolve the problem. The first thing I wanted to check was the ClearType settings, but this didn't prove to be the solution since the blurry text issue only occurred with certain programs. Firefox, Steam, Explorer, games etc were running as intended.

So, we decided to check whether the issue can be reproduced, and for this, we installed the same programs on my computer. Upon testing them, we discovered that they ran fine on my laptop, and the text was a lot clearer than on his system. We both had the same laptop model, so why was this problem occurring on one, but not on the other? The programs were fine even when we plugged in a monitor to my computer.

One of the applications that we were facing the issue with was Audacity. Hoping that this was caused due to some bug, or that a workaround would be readily available, we searched around the software's forums. Fortunately, there was a simple fix suggested by one of the users at the program's community pages.

Windows 10 does seem to have some DPI issues compared to previous-gen versions of the operating system. This causes the interface of some programs to scale incorrectly, which results in the text being blurry. So, if this ever happens to you, don't panic. You don't have to re-install Windows, or even reboot the computer to fix the problem.

How to fix blurry text in programs on Windows 10

1. Create a shortcut for the application that has the blurry text issue. For e.g. Audacity.exe.

2. Right-click on the shortcut and select Properties.

3. Switch to the Compatibility tab.

4. Click on the "Change High DPI Settings" button (at the bottom of the window), and a new window should open.

5. Enable the box next to the option that says "Override high DPI scaling behavior."

6. Click on the drop-down menu below the option, and select "Application".

7. Hit the OK button to apply the setting.

Run the application using the shortcut, and the text in its GUI should not longer appear to be blurry. There you go, an easy fix, and without the requirement of any third-party software.

The option that worked for us was "Application", but you can try the other options: System, System (Enhanced). You can repeat the steps with every program that you have the issue with. We tried it with some applications including JDownloader2, and it fixed the blurry text issue in those as well.

If the above steps didn't help you, you can try the freeware program DPI Fix, which Martin has written about, to see if that improves your luck.

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Mozilla retires Firefox Send and Firefox Notes services

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 04:34:24 GMT

Mozilla shut down Firefox Send on September 17, 2020 and plans to shut down Firefox Notes no November 1, 2020. Firefox Send was launched as an experiment in 2017 to improve the sending of files on the Internet. It was the first experiment that Mozilla created that was created as a web service and not an add-on or feature for Firefox.

The service launched officially in 2019; it allowed anyone to share files with a size of up to 1 Gigabyte and Firefox account users to share files up to 2.5 Gigabyte in size. Users with a Firefox account got extra features such as the managing of all files uploaded to the service or changing expiration times.

One of the main features of Firefox Send was that files uploaded to the service expired after a certain number of downloads or an expiration time.

Mozilla pulled the service earlier this year promising that it would return at a later point in time. The main reason for the taking down was that bad actors used the platform to distribute malware and other unwanted files. The free nature of the service coupled with automatic deletions of files after a number of downloads or a set expiration time benefited bad actors significantly.

Firefox Send's homepage redirects to the main Mozilla homepage. A support article on Mozilla's support website provides confirmation that the service has been retired for good. A blog post on Mozilla's official blog reveals additional information.

According to the post on the blog, Firefox Send is being retired as part of Mozilla's restructuring. The company laid off 250 employees this year and announced that it would "tighten and refine its product focus".

Firefox Send was a promising tool for encrypted file sharing. Send garnered good reach, a loyal audience, and real signs of value throughout its life. Unfortunately, some abusive users were beginning to use Send to ship malware and conduct spear phishing attacks. This summer we took Firefox Send offline to address this challenge.

In the intervening period, as we weighed the cost of our overall portfolio and strategic focus, we made the decision not to relaunch the service.

Firefox Notes was launched as an experiment in 2017 as well. Unlike Firefox Send, which was a web service decoupled from Firefox, Firefox Notes was an internal feature of Firefox that added note taking to the browser. Most browsers rely on third-party extensions for note taking functionality; Vivaldi is an exception to that as it launched with note taking support.

Notes was updated several times to improve functionality. The latest version supports multiple notes, formatting options, and the exporting of notes as HTML files.

Mozilla will shut down Firefox Notes on November 1, 2020. The Firefox browser extension will remain installed but it won't be available anymore for installation. Mozilla won't provide updates, security or otherwise, for the browser extension anymore, and Notes syncing will not be available. The Notes application for Android won't work anymore at that time.

Firefox users who do use Notes may use the Export All Notes option of the extension to save all notes as HTML. All that is required for that is to click on the three dots in the notes extension interface and select the option. Individual notes can also be exported.

Now You: Have you used Firefox Send or Notes? What is your take on the termination of these services?

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Copy++ is a simplified text snippet tool for Windows

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 14:51:34 GMT

Say you are on a page that has a form that you have to fill up. You have to type your address, phone number, and other data. These are information that you may have to type commonly across websites and services. Why waste time typing them, when you can add them with a single tap?

Copy++ is a freeware text snippet tool, similar to the excellent Beeftext. This is not a text expander tool, such as Espanso or WriteYours, as in it cannot auto complete phrases based on some keywords.

Instead, it saves snippets that you choose in 10 different slots. Copy++ isn't a portable application. Install and run it, the program starts from the system tray. Double-click on the icon to open the interface. It has a dark theme, a clutter-free appearance and consists of some buttons and ten text fields.

