OpenShell (formerly Classic Shell) is my favorite Start Menu replacement, I use it with the Fluent Metro theme. Not everyone wants a fancy looking thing, sometimes it's better to just have something that works.

SystemTrayMenu is a free start menu program that focuses on simplicity. It's not like your regular menu though, you'll need to set it up before you can use it.

Click on the tray icon, and the program will prompt you to set a folder to be used as its working directory, and I recommend creating a new folder for it. Try clicking on the icon again, and it'll tell you to add some shortcuts. Doing this is as simple as copying over some shortcuts from the desktop to the newly created folder using Windows Explorer. You can also add URLs (web shortcuts) to the folder, personally I think a shortcut for the browser is better, but if you like web shortcuts who am I to criticize that?

Add as many shortcuts as you want, when you're done, click on SystemTrayMenu's icon. This time, it will work as intended, and  the menu will appear. It pops-up near the action center, just above the clock. Unfortunately there is no way to move the interface to a different location, this could be a drawback for some.

Back to the menu, the shortcuts in it are listed in alphabetical order. Can I add folders to it? Yes, just create a sub-folder in the working directory, and it will be displayed in the tray menu. Shortcuts inside a sub-folder will be displayed when you click on the directory's name in the menu. This allows you to organize the menu, and is particularly useful if you want to add dozens of shortcuts.

To launch a program, mouse over its shortcut and double-click on it. Right-clicking on an item displays the operating system's context menu. SystemTrayMenu has a search option, which allows you to filter the menu's contents and find specific shortcuts instantly.

To customize the program, right-click on the tray icon and select settings. You may change the main folder, and optionally set the application to start automatically with Windows. Switch to the Expert tab, and you can modify the behavior of the shortcuts from opening with a double click to a single one.

SystemTrayMenu uses a light theme by default, but comes with a dark theme that goes nicely with Windows' night mode. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about the tray icon.

You can access the application with the hotkey, Alt + Ctrl + Apps. In case you aren't aware, the Apps key is located on the right side of the Space bar, between the Windows and Control keys. Don't worry if you find that inconvenient, the program allows you to customize the hotkey.

What's the point of a keyboard shortcut, when the menu appears all the way to the right of the screen? Well, the hotkey focuses the keyboard on SystemTrayMenu's interface, so you can start typing the name of a shortcut, and hit the Enter key to open the corresponding program instantly.

SystemTrayMenu is an open source program, written in C# and .Net Core 3.1. It is a portable software. Does it get bonus points for being a start menu alternative, without actually replacing it? You decide that.

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Firefox 89 will be a major new Firefox version; while all stable releases that bump the version by 1 may be considered major, there are only a few that make fundamental changes to the browser, and Firefox 89 will be such a release.

The upcoming version of Firefox is not a new ESR release version, but it will introduce the new Proton design in Firefox. We covered Photon quite a bit here already on Ghacks. Summed up, it is a visual refresh of the Firefox interface that modifies the browser's address bar, tab bar, menus, main menu, modals, and other key areas.

Mozilla enabled part of Proton in recent Firefox Nightly versions already, but the full design is still in active development, and some switches have not been flipped yet. Even with all Proton switches enabled, it is still not complete at this stage.

Firefox 89's original release date was four weeks after the release of Firefox 88, the next stable version release of Firefox, which is scheduled for a release on April 20, 2021. Mozilla decided to extend the Firefox 89 beta period by two weeks, and that postpones the release of the new Firefox version.

The new release date is June 1, 2021; it is still possible that the release may be delayed further, depending on how development progresses. All future version releases of Firefox go back to the regular 4-week release cycle. We have updated our Firefox Release calendar here on this site to reflect the change.

The new design will make several visual changes to Firefox that were discussed heatedly. Some liked the modern look of the menus and toolbars, others criticized Mozilla's design for using too much space, lacking visual tab separators, or hiding the compact mode density in new installations.

Closing Words

Proton is still a work in progress, but it is clear already that the visual refresh will be a controversial one when it launches. (via Sören Hentzschel)

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DuckDuckGo released a new version of its browser extension, called DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials, for all supported web browsers this week. The new version blocks FLoC interactions on websites to protect the privacy of users.

If you have not heard about FLoC yet, it is Google's attempt to shift advertising from a cookie-based system to one that does not require cookies anymore. Basically, what it does is assign a user to a cohort -- FLoC stands for Federated Learning of Cohorts. A cohort is made up of thousands of users who share similar interests.

While that sounds like a nice thing to do on first glance, it is not. You can check out the EFF's Google's FLoC is a Terrible Idea to better understand why FLoC is not necessarily better for Internet users in terms of privacy and tracking.

A final FLoC standard has not been released yet and many things are still discussed and modified.

Here are the main points of criticism leveled against FLoC at the time of writing:

• Website operators and advertisers learn about a user's interests when the user visits the site, even if it is the first visit.
• FLoC makes fingerprinting easier.
• FLoC, when combined with user identifying technologies, such as account sign-ins, gives site owners and advertisers a clear picture of the user's interest.
• Cohorts should not related to "sensitive categories" such as race, gender or religion, and to avoid this, the algorithm needs to tweak groups to avoid implicating a user based on such a group. In order to to that, Google needs to analyze the data based on these sensitive categories.

Test whether FLoC is enabled in your browser

Google runs an origin trial in its Chrome web browser at the time of writing that affects 0.5% of users in select regions.

