It’s actually really simple! Here’s how to use Microsoft Word to check if a document might’ve been copied from the internet:

Load the document into Word and open the Review tab in the ribbon. On the far left side of the ribbon, you should see an Editor button. Clicking on that will open a sidebar with various editorial insights.

Scroll down to the section labeled Similarity, then click on the button labeled Check for similarity to online sources to initiate plagiarism checking. Word will switch on Bing and search the internet for similar texts. This search could take a while.

Once the plagiarism check is done, questionable parts of the text that match online sources will be highlighted in the document. Plus, an info window will show a link to the source of the original.

This feature is also useful for citing quotations. If the Editor finds similarities with online sources, you can click on Similarities reviewed to see a list of them. For each one, you can optionally insert a citation.

Further reading: Advanced Microsoft Word tricks you might’ve missed

Following the huge wave of ransomware last year, there’s now increasing reports of completely new tricks used by hackers and cybercriminals to gain access to computer systems, devices, and networks.

Many of these tricks exploit existing vulnerabilities in applications and operating systems, but these perpetrators are also developing completely new approaches that combine technical procedures with social engineering to achieve their goals.

To recap if you’re unaware: social engineering is when a malicious person exploits you through helpfulness, trust, fear, or respect in an attempt to manipulate you into doing something.

Further reading: Key signs of social engineering to look for

Examples of social engineering include: a work email purporting to come from your boss with a payment order for a large sum to a foreign account; a WhatsApp message from someone pretending to be your relative in need of money; or a phishing email that claims to be your bank asking you to click a link with scary consequences if you don’t.

Here are some of the latest scams and techniques used by criminals that you need to know about—and how you can protect yourself.

1. The zero font trick

It’s possible to set the font size of email text to zero using HTML code. In this way, the text is present but not visible to the eye.

A few years ago, criminals used this trick to insert invisible text into messages in order to fool the spam and virus detection mechanisms of email providers and mail programs.

They used this technique to insert harmless words and phrases into the email body to make the message appear safe, thus outwitting the email providers’ malware filters.

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Last autumn, security researcher Jan Kopriva became aware of a new version of the zero font trick. Hackers used it to attack Microsoft Outlook users, exploiting a feature of the program’s email display.

The issue is that Outlook happens to display zero font text in its list view, but not in the email preview. The malicious senders therefore placed the zero-point text in the message: “Isc Advanced Threat protection: This message has been scanned for threats.”

“Isc” stands for the Internet Storm Center, an organization of the SANS Institute that monitors malicious activity on the internet. The reference to the alleged malware scan made the email seem trustworthy to recipients, so they were more inclined to open it and trust what it says.

However, the message actually contained a link to a fake website that requested the visitor’s access data:

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How to protect yourself:

• Learn how to spot scam emails and messages.
• Even with emails that claim to be from reputable senders, remember that they could be fake.
• Hover over every link to confirm the destination address before clicking—and even then, don’t click unless absolutely necessary. It’s better to navigate to the site manually if you can.
• If you have any doubts that an email actually came from a particular sender, give them a quick call to confirm.

2. Vulnerabilities in 2FA/MFA

Two-factor authentication (2FA) or multi-factor authentication (MFA) protects users against attacks on their login credentials. With 2FA enabled, it’s much harder to hack an account.

So, hackers are increasingly trying to access the cookie files that are created during the login process that certify correct authentication.

With these session cookies, it’s possible for a user to log in just once and continue accessing various services. As soon as the user logs out, the session cookie is deactivated.

Further reading: How to use 2FA the right way

Various malware programs are now exploiting a vulnerability in the Google login process to reactivate expired session cookies. In this way, they can freely access all Google services belonging to a user.

This works even if they’ve changed their password in the meantime. However, this requires the malware to have access to the user’s computer.

How to protect yourself:

• Understand how malware infections happen. Don’t open attachments in suspicious emails. Don’t click on links in emails. Don’t download apps from illegal or suspicious sites.
• Shut down your computer when you don’t need it.
• Apply security patches for Windows and other programs immediately and always keep your software up to date.

3. Deepfakes from your boss

Traditionally, the boss scam is where your “boss” instructs you to transfer a large sum of money to an unusual account, but the “boss” is actually a hacker who’s sending your fraudulent emails or texts.

A new variant has now come to light in Hong Kong, where hackers invited their victim to a video conference by email. However, no real people were waiting for him there—only deepfakes of colleagues from his company. (A deepfake is an AI-generated impersonation of a real person.)

These deepfakes instructed the victim to carry out 15 transfers totaling 200 million Hong Kong dollars. (About $26 million USD.) The victim only realized that he had been scammed when he later spoke to his boss.

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The cybersecurity department of the Hong Kong police suspects that the criminals had copied videos of their real colleagues from the company’s servers and combined that with AI-supported voice synthesis to create the deepfakes used in the video conference.

How to protect yourself:

• Hong Kong police advise people to ask questions during video conferences to verify the identities of other participants.

4. AI hallucinations become reality

Word has gotten around that AI-supported language models like ChatGPT are hallucinating (i.e., making up information). For example, AI chatbots have invented court judgments for trials that have never taken place. But they can also hallucinate non-existent software packages.

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Israeli security researcher Bar Lanyado asked himself what would happen if real code were to be published under a name invented by AI.

He asked ChatGPT-3.5-Turbo, ChatGPT-4, Gemini Pro, and Cohere Command for help with a programming problem and identified a piece of code with the name huggingface-cli that had been repeatedly recommended over several months but didn’t actually exist.

He then created an empty Python package with this name and put it online. Within a few weeks, it had been downloaded 15,000 times. Also, a GitHub search revealed that huggingface-cli had appeared in the repositories of several large companies.

The Python package from Bar Lanyado might be a harmless file with no content or consequences, but you can imagine how hackers could distribute malicious code in the same way.

How to protect yourself:

• Programmers should never blindly trust the suggestions of AI models and should double-check recommended downloads themselves.

5. Current attacks via phishing emails

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Fraudsters use phishing emails to try to persuade you to visit fake websites or websites infected with malware.

They usually ask you to enter your address and/or login details. You will then receive a phone call in which the criminals ask for a PIN or some other security factor. Or they simply sell your access data, such as your login credentials to your Netflix account.

Many of these phishing emails follow the same pattern: under a short introductory text is a button that takes you to the fake website. In many cases, the email uses a scare tactic or time pressure so that you don’t think about the authenticity and plausibility of the message.

Common button captions include:

• “Update account now”
• “Update address”
• “Confirm now”
• “Win now”
• “Go to account recovery page”
• “Stay protected” (for emails purporting to be from security vendors)
• “Show order details”
• “Activate now”
• “Try to pay again”
• “Pay fee now”

You should never click on any of these buttons. Always remember that reputable companies—including banks and online retailers—will never ask you to enter your login details by email.

6. Proxy server as an app

Cybercriminals often face a common problem: the IP addresses of their control servers and botnets end up on blacklists, and they’re subsequently blocked by providers, companies, and organizations.

To avoid this, they redirect their data packets via proxy servers, effectively giving new IP addresses to those data packets. But then these public proxy servers also end up on blacklists. It’s a vicious cycle.

But they have a new trick now: using malware to turn the smartphones and desktop PCs of unsuspecting users into proxy servers.

In May 2023, security researchers noticed an app in the Google Play Store that secretly turned smartphones into proxies. They later searched and found a total of 28 apps with PROXYLIB, which is responsible for these hidden proxy servers. All of them were VPN apps that supposedly provided encrypted connections on the internet.

Google has now integrated a detection routine for proxy malware in the Play Protect protection mechanism, which automatically deletes the apps in question. However, don’t be surprised if alternative app stores continue to make these malware-infected apps available.

How to protect yourself:

• There’s a list of malicious apps at the bottom of this webpage. If you have one or more of them installed, delete them as soon as possible.
• Only install apps via the Google Play Store.

7. Quishing instead of phishing

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Phishing is a type of scam where an email or message is sent to a prospective victim in hopes that they’ll click a malicious link within. It’s been around for several years now, and email providers have gotten better at recognizing and filtering out phishing attempts.

Because of that, hackers are exploring other methods of luring victims to their sites—like quishing, the transmission of links via QR code. (Quishing is also known as QR phishing.)

You’ve probably scanned QR codes with your smartphone to read restaurant menus, enter contests, and more. Hackers exploit this behavior by integrating QR codes into their emails, which then lead you to fake login pages or otherwise malicious pages.

Last autumn, the security company Harmony reported a 587 percent increase in quishing attacks.

Security provider Check Point also describes a quishing attack in which users were directed to a fake Microsoft login page. In this way, the attackers were able to bypass the usual security measures used to filter out phishing messages.

How to protect yourself:

• Always pay attention to who sent you an email with a QR code and take a close look at the address displayed by the QR code reader. When in doubt, avoid scanning unsolicited QR codes.

This article was translated from German to English and originally appeared on pcwelt.de.

If you have conducted an interview or received a file with a spoken text from your boss, typing is often a tedious task. However, Word offers to do this work for you with the help of Microsoft servers. This works with several languages.

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Windows 11 Pro

Open the word processor and click on the small arrow under “Dictate” in the “Start” ribbon. Then select “Transcribe” from the menu. Click on the “Upload audio” button and select the audio file with the dictation in the Explorer view in the next step.

Word accepts files in the formats WAV, MP4, M4A and MP3 and uploads them to your Onedrive memory. The voice recording is then converted into written text. Microsoft ensures that neither the recording nor the transcription is stored on its servers. You can then download a Word file containing the text.

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Please note: The transcription of audio recordings is only included in the paid version of Word in Microsoft 365, but not in the free online version of the word processor. However, a few weeks ago it also appeared in the desktop version of Word, whereas previously it was only available online. You can currently upload an unlimited number of long audio recordings and have them transcribed. However, Word currently displays a notice that this could change in the future.