Let's store some snippets. Select some text from any program and copy it to the Windows clipboard. Copy++ will not store the data in its slot, you'll have to manually assign one for the snippet. You can do that by using the following shortcut: Ctrl + number, where number represents a key that you select from 1 to 9, and also the 0 key.

For e.g. Ctrl + 1 will send the clipboard's contents to the first slot in Copy++. Ctrl + 5 will send it to the fifth, Ctrl + 0 to the last slot and so on.

The Copy++ window does not have to be in focus (the active window) for this to work, the copy method works even when the program is in the system tray. The snippet will be added to the slot, and you can verify this by switching to the program's interface.

Copy something else to the clipboard and paste it in a text editor to check if the contents of the clipboard have been overwritten. Now let's try using the snippet that we saved in Copy++.

Open a text editor or browser. Assuming you saved it to the first slot, use the key combo Ctrl + Shift + 1. Change the number to match the corresponding snippet's slot. This command sends the snippet's content to the clipboard, and it can be pasted using the usual command, Ctrl + V.

Can I type something directly in the snippet slot in Copy++? Yes, you can. It functions like a text field, and this is helpful should you want to fix typos in a clip, add spaces, punctuation, etc.

Did you notice that Copy++ does not display a number next to the slot? Manually counting the slot number can be annoying. You can avoid this by enabling the "Show Assistant" button from the program's toolbar. This places a toolbar overlay at the top of the screen. It displays the shortcut for each slot, and also a preview of the snippet stored in it.

But that's not what the Assistant is for, it provides a faster way to copy or paste the content from/to the slots.

Left-click on the label that reads "Ctrl 1" on the Copy++ Assistant bar. This command sends the content to the clipboard. Want to paste the clipboard contents to a slot? Right-click on a number label on the bar.

Copy++ does not save the snippets permanently by default. So, if you close the program you will lose the contents. In order to avoid this, click on the "Save on Exit OFF" button on the toolbar. It should change to "Save on Exit ON" and this preserves the text even when you exit the application.

While the program is restricted to 10 snippet slots, there doesn't seem to be a limitation to the amount of text that can be stored. I saved this entire article to a slot, and it worked fine.

Copy++'s primary feature is its user-friendliness. It offers an efficient way to use snippets without being overwhelmed by too many options in the interface.

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Thu, 17 Sep 2020 14:35:40 GMT

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KB4577062 and KB4577069 preview updates for Windows 10 version 1809, 1903 and 1909

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 06:38:08 GMT

Microsoft has released preview updates for Windows 10 version 1809, 1903 and 1909 on September 16, 2020. The updates KB4577069 for Windows 10 version 1809 and KB4577062 for Windows 10 version 1903 and 1909, are non-security updates that address various issues in the operating systems.

The updates are not downloaded and installed automatically on Windows 10 devices; administrators find them under optional updates and need to select them manually for installation. The main idea behind these updates is to make them available to get feedback and Telemetry data before the wider rollout begins on the Patch Tuesday of the coming month. Windows 10 updates are cumulative in nature, and what is fixed in the preview updates is included in the next cumulative update for the operating system.

Most Windows users should not install these updates unless they fix issues that are experienced on the devices. Even then, it is recommended to create a system backup before installing them on a device.

KB4577069 for Windows 10 version 1809

Improvements and fixes

Internet Explorer 11 notifies users about Flash Player's upcoming end of support in December 2020.
Fixed an issue when using the Group Policy to configure IE's homepage.
Fixed an unnamed issue in Microsoft Edge when using IE mode that occurred when "Configure enhanced hang detection for Internet Explorer mode" was enabled.
Fixed the cause of the error "”0x80704006. Hmmmm…can’t reach this page” in legacy Edge.
Fixed a five minute or longer delay in Remote Desktop Protocol sessions.
Fixed the error "Class not registered" that caused VB apps to stop working.
Fixed a black screen issue when using Windows Virtual Desktop machines.
Fixed an issue that caused Cortana to stop working on multi-user devices when installing, uninstalling, and reinstalling the same update.
Fixed a stop error when the initialization of the graphics adapter failed.
Reduced the likelihood of missing fonts.
Fixed an issue that displayed a black screen momentarily when a program calls the Desktop Windows Manager Thumbnail API.
Fixed an issue that caused the first East Asian language character typed into a Microsoft Foundation Class Library (MFC) DataGrid to not be recognized.
Fixed a File Explorer close unexpectedly issue.
Fixed the "no features to install" error when attempting to install features with admin credentials.
Adds a Group Policy option to display on the domain and username when signing-in.
Fixed an issue that affected default application associations during updates.
Fixed an issue that caused programs to close unexpectedly when entering East Asian characters after changing the keyboard layout.
Fiji time zone information updates.
Fixed a Microsoft System Centre Operations Manager issue that prevented it from monitoring a customer's workload.
Fixed a performance issue in PowerShell.
Fixed an issue with creating HTML reports using tracerpt.
Fixed access violation issues in lsass.exe.
Fixed an issue that prevented data under HKLM\Software\Cryptography from being migrated during feature updates.
Fixed an issue that prevented BitLocker from being enabled after installing Server Core App Compatibility Feature on Demand.
Addressed an issue that created duplicate Foreign Security Principal directory objects for Authenticated and Interactive users in the domain partition.
Addressed an issue that prevented a call to NCryptGetProperty() from returning the correct pbOutput value when pszProperty was set to "Algorithm Group" and you were using a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2 device.
Fixed a Windows Defender Application Control issue that enforced rules that should be audit only.
Fixed a WinHTTP AutoProxy issue that caused it to not comply with Time To Live values on the Proxy Auto-Configuration file.
Fixed a Software Load Balancing issue that might cause a connection to an application to fail.
Adds new but unnamed functionality to the robocopy command.
Adds Secure Sockets Layer certificate authentication over HTTP/2.
Fixed a reconnecting issue when using Always On VPN.
Fixed an issue in Microsoft Office that caused apps to close unexpectedly when using Korean Input Method Editor.
Adds an Azure Active Directory (AAD) Device Token that is sent to Windows Update (WU) as part of each WU scan.
Addressed an issue that failed to log events 5136 for group membership changes in certain scenarios.
Fixed a deadlock when Offline Files are enabled.
Fixed an issue that caused deduplication jobs to fail.
Removed the call to www.microsoft.com that the Remote Desktop Client makes when signing-out using a Remote Desktop Gateway.
Addressed issues with evaluating the compatibility status of Windows.s
Addressed an issue with setting the “Restrict delegation of credentials to remote servers” Group Policy with the “Restrict Credential Delegation” mode on the RDP client.