The EFF has created a webpage that checks if FLoC is enabled in the browser. FLoC is only supported by Google Chrome at the time of writing; it remains to be seen if it will be included by default in other Chromium-based browsers, or if third-party developers will disable it.

To test, if your browser uses FLoC, visit the Am I Floced website and activate the test button to find out about it.

The DuckDuckGo extension

If you are using Google Chrome, you may install the DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials extension to block FLoC.

DuckDuckGo explains on its Spread Privacy website that the @FLoC blocking feature is included in version 2021.4.8 and newer of the DuckDuckGo extension".

The blocking is enabled automatically when the extension is installed.

DuckDuckGo for Chrome can be installed from the Chrome Web Store. The latest version is not yet available in the Store.

Now You: What is your take on FLoC? Do you think that it will become a new web standard?

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What's your preferred desktop search engine program? The answer is likely Everything, by Void Tools. I agree with you, it is a fantastic application.

GrepWin is an open source program that specializes in finding text in documents; it supports advanced regular expression filters, and you may want to give it a try for that purpose.

The program's interface is not the most user-friendly, but that's probably an impression caused by the various options on the screen.

Select the folder that you want to search by clicking the three-dot button at the top. Enter your query in the box that's labeled "Search For". For a more advanced approach, you may opt for the Regex search mode. GrepWin even has a test regex option for checking if your regular expression works or not. Hit F1 to view the help file, it has a list of all supported regex syntax.

Hit the enter key or click on the search button to make the query and grepWin will list the results on the pane at the bottom. The information is split into various columns, such as file name, size, path, extension, encoding, and date modified. Double-click on a file to open it in its default app, e.g. TXT files in Notepad, audio files in your music player, and so on. Right-click on a result to access the Explorer shell menu.

GrepWin could list a ton of files, and if you have trouble finding the one you wanted, I recommend playing around with the Limit Search settings to restrict the process by file size, date, hidden, system or binary files, disabling recursive search (subfolders). This also shortens the time taken for the search to complete by a considerable duration.

You can blacklist specific folders from searches using the exclude dirs box, the syntax is ^(FOLDERNAME)$. To include file types, use wildcards like *.TXT, and to exclude types, add a - before it. You may add | to separate multiple items. Speaking of regular expressions, you can add the ones you use to the presets, which will help you add them quickly the next time. Don't feel intimidated by these options, you don't need to know regex commands to use the program for simple searches, though by doing so you'll be missing out on some of its strongest filters.

Switch between the Files search mode and the Content finder by toggling the option in the bottom right corner of the window. This changes the columns in the search results pane, to display the relevant information. The Files mode lists the name, path of the documents which contain the search term.

GrepWin's content mode can search inside documents and list every instance the phrase was found in each document along with the line name and a preview of the text. The application supports case-sensitive search, which can be handy if there are a lot of matches, and you want to filter them based on the case. The application can be used to replace content in documents directly, to use this option enter the words in the replace with box, and click on the Replace button. You may want to enable the create backup file option, before using the replace function.

The Search button in grepWin has a few additional options including an inverted lookup, i.e. find files that don't match the entered query. You can also use it to run a search within the found results.

GrepWin is available for 32-bit and 64-bit computers, and comes in portable versions. If you're using the installer version, you can access the program from the Windows Explorer context menu.

DnGrep is a similar software, in fact it is nearly identical to grepWin. I'm not sure if one of them is a fork of the other.

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Yandex published an update of the company's Yandex Browser earlier this month that integrates Image Translate functionality natively in the browser. Yandex Browser is based on Chromium, the same core that powers many other browsers including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave, Edge or Vivaldi.

The update, introduced in version 21.3.1, improves the built-in translator, powered by Yandex Translate, which works similarly to Google Translate in Chrome. When Yandex users visit foreign language sites, they get the option to translate the content into another language.

With Image Translate landing in Yandex Browser stable, users of the web browser may now do the same for any image they encounter.

All it takes is a right-click on any image that is displayed in the browser and the selection of "translate image" from the context menu to get the translation on the image itself after a brief moment. Yandex notes that on some images, you may also get a small button in the upper right corner to invoke the translate functionality.

The browser submits the image to Yandex Translate when the "translate image" menu option is selected by the user. The translated text, if detected correctly, is then returned to the page and displayed instead of the original image.

Image translate works on most images, but not on all; or to be more precise, it may not work in the following cases:

• when Yandex Translate fails to identify the text correctly.
• when a website prevents this from happening.
• if the detected page language is identified as the "to translate" language.
• when the image has a lower size than 200x200 pixels

A quick test confirmed that the feature works well most of the time, but that you may run into issues with some images and sites, especially the errors "couldn't recognize text" and "text already matches page language" are common issues.

Yandex Browser prompts users to translate page images if page translate is being activated on a webpage; this is handy as it will result in the translation of all images on the page as well, something that did not happen in previous versions of the browser.

The company plans to improve the image translate functionality in future builds; this includes improved detection to only translate images with text and context recognition.

Now You: do you use translate functionality on your browser?

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Microsoft announced plans some time ago to move some of Windows 10's applications to the Microsoft Store. It moved the popular plain text editing app Notepad to the Microsoft Store in 2019, and announced in 2017 that Microsoft Paint would be moved to the Store as well.

