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Wednesday Newsbytes – News for You – 042022<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Every day we scan the tech world for news that affects all of us who use Windows computers. Every Wednesday, we feature some of the news articles that grabbed our attention over the past week. We hope you find this week’s\u00a0 “Wednesday Newsbytes” informative and interesting!<\/span><\/p>\n Muting your mic reportedly doesn\u2019t stop big tech from recording your audio<\/a> Anytime you use a video teleconferencing app, you\u2019re sending your audio data to the company hosting the services. And, according to a new study, that means\u00a0all\u00a0<\/i>of your audio data. This includes voice and background noise whether you\u2019re broadcasting or muted.<\/span><\/p>\n Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison investigated \u201cmany popular apps\u201d to determine the extent that video conferencing apps capture data while users employ the in-software \u2018mute\u2019 button.<\/span><\/p>\n According to\u00a0a university press release<\/a>, their findings were substantial:<\/span> They found that all of the apps they tested occasionally gather raw audio data while mute is activated, with one popular app gathering information and delivering data to its server at the same rate regardless of whether the microphone is muted or not.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Read more at The Next Web.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Microsoft: Moving Windows 11 taskbar may never be an option again<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n If you are waiting for Windows 11 side-taskbar support before upgrading to the latest operating system, you may be waiting for a long time, according to a recent Microsoft Ask Me Anything (AMA) session.<\/span><\/p>\n When Windows was first released, the most controversial changes were the new centered Start Menu and the reduced functionality of the Windows taskbar.<\/span><\/p>\n In the past, the Start Menu was left-aligned on the taskbar, and it was possible to move the taskbar, so it was pinned to the top, sides, and bottom of the screen.<\/span><\/p>\n However, with Windows 11, Microsoft took away the ability to move the taskbar, which is one of the most requested features on the\u00a0Microsoft Feedback Hub<\/a>, with over 17,500 upvotes.<\/span><\/p>\n As first reported by\u00a0Neowin<\/a>, in a recent Microsoft Ask Me Anything (AMA) session, a user asked whether Microsoft would be bringing back the ability to move the sidebar to the sides.<\/span><\/p>\n The response was not very promising, with Tali Roth, Microsoft’s Head of Product, explaining that a small amount of Windows users use the feature and that it is unsure whether the feature will ever be brought back. And when you look at the data, while we know there is a set of people that love it that way and, like, really appreciate it, we also recognize that this set of users is really small compared to the set of other folks that are asking for other features. So at the moment we are continuing to focus on things that I hear more pain around.<\/span><\/p>\n It is one of those things that we are still continuing to look at, and we will keep looking to feedback, but at the moment we do not have a plan or a set date for when we would, or if we would, actually build the side taskbar.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Read the rest at Bleeping Computer<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Windows 11 widgets could soon rival those on iOS, Android<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Microsoft is making moves to bring a big improvement to one of the highlight experiences in\u00a0Windows 11,\u00a0which might bring it closer to what is already available on iOS and Android.<\/span><\/p>\n Shared on Twitter\u00a0by reliable leaker FireCube<\/a>, a supposed screenshot of code in Windows 11 points to users soon being able to download third-party widgets and updates for those widgets from the Microsoft store. This would be a big change, as all of Windows 11\u2019s current widgets are ones that are only available from Microsoft, like sports, weather, or traffic.<\/span><\/p>\n This has actually been rumored to be on the way for some time, but this tweet shows one of the first times that live code in Windows 11 points to it coming soon. Digital Trends can\u2019t verify the authenticity of the code, but the leaker mentions \u201cwidget manifest update shows more evidence of being able to download third-party widgets and updates.\u201d Microsoft also has yet to confirm or announce the feature, but Windows Central had\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0that developers were already briefed on how third-party widgets might work.<\/span><\/p>\n If this holds up to be true, then widgets on Windows 11 could be a lot like what you already can get on iOS and Android. Meaning, that if you have a third-party app installed on your PC from a developer who opts to make a widget available, there could be a new option to add it when you enter Windows 11\u2019s widget experience with\u00a0Windows Key\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0W.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Read more at Digital Trends<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n If You Get This Message From Google, Delete It, Experts Warn<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n THE TECH COMPANY IS ALERTING USERS TO AN ALARMING COMMUNICATION THAT’S BEING SENT OUT.