Known issues

The long-standing "0x800f0982 - PSFX_E_MATCHING_COMPONENT_NOT_FOUND." error on devices with "some" Asian language packs installed.

KB4577062 for Windows 10 version 1903 and 1909

Improvements and fixes

Internet Explorer 11 notifies users about Flash Player's upcoming end of support in December 2020.
Fixed an issue when using the Group Policy to configure IE's homepage.
Fixed an issue that caused "certain" apps to go into a repair cycle that is unwanted.
Fixed the error "Class not registered" that caused VB apps to stop working.
Fixed a black screen issue when using Windows Virtual Desktop machines.
Fixed a HDR streaming issue that might display 4K HDR content darker than expected.
Fixed a stop error when the initialization of the graphics adapter failed.
Reduced the likelihood of missing fonts.
Fixed an issue that caused a device to stop responding after using a pen for several hours.
Fixed an issue that caused the first East Asian language character typed into a Microsoft Foundation Class Library (MFC) DataGrid to not be recognized.
Fixed a "I forgot my Pin" failing issue in a Windows Hello for Business On-Premise deployment.
Fixed a File Explorer close unexpectedly issue.
Fixed an issue that affected default application associations during updates.
Fixed the "no features to install" error when attempting to install features with admin credentials.
Time zone update for Fiji.
Fixed a stop error issue when using the Microsoft Surface Slim Pen.
Fixed stop error 0xC2 in usbccgp.sys.
Fixed an issue that caused random line breaks in PowerShell.
Fixed an issue when creating HTML reports using tracerpt.
Allows the DeviceHealthMonitoring Cloud Service Plan on Windows 10 Business and Windows 10 Pro editions.
Fixed an issue that prevented data under HKLM\Software\Cryptography from being migrated during feature updates.
Fixed an issue stating that a smart card pin was not successful despite that it was successful.
Addressed an issue that created duplicate Foreign Security Principal directory objects for Authenticated and Interactive users in the domain partition.
Fixed an issue that prevented BitLocker from being enabled after installing Server Core App Compatibility Feature on Demand.
Fixed an access violation issue in lsass.exe.
Fixed a Windows Defender Application Control issue that enforced rules that should be audit only.
Fixed a device reset issue when hibernating for devices with Dynamic Root of Trust for Measurement enabled.
Windows Hello Face recognition updated to work "well" with 940nm wavelength cameras.
Reduces distortions and aberrations in Windows Mixed Reality head-mounted displays.
Makes sure that the new Windows Mixed Reality HMDs meets minimum specification requirements and defaults to a 90Hz refresh rate.
Fixed a stop error on a Hyper-V host.
Fixed a reconnecting issue when using Always On VPN.
Adds an Azure Active Directory (AAD) Device Token that is sent to Windows Update (WU) as part of each WU scan.
Addressed an issue that failed to log events 5136 for group membership changes in certain scenarios.
Addressed an issue with the Microsoft Cluster Shared Volumes File Systems (CSVFS) driver that prevented Win32 API access to SQL Server Filestream data.
Fixed a deadlock when Offline Files are enabled.
Fixed an issue that caused deduplication jobs to fail.
Fixed an issue that caused programs to stop working when using Microsoft's Remote Desktop sharing APIs.
Removed the call to www.microsoft.com that the Remote Desktop Client makes when signing-out using a Remote Desktop Gateway.
Adds support for new Windows Mixed Reality motion controllers.
Addressed issues with evaluating the compatibility status of Windows.s
Addressed an issue with setting the “Restrict delegation of credentials to remote servers” Group Policy with the “Restrict Credential Delegation” mode on the RDP client.

Known issues

No known issues according to the support page

Now You: do you install preview updates on your devices?

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Why you should not buy digital games if physical copies are also available

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 05:40:27 GMT

If you like to play games, you may have access to a wide range of devices to do so: from smartphones and game consoles to PCs, tablets, and handhelds designed specifically for games.

The landscape has changed significantly in regards to how you obtain and play games. In the past, all you could do was buy physical copies of games, usually on cassettes, floppy discs, CDs, memory cards, and Blu-Ray discs, that you had to insert and then play. Nowadays, much of the market has moved on to digital purchases, and these offer a number of advantages on first glance.