The “Dictate” command is available in both the paid version and the free version of Word, which allows you to transcribe spoken text immediately. It is therefore possible to play back an audio recording on a smartphone or other computer, transfer it to Word using a microphone and then convert the spoken word into text.

Tip: This video from Microsoft demonstrates the function.

Ah, the taskbar. It’s a vital part of the Windows operating system. It’s the place to go when you want to change the date and time, check the weather, and so much more. If you’re looking to change the color of said taskbar, you’ve come to the right place. Although Windows automatically selects a color for the taskbar (usually black or white), there’s a way to set a fixed hue and we’re going to tell you how to do it.

Windows is full of mysterious processes and files. What’s behind them?

How to change the color of the Windows taskbar

Open the Windows Settings via the Start menu and click on Personalization and then Colors. In the menu next to Select Mode, set the option Custom and change Select Default Windows mode to Dark–you can only select the color of the taskbar yourself in dark mode.

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Windows 11 Pro

Scroll down and click on a color field that you like under Windows colors. If you can’t find anything here, click on the Show colors button next to Custom Colors and select a hue from the color field.

After clicking on Done, it will appear in the previous window in the Recently Used Colors row. Now scroll down a little further and set the switch for Show Accent Color on Start and Taskbar to On.

The taskbar and the background of the start menu will now appear in the selected color.

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Alternative: With the help of the Translucent TB tool, it’s possible to make the taskbar completely transparent and therefore invisible. After installation, click on the tool icon at the bottom right of the taskbar and select Desktop and then Clear.

You can assign any color to the taskbar via Accent Color. The menu items Visible window, Maximized window, Start Opened, and Task View Opened can be used to determine the appearance of the bar when opening windows, the Start menu, or the Task View.

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This article was translated from German to English and originally appeared on pcwelt.de.

If you revise a document several times and save it again and again as a separate file, it is often difficult to see exactly which changes you have made and where.

The same happens if a doc has been edited by several people. However, you can use Word to display the changed passages.

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To do this, switch to the “Review” ribbon and click on Compare > Compare. In the next step, enter the file of the original document in the drop-down menu on the left-hand side of the window and enter the revised document on the right-hand side.

After clicking on “Expand,” you can remove individual elements such as comments or spaces from the comparison in favor of a better overview.

Further reading: Microsoft Word: 9 tricks and hidden features

Under “Show changes in.” you can specify whether the changes should be presented in the original, in the revised version, or in a new file. After clicking on “OK,” Word marks the changed passages in your text.

This article was translated from German to English and originally appeared on pcwelt.de.

When you share a PDF document, you might not want all the information it contains to be visible. Here’s how to simply redact parts of a PDF.

While premium PDF editors include this feature, the easiest way to redact is to use the free PDF tools from PDF24. Go to https://tools.pdf24.org in your browser and then click on the “Redact PDF” checkbox.

On the following page, click on “Select PDF,” select the PDF file in Explorer and click on “Open.” As soon as the PDF is loaded, first select the page on which the area you want to cover is located in the small toolbar at the top left.

Now click on the “Add shape” icon in the toolbar and select a shape that can completely cover the area. The PDF tools will now display a corresponding black graphic. Drag and drop it over your area with the mouse and adjust its size using the handles on the sides.

Further reading: The best PDF editors

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If you want to signal to the recipient of the PDF that some passages have been deliberately made unrecognizable, leave the black area as it is. Otherwise you can also set a different color:

To do this, click on “Set fill color” in the toolbar and select a suitable shade in the following selection window using the color bar on the right-hand side and by moving the small, black dot in the colored rectangle.

For example, you will find the color white in the top left-hand corner. Click on “choose” to apply the color. If you also want to change the black borders, click on “Set line color” in the toolbar.

Finally, scroll down and click on “Save PDF.” This may take a moment. Then continue by clicking on “Download.” The PDF tools save the edited file in the download folder of your browser.

Please note: When editing, the page is inserted into your PDF document as an image. Any existing links on this page can no longer be clicked on.

Further reading: PDF24 Creator review

This article was translated from German to English and originally appeared on pcwelt.de.

The Windows system consists of thousands of files. Many of them have strange names, others have extensions that most users have never seen before. Normally you do not need to worry about these files.

Windows is designed to configure, optimize, and in many cases even repair itself. It is neither intended nor desired that the user intervenes in the system, deletes, or modifies files.

However, if you would like to know more about how Windows works internally, what tasks the individual components have, and how they work together, this is the right article for you.

We will highlight the files that stand out from the mass of files due to their name, size, or function.

Further reading: 13 important Windows settings to adjust immediately

Huge files in the system folder: Hibernation & Co.

Windows is normally installed on the C: drive in the “Windows” folder. However, the system folder, often also called the root directory, already contains various files created by the operating system. Some of these can grow to a considerable size.

However, you can only see these files if you have deactivated the setting “Hide protected system files (recommended)” in the “Folder options” of the Explorer in the “View” tab.

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Most space is taken up by hiberfil.sys, which can be several gigabytes in size. The name is a short form of “hibernate file,” which means hibernation file. If you select hibernate mode when shutting down the PC, Windows saves the current contents of the RAM in this file, including all active applications and open documents.

As soon as you switch the computer back on, you can immediately continue working from where you left off. The more RAM you have, the larger hiberfil.sys will be.

The file cannot be deleted via Explorer, but it can be deleted via the command prompt: To do this, type cmd in the search field of the taskbar and click on “Run as administrator.” Now enter the command

powercfg /h off 

followed by the Enter key. Windows deletes the file without prompting you and deactivates hibernation. If desired, you can restore hibernation at any time with the command

powercfg /h on 

at any time.

The operating system creates two swap files

The second conspicuously large file in the system folder is called pagefile.sys. This is the swap file that Windows always uses when there is not enough memory for the loaded programs and files. The operating system dynamically adjusts the size of pagefile.sys to the required memory.

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If there is sufficient RAM in the PC, you could consider deactivating pagefile.sys (deletion does not work). Although this is possible, it is not recommended. This is because the internal memory management accesses the file from time to time, even if there is space in the RAM. If the file is no longer available, error messages, including possible system crashes, will be displayed.

Thirdly, swapfile.sys appears in the main folder. This is also a swap file, but it is used exclusively for Windows apps. So that the RAM is not burdened by dormant or sleeping apps, they are moved to the file on the hard drive/SSD.

Further reading: 4 just-added Windows 11 features that make your life easier

Windows adjusts the size of swapfile.sys as required: If no apps are active, it is usually 16MB in size. If several apps are running, it can grow up to 256MB.

You can remove the file via the registry: To do this, open the path

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management 

and create a new DWORD value called “SwapfileControl” after right-clicking in the right half of the window. Double-click on this and make sure that “0” is entered as the value.

This will cause swapfile.sys to disappear the next time you restart. Bear in mind that Windows apps may start more slowly as a result. To restore the file, delete the registry entry.

Windows with crash log and hard disk test

You will also find a file called DumpStack.log.tmp on C:. Windows logs system crashes in this file. In some cases, it slows down the start of the TOR network for anonymous surfing; without this file, the TOR browser sometimes connects much faster.

The DumpStack.log.tmp cannot simply be deleted as access is blocked. However, you can remove the block via the registry: To do this, go to the folder

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl 

and set the value of the “Enable- LogFile” key to “0”. After a restart, you can delete the DumpStack.log.tmp with the Explorer. There are no negative side effects to be feared; however, some crash logs can be helpful for support staff.

Sometimes you will also find the small file bootTel.dat in the system directory. Windows creates these files when you check the hard disk/SSD for errors. If you want to start an error search, type with administrator rights

chkdsk 

in the command prompt.

Huge folders and what’s behind them

According to Explorer or tools such as Treesize Free, WinSxS under C:\Windows is one of the largest Windows folders of all: It often takes up several gigabytes of storage space.

But this information is misleading. WinSxS collects thousands of hard links that refer to programs and system components on the hard drive. The total size of all linked files and programs appears as the folder size.

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Under no circumstances should you reduce the size of WinSxS by deleting subfolders and files. The folder contains, among other things, downloaded Windows updates and system files that Windows restores from here in the event of system errors.

If you remove these files, you can render your system unusable. You should therefore use Windows Disk Cleanup, which you can start by entering

cleanmgr in the search field of the taskbar. Click on “Clean up system files,” place a tick in front of each option and confirm with “OK.”

The SysWOW64 folder is also often quite large. It contains the WOW64 subsystem (Windows on Windows 64-bit), which is required to run 32-bit programs in a 64-bit Windows. You must not change this folder.

Mysterious processes in the Windows task manager

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If you open the Task Manager, you will find the entry with the name AggregatorHost.exe or Microsoft (R) Aggregator Host in the processes. The process belongs to a file that was still located in the C:\Windows\System32 folder in Windows 10. Windows 11 stores it in a subfolder of C:\Windows\WinSxS.

What this process does is unclear. Microsoft does not provide any information. Since “Aggregator” stands for “collect,” it seems plausible that the process connects various system components with elements such as notifications and preview images in the taskbar. In any case, this is not malware. As the file hardly takes up any memory, ignore it.

The case is clearer with taskhostw.exe: It is also a process; it is responsible for starting Windows services that are based on DLLs. It normally works unnoticed in the background. Users repeatedly report error messages in connection with this file, and the process also causes a CPU load that is stretched to the limit.

The Windows tools sfc.exe and DISM can help against this. Open the command prompt with administrator rights, type

sfc /scannow 

and run the test. Then enter the three commands

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /Check-Health
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /Restore-Health

one after the other. This often solves the problems.

