Firefox Focus for iOS Released

Check out this new release from Mozilla:

https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2016/11/17/introducing-firefox-focus-a-free-fast-and-easy-to-use-private-browser-for-ios/

Firefox Focus is a secure browser for iOS blocks trackers and you can erase your session in a single tap.

Check it out!

Unlocked Android Phone Security

Here's a nice little article to aware on you on what some unlocked Chinese Android phones were doing:

https://hackernoon.com/no-one-cares-about-the-security-of-your-unlocked-android-phone-cd8ad4aae4c5#.konleqys9

DevFreeBooks

Here's a good resource for developers, a site that has posted a collection of free development books separated by platform:

Check out DevFreeBooks

NVIDIA GPU Users Beware: Telemetry Added to Latest Drivers

NVIDIA GPU users should be aware that with the latest driver updates, telemetry has been included. Telemetry is a way to send data/diagnostics back and forth between systems. The problem with this is that no one really knows what data they are pulling from host systems and they haven't said anything about it. This is bad because there was no opt-in for it and it can go against your privacy.

Read more at:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/news/story/nvidia_adds_telemetry_to_latest_drivers_heres_how_to_disable_it.html

If you value your privacy, please look into the above link on how to check if it is running on your systems. They use Autoruns in the article which is one of my absolute favorite system tools to see what starts when your computer turns on. It's a very useful program for optimization and was even featured in my book, Practical Malware Prevention.

Windows 10 Bandwidth Issues / How to Reduce

Having bandwidth issues on your Windows 10 systems?

Probably stems from the way updates can be handled. Windows 10 included the option to use P2P (peer-to-peer) to seed/receive updates.

Check this on your systems to make sure it is turned off if you're having issues or notice a lot of bandwidth being used:

System > Update & Security > Windows Update panel > Advanced Options > Choose How Updates are Delivered > Turn off the option with the On/Off toggle switch.

This will disable P2P updating that tends to use a lot of bandwidth. 

Free Professional Programming Tools From JetBrains

JetBrains is allowing students with validated university email accounts to sign up for their software packages free of charge:

https://www.jetbrains.com/student/

This license is valid for a year of use at a time.

Check it out. There's some really great programming environments included. I'm a big fan of free/open source tools, but giving students a chance to work with something that a potential future company uses is very worthwhile. I've personally used PyCharm before and can vouch that it is a good piece of software.