With Sony releasing the Playstation 5 in two versions, a $399 version without optical drive and a $499 version with an optical drive, and other console makers offering digital versions of games and physical copies, some may be tempted to buy the cheaper version and go all-in on digital games.

Digital purchases become available instantly, and while that means downloading the entire game to the device, it eliminates the need to find a place to purchase the game, insert the disc or memory card, and start the installation this way. Game streaming will rise in popularity as well, and that eliminates the need to install games. Sometimes, gamers who purchase digital may play games before gamers who purchase digital copies got them, and if you want to play a game right at the moment, e.g. with your friends, buying digital is often the only option to do so.

Sales are more common when it comes to digital games as well, as manufacturers and game companies have better control over the pricing and can adjust the price of games quickly.

There are downsides to digital games, and these weight heavily in my opinion. The biggest drawback in my opinion is that digital games are linked to a specific account, and that selling them is only possible if you sell the entire account. Physical copies of games can be sold individually on the other hand.

My daughter has a good collection of Nintendo Switch games that were bought over the years. If she wanted to sell one, say Animal Crossing: New Horizons, she could do so as I made sure that we purchase physical game copies only. She'd have to sell the entire Nintendo account if the purchase would have been digital. Most companies prohibit customers from selling their accounts.

Collectors may also prefer physical copies. While the days of Big Box PC releases are gone, some prefer displaying their game collections neatly in their homes or game rooms, and that is not possible at all with digital game copies. There are still deluxe or collectors editions out there, and these usually come with all sorts of extras such as a manual, maps, figures, or extra discs with soundtracks.

Paying $100 less for the disc-less Sony Playstation 5 may be enticing as the money can be spend on another game or peripherals such as a second controller. I advise against this if money is not an issue because of the flexibility when it comes to reselling physical copies of games.

It is definitely the better option when it comes to Nintendo Switch games, especially first-party titles, as these don't lose much in value usually.

To sum it up: digital games make a gamer's life more comfortable but due to the way licensing works, you don't really own the game in the same way that you own a physical copy of a game.

Now You: are you a gamer? Do you buy physical or digital predominantly?

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Opera GX browser may play background music now

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 09:41:21 GMT

Opera GX is an experimental web browser by Opera Software that is described specifically as a gaming browser. The design of the browser and some of its functionality are designed for gamers and users who like the gaming-inspired design of the browser.

Opera Software added several gaming related features to the browser such as a throttler for RAM, the CPU and network. The throttler attempts to limit RAM, bandwidth and processor usage of the browser by setting fixed limits. Other features include gaming news that may be displayed on the browser's new tab page; users may select game systems they are interested in to get a list of upcoming games, news, and trailers and the like directly on the page.

The most recent version of Opera GX includes another new and rather unique feature: the ability to play adaptive background music. Background music is not turned on by default but needs to be enabled in this release.

Select Opera menu > Settings, and scroll down until you find Background music listed on the settings page. Select the option to open the configuration, and flip the toggle to enabled. You can modify the volume of the background music on the same page and disable the dynamic audio visualizer as well.

A blog post on the official Opera Software blog provides details on the new feature. According to the information published there, the music has been "composed by Ruben Rincón and the Berlinist band". The music is dynamic by default as it reacts to the browsing of the user.

The dynamic background music is an ambient downtempo that will immerse you further in your gaming-themed browser. Actively browsing, clicking and typing intensifies the music, for example, while slowly scrolling and reading will take the music down a notch. This dynamic reaction to your activity blends into the background when you’re in focus-mode, so you often don’t notice it until you miss it.

We are excited to finally reveal the entire concept we’ve had in mind: We wanted to give our browser the immersive sound experience known from games, where a perfectly-composed soundtrack lets you focus more, forget about any worries and boosts your overall experience by adapting to the task at hand. I believe we have succeeded.

Opera GX comes without a toggle in the frontend UI to disable the background music. It continues to play even while you play videos with sound or audio in the browser, but is barely audible unless you turn down the volume significantly.

The browser supported sounds for a while, and these are enabled by default. You get sounds when you type, open or close tabs, click, or hover over something. Each sound may be deactivated completely or tuned volume-voice, and there are different sets to choose from to find the perfect audio for the activity.

Closing Words

I first thought that sounds and background music would be distracting to the overall experience, but this has not been the case, at least when it comes to web activity that does not require full concentration. A toggle to turn off the music quickly would be a good addition, and Opera Software should consider disabling it entirely when the browser plays other audio or video content.

Now You: Music in the browser, what is your take on that?

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QuickSnip is a simple screenshot tool without an interface

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 08:00:47 GMT

Most screenshot programs including Windows' built-in Snipping tool, Snip & Sketch have a common visual element, a user interface. QuickSnip is rather unique in this regard, because it doesn't have an interface.

Don't worry, it's not a command-line tool either. Let me explain.

QuickSnip is a portable application. It comes in a 40KB archive, that contains a single file which is about 735KB. I suggest pinning it to the taskbar or create a desktop shortcut, you'll see why I recommend this in a moment.

When you run QuickSnip it places an overlay, which acts as the screen region selector. Don't just click anywhere. Instead, draw a box around the area of the screen that you wish to capture, and let go of the mouse.

The application will save the screenshot automatically. You can find the saved images under the "My Pictures\Snips" folder. QuickSnip assigns a new name for every screenshot. It begins at snip_00000, and is incremented by 1. For e.g. snip_00001, snip_00002, and so on.

