Microsoft is renaming its Windows Defender antivirus software to Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP), and bringing it to macOS for the first time. While Macs are significantly less vulnerable to malware than Windows machines, they are not immune. Examples include fake Flash Player installers and cryptocurrency-stealing browser exploits and apps … Although macOS uses techniques like sandboxing and system-level checks before allowing apps to be installed from outside the Mac App Store, there are ways of circumventing these protections....

Microsoft offered users running Windows 7 or 8.1 the opportunity to upgrade for free within the first year of release. This guaranteed free upgrades to future revisions of Windows 10 throughout the life of the device. The OS focuses on software as a service, delivering updates and functionality as they become available; instead of the traditional three-year revisions, users were accustomed to in the past. Get Windows 10 App Finally Removed by Microsoft The GWX app became quite controversial during its availability....

Windows 10 19H1 Preview Build 18305 Microsoft continues to improve the Start menu and provide a more simplified layout. The new Start menu layout is for new devices, users, and clean installs. It includes a “simplified” layout with a “sleek one column design with reduced top-level tiles,” according to the post by Dona Sarkar and Brandon LeBlanc. Windows Sandbox is a welcome addition that allows you to run “sketchy” or “untrusted” apps in isolation – away from the rest of your system....

Windows 10 Redstone 5 Build 17754 Here is a look at the announced list of changes, improvements, and fixes for this latest Windows 10 Redstone 5 build: The build watermark at the lower right-hand corner of the desktop is no longer present in this build. This does not mean this is the final build as we are not done yet. We’re just now beginning the phase of checking in final code to prepare for the final release....

The Pax8 distributors have a good explainer about NCE on their site. Here’s Microsoft’s public-facing blog post about it. Earlier this fall, Microsoft officials said the NCE “per seat” model would be expanding to include Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Windows 365, and the Power Platform. NCE will be available to partners in January 2022 and phased in over time through mid-2022. Under the NCE terms, daily invoicing will become monthly, and a one-month subscription will be 20% more expensive than an annual subscription....

With the underlying concept popularized by Stadia and other game services, Mighty wants to stream an entire Chromium browser from the cloud. The effort emerged this week after two years of development with a tagline of “Make Chrome Faster.” Mighty wants to address the often-heard complaint that Chrome is slow. Over the past few releases, Google has been working to address this through various techniques and optimizations, but this new company’s approach is to stream “your browser from a powerful computer in the cloud....

With the post-launch dust now settled for the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPad mini 4, two accessory makers have released four batteries designed to fuel Apple’s latest devices. While they carry significant price premiums over top-rated batteries we’ve covered, both vendors have received Apple’s seal of approval for device compatibility. Mophie has officially released Juice Pack Reserve for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6 ($60), officially guaranteeing compatibility with both versions of the 4....

Over the past few weeks the date of March 16th has been thrown around quite a bit in regards to a potential Spring Apple event. Many of us were already very skeptical about the prospects of a March event both because of the sources and the rumored product mix for such event. Well, Bloomberg reporter and Apple leaker extraordinaire Mark Gurman says a March 16th event is not happening. We’ve been wondering for some time now if Apple was going to hold a March event due to the sheer number of products rumored to be released in the first half of 2021....

Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and other members of the Star Wars family have reacted to the recent passing of Peter Mayhew. Mayhew was of course the man behind the loveable Wookie named Chewbacca, who was first introduced in 1977 in the original Star Wars. Even though Mayhew’s face was never actually seen in a Star Wars film, Chewbacca has become one of the most recognized characters in the Star Wars universe....

Marvel Comics has introduced a radical new theory of super-powers, with the potential to shake their universe to its core. Marvel has always liked to think their stories are set in “the world outside your window,” albeit one with gods and monsters, aliens and mutants. As such, the comic book publisher has frequently attempted to establish pseudo-scientific explanations for various super-powers. Unexpectedly enough, the latest attempt is in Chip Zdarsky and Terry Dodson’s X-Men/Fantastic Four #1....