It took Microsoft four years since the initial announcement to move Microsoft Paint to the Microsoft Store.

With the release of a new Insider Build, version 21354, comes the confirmation that Microsoft has moved Microsoft Paint and the Snipping Tool to the Microsoft Store.

MSPaint is now updateable via the Microsoft Store outside major OS updates. It also has a new icon and has been promoted out of the Windows Accessories folder to its own place in the Start menu.

Snipping Tool is now updateable via the Microsoft Store outside major OS updates. It has been packaged together with Snip & Sketch so we can deliver updates for both at the same time. It has also been promoted out of the Windows Accessories folder to its own place in the Start menu.

Both applications can be updated separately in the future and pushed to user systems without having to wait for operating system updates to release the updates.

Both applications are no longer listed under Windows Accessories but as individual apps in the Start Menu.

In the case of the Snipping Tool, things are a bit more complicated, as Microsoft decided to combine Snip & Sketch and the Snipping Tool. Snip & Sketch is an upgraded version of the Snipping Tool; both apps may be installed on the Windows device, or only one of the apps.

For Insiders who have not installed Snip & Sketch, Snipping Tool will be removed after the installation of the latest build. Users need to install Snip & Sketch from the Store to get it back according to Microsoft.

Here are the links to the Microsoft Store:

• Paint
• Snip & Sketch

Administrators who have uninstalled the applications may reinstall them through the Store. Paint is currently not available for download while Snip & Sketch can be downloaded already.

Paint won the fight against the newer Paint 3D application. New Windows 10 installations won't include Paint 3D anymore going forward.

Windows 10 users who don't use the Store won't receive the application updates as these are driven by the Store in the future. Feature updates may still update these applications when they are installed.

Now You: what is your take on Microsoft separating application updates from operating system updates?

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Everyone has a favorite download manager. IDM has been my go-to choice for nearly a decade. But as an enthusiast, I test new ones from time-to-time.

Motrix has been on my radar for a while, I gave it a fair shot. The program is cross-platform and open-source.

Motrix has a dual-pane GUI and a sidebar, and the design is modern. The Tasks tab is the primary screen, it has three tabs of its own, for accessing ongoing, paused and completed downloads. To begin a new file download, click on the + button on the sidebar. The application will automatically pick up a URL that is in the clipboard.

The speed meter in the bottom right corner indicates the current download speed, though you can also view this information in the download progress displayed in the right pane of Motrix's interface.

You can rename the file, set the folder in which to save the file to. Click on the advanced options button, and you can add a user-agent, referrer and a proxy. The download manager sits in the system tray, and has a menu with options to quickly start a download.

Motrix can download torrents too, you may drop a file onto the second tab of the "new download" page to start the process. Or, you can paste a Magnet URI link in the first tab, and the app will recognize it, fetch the torrent's metadata and start downloading the content. The program will seed the torrent automatically.

Head to the Stopped tab, which is basically your paused/completed downloads section, and you can interact with the file. It has buttons to restart the download, delete it, and a copy link button. The last option supports normal URLs, as well as magnet links, which I find very useful. Double-click on a downloaded file to open its location in Windows Explorer.

Motrix is based on Aria2 like uGet and Persepolis Download Manager. The program does not have official browser extensions, but works with third-party add-ons that support Aria2. Head to the Settings > Lab section, and you will find the recommended extensions. I used YAAW, and set 16800 as the port, and toggled the interception of downloads to Aria2c. The program suggests using the Aria2 Download Manager Integration add-on for Firefox, and while it is no longer being maintained, it does work with Motrix. To use it, go to the RPC Server tab in the extension, and choose the same port, i.e., 16800.

Motrix is an open source Electron app, it is available in an optional portable version. The program uses about 125-130 MB of RAM when running in the background. What surprised me was that the resource usage while downloading remained in a similar range, which for an Electron application is not bad at all. I'm guessing that's because Aria2 is doing the heavy lifting here, so the download manager's interface is fairly light on resources.

The drawback with Motrix is that you don't have extensive control over torrent downloads (compared to a proper program like qBitTorrent). If you use a magnet link with Motrix, you can't select the contents of the torrents to download specific files. For that, you have to use the torrent file, which then opens the selective download screen.

There is no way to view the information about peers, which also means you can't add any either. To add trackers, go to the Advanced settings page and paste the list of URLs. This isn't the most convenient option, but it's better than nothing. If you're looking for more refined controls, I'd say you're better off with qBitTorrent or PicoTorrent.

Motrix sets itself as the default torrent downloader without prompting the user, that was a bit annoying for me. The program cannot be used to download videos, which was perhaps what surprised me the most, as nearly every download manager I've used supports this feature. Also, the program does not maintain the download history, so it's like you start fresh every time you close and reopen it.

Aside from those issues and the lack of updated add-on for Firefox, Motrix is a decent download manager. The download speeds were excellent, I have no complaints here. If I wanted a lighter one (and wasn't using IDM), I'd go for Neat Download Manager or XDM. PyIDM, HTTP Downloader, AM Downloader are some other good options that you may want to consider.

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1Password is a popular password management and synchronizing service that is available for Windows, Mac OS and Linux, the mobile systems Chrome OS, Android and iOS, and as a web version. 1Password Families offers protection for the whole family (up to five family members, with options to add more members), with individual accounts for each family member on a single subscription.