Explained: What are the hosts file and the MUI and PF files for?

The hosts file in the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc folder is characterized by the fact that it has no extension. This has to do with the fact that this file originally comes from the Unix world. Today, hosts exists not only on Windows computers, but also on Macintosh computers, Linux computers, and smartphones and tablets with the Android and iOS mobile operating systems.

The file dates back to the early days of the internet. Back then, it was needed to translate entries such as www.microsoft.com into addresses such as 20.231.239.246. Back then, the hosts files contained long tables with address assignments. Today, this file is probably empty on your system; URLs are now resolved via the DNS system.

Nevertheless, hosts still has a practical use: You can use it to prevent access to certain websites such as advertising servers. If you enter “0.0.0.0 www.werbeserver.com” in the hosts file, the entry of www.werbeserver.com will be redirected to the non-existent address 0.0.0.0.

The process ends with an error message. To edit the file, simply use the Editor app or the Hosts file editor from the Microsoft Powertoys (Microsoft Store).

Files with the extension MUI (Multilingual User Interface) are frequently encountered on Windows PCs. These are files for switching the operating system from, say, German to another language.

Instead of deleting such files, however, it is advisable to uninstall entire language packs. To do this, click on the Time and language > Language and region button in the Settings app.

Then click on the three dots to the right of the language you no longer need and press the “Remove” button.

PF files, i.e. files with the extension PF, only exist in the folder C:\Windows\Prefetch. When an application is opened for the first time, Windows automatically creates a suitable PF file. It is used to speed up the startup process of the program. If you delete the files, the operating system automatically creates the files again the next time you start the associated application.

Useful: The small freeware tool Winprefetchview lists the PF files on the computer and displays a range of file information.

Three copies of the msedge.dll file?

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If you search for the msedge.dll file with a tool like Everything, three copies of it appear: one under C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application[version number], one under C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\EdgeCore[version number], and a third one under C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\EdgeWebView\Application[version number].

However, the file actually only exists once, namely in the path C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\[version number].

The other two locations are hard links to the original. These also have the property of displaying the size of the original file, although it is only saved once in a different location.

This article was translated from German to English and originally appeared on pcwelt.de.

The fact that IT is such an exciting topic has a lot to do with the constant changes. In hardly any other industry do new technical developments follow each other so closely. Ground-breaking new products are launched on the market in rapid succession and often become widespread very quickly.

However, it often happens that after a few years, competing products emerge that replace their predecessors thanks to having a better concept, a modern interface, greater functionality adapted to current requirements, or simply lower costs.

In this article, we present a series of examples in which programs that were previously regarded as a kind of standard have been replaced by new developments, and explain the background and reasons for the change in each case.

Further reading: 13 important Windows settings to adjust immediately

Microsoft Defender instead of Avira Free Antivirus

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The German company Avira launched Antivir, one of the first professional antivirus programs, in 1988 under the name H+BEDV Datentechnik. Avira Free Antivirus, the free version for private users, was soon to be found on almost every computer whose owner took the increasing number of warnings about viruses and other malware seriously.

Microsoft hesitated for a long time before integrating its own antivirus tool into Windows. Windows 7 already included a program to defend against adware and spyware, but it was ineffective against classic malware.

However, as the danger posed by computer viruses increased exponentially and many users still went online without protection software, Defender was integrated into the operating system with Windows 8. Up until the first editions of Windows 10, however, the detection rates were low and the program was therefore not recommended.

However, this changed with Windows 11 at the latest, and the software is now on a par with other free antivirus solutions. As it does not need to be installed, uses few resources, and does not display ads, it has largely replaced Avira and other competitors on private PCs.

Google Chrome instead of Firefox

Michael Crider/Foundry

Michael Crider/Foundry

Michael Crider/Foundry

The market share figures for the major browsers from March 2024 show a clear winner: According to market researchers from Similarweb, Google Chrome has a share of 64.7 percent on U.S. desktop computers. Edge is in second place with 14.71 percent, while Firefox has a paltry 5.32 percent share.

Looking at the global figures, the gap between the browsers is just as pronounced: Chrome leads on the desktop with 67.51 percent, followed by Edge with 14.83 per cent, Safari with 7.9 percent, and Firefox with 6.21 percent.

In 2010, Firefox was the second-most popular browser with an average share of 30 percent, topped only by Internet Explorer with a market share of between 40 and 50 percent, although a strong downward trend was already apparent. What has happened since then?

Firefox was popular because, as open source software, the browser offered an alternative to Microsoft’s proprietary Internet Explorer. Users also liked the large number of available extensions with which they could customize the browser.

However, when the number of users of the now outdated Internet Explorer fell, it was not Firefox that benefited, but Google Chrome, which was only launched in 2008. The browser had a cleaner and more organized structure than Firefox, was also faster, and was considered more secure, as each tab runs in its own process, which is executed in a sandbox.

Although Firefox has been extensively revised since then, the manufacturer Mozilla has not yet been able to build on its old successes.

7-Zip instead of Winzip/Winrar

Winzip was created in the early 1990s as a Windows user interface for the original Pkzip packing program. Although it was shareware, it was initially included with numerous book and magazine CDs as an unlimited trial version and thus became widely used by private users.

Winrar, on the other hand, is a packing program for the somewhat differently structured RAR compression format. It can also create and open ZIP files, whereas Winzip can only unpack RAR files due to license reasons.

Winrar is distributed as an unlimited trial version: After 30 days, the user receives a message that they must license the software. However, the program can still be run without a license.

For several years now, Winzip has only been available free of charge for 21 days, after which the user must pay for the software at prices starting at around $36. Together with the integration of a ZIP tool in Windows, this has led to a sharp decline in user numbers.

Today’s Windows users either use the operating system’s zip function instead or resort to the free open source software 7-Zip, which has an extended range of functions compared to Windows and can also securely encrypt ZIP files and protect them with a password, for example.

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Teams replaces Skype

Microsoft Teams is currently in the process of replacing Skype. Microsoft designed Teams from the outset as a central tool for collaboration within and outside of companies.

Voice calls are just as possible as video calls, and Teams is also linked to other applications from the Microsoft cosmos. Participants in a meeting can, for example, view PowerPoint presentations or edit Excel sheets together. At the same time, access to SharePoint, Outlook, and the OneDrive storage is possible.

Skype also allows you to make phone calls and hold video conferences. However, you can tell that the program was originally designed as a messenger. It offers very few functions for collaboration in groups.

Microsoft is expected to discontinue Skype in the next few years. Skype for Business Online has already been discontinued and the version for the local data center is expected to be discontinued in 2025. Only the version of Skype for home users does not yet have an end date.

VirtualBox instead of VMware Player

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VMware is one of the pioneers of the virtualization trend of the past 20 years. The company targeted its products at companies and public authorities.

This also applied to the free VMware Player, a lightweight program with which the user could start virtual machines. Today, the software is offered under the official name VMware Workstation Player.

From the mid-2010s, when PCs for private users were also suitable for working with virtual machines thanks to multicore processors and ample RAM, users increasingly turned their attention to the open source tool VirtualBox from Oracle.

It offered more functions than the VMware Player right from the start and has maintained this lead to this day. Many users also find it easier to use.

For this reason, VirtualBox is the preferred choice for private users and smaller companies.

Further reading: The best free software for your PC

PowerToys instead of various optimization tools

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Microsoft

Microsoft

In the days when hard drives were still slow and small, CPUs were weak, and RAM was scarce, numerous tools were created to make Windows leaner and faster.

They searched for orphaned entries in the registry, deleted or deactivated unnecessary services, searched for duplicate and no longer needed files, defragmented the hard drive, and emptied the autostart. The effect on the execution speed was small, but at least the tools freed up some memory.

With the advent of faster and ever larger SSDs, more powerful processors and inexpensive memory, most optimization tools became superfluous. The hardware had become so powerful that it made no difference whether the registry was a few megabytes larger or smaller or whether a few more or fewer services had to be loaded.

Hard disks and SSDs now also offered so much storage space that users no longer needed to worry about free space.

The optimization tools needed a new concept. One possible variant is demonstrated by Microsoft with its free PowerToys.

This collection of tools continuously adds functions to Windows, such as a color picker that picks up a color from the desktop and copies it to the clipboard, FancyZones for designing window layouts, or an editor for the Windows hosts file. The desired functions can be selected as required.

Further reading: Supercharge Windows with Microsoft’s free PowerToys

OneDrive instead of Dropbox

Dropbox was the first popular file hosting and file sharing service on the internet. It used a simple and efficient method for uploading files, which was later adopted by all major file hosting services: The user copies the files to the Dropbox folder on their local hard drive, from where they are automatically synchronized with the Dropbox server.

The user can create a link to each file. If he sends it by email, the recipient — provided she has the necessary access rights — can access the file and download it.

In this way, Dropbox solved many problems with the transmission of particularly large files, which were often not accepted by the email provider due to size restrictions.

The major drawback of Dropbox has always been the limitation of the free basic service to 2GB of free storage. This value could be increased in 500MB increments by recommending the service to other people, but even this was too little for many users. However, users had to take out a paid subscription for more storage.

Google Drive, for example, offers an alternative with 15GB of free storage. Finally, Microsoft provides every Windows user with a Microsoft account with 5GB of storage. Subscribers to the Microsoft 365 Office package even receive one terabyte for free.

In other words, for $70 a year, the user gets one terabyte of free storage, and Microsoft adds an Office package on top.

By way of comparison, 2TB currently cost $9.99 per month with Dropbox, and additional software is not included in this subscription. Microsoft can also point out that its cloud storage OneDrive is closely integrated into Windows and allows automatic backups, for example.