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has revealed that the WandaVision Disney+ TV series will finally see Wanda Maximoff become the Scarlet Witch. Phase 4 of the MCU will see the cinematic universe transform into a true transmedia franchise, with characters and arcs spinning between the movies and Disney+ limited series. One of the most exciting of these is WandaVision, and Kevin Feige gave attendees at Comic-Con Experience in São Paulo an exclusive first look at this project....

Microsoft this week released Office 2007 Service Pack 2 for both their Office Products and Server products which they are advertising as providing new bug fixes and improving stability and performance. I can’t think of a reason why you wouldn’t want to go grab these installs immediately and get them installed however before you run out and grab them, you should keep a few things in mind. Microsoft Office 2007 SP2 The SP2 update appears to make significant changes in the PST and OST data structures improving performance (Disk IO) and efficiency....

This year, Microsoft promises to choose a side finally. A future Microsoft Word software update will default to single space after each period, while two spaces will be met with blue squiggly lines. In other words, two spacebar pushes will now be considered a mistake. Why Two Spaces? Back when IBM typewriters reigned, typists spaced twice between sentences to more clearly define an end of a sentence. Then, characters in a sentence used monospacing, which means they each took up the same amount of space on a page....

Just launched on the App Store in time for Mother’s Day, the Felt iPad app lets you create and send real handwritten cards directly from your iPad for a flat rate of $3.99 including shipping. It has competitors with Apple’s own Cards app ($4.99 per card), and the Inkly app, which lets you upload handwritten messages via a photo, but neither have found a way to integrate the handwritten aspect right in the iPad app like Felt....

Last year, Lenovo-owned Motorola brand has released another budget mid-ranger smartphone called Moto G8 Play with the Android 9.0 Pie out-of-the-box. Motorola is one of the smartphone OEMs in the mobile market that doesn’t offer periodic or faster software updates to its devices. Even the eligible Motorola devices take so much of time to receive the latest firmware update or any major Android OS update on time. The same thing is happening with the Moto G8 Play device to receive the Android 10 update quickly....

Cross-platform media center Plex is one of those programs that you’d expect from Apple. Sure, Mac OS X has FrontRow, but seriously – when was the last time you enjoyed your media in FrontRow? It’s a lousy media center replacement that most people avoid so no wonder it’s lingering in a state of limbo. I’ve been using Plex for years to manage and enjoy my media collections on my desktop. Their awesome iOS app that lets me stream my media effortlessly to iPhones, iPods and iPads was the only missing link....

While a big blow to Apple, the case is far from over. In a deposition today, Papermaster said that in the 25 years he has worked at IBM, they have never competed directly with Apple. While that seems like a bit of a stretch (remember the 1984 commercial? Those weren’t Blackberry drones marching around), it does seem that, at least on …erm…paper, Papermaster’s new role isn’t something that would constitute a threat to IBM....

The female heroes of the MCU wield some of the strongest, most extraordinary powers in their universe. While their male peers may have had the spotlight until now, these women are working to overturn over a decade of precedent, setting up Marvel’s next phase to be, rightfully and inevitably, female-powered. They will owe it, in part, to the inspirational ladies of the Infinity Saga. While not the end-all, be-all of a character’s contribution to the universe, the amount of time they spent on screen is a good indicator of what they meant to the story....

As fans have now had time to accept, it’s evident Marvel Comics essentially killed off the X-Men books in their eagerness to run with Jonathan Hickman’s latest relaunch. The X-Men were once the biggest franchise around, far more prominent than the Avengers in the 1990s, but their popularity and sales figures have long shown a decline. The last two years have seemed particularly harsh and confusing, with readers regularly criticizing a drop in quality, lack of originality, and impact on the larger Marvel Universe....

Echo carries on the story of Maya Lopez, the Native American leader of the Tracksuit Mafia in Marvel’s Hawkeye series. Scheduled to be released in 2023, here’s everything you need to know about Echo. Marvel Studios’ Echo In Production for Disney+ Maya Lopez was introduced as a character in Hawkeye, another Disney+ exclusive series. A strong, Native American heroine, Maya Lopez is one of the few deaf characters in Marvel’s comic universe....