The Family plan supports all the features of the regular 1Password plan, including effortless importing of passwords from browsers and other applications, use on unlimited devices, unlimited passwords and items, and 1 Gigabytes of storage. The Family plan adds options to share data such as passwords securely, limited sharing with guests, and options to recover accounts of locked out family members.

Security-wise, 1Password offers state of the art protections. The service uses advanced encryption to protect data on all devices and the cloud, two-factor authentication to add another layer of security, a watchtower feature that alerts you when compromised websites or vulnerable passwords are detected, and a travel mode to remove sensitive data from devices before crossing borders, and to restore the data once borders have been crossed.

You get 50% off the first year of 1Password Families when you sign-up using this link. 

Disclosure: The deal is provided by 1Password in partnership with Ghacks Technology News. Check out the privacy policy and Terms of Service here.

Ghacks Technology News benefits from sales through a revenue share agreement.

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Taskbar Sound Badges is a new application for Microsoft Windows devices that adds audio badges to the Windows taskbar to highlight programs that play sound.

The program is released as an alpha preview at the time of writing. It is compatible with Windows 7 and newer versions of Microsoft Windows operating systems, and comes as a 93 Kilobyte archive.

The homepage offers the following description of the program's functionality:

This small program monitors which applications are currently playing sound and adds Taskbar Badge to those that do

All you have to do is download the archive, extract it, and run one of the available executable files; an installation is not required. The following screenshot demonstrates how it looks like on the taskbar (check the Firefox Nightly icon).

The archive contains 32-bit and 64-bit applications. The application adds an icon to the system tray that highlights the processes that are playing audio currently.

Not all programs that play audio may get the badge in the current versions. A quick test on a Surface Go device revealed that the Brave browser icon was not updated while the Nightly icon was. Taskbar Sound Badges did list Brave as an audio playing program correctly, however. The same was true for Google Chrome, and it may be true for other Chromium-based browsers.

Other programs, e.g. Winamp, worked correctly when playing sound on the device. The application has a low disk and memory footprint when it is run.

Taskbar Sound Badges reports audio playing processes on the device and adds audio indicator badges to (some) taskbar icons so that users known which programs do play audio on the device.

The program is offered as a preview version, and issues are to be expected because of that. The only issue that I ran into was that the badge icon was not added to some of the taskbar icons, even though the linked processes were playing audio.

All in all, Taskbar Sound Badges is an interesting program that is worth keeping an eye on. While it may not appeal to the majority of users, it should prove useful to some, especially if the badge issue is fixed in future versions. Maybe it is even possible to add sound controls directly as well.

Now You: Audio badges on the taskbar, is that something that you find useful?

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Mozilla revealed that it will end support for the organization's Firefox web browser for the Amazon products Fire TV and Echo Show on April 30, 2021.

The mobile version of Firefox landed in 2017 on Amazon's App Store and users could install it to use the web browser on the device. Amazon did launch its own Chromium-based browser Silk Browser around the same time. Mozilla's browser became a popular choice for Fire TV owners who wanted to watch YouTube, as a Google-Amazon dispute blocked official YouTube apps on the device. Firefox was used to access YouTube and play videos.

Eventually, Google and Amazon came to an agreement and the official YouTube app landed on Fire TV devices.

Tip: if you don't want to be bombarded with video ads in the official YouTube app, check out our guide on watching YouTube without ads on Fire TV.

Firefox for Fire TV has more than three times as many user ratings as Amazon's own browser, and it is ranked before Amazon's browser in web browsers and free apps & games.

A visit to the Firefox for Fire TV page on Amazon's App store informs users that support for the mobile browser has ended:

Firefox has ended support for Amazon Fire TV. This app may continue to work, but it won’t receive security or other updates effective April 30, 2021.

A support page on Mozilla's Knowledgebase, not available in English, provides additional information on the decision; here are the essentials:

• Starting on April 30, 2021, Fire TV owners cannot install Firefox anymore on the device using the App store. The same is true for reinstalling the browser if it is installed already.
• The browser can still be used on the Fire TV device, but it is not supported, and won't receive feature updates or security updates anymore.
• On Echo Show, users will be redirected to Amazon's Silk browser automatically.

Fire TV users may sideload the Firefox web browser for Fire TV after April 30, 2021, e.g. by downloading the latest version from the official GitHub page. Other mobile browsers that are compatible with Fire TV may also be installed on the device.

Closing words

As a Fire TV 4K owner, I have installed and used Firefox on the device, but just a few times when I needed to access a Live Steam or website on the Fire TV device that was not accessible otherwise. Others may have used Firefox more heavily, but it appears that usage was too low for Mozilla to continue supporting the mobile browser.

Now You: do you use a Fire TV device? What is your take on Mozilla's decision?

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If you follow Firefox web browser news you may have read some time ago that Mozilla planned to remove the browser's compact mode from the customization options. Compact Mode is one of Firefox's three density modes for its main interface; it is the smallest layout option and leaves most room for webpages displayed in the browser. The other two modes, normal, which is the default, and touch, which is for touch-capable devices, display a bigger interface.

Mozilla's original plan was to remove the Compact Mode option from the browser's customize menu. You may access the customize option by selecting Main Menu > Customize. The reason that Mozilla gave for the removal was that the option was "hard to discover" and that it believed that "it got low engagement".