Is this a faster way than using the good old PrintScreen key? No, but that doesn't save the image automatically, while QuickSnip does. This makes it quite faster in terms of saving the media. My personal favorite, ShareX, has it beat in this because it can capture the screenshot and save the image with the press of a single key. However, it does have way too many options, and that isn't something some users may want to deal with.

The snapshots taken by QuickSnip are saved in the PNG format. There is no way to change it to use a different format. In addition to saving it to a file, the program also sends the image to the clipboard, ready for pasting in other programs.

The program isn't flawless. The main issue with QuickSnip is that it exits immediately after a screenshot has been saved. To use it you'll need to open the application again. This is why it is recommended to use a taskbar shortcut.

If you were expecting an image editor to open after QuickSnip captured the snapshot, you should know that the program doesn't come with one. As a matter of fact, no preview of the image is displayed on the screen. There is no sound played either if you are used to an audio cue, to indicate the screenshot has been saved. This can be a bit of bother, because the only way to verify if a screen region has been properly saved, is by manually opening the image.

Capturing screenshots with the mouse may be difficult for some users. If you draw the box in the wrong size, you'll have to discard it with a right-click, since there is no option to adjust the capture. This becomes a bigger problem if you want to capture a program's window, because it is not possible with the application. QuickSnip does not support keyboard shortcuts. While we are on that topic, the program has absolutely no settings at all, so if you are looking for a screenshot tool that is customizable, this is not it.

QuickSnip is a good tool that is very user-friendly. The manual effort of selecting the screen area is not difficult, but unless you time it right, you may find yourself taking more screenshots than required. Still, the program could be helpful for people who aren't tech-savvy or want to use a simple screenshot tool.

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ShareX update brings a Smart Eraser, new hotkeys and more

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 06:16:16 GMT

ShareX, the popular screen capturing software, was updated to version 13.2.1 recently. The new build brings some new options and improvements to the popular screenshot tool. Let's take a look at a few major changes in the program.

Smart Eraser Annotation Tool

This is a new annotation tool in ShareX's image editor. You can find it on the toolbar, the icon sits between the cursor and blur tools. Normally, when you erase something using an image editor, it leaves behind some visual elements, e.g. white/colored patches. As a workaround, it is often better to use the blur tool instead though it isn't a completely tidy option either.

ShareX's Smart Eraser works differently, it obfuscates the content by blending it with the background. f you look at the tool closely, you'll see it has a color-picker preview. Mouse over the area you want to erase the content from, and the tool automatically picks up the background color over the pointer's position. Use it to draw a box and the color is applied to "erase" the contents. The result looks a lot cleaner and smoother than using the blur tool or white erase.

ome image editors support erasing with color, but you'll need to pick the shade manually before erasing the content. That's 2 steps, and if you pick the wrong color, you'll have to start over. ShareX's smart eraser however only works well with a single solid color background, i.e., if you use it with images that have multiple hues, the result will appear to be smudgy.Screen Recorder, Image Combiner, new hotkeys and more

Go to Task Settings > Screen Recorder and toggle the option that says "Use transparent region selection". It allows you to select the region without pausing the screen, it's quite similar to the Region Capture - Transparent option, but for videos.

The Image Combiner tool in ShareX now supports aligning images to the left, right and center. So if you want to stitch a number of images, you can use the new options to position them.

A new option called "UseAlternativeClipboardCopyImage" is available under the Application settings> Advanced tab. This option is experimental and disabled by default. You can enable it to copy the image to the clipboard while retaining the alpha channel transparency using 32-bit DIB and PNG format.

Head to ShareX > Hotkey Settings to add new keyboard shortcuts for the following tools: image splitter, vide converter and QR code (Decode from screen). You will have to assign the hotkeys manually.

The Color Picker in ShareX has a new option that can pick a color from the clipboard contents. To use it, you'll need to copy the color codes to the clipboard. For e.g. we can copy the RGB value 255 225 205, and click on "Pick color from the clipboard", and the program will automatically switch to the corresponding color.

The Ruler tool now displays the perimeter and area values in addition to the existing options. ImageEffects now has its own folder and the tool has several new options including text drawing, RGB Split filter, Opacity, Selective Color adjustment, and more.

There are a ton of other minor additions and fixes in the latest version of ShareX. Refer to the official changelog for more information.

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CCleaner 5.71 with new privacy opt-out for offers

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 05:47:58 GMT

CCleaner has had its fair share of controversies surrounding privacy and functionality in the past couple of years. While there is no data available on the impact of these issues on the application's userbase, it is clear that some users have moved on in the meantime.

Most user concerns were privacy related, and here on the bundling on unrelated programs, often by parent company Avast, and on data collecting. The bundling caused Windows Defender to flag CCleaner as potentially unwanted in 2020, while privacy options, or the lack thereof, was a cause of concern in the past years.

CCleaner 5.71 has been released. The changelog is short but one change in the new version addresses the bundling issue on CCleaner's end:

All users can now opt out of offers for other products.

Users who install CCleaner on supported systems may get offers, usually by Avast, the parent company. These offers were opt-out in the past, and users who did not pay attention to the installation would end up with extra software installed on their devices. Microsoft's Defender application did flag CCleaner because of this behavior. Offers may also be displayed as banners frequently to users.

Tip: if you have to use CCleaner, it is better to use the portable version as it does not need to be installed (and thus does not display offers during installation). You find it on the builds page on the official website.