Tip: Windows Explorer with two-window view

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The major disadvantage of Windows Explorer compared to tools such as Total Commander has always been its limitation to one window. For copying and moving files, however, two adjacent windows would be more advantageous. However, you can realize this view with just a few mouse clicks.

First start an instance of Explorer. Now open the program a second time. You have various options here: For example, you can call it up in the first Explorer by double-clicking on the explorer.exe file under C:\ Windows — or, if the Explorer icon is in the taskbar, start a copy by right-clicking and selecting “Explorer.”

In one of the two Explorer windows, move the mouse over the square at the top right of the title bar, i.e. the “Maximize” icon, and click on the “Group | Start” display in the small overview window. Windows will now arrange the two Explorer windows next to each other.

This article was translated from German to English and originally appeared on pcwelt.de.

If you enter several appointments one after the other in the Outlook calendar, the program always assumes by default that they follow one another without a break. Sometimes, however, you may need a short break at regular intervals, for example to change meeting rooms. In this case, you can set the program to schedule these breaks from the outset.

Foundry

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Foundry

To do this, click on File > Options > Calendar. In the “Calendar options” section, tick the box next to “Shorten appointments and meetings” and then use the drop-down menu next to it to set whether your meetings should end earlier or start later by default.

Further reading: 21 work-from-home tech products that will level up your office

Below this, select the amount of time you need to change the meeting room, for example. You can choose between five, eight, or 15 minutes, and even set different times for shorter and longer appointments.

For example, if you have selected “End earlier” and marked “5 minutes” underneath, a one-hour 11 a.m. meeting will end at 11.55 a.m. and not at 12 noon.

Important: This only works for meetings that you enter in the calendar yourself. However, it does not apply to meetings that other people arrange for you.

This article was translated from German to English and originally appeared on pcwelt.de.

With the Terminal, Windows has a common interface for Powershell, Command Prompt and Azure Cloud Shell. This allows you to start the terminal directly with the command prompt.

You can open the program by simply right-clicking on the Start button and selecting “Terminal” or “Terminal (Administrator)” or by right-clicking on a folder in Explorer or on the desktop and selecting “Open in Terminal.”

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Windows 11 Pro

The tool then presents Powershell by default. You can switch to the command prompt using the downward-pointing arrow in the title bar. However, it is possible to start the command prompt at the same time as the terminal.

To do this, please also click on the arrow pointing downwards in the title bar and select “Settings.” In the next step, select “Command Prompt” from the “Start” tab in the “Default profile” menu and click “Save” at the bottom of the window.

This article was translated from German to English and originally appeared on pcwelt.de.

There is always room for improvement: The manufacturers of the three major browsers Chrome, Edge, and Firefox have been working on the settings for data protection and security for years.

New features are constantly being added to the corresponding options and offer ever more precise choices. This is because the trend is clearly moving towards more protection against tracking and more shielded privacy.

For many users, however, the current browsers do not go far enough. This is because much more is already technically possible, as demonstrated by the large number of extensions for better data protection and anonymous surfing on the internet. They want a browser that protects them from being spied on as they surf the internet by default.

Over the past few years, a whole series of new browsers have appeared that cater to these wishes and include appropriate protective measures. Most of them come from companies that already focus on anonymity on the internet. These include manufacturers of antivirus tools as well as VPN providers and alternative search engines.

Further reading: 50 antivirus and PC security terms everyone should know

Most of them use the same open source projects as the established manufacturers for their source material: The Gecko engine from Mozilla Firefox, on which the Tor browser is also based, and the Chromium project with the Blink engine, from which Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Opera, among others, have emerged.

For the manufacturers, this has the advantage that they do not have to worry about developing, maintaining, and servicing their own competitive rendering engine, which forms the core of every browser.

In this article, we will introduce you to the most important new browsers and tell you what sets them apart from the established programs.

Duckduckgo Browser

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Duckduckgo is known as an alternative to the Google search engine that does not save your search queries and does not pass on any data to advertising companies.

The company has also had browsers for Android and iOS in its program for several years. A beta test for a Mac version began in 2022, and a beta for Windows has been available since the summer of 2023. The program is currently only available in English.

According to Duckduckgo, the software has been completely rewritten. Only the WebView2 rendering engine used comes from Microsoft; it is the same one that is used in Edge. However, the company assures that data protection has been improved. Not even crash reports are sent to Microsoft.

Compared to Chrome & Co., the Duckduckgo browser is characterized by a significantly more effective tracking block that takes effect as soon as a website is opened. According to the manufacturer, the program loads up to 60 percent less data than Chrome, for example, and is therefore significantly faster.

This tracking protection also includes protection against fingerprinting, i.e. the identification of the visitor by means of hardware features and the installed software. In addition, the integrated Duck Player for playing videos prevents the user from being tracked on YouTube.

The user can delete all stored cookies and other data at any time via a button. However, they can also exclude individual pages by activating the so-called fireproofing mode for them.

In the browser settings, there is also an option to activate cookie management, which automatically suppresses the annoying queries as to whether you want to allow cookies or not and sets a minimum cookie acceptance level.

Ghostery Private Browser

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Ghostery is one of the best-known browser extensions for blocking tracking. The add-on is permanently installed and active in the Ghostery browser from the company of the same name. According to the manufacturer, it rejects tracking attempts as soon as a website is opened, which should significantly speed up the loading process.

In addition, the installation routine asks whether the user also wants to switch on the blocking of pop-ups that ask for a declaration of consent to set cookies.

The Ghostery browser is based on Firefox and has adopted most of its options and default settings. For example, data protection is set to the lowest level “Standard” (or “Default Protection” — the Ghostery Private Browser is currently only available in an English version), the saving of websites visited and downloads made is switched on, location queries and access to the camera and microphone are not deactivated; instead, the program asks the user for permission.

Further reading: Data brokers have your personal info. Here’s how to wipe it clean

Ghostery has also developed its own search engine, which is designed to protect privacy better than Google. It can be accessed at https://ghosterysearch.com and is also integrated into the browser’s input bar.

If you type in a term and confirm it with the Enter key, it presents the results found. It will later also offer a search for images and videos; however, these functions have not yet been implemented.

LibreWolf Browser

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LibreWolf is another version of Firefox that is optimized for data protection, but offers several other language versions in addition to the English version, including a German version. The functionality and appearance are very similar to the Mozilla browser, but there are also some special features.

For example, the adblocker Ublock Origin is pre-installed and active. The internet search in the address bar uses Duckduckgo instead of Google like Firefox. Tracking protection, which can be set to three levels in Firefox, is set to full power from the outset in LibreWolf.

A function called “Resist Fingerprinting,” or RSP for short, is designed to ensure that the identification of the user via hardware and software features comes to nothing. Unfortunately, the developers have not implemented Firefox’s Safe Browsing function, which offers constantly updated protection against phishing sites.

LibreWolf offers its users the Firefox password manager, you just have to activate it in the “Settings.” The browser has even adopted Mozilla’s sync function, so you can synchronize your saved account data between your devices via the internet.

The Norton browser

Avast

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Avast took over AVG and Piriform, the manufacturer of CCleaner. Norton Live Lock took over Avira and later Avast and then renamed itself Gen Digital. All of these companies produce browser programs that are very similar apart from a few details and are therefore discussed together below. The products from Avira and Norton are practically identical.

Avast Secure Browser, AVG Secure Browser, Avira/Norton Secure Browser, and CCleaner Browser are all based on Chromium. In all five browsers, you can access a “Security and data protection center” via the icon bar to the right of the input bar, which combines various security functions.

In the browsers of the antivirus manufacturers, you will find links to the respective security products. There are also standardized functions such as “Privacy Protection,” which provides tracking protection and an ad blocker.

Another feature is “Web Protection,” which corresponds to Google Chrome’s Safe Browsing and warns against phishing and other dangerous sites.

A password manager can also be accessed via the data protection center — in four of the browsers mentioned it is the tool included in Chrome, and only Norton offers its own manager in parallel.

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There is also an “Extension Guard,” which blocks the installation of untrusted extensions, and a function called “Private Mode,” which simply opens a window in Chrome’s incognito mode. Avast and AVG also offer a “Hack Check,” which checks whether your email address appears in directories with hacked account data.

Other functions such as a “Bank Mode” require the installation of Avast Antivirus, or a “Secure Browser VPN,” which is links to a commercial VPN offer.

Mullvad Browser

Mullvad is a Swedish VPN provider that also introduced a browser last year. According to the company, it collaborated with the Tor project during development. The result is Firefox-based software that uses Mullvad’s VPN instead of Tor.

The most noticeable difference to the original Firefox is that Mullvad is always in private mode by default, meaning that cookies and other website data are automatically removed when the browser is closed.

In addition, the program offers a function called “New identity,” which can be quickly accessed via an icon in the toolbar. Click on it to close all running browser instances and restart the program.

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To protect anonymity on the web, Mullvad also comes with the tracking blocker Ublock Origin, pretends to have a preset default system for fingerprinting queries and uses Duckduckgo by default for its search via the address bar.

Conclusion: One can convince

With many of the browsers presented, one gets the impression that they are primarily intended to boost sales of the respective manufacturer’s main product.

Many of their security functions can also be upgraded individually via the Firefox and Chromium browser settings and the installation of a few extensions.

Nevertheless, they are not useless, as they offer a ready-made security package, especially for beginners. Of the browsers we looked at for this article, Mullvad offers the best security concept.

This article was translated from German to English and originally appeared on pcwelt.de.

Last year was dominated by artificial intelligence. The release of Chat-GPT in autumn 2022 triggered such huge hype that every software manufacturer rushed to integrate real or supposed AI functions into their products and advertise them heavily.

