TechByter Worldwide (formerly Technology Corner) with Bill Blinn

If you've upgraded to the Anniversary Edition of Windows 10, how's it working for you? Results have generally been good, but there are problems. We'll also consider what passes for public relations at Microsoft. In Short Circuits: Trusting Jellyhead Industries and a new plan to eliminate spam. Then in Spare Parts (only on the website): An appealing offer from Opera for Android users, the 2017 edition of Acronis True Image brings some welcome features, the PC was 35 years old this month, and IT professionals have some disturbing questions about the cloud.

If you use an Android tablet or smart phone to send and receive email, there's an app you should take a look at. Business email compromise attacks have become the in thing for scammers. In Short Circuits No operating system is perfectly safe, but a surprising find shows that even operating systems that are considered to be more secure sometimes aren't. USB-C is just around the corner and faster speed isn't the only advantage it will bring. Trying to extort half a billion dollars from the National Security Agency. The Social Security Administration has decided not to require two-factor authentication after all. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Crowd-based research is being used to fight diseases such as dengue fever, zika, and malaria and there's lots of competition for the operating systems that will run our future automobiles.

People who are looking for ways to learn but aren't concerned about earning a degree from learning have lots of free resources to choose from on the internet. Analysis of pay-per-install schemes reveals how these annoying ride-along bits of crapware can be added to your computer when you think you're installing just a single application and how the business monetizes itself. In Short Circuits: This week seemed to be a good time to mention some of the useful Mac-based utilities that I've been adding now that I once again own a Mac. Among them are some old friends from Windows -- the VLC video player and CrashPlan, for example. But there are also some new Mac-only programs such as Atext, NameChanger, and TextWrangler. In Spare Parts (only on the website): New techniques promise to make iris recognition a better way to validate users on all sorts of devices in many kinds of businesses, CliffsNotes is starting a process that will place much of the company's instructional materials on-line, and a company that promotes a way to manage your child's electronic allowance seems not to have noticed that the company that provides the service went out of business last month.

If you connect your mobile device to a public Wi-Fi network and you don't yet have a virtual private network application, you're asking for trouble. I've found what looks like the perfect solution. The good old scams were better. A fake Nigerian prince could be spotted at 50 paces, but now ransomware can take over your computer and the crooks don't always give it back when you pay the ransom. In Short Circuits: The latest version of Maxthon's browser has some clever features, but some people are complaining about privacy. The Windows 10 anniversary edition has been pushed out and most of my computers like it. I'll tell you about the one that doesn't. Kodak wants you to spy on your cat or dog and a Russian service has an app that lets you make 5-second videos. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Verizon continues to spend money on acquisitions and we'll take a look at the future of retail as on-line buying changes the landscape dramatically.

We've looked at various components in Xara's collection for photographers, website developers, publication managers, and graphic designers. This week it's Xara Designer Pro X365's turn. That's the program for all of those people. In Short Circuits Even a much-diminished Yahoo was worth nearly $5 billion to Verizon. Don't panic, but PornHub has been hacked. There's a good reason and I'll explain why. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Advanced persistent threats are the bane of IT managers and Pieter Arntz of Malwarebytes has an outstanding explanation of what these things are. A group called the Cyber Senate will gather in September in London to address major security issues that face the industry today. And we'll look at a report from security expert Brian Krebs, who says that the Democratic National Committee, the Republican National Committee, and the Trump for President organization all fail a key test for email security, but Hillary Clinton's site passed. (Yeah, you read that right.)

Apple makes hardware. Microsoft makes hardware. Each of them gets some things right and some things wrong. Let's take a look. The operating systems that run on the hardware also have pluses and minuses. We'll consider Windows, OSX, and Linux. In Short Circuits: Are you ready for the Windows 10 anniversary edition? Antivirus developers seems to be busy acquiring each other. In Spare Parts (only on the website): How about throwing several thousand bugs into your software? Voice modification software from Vietnam. Facebook messenger sees 1 billion users every month. And Intel's profits continue to fall, but they beat analysts' expectations.

With the help of a few useful plug-ins, Thunderbird is a highly capable email application that runs on Windows, OSX, and Linux. One of the most useful utilities in Windows, the Event Viewer, is used by fraudsters to frighten users. Here's what you need to know to avoid the con. In Short Circuits ... The Washington Post offers a year's worth of free on-line access to anyone who subscribes to almost any other newspaper. This is genius and I'll explain why. The Sun and Moon calculator is helpful if you need to predict where either will be and an update makes it even better. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Mac users have to watch out for two new malicious apps launched in the last week, let's consider the possibility of voting on-line (someday), the FDIC is in trouble for trying to hide numerous long-term break-ins that exposed a lot of personal information, and even though Apple doesn't include a security slot with its notebook computers, you can add one -- for a price.

Sending private information by email is risky because messages are not encrypted. Maybe it's time to start thinking about the options. A single backup might not be enough to protect your files. We'll take a look at some other possibilities. In Short Circuits ... The Windows 10 Start Menu gives users controls we've never had before. Also, a very quick look at one of the final Insider Preview versions prior to the anniversary update. Whether it's a hummer or a hummingbird, you don't want it on your Android device. If your plants are talking about you, you'll never know -- but you can listen to them talk. In Spare Parts (only on the website): An app intended to remind you to put down the phone and communicate with real live people; if you fear that someone will pass you counterfeit money, there's a portable device that identifies funny money; and a high school in New York City has just graduated its first class of software nerds.

How secure is your Wi-Fi router? [An editing error resulted in my swapping the correct term (gigahertz) with an incorrect term (gigabit) on the podcast.] You're probably not running a completely open router, but there may be ways to improve it. The podcast is now 10 years old -- 500 episodes -- and TechByter (formerly Technology Corner) has been around for 30 years, so I can't help but look back a bit. In Short Circuits ... Windows 10's anniversary edition will be available on August second and if you want to get it without charge, you need to upgrade to Windows 10 no later than July 29th, but one person who didn't want Windows 10 has won a suit against Microsoft. Now you can stuff 4 terabytes of data onto pocket-size hard drives. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Virtual reality comes to health care as a pain management tool and some tips on how to avoid being the next victim of a data breach.

It's going to be more than 20 minutes this week. Lots to talk about. TechSmith's SnagIt, already the best screen capture program available, becomes even better. Updates to Adobe's Creative Cloud, large and small, make the suite of applications for creatives even more essential. In Short Circuits ... If you're not familiar with the Maxthon browser, which is a product of China, you probably will be soon enough. Why would anyone want a wireless disk drive? Let's check it out. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Most programs today can create PDF documents, but going the other way can be a problem. An on-line service plans to change that. Verizon plans to improve its location-based technology. I'll explain that in English. The Weather Company and IBM will soon make highly-localized forecasts possible. And the Malwarebytes blog reveals a malicious app that can use your smart phone.