CCleaner users find the new setting under Options > Privacy.

Since it is opt-out, it is activated by default but only for Avast company products and not third-party offers. The third-party offers option can be enabled in the privacy settings, but it is disabled by default.

To opt-out of data sharing and first-party offers, uncheck the following two options:

Help improve this app and our other products by sharing app-usage data with us.
See possible upgrades and offers for our other products by sharing app-usage data with us.

Users who want to know more about the data sharing find links to privacy and products policies, and a data factsheet that summarizes core information.

Closing Words

The opt-out does not seem to help users during first install, as offers may be presented during installation as the setting is activated by default. It is still recommended to disable the functionality as soon as it becomes available, or avoid it altogether by either using the portable version or a suitable alternative such as Bleachbit.

Now You: Do you use CCleaner or a comparable program?

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Ghacks Deals: The Complete 2020 Microsoft Office Mastery Bundle (95% off)

Tue, 15 Sep 2020 18:51:54 GMT

The Complete 2020 Microsoft Office Mastery Bundle is a big eLearning bundle that is all about Microsoft Office skills. It is suitable for users of all experience levels, and covers major Office applications such as Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Teams. The Excel course is divided into two parts, starting with a beginner course.

Here is the full list of courses included in the bundle:

Microsoft Teams -- Supercharge Your Business Productivity & Master Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Outlook 2019 -- Learn to Use Outlook Properly & Watch Your Productivity Soar
Excel Beginner 2019 -- Know Your Way Around Spreadsheets & Learn Basic Functions, Formulas, and Features
Excel Advanced 2019 -- Delve Into High-Level Consolidation, Analysis & Financial Reporting
Excel Beginner 2019 for Mac -- Get to Grips for Excel 2018 as a Mac User
PowerPoint 2019 -- Beginner to Advanced Tools, Features & Techniques on Making Amazing Slide Presentations
Word 2019 -- Conquer Your Word Documents & Improve Your Productivity
Access 2019 -- Start Your Database Journey by Learning the Fundamentals of MS Access 2019
Advanced Access 2019 -- The Next Step to Supercharge Your Microsoft Access & Data Analysis Skills

The entire bundle is available for just $39.99 at the time of writing.

Click here to open the Complete 2020 Microsoft Office Mastery Bundle on Ghacks Deals

Not for you?

You find hundreds of other deals with new deals posted daily on Ghacks Deals.

Fine print: make sure that you check out the specs and terms of the deal.

Ghacks Technology News benefits from sales made on the Ghacks Deals website through a revenue share agreement.

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Automatic Thunderbird upgrade to version 78.x has started

Tue, 15 Sep 2020 12:09:35 GMT

Users of the desktop email client Thunderbird who are still running version 68.x of the program will be upgraded to Thunderbird 78.2.2 automatically. The development team of the email client put an update blocker in place to prevent automatic upgrades from Thunderbird 68.x to Thunderbird 78 after the initial release of the new version. One of the main reasons for putting the update block in place was that the extension system changed in Thunderbird 78.

The new version of the email client supports only MailExtensions and not classic extensions; this invalidated all classic extensions that users had installed in the email client unless the extension developers would have created a compatible version of the extension in the meantime.

Thunderbird users who still run version 68 of the email client are upgraded to version 78.2.2 -- the most recent version -- automatically. The program is either upgraded automatically in the background if the default update settings have not been changed, or on user request.

Users who don't want to be upgraded at this point in time need to disable the updating functionality in the program; this is done by disabling automatic updates in the settings and changing the setting to manual updates (under Options > Advanced > Update).

Thunderbird users who use extensions may want to research whether these are compatible with the latest version prior to running the upgrade. One option to do that is to check each extension manually for compatibility, another to set up Thunderbird in a virtual environment or second system, import the profile, run the update, and check which extensions remain enabled.

Mozilla has not changed the notification on the Thunderbird 78.2.2 release notes page yet. A note on the page states that Thunderbird 78.2.2 is not offered as an upgrade from Thunderbird 68 or earlier, and that it is only available as a direct download.

Thunderbird 78.x includes a number of new features and improvements such as integrated support for OpenPGP.

Now You: Do you use Thunderbird or another email client / service?

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Microsoft Defender Application Guard for Office explained

Tue, 15 Sep 2020 06:01:30 GMT

Microsoft Defender Application Guard for Office is a new security feature designed to load untrusted Office documents, e.g. an Excel spreadsheet downloaded from the Internet, in an isolated environment to keep the underlying system and its data protected against potential attacks.

The security feature is based on Microsoft Defender Application Guard, which is designed to load untrusted sites in an isolated container using automated and standalone modes. Automated mode, called Enterprise Management Mode, has an admin define trusted sites through GPO or other management interfaces. These sites are loaded normally on the system while all other sites are considered untrusted and therefore launched in the virtual environment.

Standalone mode on the other hand has the user launch Microsoft Defender Application Guard manually to use it.

Microsoft Defender Application Guard for Office attempts to address threats that exploit weaknesses in Microsoft Office that related to the supported documents or its features. The core idea is to launch untrusted files in a safe environment to avoid interactions with the host system, its data, and the network.

Office users can still view, edit, print, and save documents in the Office application.