The share price of Microsoft, which has direct access to the technology thanks to its stake in Chat-GPT manufacturer Open AI, rose from $230 in January to over $370 in November 2023. The topic of AI will also be with us in the coming year: New tools with AI functions continue to appear.

Unfortunately, the topic of ransomware will also continue to appear in the headlines in 2024. There are even fears that its frequency will increase. More and more criminals are using viruses and encryption programs for their blackmail attempts.

At the same time, phishing attacks have increased, whereby fraudsters attempt to obtain account data of all kinds. They are not limited to bank accounts, where the mandatory two-factor authentication makes unauthorized access complicated, but also access data for gaming accounts, ticket exchanges, streaming services, online shops, and much more.

And finally, the topic of saving energy will also remain on the agenda. The effects that can be achieved using software on your own PC are relatively small. However, with electricity prices remaining high, the savings will nevertheless reduce the burden on the household budget at the end of the year.

In this article, we present new and not-so-new tools for 2024. Some of them belong to the AI, virus protection, and energy-saving categories mentioned above, while others offer support for working in the office or with Windows, or extend the functionality of the operating system in the areas of multimedia and security.

AI tools

Programs with AI functions are currently springing up like mushrooms. Here are a few examples:

NMKD Stable Diffusion GUI

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Why you need it: AI image generators for the PC are all the rage. Stable Diffusion is a command-line tool that accepts orders in text form and generates suitable images from them. With the GUI (graphical user interface) of NMKD Stable Diffusion GUI, it can also be conveniently operated by mouse.

Pinokio

Why you need it: In 2024, even more AI tools for the PC will come onto the market. However, installation is not always easy and often not very user-friendly. This is where the Pinokio tool comes in, automatically generating Json scripts for any application with just a few clicks.

Upscayl

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Why you need it: In films and series, you often see police experts zooming in on blurred number plates in photos and making them legible. But this doesn’t usually work in reality. However, Upscayl is at least able to give coarsely pixelated images a higher resolution and thus make them more recognizable. The program uses AI to determine the most likely color fill for the additional pixels.

Windows tuning

Using software to make Windows noticeably faster is neither necessary nor possible on most computers. However, there is still room for improvement in terms of operation and functionality.

Microsoft Powertoys

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Why you need it: The Powertoys tool collection is not advertised and is still labelled as a “preview” by Microsoft. Nevertheless, updates and new functions are released every few months. Many of the tools, such as File Locksmith or the Hosts file editor, are primarily aimed at nerds who manage Windows as administrators. Others, however, such as the add-ons for Explorer or Awake, also make work easier for normal users.

Winaero Tweaker

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Why you need it: Many changes to the appearance and behaviour of the Windows user interface require intervention in the registry database. The Winaero Tweaker does this work for you. The English-language tool allows you to activate dozens of settings with a simple click and, if necessary, to cancel them again.

HWinfo

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Why you need it: Windows already lists many details about the installed hardware and software in the “System information.” However, the list is far from complete. This gap is filled by HWinfo, which gathers every last bit of information about CPU, RAM, drives, etc. from its database and uses sensors to determine the current system status.

Driver Easy

Driver Easy

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Driver Easy

Why you need it: For many devices, especially graphics cards, new, updated drivers improve performance and often provide additional functions. They also eliminate bugs that have been discovered in older driver versions. It is therefore worth keeping an eye out for new releases. Driver updates such as Driver Easy do this for you by checking the existing drivers, comparing the version numbers with a database, and alerting you to new versions.

Save energy

Electricity has become expensive and is likely to remain so for some time to come. With various tools, you can ensure that your PC consumes less.

Monitorian

Why you need it: You normally adjust the brightness of your screen somewhat laboriously via a menu on your monitor, which you operate using buttons on the underside. It’s easier with the freeware Monitorian: It appears as an icon in the taskbar corner after starting and, after a click, displays a slider with which you can easily change the brightness using the mouse. Optionally, you can also use the software to adjust the contrast.

Tweak Power

Tweak Power

Tweak Power

Tweak Power

Why you need it: In the Windows Control Panel you will find the “Energy Options,” where you can choose between several energy-saving plans. However, the settings for energy consumption in these energy-saving plans are rather coarse. The energy-saving plan from Tweak Power, an optimization tool for Windows, is much more finely configured.

After installation, click on the menu icon with the three dashes at the top left, select “Smart Tuning” and click on “Economy mode” under “Current PC mode.” Tweak Power now installs the “Tweak Power Energy Saver User Defined” savings plan in the “Energy Options” and activates it. Its default settings offer a sensible balance between performance and energy consumption.

You can also make various other optimizations in Tweak Power by clicking on the cogwheel next to “Economy mode” and switching to “User settings.”

Wise Auto Shutdown

Wise Auto Shutdown

Wise Auto Shutdown

Wise Auto Shutdown

Why you need it: Which PC consumes the least power? That’s right, a PC that is switched off. With the free Wise Auto Shutdown tool, you can set a time for your computer to shut down automatically. This is useful if, for example, you have started a large download or installation and left the computer unattended. The program can also reboot the computer or put it into energy-saving mode, log you out of Windows, or simply lock the computer.

Tips for driver updates

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New driver versions for graphics cards, printers, system components, and others promise more performance and additional functions. However, as competition is fierce, manufacturers often supply driver software that is not yet fully developed. This results in malfunctions and crashes. To avoid such problems, you should observe a few precautionary rules:

• Do not install new drivers as soon as they are released, but wait two to three months. This is often followed by a bugfix, which increases a version number such as 7.50 to 7.51 and irons out some errors that were recognised too late.
• Do not install any pre-release or beta versions of new drivers.
• Create a restore point before each driver installation in Windows.
• To do this, type create restore point in the search field of the taskbar, select drive C: and click on “Create.” Enter a description and click on Create > OK.
• Use a driver updater such as Driver Easy. The paid versions of these programs can usually create restore points themselves and download and install new driver versions automatically.

Security software

The internet has become more dangerous. The number of phishing emails and ransomware attacks is increasing and victims can expect high financial losses. However, you can improve the security of your PC with a few tools.

R-Drive Image

Why you need it: With a good backup program like R-Drive Image, you regularly back up important and confidential data to an external medium such as a USB hard drive. If you fall victim to a ransomware attack, you will still have an up-to-date copy of your files. In this case, it is best to replace your PC’s SSD with a new one, reinstall Windows and applications, and copy the backed-up files back again.

Further reading: Best Windows backup software

Bitwarden

Why you need it: If you don’t want to manage your passwords on a piece of paper, a password manager is recommended. The open source tool Bitwarden is available as an extension for browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and others, as a Windows program, and also as an app for Android and iOS. It encrypts your passwords locally on your computer and stores them in the Bitwarden cloud. Two-factor authentication can be activated for access.

Further reading: Best password managers

Neushield Data Sentinel

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Why you need it: Data Sentinel is a supplement to an existing antivirus program such as Windows Defender. The tool focuses on preventing the encryption of important folders in Windows and selected cloud storage by offering the ransomware a mirrored version of this data. The malware is led to believe that it has encrypted the originals, but in fact it is merely a fake. The free version offers a few fewer functions than the paid version.

Office programs

The major office packages such as Microsoft 365 and Libre Office come with everything you need for your paperwork. With a few additional tools, you can make your day-to-day work even more productive.

Docfetcher

Why you need it: Explorer comes with its own search function for full-text searches in files, but this is complicated to configure. The open source software Docfetcher makes this easier. It creates an index for selected folders and uses this as a basis to present the search results for a searched term in a matter of seconds.

Multimedia

The development of image and video editing programs for the PC is still continuing. AI has opened up new possibilities for this type of software.

Cutout Pro

Why you need it: Marking and cutting out objects in a photo, known as cropping in technical jargon, is a time-consuming task. However, programs such as Cutout Pro show that this work can also be done using software. It allows you to remove people and other objects in no time at all and place them in front of a different background.

Capcut

Why you need it: Editing videos for social media platforms such as Tiktok or Instagram must be as simple as possible and produce presentable results quickly. Capcut specializes in exactly that. The software was developed for smartphones, but is also available in a Windows version.

Use two-factor authentication

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Two-factor authentication (2FA) is an effective way to prevent unauthorized access to your accounts with shops, cloud storage, payment service providers, or even the online data storage of a password manager.

Once activated, in most cases you will receive an additional confirmation request via a smartphone or authenticator app when you log in. 2FA has been mandatory for banks for several years, and most major online service providers now also offer this procedure.

This article was translated from German to English and originally appeared on pcwelt.de.

The BSI report on the state of IT security in Germany presents alarming figures: In 2023, the Federal Office for Information Security registered an average of 68 new vulnerabilities in software products every day, resulting in almost 25,000 new vulnerabilities per year.

Security-related errors were counted in programs of all kinds, from specialist applications for industry to server software for companies and smartphone apps.

Most of these vulnerabilities, around 47 percent, enabled the execution of unauthorized commands or program code. In this way, the attackers could, for example, install ransomware on a computer, bypass security measures, extend their own access rights, or read out data in order to sell it to other groups or blackmail the owners.

Winrar executes embedded scripts and loads malicious code

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In August 2023, a security vulnerability was discovered in the popular Winrar packing program that allowed criminal hackers to execute scripts on the user’s computer. The cause was an error in the tool’s handling of file name extensions.

On this basis, it was possible to prepare RAR archives in such a way that a script was automatically started when a file was opened and, for example, additional files were downloaded from the internet.

In August, Win.rar GmbH released the revised version 6.23, which fixed the error. Version 6.24 is now available. However, it is likely that many users are still working with an earlier, vulnerable version of the program.

Another major problem is that many other manufacturers have licensed Winrar’s compression mechanism and incorporated it into their own products. One example is the Total Commander file manager. Therefore, if a program offers to open and create RAR archives, you should definitely update it to the latest version.

