Computer Era

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Facebook is planning to release a much-required feature

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facebook Clear History Tool

Facebook is gearing up to release a great feature which protects users privacy. A couple of days back I discussed how Facebook collects user data from the third-party applications even if they don’t have the Facebook account.

Most of the application developers use Facebook SDK ( software development kit) to develop their applications. It helps Facebook to mine the usage patterns and the interests of the user.  Using the data it collected from the users, it builds an individual profile for every person.

As per the information that leaked today,  Facebook is going to provide a feature to its users which wipes the data it collected from them. The new function will be named as “Clear History Tool”.  It accommodates the user to check, what information Facebook already gathered from them. If they wish to stop Facebook from collecting the personal information, through third party applications and websites they visit,  they can pause the history. The new feature will protect the user ’s privacy. But it is doubtful how effective Facebook is willing to implement it.

As a part of the digital wellbeing, FB already introduced, “Screen Time” feature which helps us to know the exact amount of time we spent on Facebook.  But contrary it doesn’t help us to limit the time. Facebook users around the world know that the company never dare to lose its grip on the user’s privacy.

Your smartphone comes with a new button soon

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Google Assistant dedicated button

There are a lot of changes happening in smartphone design.  We all know that Google ditched navigation buttons in the latest Android Pie builds. The company is trying to habituate gesture-based navigation to the users.

There is nothing wrong with it.  But here we lose a little functionality if we stop to use navigation buttons. Google Assistant became a central hub for all the information requirements. People used to activate it by long pressing the Home button in the navigation buttons. If there are no navigation buttons, it becomes difficult to use Google Assistant. There is an alternative for this. We can configure Google Assistant hot word such as “OK Google”  to activate it through our voice.

But using the hot word is not always preferable. There should be a dedicated button to activate the  Google assistant. So, Google has an agreement with various phone manufacturing companies to meet the issue. Xiaomi, LG and Nokia are planning to release their upcoming models with a dedicated Google Assistant button.  We can expect that other companies may follow the same trend for their newer models.

Samsung has been providing a dedicated button for it’s Bixby voice assistant for two years. There is a workaround to remap the Bixby button to  Google Assistant. The latest trend indicates the role of the voice assistants which are going to be a part of our life.

Microsoft Develops a brand new operating system for computers

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microsoft new OS

For a long time, we all know that Microsoft has been dominating the desktop operating system market with Windows OS.

As per the information we got from various sources, Microsoft is ready to release a Lite-weight operating system, which is intended for the low-end laptops and foldable devices. The OS is entirely a new one programmed from scratch. It doesn’t have any similarities with Windows 10.

It is clear that the new OS won’t pronounce as Windows 10 Lite also. That’s why Microsoft is using “Santorini” as the code name for this project. The company may name the OS when it is ready for the general public. Slowly, Google is occupying the desktop market with Chromebooks. At last Microsoft started countering Google in the low-end desktop devices by focusing on the new OS.

The new OS might be announced in the Microsoft Build 2019 conference, which is scheduled to start in between May 7 and May 9 of this year. Everything is perfect, but Microsoft needs to focus on the number of applications available on Microsoft Store. Google Chromebooks achieved popularity after they have been supporting Android Apps. Microsoft must address the gap to compete with Chromebooks. Otherwise, only a brand new operating system doesn’t do magic, and users feel helpless when there is a lack of app support. Nowadays people are expecting innovative applications to address their day to day requirements.

Microsoft warns Windows users!

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microsoft windows security

In the recent past Microsoft focusing more on security of the operating system and making more security related changes to the operating system.

The company is frequently alerting its uses on various hidden risks associated with the platform. Earlier people used to install third party antivirus Internet Security suits to combat malware convictions. But nowadays few people stopped buying other Security suits to protect their operating system, by keeping in the mind that Windows Defender is there for the protection.

The over dependency on the Windows Defender poses them to Tech support scams which are Rising since years. As per the statistics Fake Tech Support scams collect 200 to 400 dollars from the victims. Only in 2017 Microsoft received upto 1,53,000 complaints about fake tech support scams.

Most of the victims doesn’t have any powerful third party Security suite on their computer, they are using Windows default Windows Defender module to get the protection from unwanted risks. In this context Microsoft instructed it’s users to use other security software to get rid of fake tech support scams. Actually Microsoft took various measures to stop the fake tech support websites, but the scammers following innovative methods to convince their victims.

So as a Windows user we must take care of the problem and install third-party apps.

How to restrict websites accessing your location?

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chrome location access

In the recent days, while browsing few web sites, they started asking our location. Google Chrome displaying a permission window which offers allow, deny options to share our location with the site we are browsing.

If you are not willing to share the location with any website you can permanently disable the feature from the Chrome Settings. For this on your desktop computer open Google Chrome and go to Settings menu item.

In the Chrome Settings window find out and click the Advanced button. In the next screen under the Privacy and Security, click “Content Settings” option. Here you can find the “Location” option. When you click this option, it will present additional location settings.

Here enable “Ask before accessing (recommended)” to stop websites from accessing your location without your notice. Depending on the nature of the site you can decide whether to share the location with it or not.

A similar setting is available in Firefox browser. You need to enter “about:config” in the address bar and search for “geo-enabled” option. Then configure it to “False.”