The reasoning did not sit well with Firefox users, many of which were using Compact Mode in the browser. A new bug on Mozilla's bug tracking site reveals Mozilla's plan for Compact Mode in Firefox.

According to the listing, Compact Mode remains enabled for Firefox users who are using it. The mode remains available in the customize menu for those users. Firefox users who have not set it won't see it in the customize menu anymore, but they may reactivate it through a "hidden" about:config setting.

The preference browser.compactmode.show determines whether the Compact option is shown under Density in the customize menu. Set the preference to TRUE to show the compact density option, or keep it at the default FALSE to hide it from the menu.

It is unclear whether setting browser.uidensity to 1 will enable compact mode without showing it in the customize option, but it looks that way as the preference is the one that Firefox users to determine the set density.

If you compare the new decision to the old plan, you will notice the following;

1. Compact Mode is still moved to about:config as a hidden option.
2. The main change is that the mode remains enabled for users who have it set. In the previous plan, these users would be moved to the default density automatically.

Mozilla plans to make it clear that Compact Mode is unsupported by adding (not supported) to the string in the customize menu.

Closing Words

The decision feels shortsighted, especially since it angered Firefox users who are using Compact Mode and prefer it over the other modes, especially with Proton coming along soon and making everything bigger. Removing features, regardless of how few users are using them, is always going to infuriate some users. If you do it too often, you are frustrating more and more users of the browser.

Mozilla could have reversed the decision, maintain the mode, and display a customize prompt to new users that would allow them to set compact mode among several other options on first run.

Now You: what is your take on all of this?

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Many people use multiple monitors, some prefer it for work or gaming, or just for their day-to-day usage. If you are using monitors of different sizes, there is a chance that the resolution is not the same but different.

This is more common if you are a laptop user, with an external display plugged in. Windows has an option to change the display resolution for each monitor, though you'll need to jump through a couple of menus to make the changes. QuickChangeResolution helps shortens the process for your primary monitor.

It is a portable application, and quite simple to use. The sidebar on the left of the window lists various screen resolutions in terms of width and height (in pixels). The current screen resolution is displayed at the bottom of the side panel.

To modify the display settings, select a resolution on the sidebar and click on the "Set Resolution" button to your right. That's it, your monitor should apply the changes immediately. Here's the unusual part: the program supports way more screen resolutions than Windows does, or to be precise the options available in the operating system's Settings. So, if for some reason, you want to turn down the screen resolution to a very low level, this program provides an easy way to do that.

QuickChangeResolution can also be used from the command-line. It supports a few additional parameters, I recommend checking the product's page on GitHub for further details, e.g. -lr lists the available resolutions, -r sets it to a given value. Here's another example, QuickChangeResolution.exe -r 1280x1024 will change the resolution to 1280 x 1024 pixels (width x length). You don't need to provide administrator rights for the application to work.

There is just one option in the program that you can change, and this one is turned on by default. I would suggest disabling it, by unchecking the box next to it. Why? Because, it makes the selected resolution setting a permanent one. You may choose to set the resolution for the user that's currently logged in, or all users.

The best feature of the program is the non-permanent resolution option, it can be useful if you're playing an old game which doesn't support modern resolutions. Even if you forget to restore the resolution after you are done with the program, Windows should automatically revert to the default settings when you reboot the computer.

QuickChangeResolution is an open source program. I'm not sure why some resolutions are bolded, while others appear normal. Either way, it is not like the bolded ones are the only settings that you can choose, all of them work fine. You can close the program after changing the resolution.

The lack of support for hotkeys was a bit disappointing, and since it doesn't use a tray icon, the only way to access it quickly, is by using a shortcut. But that is not the main issue with the application, in my opinion, the lack of an option to select a specific display and change its resolution is the bigger problem. I know it's the first version of the application, so maybe it will be improved with updates.

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The latest Everything Toolbar update introduce a new installer that is not compatible with the old. Users are required to uninstall the old version of Everything Toolbar on their devices before running the new installer. In this article, we analyze why it was necessary to switch the installer and provide explanations on removing the previous version of the software from the device.

Everything Toolbar adds a search field to the taskbar on devices running a Microsoft Windows operating system; this allows users to run searches using Everything, one of the fastest search engines available for Windows, right away.

You can hide the default Windows search field on the taskbar and replace it with the Everything search field. Windows search remains accessible through the Start Menu.

Everything Toolbar 0.62 introduced a new installer. The first beta of the new version was released in January the final version in the beginning of February 2021. It was the first version that came with the new installer.

Existing Everything Toolbar installations need to be removed before the new version, currently version 0.63, is installed on the system. The program is not listed in the apps listing / uninstall a program applet. You need to open its portable folder, right-click on uninstall.cmd, and select run as administrator; this removes the reference to the application. Restart the device before you run the new installer.

The new installer is provided as a msi file, and one of the main differences to the old installer is that it will install Everything Toolbar for all users on the system.

The developer of the program notes that the move was necessary as the old installer caused problems for some users. The new installer needs to be installed with elevated privileges, subsequent updates can be installed without elevated rights.

New Features since our latest review

A lot has changed since our review of Everything Toolbar 0.2.3. The developer has released several new version: here is an overview of important changes:

• Use Shift-Enter to view search results in Everything.
• Search results have a context menu now (with open, copy, properties and more).
• Search results popup can be resized.
• Theming support, dark and light theme included.
• Item templates can be customized.
• Open With menu can be customized.
• Windows-Alt-S keyboard shortcut to focus the search box globally.
• Filters can be synced with Everything-
• Improved DPI support.
• First search result is selected automatically.
• More keyboard shortcuts, e.g. Ctrl-Click to open the path.
• Alt-Space to use QuickLook.