Further reading: The best antivirus for Windows

False and real errors in VLC Media Player

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The open source software VLC Media Player has been attracting media attention for several years now, as security vulnerabilities have been discovered time and again. However, some of these were false reports, such as a news item from 2019.

The error only affected the Linux version of the VLC player and, according to the VLC developers, the cause was not in their software but in a faulty program library in some Linux distributions.

However, it has been confirmed that some VLC downloads from unofficial sites contain a foreign DLL file that is loaded when the tool is called up and subsequently enables access to the computer from outside. The lesson learned: Only ever download software from the manufacturer’s website or from trustworthy sites.

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In 2022, however, a number of critical security vulnerabilities in VLC Player also became known. These made it possible for an attacker to cause the tool to crash via a prepared file, for example, and retrieve malicious code from external sources or trigger a denial of service, i.e. paralyze the computer. All the user had to do was play a video file or open a playlist.

The manufacturer Videolan fixed the problems with version 3.0.18; the current version is 3.0.20.

Images in the graphic format Webp bring malicious code with them

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Last September, Google registered a vulnerability in its Chrome browser that allowed attackers to trigger a buffer overflow and execute malicious code. The widely used graphic format Webp, which is characterized by particularly small file sizes, was affected.

All a user had to do was open a crafted image in this format and the code was executed on their computer. With Google Chrome, it was sufficient to open a website with a Webp image.

Just a few hours later, the company corrected itself and explained that a number of other applications besides Chrome were vulnerable. In fact, the bug was not in the browser itself, but in the open library libwebp, which the program accesses when opening webp images. This library is also used by numerous other programs, including Chrome, Firefox, and Edge as well as applications such as Gimp, Inkscape, Libreoffice, Signal, Thunderbird, and 1Password.

While patches have long been available for browsers, which are also installed automatically, many programs on users’ PCs are probably still running in outdated, unpatched versions. You should therefore immediately update any software that can read Webp graphics to the latest version number.

Memory errors in Foxit PDF Reader allow malicious code to run

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In November 2023, several vulnerabilities were discovered in Foxit PDF Reader and Foxit PDF Editor that could lead to memory errors when opening manipulated document files. It was then possible for an attacker to execute arbitrary malicious code on the computer.

The manufacturer has now released version 2023.3, which closes these vulnerabilities.

Further reading: The best password managers

Watch out: New Outlook version passes on login data

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The days of the Windows programs Mail and Calendar are numbered. Microsoft wants to establish an email program with a standardized interface and the name Outlook across all operating system platforms. The web version of Outlook is to be the model.

The two Windows apps mentioned above will also fall victim to these plans, and users will be more or less gently urged to switch to the new Outlook in Windows 11 in the coming months. It is already included in the current Windows 11. However, this is not the planned new Outlook version from Microsoft 365, which will only be introduced at a later date.

To make the switch, users have to set up their IMAP accounts in the new Outlook and also enter their user names and passwords. As has now been revealed, this data does not remain on the local computer, but is transferred to the Microsoft cloud and stored there.

Microsoft’s reasoning: this makes it possible to synchronize all of the user’s existing email accounts so that they only need one email program for all of their mailboxes. However, if Microsoft has the access data, the company can read all of a person’s emails, both the messages in its own services such as Outlook.com and the emails in the inboxes of other providers.

This article was translated from German to English and originally appeared on pcwelt.de.

Microsoft Edge is an integral part of Windows and therefore initially the program of choice for surfing the internet. However, many users are unfamiliar with the Microsoft browser because they prefer the user experience of Google Chrome or Firefox.

Switching is all the easier as there are several equally good alternatives. Like Edge, the market leader Google Chrome is based on the open source Chromium project. Chrome is comparable in terms of functionality, but offers a more clearly structured user interface. Mozilla Firefox, on the other hand, is itself open source, and a large community provides the browser with many extensions.

There are also other browsers such as Opera and Vivaldi, which are also based on the Chromium project.

How to change the default browser

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The default setting for Edge as the standard browser can be easily changed. Open the Settings app and click on Apps > Default apps. Scroll down to “Web browsers” on the right-hand side, click on “Microsoft Edge” and then click on the web program of your choice in the following list of installed browsers.

In Windows 11, also open Settings, go to Apps > Default apps and click on “Firefox” or “Google Chrome,” depending on your preference. In the following window, click on the “Set as default” button next to “Make Firefox as your default browser” or “Make Google Chrome as your default browser.”

Alternatively, you can also make the change in the browser: In Firefox, call up the menu in the top right-hand corner using the three horizontal lines, go to “Settings” and click on “Make default” in the “General” tab. With the option “Always check whether Firefox is the default browser,” you can control whether Firefox always asks whether you want to make it the main browser.

In Google Chrome, click on the three dots at the top right, then on Settings > Default browser > Set as default. Chrome now opens the “Properties” of Windows with the list of “Default apps,” where you can change the browser as described.

Change file and protocol assignment

Even if you have already changed the setting for the default browser in Windows to Firefox or Chrome, clicking on some file formats used on the internet, such as SHTML or the WEBP graphics format, still opens the Edge browser. You may need to change such file associations separately; there are significant differences between Windows 10 and 11.

In Windows 10, go to Settings > Apps > Default apps and scroll to the bottom of the right-hand side of the window. There you will find the two links “Select default apps by file type” and “Select default apps by protocol,” which lead to the lists “Assign file types to specific apps” and “Select default apps by protocol” respectively.

Scroll down to the file type or protocol you are looking for, click on the associated program and select a program. With “Search for an app in the Microsoft Store” you can install additional applications for this format.

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In many cases, the assignment of file types is clearer via the “Set default settings by app” link. To change, select “Google Chrome” or “Firefox” in the list, click on “Manage” and switch to Chrome or Firefox for all file formats that still have “Microsoft Edge” next to them.

In Windows 11, Microsoft has made it much easier to change the assignment: Under Settings > Apps > Default apps, you can search for a specific file or link type at the top. Once you have scrolled all the way down, you will find the complete lists via “Select default values by file type” and “Select default values by link type.”

Then click on the type you are looking for and select a program to open in the “Suggested apps” and “More options” sections. You can use “Search apps in the Microsoft Store” and “Select an app on your PC” to specify applications that Windows has not included in its suggestions.

To link all file formats with Chrome or Firefox, proceed as follows for PDF files, for example: Settings > Apps > Default apps > Google Chrome (or Firefox) > .pdf > Google Chrome (or Firefox). Repeat this for all desired file and link formats.

Import and manage favorites

In Chrome and Firefox they are called “Bookmarks,” in Edge “Favorites”: Each browser saves address collections as HTML files and can transfer and import them from other programs.

To switch from Edge to Chrome, you must first save the favorites in an HTML file. To do this, click on the browser’s three-dot menu at the top right and go to “Favorites.” Click on the three dots again in the top right-hand corner of the following menu, follow More options > Export favorites and save the links in an HTML file in any folder.

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To import them into Chrome, open the three-dot menu in the top right-hand corner of the Google browser and select Bookmarks > Bookmark Manager. You will now see another three-dot button “Organize,” which you click on and select the previously created HTML file via “Import bookmarks.”

Firefox imports the Edge favorites directly without the diversions via the HTML file. To do this, click on the three-dash menu at the top right and go to Bookmarks > Manage bookmarks. Now click on Import and save > Import data from another browser, select “Microsoft Edge” from the drop-down menu and click on “Import.”

Firefox now imports not only the favorites, but also the saved login data and passwords, the history for the last 180 days, and the data for the Microsoft browser’s form autocomplete.

Change the default search engine

In the Edge browser, Microsoft’s own Bing is set as the default search engine when searching via the address bar. Chrome naturally uses Google, Firefox works with the Google search service. You can easily change this setting and switch to a search engine such as Duckduckgo, which collects less user information.

In Chrome, go to Settings and click on “Search engine.” There you will see a drop-down menu offering a selection of alternative search services. In Firefox, you will find the same option under Settings > Search. To change the default setting, go to “Privacy, search and services” in the Settings, then scroll all the way down and click on “Address bar and search.” Here, set the desired service next to “Search engine used in address bar.”

If you cannot find it here, click on “Manage search engines” and either select a service from the list by clicking on the three dots on the right-hand side and selecting “Set as default.” Or click the “Add” button and add another service to the list.

Manage bookmarks for multiple browsers

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Edge, Chrome, and Firefox allow you to synchronize bookmarks, passwords, and other data with other computers. This also works across operating system boundaries with versions for Android or Mac OS. Data is transferred via the providers’ cloud services.

If you use different browsers on your devices, uniform management of bookmarks and favorites is much more difficult. Although all three browsers support the HTML format for saving links, there is no automatic synchronization with competitors’ products. However, there are tools that take over this task.

There is a free version of Raindrop.io. Compared to the paid version for around $28 per year, you only have to do without some advanced functions such as a full-text search or the cloud backup of bookmarks. After installing the Windows app, which is also distributed via the Microsoft Store, you register and upload your bookmarks as HTML files to the Raindrop.io cloud service.

You can use the app to sort the links and see a preview of the linked page. You secure access with a user name and password. You then set up the extension in each browser you use to access the cloud data.

Apps are available for Windows, Mac OS, Android, iOS, and Linux; extensions are available for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, and Safari. See also: https://raindrop.io/download.

This article, which originally appeared on PCWelt, was translated from German to English.

The File Explorer is one of the central tools in Windows. This is because the operating system is file-orientated, so the folder in which a file is stored, its name, and extension play a major role. Copying, moving, renaming, and deleting files as well as searching for one or more files is a routine activity for every Windows user.