Microsoft Office will open files from potentially unsafe locations in  Microsoft Defender Application Guard, a secure container, that is isolated from the device through hardware-based virtualization. When Microsoft Office opens files in Microsoft Defender Application Guard, a user can then securely read, edit,  print, and save the files without having to re-open files outside of the container.

Microsoft Defender Application Guard for Office has the following hardware and software requirements:

64-bit processor with at least 4 cores (physical or virtual), virtualization extensions (Intel VT-x or AMT-V), Core i5 or higher.
8 Gigabytes of memory.
10 Gigabytes of free hard disk space.
Windows 10 version 2004 build 19041 or later, Enterprise edition only
Licensing requirement: Microsoft 365 E5 or E5 Security.
Office Beta Channel build version 2008 or later.
Kb4566782 installed

Microsoft limits the feature to Enterprise versions of Windows 10 and customers who are subscribed to either Microsoft 365 E5 or E5 Security.

Microsoft Defender Application Guard needs to be enabled on the system using the Windows Features interface or by executing the following PowerShell command: Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -online -FeatureName Windows-Defender-ApplicationGuard

Administrators need to open the Group Policy Editor and turn the Microsoft Defender Application Guard policy on. It is found @ Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Microsoft Defender Application Guard and needs to be set to 2 or 3.

2 enables Microsoft Defender Application Guard for isolated Windows environments ONLY.
3 enables Microsoft Defender Application Guard for Microsoft Edge and isolated Windows environments.

Now launch an untrusted document, e.g. one downloaded from the Internet, to verify that Application Guard for Office has been set up correctly. You should get a "To keep you safe, we're opening this document in Application Guard" notice.

The title bar of the interface should display the Application Guard icon which indicates that it is loaded in a virtual environment as well.

Closing Words

Microsoft Defender Application Guard for Office eliminates many Office document related attack vectors when deployed on user systems. It would be great if Microsoft would make the feature available to all customers, and not just Enterprise customers, but the chance of this happening is not very high.

Home users may use other virtualization software, e.g. Sandboxie or virtual machines, to load untrusted files.

Check out Microsoft's Docs website for additional information.

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Browse the web, scroll, search, manage tabs, using keyboard shortcuts with the Vim Vixen ...

Tue, 15 Sep 2020 05:15:34 GMT

Have you tried using keyboard shortcuts instead of the mouse whenever possible? It can make you work more efficiently, especially in browsers and text editors that support a huge number of shortcuts.

Vim users may know what I'm talking about. Vim Vixen is a keybinding extension for Firefox that offers Vim-like shortcuts. It not only introduces shortcuts to several options (not present by default in Firefox), but also simplifies some existing shortcut combinations.

Tip: Firefox users may check out Vimium-FF which offers similar functionality.

For e.g. normally, to reopen a closed tab, we use Ctrl + Shift + T. Vim Vixen lets you do the same with a single key, U.

There is no interactive tutorial available, but there is some documentation that you can go through on the project's page. The keyboard shortcuts are common across most Vim-like extensions (refer to the end of the article for the names). So, if you are familiar with one of these, chances are you can switch over to another seamlessly.

To scroll down a page, use the j key, to scroll up hit k. Scroll down half the page with Ctrl + U or Ctrl + D. The list of basic shortcuts are displayed on the add-on's page. I recommend using it as a cheat-sheet until you get used to it.

Vim Vixen replaces some existing shortcuts. For e.g. Ctrl + F will not bring up the "Find in page" option, nor will Ctrl +B bring up the Bookmarks bar. Instead, these shortcuts are used for scrolling a page by the screen. So, how do you search for text on the page? Tap / and a command bar appears at the bottom of the page. Enter the search term and hit enter. Navigate between the matched words using n or N.

Don't worry if this is confusing, this can be fixed easily. Go to the about:addons page for Vim Vixen to configure the key bindings. There are 2 ways to do this form and plain JSON.

Form is the user-friendly option of the two, all you need to do is select a keyboard combination for the shortcut you want.

Some shortcuts require you to double tap a key. For e.g. gg scrolls to the top of the page. Vim Vixen also supports case-sensitive hotkeys, a capital G, i.e. Shift + G will scroll to the bottom of the page.

Don't want to use Vim Vixen on a website? Use Shift + Esc or click on the extension's button on the toolbar to toggle it for the current webpage. This can be useful for webpages that have their own set of keyboard shortcuts (streaming sites, reddit with RES, etc).

Hit F to highlight links on the page, Vim Vixen will place letters on the screen over each link, representing a shortcut to it. Tap the keys to open the corresponding link. Similarly, you can navigate links, manage tabs, history, zoom, etc using simple shortcuts. For e.g. F to view links, followed by L will open the link for the Microsoft article (in the above screenshot).

Console

Vim Vixen has a console that can be accessed by tapping ":". You can enter different commands in it to perform some actions such as opening a new tab, window, select tabs, set the zoom level, etc.

Use open to load a URL. For e.g. If you want to open Ghacks' homepage in a new tab, the command would be

:open ghacks.net

You can also use o instead.

:o ghacks.net

To perform an online lookup, use the open command along with a keyword, and it will load the results using Google. You can customize the Search Engines from the add-on's options.

:open ghacks windows

:o ghacks firefox

Want to open or search in a new tab? Use the tabopen command instead. For e.g.

:tabopen ghacks.net

:t ghacks firefox

Vim Vixen is an open source extension.