Everything Toolbar is a useful search tool for Windows users who do use Everything regularly on their devices.

Now You: do you use the default Windows Search, or a different search tool on your devices? (via Deskmodder)

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The A to Z Cyber Security & IT Certification Training Bundle includes 12 eLearning courses that teach you skills such as ethical hacking, exploitation, SQL injection, or cloud security.

Some courses prep you for security certifications, including CCSP, CISM and CISA.

The entire bundle is available for just $39 at the time of writing. It includes certification of completion, is available for users of all experience levels, and may be accessed for lifetime.

Here is the full course list:

1. Ethical Hacking From Scratch to Advanced Techniques
   Get Paid to Hack Computer Networks When You Become a Certified Ethical Hacker
2. GSEC Certification: Security Essentials
   Ace the GIAC Security Essentials Certification On Your First Sitting
3. The Art of Exploitation Course
   Learn How to Exploit from Scratch
4. SQL Injection
   Master SQL Injection Attacks
5. The Complete Ethical Hacking Certification Course
   Master Ethical Hacking, Kali Linux, Cyber Security, System Hacking, Penetration Testing & Get Certified
6. CISSP Exam Preparation Training Course
   How to Get CISSP Certified & Start Making the Big Bucks
7. Penetration Testing & Ethical Hacking Project from A to Z
   How to Manage Penetration Testing & Ethical Hacking Projects from Scratch
8. Certified Cloud Security Professional: CCSP
   Pass the CCSP Exam On Your First Try
9. CISM: Certified Information Security Manager
   Pass the CISM Exam On Your First Try
10. CISA: Certified Information Systems Auditor
    Pass the CISA Exam On Your First Try
11. CompTIA Security+ Certification
    Study to Pass the CompTIA Security+ Certification Exam
12. CompTIA CSA+ & Certified Cyber Security Analyst
    Pass One of CompTIA's Most Coveted Certification Exams

Click here to open the A to Z Cyber Security & IT Certification Training Bundle on Ghacks Deals.

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

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It is not uncommon to find Reddit links in the results of Internet searches. If you click on a link to Reddit, one of two things may happen: the actual page on Reddit may open right away, and you may read the original post and the replies right away, or, the content may be blocked and you may get a prompt to either sign-in to an account or use the official Reddit app to access the content.

The first scenario happens on the desktop, the second exclusively on mobile at the time of writing. The screenshot below (on the left) shows the prompt that mobile users may get when they open a page in a mobile browser without being signed-in. It appears that the content is not blocked for all mobile users, but only a subsection of users.

Reddit states "to view posts in r/*** you must continue in Reddit app or log in" in that case. Others may see the list of topics in a subreddit or the homepage, but any tap on a link opens a sign-up page.

Reddit wants users to use the app on mobile or sign-in at least. While the company has not revealed why it is putting a block in place for some mobile users, it is likely that it wants more information about its users to boost revenue on the site.

As a user, it is a nuisance, especially if you followed a link to a specific discussion as you may have no interest to sign-up or install the official app just to read that one page on the site.

Ways around Reddit's mobile blocking

If you just want to access the content without having to sign-in or use the Reddit app on mobile devices, then you have the following options to do just that-

Option 1: "Old" Reddit

Reddit maintains two versions of the site currently. The new version that is loaded by default, and an old version. The latter may be removed at one point in time, but it works fine currently. The old version does not enforce the use of the app or an account to access content on the site. Even better, it is very easy to access, especially if you are on Reddit already.

All you have to do is replace the www part of the address with old, e.g. https://www.reddit.com/r/windows10/ with https://old.reddit.com/r/windows10.

Option 2: Desktop Reddit

Instead of using the old version of Reddit, you may also load the desktop site. Some mobile browsers support this out of the box; this is the case for Brave or Firefox.

Just select Menu > Desktop Site in those browsers to request the Reddit desktop site instead of the mobile site. Downside to this is that the desktop site is not optimized for mobile use.

Option 3: A different browser

If you have multiple browsers installed, you may get the full view in some while others may be blocked. On my device, Reddit was blocking access in Brave by default but not in Firefox. Firefox displayed all posts and there was no block in place.

Closing Words

You may also install a third-party app, but many of those may display advertisement by default. Only some users experience the blocking of the content, those may use any of the methods listed above to access the content on Reddit without signing-in or using the official application.

Now You: do you use Reddit?

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I like to spruce up my desktop with a new wallpaper now and then, just because. I don't do this as often with my browser, because I have many speed-dials in my new tab page, so you can barely see a background.

I wanted to try something else for a change, and decided to go with the Mue extension for Firefox and Chrome. Besides the cool background, it displays some additional content in every tab. This includes a greeting, a clock widget, and a random quote. All of these can be customized, or completely turned off from the add-on's settings.

In fact, you don't have to set up any option, everything's ready-to-use, when you install the add-on. The star button in the bottom right corner lets you mark wallpapers as favorites, and the full-screen icon next to the star, removes all visual elements except the wallpaper. The latter isn't a permanent setting, it's just useful to get an unobstructed view of the background.