Although Explorer can fulfil all these tasks, it only offers a rather cumbersome way of working. Third-party manufacturers are constantly showing how it can be done better with their tools. This applies, for example, to the large, alternative file managers such as Total Commander or Free Commander, which work with a two-window technique, but also to various smaller tools that supplement the functions of Explorer or replace them with better versions. In this article, we present a selection of these programs.

Copy and move faster with Teracopy

If you set Explorer the task of copying or moving large volumes of data, the program first starts to think. It can take several seconds for the file manager to estimate how large the volume of data is and how much time it will need for the process, information that’s usually of no interest to the user.

Teracopy gets to work more quickly in such cases. The free tool starts working immediately after selecting the files and the source and destination folders. It offers checksums to ensure the integrity of the files and integrates itself into the Explorer context menu. All you need to do is right click on a folder or file to define it as the source.

If you wish, you can also set Teracopy as the default program for copy actions. And, unlike Explorer, the tool does not completely cancel the copying process if a file is corrupt or inaccessible, but simply skips it.

Change file formats quickly with File Converter

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A major shortcoming of Windows is that the operating system itself is not able to convert files from one format to another. Instead, you have to open a suitable application each time, load the file, and then save it again in the new format.

There’s an easier way, as the open source software File Converter proves. The tool recognizes several dozen audio, video, and document formats and converts them at the touch of a button. It integrates itself into the context menu of the Explorer, so that you can start the conversion directly after right clicking on a file. Different quality levels can almost always be set, especially for audio and video files.

Unfortunately, the File Converter does not support export to Microsoft Office formats such as DOCX or XLSX.

Tidy up the context menu with Filemenu Tools

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Over time, a number of commands accumulate in the Explorer context menu that you don’t actually need anymore. On the other hand, it would be practical if some functions were quickly available there after a right click. The free Filemenu Tools allows you to reorganize this.

The program lets you edit the commands of the corresponding context menu and delete superfluous entries in its main window via the “Send to menu” tab. Here, for example, you will often find the entry “Bluetooth device”, even though the computer does not have a Bluetooth adapter.

You can configure the “Filemenu Tools” folder in the context menu via the “Filemenu Tools commands” tab. It contains several dozen useful commands for file actions in Windows. You can remove individual commands from the list or move them. The changes take effect after a Windows restart.

Please note: Although the free version of the program allows you to edit the command syntax, you will no longer be able to execute the command in question.

There is a small additional function under “Extras” and ‘”Settings”. Here you can replace the Windows 11 context menu with the classic form.

Working with tabs in Explorer via Qttabbar

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You can open as many tabs as you like in your browser to quickly access multiple websites. With Qttabbar, this also works in Explorer. After installation, an additional bar appears in which you can open further tabs by clicking on a plus sign. The tabs can be moved and grouped together using the drag and drop function.

In addition, a multi-window display can be realized in Explorer in this way, which allows simple copy and move actions. Drag and drop is also supported here. The tool therefore goes far beyond what Explorer offers in Windows 11 with its tabs.

Search for files better and faster with Listary

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Explorer’s search function is very powerful, but at the same time quite cumbersome to use. A good replacement is Listary, a tool that sits in the taskbar corner and at first glance consists of nothing more than a search field.

However, the software is actually extremely powerful. On one hand, it offers a local search function. Enter the name of a file or folder and Listary will immediately show you a list of possible locations. If you place a g in front of the search term, the tool forwards the search to Google. With Bing, you can access the Microsoft search engine. However, you can also search in X (Twitter), Bing or Amazon, for example.

However, Listary only searches for the names of files or folders, it does not create an index for file contents. This is still reserved for Explorer.

Professional tricks: How to find any file on your PC in a flash

Sort files quickly and clearly with Dropit

Many file actions are repeated over and over again. For example, you want to copy JPG files to your photo collection, move MP3 files to your music collection or XLSX files to other spreadsheets. With Dropit, these processes can be largely automated.

The tool displays an icon on the desktop with an arrow pointing downwards. Now open Explorer, select a large number of files and drag and drop them onto the icon. Dropit will now carry out the associated action for each file type, for example copying all MP3s to the music folder and the JPGs to the photos.

You can freely select the actions and the target folder for each type; in addition to copy actions, commands for compressing, encrypting and unpacking, for FTP uploads or for sending by e-mail are also available, for example.

Start preview with space bar via Quicklook

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On Apple computers, this is the standard procedure for quickly viewing a file. You select the file, press the space bar, and a preview opens. Explorer also offers a preview, which you can switch on under “Show -Preview window”. However, it is limited by the window of the file manager.

The function is better solved with the open source tool Quicklook. It adopts Apple’s operation and opens a separate window when you press the space bar. You can zoom in and out using the mouse wheel, and the tool also offers to open the file in the assigned application or in another application. However, Explorer is better in one respect. It also displays the contents of Microsoft Office documents, where Quicklook has to fit. The tool can handle numerous audio, image, video, and other text formats.

Conveniently change file attributes with Attribute Changer

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Attribute Changer specializes in editing attributes such as “Read-only”, “Hidden”, or “System” for files and folders. The free program is clearer than the corresponding function in Explorer and can also change the values for the creation and modification date as well as the date of last access. It is therefore an addition to backup software that uses this data as a basis for its backups.

Link files cleverly with Link Shell Extension

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Link Shell Extension gives a command line function a graphical interface. You can create hard links in Windows that allow you to permanently distribute an original file to multiple storage locations. However, the operating system itself only offers this function in the command prompt or Powershell, so it requires you to do some typing.

The Link Shell Extension, on the other hand, integrates itself into the context menu of the Explorer and allows you to select the original file from there and create a soft (symbolic) or hard link in a freely selectable, different folder. You can find out exactly what a hard link and a soft link are in the box below. Further information can be found here.

Reading drive information with Property Editor

Explorer shows you some data about a file, folder, or drive via the “Properties” entry in the context menu. Once you have installed the Property Editor, a new tab appears in the “Properties” which, after right clicking on a drive, lists the data volume of the folders it contains.

For files, the tool offers, among other things, to set up a hard link to a freely selectable folder and provides information about the attributes.

This article was translated from German to English and originally appeared on pcwelt.de.

Google has shown the way: You can offer typical Office programs such as word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation programs online. Free of charge and with a range of functions that is completely sufficient for most users.

Google first introduced its “Google Docs Editors” suite in 2006, and Microsoft responded with its own online office suite in 2009. As with Google’s competitors, you only need a user account to use it, and the technical requirements are limited to a browser and an internet connection.

Just log in with your browser

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The central point of contact for the Office programs is the portal www.office.com. There you can log in with your Microsoft account or create a new account. As soon as you have logged in, you can access Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneDrive, Teams, OneNote, and To do as well as Family Safety, Calendar, and Skype via the bar on the left and the square symbol with the nine dots.

A number of other programs such as Forms or Loop appear in the “Apps” overview, but you will need a paid Microsoft 365 subscription to use them.

Please note that the browser opens a new window each time you switch to another Office application via the square symbol and the previous application continues to run. To avoid using too much memory, simply close the window with the previously used Office program if necessary.

If you have activated “Start page” in the left-hand column, you can create a corresponding empty document via “Document,” “Presentation,” and “Workbook” and start the appropriate application. Alternatively, click on the icon of a program and then on “Empty document,” “Empty presentation,” or “Empty workbook.” Ready-made templates are also available for each application.

Further reading: 6 reasons why a Microsoft 365 subscription is worth the money

Opening and saving files

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Office files saved locally on your computer cannot be loaded directly into the free online office. You can only access files stored in the cloud storage OneDrive. Every user who has a Microsoft account automatically receives 5GB of free storage space there.

To do this, open the overview of available apps via the nine-dot icon and click on “OneDrive.” The following window shows the available files and folders. Click on “Upload” at the top and then on “Files” or “Folders.” In the following Explorer view, select the directory with the local files or folders to be edited, select the desired content, and click “Open” to save it to OneDrive.

Saving edited documents also works slightly differently than with a desktop application. All new documents are automatically saved in OneDrive — you don’t have to do anything and can simply close the browser window with the open file.

Alternatively, you can also save the document directly to your PC hard drive: To do this, click on File > Save as > Download a copy. The file will then be saved in the download folder. The Office programs even offer to convert the files immediately via “Download as PDF” and “Download as ODT” (Word), “Download as ODS” (Excel), or “Download as ODP” (PowerPoint). PowerPoint also offers the “Download as images” command, which you can use to convert the slides of a presentation into individual JPEG files.

Set menu view, print documents as PDFs

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By default, the online Office ribbon displays a toolbar with important commands in a single line.

Advantage: On smaller monitors, such as on a tablet, the menus take up less space and the workspace is larger and clearer.

Disadvantage: Not all available commands are displayed. To switch to the classic ribbon view, click on the small downward-pointing arrow on the far right of the toolbar and then select “Classic ribbon.” You can also choose to hide the ribbon.

The print function has also changed in Online Office compared to the desktop version. This applies regardless of the browser used. To print a document with Word, for example, open the file and click on File > Print > Print. Next, you’ll see the message “All done. Your file is ready for printing” and the “Open PDF” button below it. Click on the latter to start the linked desktop program for PDF files, from which you can then send the file to the printer.

Word Online at a glance

Even a cursory glance at the free online version of Word shows that there are differences in the ribbons. For example, you have to do without the “Draw,” “Draft”, “References,” and “Transmissions” menus online, but some of the commands from the desktop version are just in a different place.

In Microsoft 365, under “References” you will find functions for working on academic works, such as commands for creating footnotes and endnotes as well as a table of contents and bibliography or for inserting a caption.

You can also create footnotes and endnotes in Word Online, either directly on the workspace using the two rectangles at the top and bottom right of the page margins or using the “View” ribbon.