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Google is so widely known as a search engine that its name has become synonymous with digging up information on the internet. But the tech giant also provides plenty of other essential services, including maps and directions, online file storage, mobile phones, email accounts, and even free word processing and spreadsheet programs. But now, experts are warning that many users have reported receiving a suspicious message from Google seemingly out of the blue. Read on to see which communication you should delete immediately.<\/span><\/p>\n A slew of security mishaps have caused issues for Google lately.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Even though Google’s impressive digital infrastructure makes it one of the most valuable and trusted tech companies in the world, it hasn’t been without its fair share of security issues lately. On April 12, Forbes reported that there were multiple hacks of Google’s browser, Chrome. Google released a statement on its official blog the day before, confirming 11 total hacks\u2014nine of which are categorized as “high” threats and two classified as “medium.” These hacks put users at risk if they use Chrome on any platform, whether they’re a PC\/Windows user, an Apple\/Mac fan, or loyal to the Linux desktop.<\/span><\/p>\n Potential security lapses have also affected users of the company’s popular Android smartphones. In a recent blog post, financial cybersecurity firm ThreatFabric announced that it had discovered a dangerous new piece of malware that targets Android phones known as “Octo.” The banking malware can take over a device and secretly run in the background to mine information and even commit fraud.<\/span><\/p>\n And on March 25, Google banned dozens of apps from its Google Play download store after the tech giant was alerted to an investigation that found a company involved in the mobile programs’ development was using the programs to secretly harvest data from users, The Wall Street Journal first reported.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Read more at BestLife…<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n DuckDuckGo debuts its own privacy-centric web browser<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n DuckDuckGo has long been a great option for those who want to search the web without using Google, by far the dominant force in search out there over the last couple of decades. It’s even had a mobile browser for some time, for the privacy-conscious.<\/span><\/p>\n Now, though, it’s realising an ambition to branch out in the world of desktop browsers with a real competitor for the likes of Google Chrome and Firefox. It’s releasing its new browser, at first on Mac with a Windows version to follow.<\/span><\/p>\n It shared a look at the browser at the end of 2021, so this isn’t a surprise, but it’s good news for those who want to be confident that their data isn’t being too wilfully harvested as they browse the web.<\/span><\/p>\n The browser will priorities HTTPS versions of websites where it can for enhanced security, and has tools to help you block trackers, and the ability to completely wipe your browser’s data clean with a single button.<\/span><\/p>\n It’ll also store your history, bookmarks and passwords entirely locally so that nothing could potentially be accessed online. One feature we like the sound of will automatically try to reject cookie consent pop-ups with as few cookies allowed as possible, so that you don’t have to constantly deal with them – it should work on around half of all websites at first, apparently.<\/span><\/p>\n If there’s one bit of bad news here it’s that you can’t just go and download the browser to try it out. For now, it’s available by invite only…<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Read more at Pocket-lint<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Thanks for reading this week’s Wednesday Newbytes. We hope you found these articles useful, informative, interesting, and helpful. Darcy & TC<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wednesday Newsbytes – News for You – 042022 Every day we scan the tech world for news that affects all of us who use Windows computers. Every Wednesday, we feature some of the news articles that grabbed our attention over the past week. We hope you find this week’s\u00a0 “Wednesday Newsbytes” informative and interesting! Muting your\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23363,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2247,1678,2509,1,1426,1656,1674,4372,4353,4221],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23362"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23362"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23370,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23362\/revisions\/23370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nWe recommend using the double-mute technique<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nThey used runtime binary analysis tools to trace raw audio in popular video conferencing applications as the audio traveled from the app to the computer audio driver and then to the network while the app was muted.<\/span><\/p>\n
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\nWhen it comes to something like actually being able to move the taskbar to different locations on the screen, there’s a number of challenges with that. When you think about having the taskbar on the right or the left, all of a sudden the reflow and the work that all of the apps have to do to be able to understand the environment is just huge.<\/span><\/p>\n
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