See that search bar in the top left corner? Mue uses DuckDuckGo as the default search engine, but you can switch to Google, Bing, Yahoo, Ecosia, Yandex, Qwant, Ask, Start Page, or a custom search provider of your choice.

So, where does Mue source the images from? The extension's has its own image database which is community driven, if you notice the names appearing in the bottom left corner, you can see the name of the person who contributed that photo. Want even more images? Click on the gear button in the top right corner to open Mue's settings. The Background section has an option that says "Background API", click on the menu and switch to the Unsplash service.

While you're on this screen, you can adjust the blur effect and brightness of the image. It also has options to use a custom background, which can be an online image, or one that you upload to the service. Local images don't seem to be supported by the add-on.

Not a fan of the photos? You can have a solid color as the background too.

You may configure the Clock widget from the Time settings, it has an optional 24-hour clock and an analog mode.

Do you like the Greeting displayed in new tabs? Well, you can include your name if you'd like to add a personal touch. As I mentioned earlier, you can toggle any of the widgets if you want a more minimal experience.

Mue is an open source extension. Sometimes when you open a new tab, the add-on takes a couple of seconds to load the background image. That's okay I guess, but occasionally the image stayed blank.

Head to this page to try out an interactive demo of Mue. Download the extension for Firefox and Chrome.

The marketplace didn't work for me at all, it was stuck at "Loading..." endlessly in both Firefox and Chrome (Edge). It seems to be hosted at https://marketplace.muetab.com/, which was giving me errors. It was only then I noticed on the project page on GitHub, that the developer has shared a roadmap (on Trello), which acknowledges that the Marketplace isn't working. The market and its add-ons, will hopefully be fixed in version 5.0, which will be released this year. It's not a dealbreaker, as the other features work just fine. I would have liked the extension more if it supported speed-dials or bookmarklets. That being said, Mue is a very impressive add-on.

Thank you for being a Ghacks reader. The post Customize your new tab page with random wallpapers, quotes with the Mue extension for Firefox and Chrome appeared first on gHacks Technology News.

If you have been to the Yahoo Answers website recently, you may have noticed a big banner at the top stating that the site will be shut down on May 4th, 2021.

The questions & answers platform Yahoo Answers was launched in 2006. It allowed users with a Yahoo account to post questions on the site and to answer questions.

Yahoo is part of Verizon Media Group since 2016 and many former Yahoo properties, including Tumbler, Flickr,  Yahoo Groups or Yahoo Messenger, were shut down or sold since then.

The message at the top of the Yahoo Answers page informs users about the shutdown and a FAQ that Yahoo has created.

Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account.

Interestingly enough, another banner on the site encourages new users to sign up to the service.

Yahoo Answers will be set to read-only on April 20th, 2021. Users may still read questions and answers, but posting will be disabled on that day. On May 4th -- Star Wars Day -- Yahoo Answers will be shut down for good and the entire site will be redirected to the Yahoo homepage.

Yahoo Answers users have until June 30, 2021 to download their data from the service; this can be done following this link. The download package includes all of the user's content, including posted questions and answers, lists, and images. It does not contain other user's content, however, including answers to questions.

The change won't impact other Yahoo services or Yahoo accounts. Yahoo sent an email to active users of the service that informs them about the upcoming shutdown of the site. In it, the company reveals that Yahoo Answers has become less popular over the years and that the decision was made based on those numbers and the outlook.

The Internet Archive has downloaded a huge Yahoo Answers data set already but it does not seem to be available publicly yet; this could change with the shutdown on May 4, 2021 though.

If you are looking for Yahoo Answers alternatives, check out Answers or Stack Overflow.

Now You: are you affected by the change? Did you use Yahoo Answers in the past?

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In April 2021, a large set of Facebook user data was published on the Internet. The data included information on 533 million Facebook users and included dates of births, email addresses, phone numbers, geographic locations, names, or genders.

Not all of the data was complete, but about 2.5 million accounts had their email addresses leaked along with other data. Malicious actors can use the entire data set to link phone numbers to names, and the subset that contained email addresses for attacks against these accounts, e.g. through phishing emails or brute force hacking.

Have I Been Pwned is a free site on the Internet that feeds an ever growing database with public data leaks so that users from all around the world may search it.

All it takes is to type an email address to find out if it was included in any of the data breaches that the site has in its database.

All you need to do is visit the homepage of the Have I Been Pwned service, type an email address, and click on the pwned? button to run a search for itt in the database.

All hits are listed on the results page. To find out if the email address was included in the Facebook leak, check if Facebook is among the listed services the email address was found in.

Only accounts that included the email address can be searched. The developer of the service, Troy Hunt, mentioned on Twitter that he won't add phone search capabilities to the site because it would be a lot of work and would not provide much value.

What you need to do if your account email has been leaked

The leaked data sets did not include password hashes it appears, but certain forms of attacks are very likely ranging from phishing emails and spam to trying to find the email address or phone number in other breaches, and hacking into accounts.

If the email address has been leaked, it is a good idea to change the password on all sites the email address was used on.

Now You: do you use services like Have I Been Pwned or Firefox Monitor to find out if your data was leaked on the Internet?

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Multi-tasking can improve your productivity, and help get things done. But having many programs running in the background can sometimes cause problems of its own. Alt + Tab and Windows + Tab help manage the task a bit easier, but this introduces a different issue.