As a long time SurfingKeys user, I had little trouble getting used to Vim Vixen. I'd say it's a tad easier to get into than the former, because SurfingKeys has a lot more options, not to mention an editor. If you have never used Vim, you can get your feet wet with Vim Vixen before moving on to more powerful add-ons.

Don't like it? There are plenty of other extensions to choose from such as: SurfingKeys, Tridactyl, Vimium-FF, Vimium C, Saka Key.

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Firefox 82 for Android with option to display the address bar permanently

Mon, 14 Sep 2020 11:40:41 GMT

An upcoming version of the new Firefox web browser for Android will feature an option to make the address bar permanent in the browser's user interface.

Currently, if you use the Firefox web browser on Android, you will notice that the address bar hides itself automatically once you start scrolling down on a page. The main idea behind that is to increase the available room for website content by hiding the address bar.

Other web browsers, Google Chrome for example, use the same technique to increase the available room for the actual website.

It is not necessary to scroll all the way up to the top again, as the address bar is displayed as soon as you scroll up again in Firefox and other browsers that use the feature.

While some users appreciate the feature, others may dislike the hiding of the address bar as it hides the website address and the browser's own menu when the website is scrolled downwards.

Firefox 82, a new mobile version of Firefox that is available as a Nightly development version currently, includes an option to make the address bar permanent.

Choice is always best when it comes to these features as it is impossible to please all users otherwise. The default option remains the same; Firefox hides the address bar when you scroll down.

Do the following to change the behavior:

Make sure you run at least Firefox 82.
Select Menu > Settings.
Select Customize on the page that opens.
Locate the "scroll to hide toolbar" toggle on the page and flip it to set it to off (it is displayed in gray if it is off).

Firefox won't hide the address bar anymore when you scroll from that moment on. You can undo the change at anytime by repeating the process; just make sure that the setting is set to on (colored).

Closing Words

Choice is usually better than no choice, especially when it comes to user interface behavior. A welcome change and hopefully one of many to follow when it comes to giving back options to users.

Now You: Do you prefer an always-visible address bar, or a hidden one on scroll?

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ppInk is a fork of gInk but with more annotation options including a text tool, arrows, ...

Mon, 14 Sep 2020 06:42:46 GMT

Back in December 2019, Martin wrote about a nice annotation tool called gInk. PpInk is a fork of gInk and it brings some additional features to polish the program further.

Note: ppInk is set to use French as it's default language. So, unless you prefer using it as such, you may want to change it to one of the other options. Right-click on the tray icon, and select "Options.

Use the Language drop-down menu and change the language, for e.g. English. Click on the button at the bottom of the window to save the changes.

PpInk uses gInk's icon. But the difference between the two tools is instantly noticeable, as the fork adds many new useful options in the bar.

These are the options available in gInk: Pen, Eraser, Pan, Mouse Pointer, Ink Visible, Snapshot, Undo and Delete (Pen Width is hidden by default).

Unlike the original which relies heavily on freehand drawing, ppInk has tools for quickly adding various elements (refer to the 1st image). These include a hands-free drawing tool with fill options, Ellipse and Rectangle tools. All three of these have color options that can be accessed by clicking on their icon multiple times. The default mode is standard/blank filled, a second click toggles color-filled, the 3rd time switches to white-filled, while the final click enables black-filled mode.

PpInk comes with options to add Lines and Arrows, and the latter has an option to switch the direction of the arrowhead.

If you're marking various areas on the screen, you may find the Numbered Chip to be a valuable tool. Select it and click anywhere to add a chip with the number 1 in it, subsequent clicks increment the number by +1.

GInk has one flaw (in my opinion), it doesn't have a text tool. Freehand drawing is acceptable for drawing custom shapes. But try scrawling some text using the freehand pen. You'll probably be spending more time undoing the changes, and re-drawing it, until you find it to be acceptable. ppInk addresses this problem with the inclusion of a text tool.

It's a simple yet really important feature, at least for me. You can align the text right/left, and also edit the contents of the text tool and the numbered chips.

Magnetic Effect is best explained on the program's official GitHub page. But, let me give you a quick example. Draw a box using the built-in rectangle shape tool. Disable the "Magnetic Effect" option. Move your mouse cursor next to a side of the rectangle, but not too close. Draw another box from the pointer's location, notice the gap between the 2 boxes?

Now try the same but with the Magnetic Effect enabled. There will be no gap between the boxes, i.e. the tool attaches the 2nd rectangle to the first one, kind of like how two magnets stick together when they're too close, hence the name.

(An example annotation made with ppInk)

The Options in the program also differs compared to the original. Toggle any tool that's available from the General tab. In addition to the options available in gInk, PpInk also has options to start a screenshot capture when the toolbar is opened. Unlike the original software, the floating icon (near the tray), can be moved when you right-click and drag it. You may choose to disable the floating window, save its position from the Options.

The other settings that you can tweak include selecting the default font type, size, arrowhead's aperture, magnetic radius.

PpInk has 9 pens enabled by default, and while this may seem like it has more options than gInk (has 5 pens), it's not the case. The latter has the same number of pens, but only 5 are pre-enabled. Likewise, the Pen Width tool is not enabled in gInk, but enabled in ppInk, they are functionally identical.

The Hotkeys page in ppInk has more settings, but that's because it has more tools.

GInk is a good program, but ppInk makes it more user-friendly. If you are terrible at freehand drawing, I think you'll like the latter over the former. Existing gInk users can switch over to the fork without missing out on any features, while gaining the advantages of the new tools.

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