You may keep switching to the wrong window. This happens with the mouse too, when you click outside an application's window. Lock Cursor Tools can help prevent this problem. It  is a freeware application that restricts the mouse cursor to a specific part of the screen or a window

That sounds like something that could come in handy during video calls or screen sharing, doesn't it? While it is not a portable application, it only requires about 2MB of space to install.

Lock Cursor Tools runs from the system tray. Left-click on the icon to start using it. The application has 3 methods to lock the cursor. The first option lets you set the position (screen area) in pixels, use the arrow keys or click in the boxes to modify the values. There is a simpler way to do this, click on the Set Area button, and draw a rectangle within which the cursor will be contained.

Users with multiple monitors can set Lock Cursor Tools to work on a specific screen, which can be useful if you want to watch a movie, or have a different program working on each monitor.

The third option lets you confine the cursor to a specific window. To use it, click on the Select Application button, and Lock Cursor Tools opens a window that lists all programs that are running. You'll need to click on the left side of the screen with the window's name, icon, and path. If you click the icon to the right edge of the screen, it opens the location of the process in Windows Explorer. Lock Cursor Tools will take you back to its main screen, and the selected path will at the bottom.

Note: The list includes Windows apps that are running in the background, ones that have not been opened, e.g. Calculator, Microsoft Store, Settings, etc.

The important part here is that the lock is not triggered the moment you select the type. You'll need to enable it manually, using the keyboard shortcut (mentioned below). Configure the lock settings, and hit the OK button. Right-click on the icon to access Lock Cursor Tools' context menu. The first option should tell you the setting that you have chosen, along with a keyboard shortcut. The default hotkey to trigger the lock is Ctrl + Alt + F12.

Once you do that, the mouse cursor will be restricted to the selected area, monitor or window. To unlock it, you'll need to use the hotkey again.

Does alt + tab work? Yes it does, but keep in mind this isn't meant to be a privacy control software. It's more of a preventive measure, to help you from accidentally clicking outside a program's window and losing the focus.

I had some trouble using it with Windows' system applications such as Notepad or Explorer. The program's hotkey wouldn't work, which meant I couldn't unlock the cursor. To get out of it, I had to end the process from the Task Manager. This problem doesn't happen with third-party programs.

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Profile Switcher for Firefox is a brand new open source extension for Firefox to integrate Chromium-like profile switching to the browser.

Firefox has supported profiles for a long time. Basically, what a profile does is separate everything, including visited sites, installed browser extensions, passwords, and user modifications. Profiles are excellent for using Firefox for different tasks, e.g. work, leisure, and research, as they separate the data that accumulates, is added or modified.

Working with several Firefox profiles includes instructions on setting these up.

One of the shortcomings of Firefox's profile system is that it is not really visible in the browser. When you launch the browser, you won't find a visible option to create new profiles or switch between them. While you may load about:profiles to create new profiles, rename and remove them, or make another profile the default, you'd have to know the page exists to open it.

The Firefox add-on Profile Switcher for Firefox changes this, as it adds Chromium-like profile controls to the Firefox toolbar when it is installed. The extension should not be confused with the Profile Switcher add-on, released in 2012, that worked in the classic Firefox browser, or Profilist, which was another add-on to support it.

The new add-on is compatible with all recent versions of Firefox, but it is available for Linux and Windows only at the time. Users need to be aware that it requires a native program, called Firefox Profile Switcher Connector, that needs to run in the background.

The reason for that is that Firefox does not give add-ons access to profiles anymore in the new WebExtensions APIs. The source of the resident program is available on GitHub as well.

Firefox users who don't want to run a native program just for the functionality, may use profile shortcuts instead to launch them from the desktop or taskbar, without having to do so.

Profile Switcher for Firefox requests the permission to exchange messages with third-party programs, but that is the only permission that it requests at the time of writing this article.

A click on the extension icon after installation informs you that you need to install a separate application to complete setup. The link leads to a download page on GitHub, for Firefox Profile Switcher Connector. Downloads are provided for Windows and Linux at the time, and after installing the program, Firefox needs to be restarted.

A click on the icon in the toolbar displays the active profile, direct links to other profiles, and a link to manage the profiles.

You can switch to a listed profile right away, but need to be careful when you are using profiles for different versions of Firefox. The test system had a profile for Stable and Nightly installed, and these may not be fully compatible with each other. If you just use profiles for one version of Firefox, you won't run into these issues.

A click on manage profiles opens a new window with all available profiles, and options to add or edit profiles. Adding works as expected, editing allows you to add an image and a rename the profile. Images are useful to add a visual component to the profiles which the add-on uses.

Direct Firefox profile shortcuts are an alternative

If you don't want to run an add-on and a native program on your system just for an easier way to switch between profiles, you may create profile shortcuts instead.

Use the parameters -p and -no-remote to launch the profile loader when Firefox starts. You may add the name of a profile, e.g. test, to the command to launch Firefox with that profile directly.

A full command could look like this then on Windows:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -no-remote -p "test"

Note that you need to adjust the path to Firefox. The same method works on Mac and Linux as well.

Closing Words

Profile Switcher for Firefox introduces better profile switching options in Firefox. While that is very useful, the reliance on a native program will keep at least some interested users from installing the extension and its required component.

Now You: do you use different profiles in your browser of choice?

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