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You can also use the “References” ribbon to create a table of contents as well as footnotes and endnotes. However, Word Online does not work for mail merges that you organize in the desktop version under “Mailings.”

It is also not possible to work with macros in the online version; existing Word documents with macros cannot be opened. The same applies to encrypted and password-protected files.

The selection options under “View” are also very limited: You can use the zoom to reduce the size of the pages so that several of them fit into the Word window. However, they are always positioned one below the other, and if there are more than two pages, the text is no longer legible.

Excel Online at a glance

The online version of Excel also does not support macros and, like Word, does not generally offer VBA support. Overall, however, the interface differs less from the desktop version than is the case with Word; the only thing missing here is the “Page layout” ribbon. Instead, there is the “Draw” menu item with six tools.

Unlike Word, Excel can also draw, but with only six tools, the options are quite limited.

Unlike Word and PowerPoint, it is possible to load files directly from the local hard drive in Excel Online. If you go to File > Open > Open files from this device, you will be taken to an Explorer view for selecting a table.

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What happens next depends on the browser used: Firefox loads the selected file to OneDrive, from where it is opened in Excel without further enquiry. However, this only works if you allow pop-ups to be displayed in the browser.

To do this, click on “Settings” in the “Hamburger” menu at the top right, switch to “Privacy & Security” on the left and scroll down to “Permissions.” There, delete the tick in front of “Block pop-up windows.” Alternatively, you can define an exception for the Microsoft Office website: Leave the tick, click on “Exceptions” and then enter the URL https://onedrive.live.com under “Website address.” Finally, confirm with “Save changes.”

You also need to allow pop-ups to be displayed in Microsoft’s Edge browser. To do this, click on the three-dot menu at the top right and go to “Settings.” Now click on “Cookies and website permissions” and scroll to “Pop-ups and redirects.” Either switch off “Blocked (recommended)” or click on “Add” next to “Allow” and enter the address https://onedrive.live.com. In Chrome, however, this method fails, leaving you with the classic method of first uploading the file to OneDrive and opening it with Excel from there.

Otherwise, every Excel ribbon lacks some of the functions of the desktop version. Under “Insert,” for example, you will miss the “Maps” and “3D maps,” the “Symbols,” or the sparklines, under “Formulas” there is no “Error checking” and no “Monitoring window.” Although Excel Online can also handle pivot tables, it cannot integrate external data sources. And: The online version only recognizes four file formats: XLSX, XLSB, XLSM and XLS.

PowerPoint Online at a glance

In the online version of the PowerPoint presentation program, however, the “Record” ribbon is missing, whose commands allow you to record the processes on the Windows desktop and save them as a video. The remaining menus correspond to those of the desktop version.

Microsoft has also thinned out the functions. When printing, you only have the choice between printing complete slides, note pages, and handouts. Everything is first converted into a PDF, which you can then send to the printer. Designer, which is an integral part of PowerPoint in the desktop version, is only available online with a trial version for one month.

The tool works with an AI that makes design suggestions for the presentation based on the topic of the presentation. Via Insert > Images > Search the web you can search for other suitable designs using a Bing search.

This article was translated from German to English and originally appeared on pcwelt.de.

Last autumn, Microsoft Word integrated a text prediction feature that suggests the next word it thinks you will type. Pressing the Tab key or right arrow accepts the suggestion

The feature is supposed to help you save time, but the words predicted by Word rarely make sense and fit into the text. It’s often therefore a distraction that hinders writing rather than helping you.

But you can turn off Microsoft Word’s text prediction: Click on “File -‘ Options” and in the following window, click “Advanced.” Uncheck the box next to “Show text predictions as you type” and confirm your decision by clicking “OK.”

Alternatively, you can click on “Text predictions: on” at the bottom of your Microsoft Word window to go directly to the menu specified above.

This article was translated from German to English and originally appeared on pcwelt.de.

A password manager is one of the indispensable tools that everyone should have on their computer. After all, the masses of passwords that a normal user needs to access bank accounts, online shops, web services, and much more can hardly be managed in any other way. The range of password managers on offer has grown steadily in recent years, and the quality and range of functions have also continued to increase.

The major browsers Chrome, Edge and Firefox have their own password managers integrated into the software. While these were initially little more than an aid for filling in the login fields on websites, over time these managers grew into fully-fledged password databases that are still being improved.

The developers integrated important features such as encryption, synchronization across multiple computers, and password protection for editing saved passwords.

In addition to the Windows versions, all three manufacturers also offer browser apps for Android and iOS, whose password databases can be synchronized with the Windows versions.

Advantages and disadvantages compared to external programs

The password managers integrated into the browsers are convenient as they integrate seamlessly into the user interface, whereas external programs that run as browser extensions always seem a bit like foreign objects.

What’s more, these functions are free of charge. The majority of third-party managers, on the other hand, are chargeable and incur permanent costs via a subscription model. Tools such as Bitwarden or Keepass are honorable exceptions to the general trend.

See also: The best password managers 2023

The biggest disadvantage of integrated password managers is their lack of flexibility. The user commits to one browser, which they then use to save and retrieve their passwords. If they switch to a different browser, their password database is not available to them. What’s more, you may not be able to use your passwords in non-browser apps, or on certain operating systems, depending on what your browser’s password manager functionality supports.

Best external password manager

Dashlane

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Best Prices Today: $4.99 at Dashlane

The manufacturers of external managers, on the other hand, offer extensions for all major browsers for their programs. Online synchronization ensures that the data is up-to-date everywhere.

In addition, the range of functions offered by dedicated password managers is greater. The browser tools have caught up and also offer a search for weak and cracked passwords, for example. However, functions such as the sharing of login data with family members or the division into groups such as “work” and “private” are not available in the browser password managers.

The Google Chrome password manager

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Since this summer, Google’s password manager can be accessed via the three-dot menu (menu icon) in the top right-hand corner and by clicking on Google Password Manager. The tool can also be accessed via Menu icon > Settings > Autofill and passwords.

By default, the program offers to save entered passwords automatically. This option can be found in the Password Manager under Settings > Offer to save passwords. The synchronization of passwords with your Google account is also preset. The option in the three-dot menu under Settings > You and Google > Sync and Google services > Manage what you sync > Passwords is responsible for this. The passwords are stored in your account in encrypted form.

Tips for Chrome synchronization: How to make it more secure

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The passwords are initially stored in plain text on your computer and are only encrypted once they have been transferred to the Google server. To change this, click on Set up on-device encryption in the Settings of the password manager. If you follow the instructions, Google will not have the key to your passwords, but only you will be able to decrypt them. However, if you forget or lose the key, neither you nor Google will be able to access the passwords.

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Chrome protects access to your passwords via the Windows login. If another user of your computer wants to access your data, they must therefore know your Windows password or PIN.

By default, however, the passwords are inserted without further prompting. You can change this by switching on the Use Windows Hello when filling in passwords option in the Settings of the Manager.

Tip: The option to call up Chrome’s password manager as a standalone program is still fairly new. To do this, click on Add shortcut in its Settings and then on Install in the following dialog window.

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Chrome then adds an icon to the Windows taskbar and desktop that you can use to access the manager directly. This makes it easier to copy passwords for desktop applications from the program.

The Microsoft Edge password manager

You can access the Microsoft browser’s password manager by clicking on the three-dot menu at the top right and selecting Settings. If you have created several profiles, you now need to click on the one you want. Then go to Passwords. Alternatively, click on your profile photo at the top left and then on the cogwheel or key symbol.

To view one of the passwords in the list, click on the eye symbol. To exclude unauthorized persons, Edge asks for the password or PIN for the Windows login before the browser displays the password.

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Edge fills in passwords automatically by default. If you do not want this for security reasons, the browser offers two-stage protection. First click on More settings. If you now tick Prompt for device password before entering website password, Edge will only enter the passwords after you have entered the Windows password. You can also use a drop-down menu to set whether the password must be entered for every web form or only once per browser session.

After selecting Prompt for user-defined primary password before filling in the website password, open the Create primary password window, in which you define your own password of at least four digits for the browser’s auto-fill function.

Here, too, you can choose how often you want to enter the password. Edge synchronizes your data with your Microsoft account. To prevent this for passwords, go to Settings > Profiles > Synchronize and deactivate the Passwords option.

Tip: Under Settings > Profiles > Passwords, you can access the clearer wallet view via the Switch to wallet link.

The Mozilla Firefox password manager

In Firefox, you can access the password manager very quickly via the hamburger menu at the top right (the three parallel lines) and the Passwords entry. The functionality is largely the same as Chrome and Edge, but with one important difference: Firefox allows every user unrestricted access to the data by default.

To prevent this, click on the three-dot menu at the top right, go to Settings and tick the box next to Use main password. In the following window, you then define a password for access to the password data.

Another special feature is the relay email masks. This is a function that allows you to choose one of up to five Mozilla addresses instead of entering your real email address on websites. All messages sent to these addresses are automatically forwarded to your real address. This makes it more difficult for companies to track your activities on the web.

By default, Firefox does not synchronize your passwords. To do this, you must first create an account using the Register for synchronization button or log in to an existing account. The function for automatically entering passwords works in the same way as with other browsers.

With one difference: Firefox has a separate option for credit card data. Automatically insert credit cards is switched on by default. However, the function does not save CVV numbers for security reasons.

And: You can protect the automatic entry of credit card data with Windows Hello. To do this, tick the box next to Request Windows authentication to automatically fill in, display or edit saved credit cards. Then enter your Windows password or PIN to change the setting.

Android: One disadvantage of Firefox is the weak password help on Android. Although mobile Firefox for Android and iOS also helps with filling in login data on websites, it does not help with logins in apps. Microsoft and Google Chrome have the edge here with their Authenticator app. Both also jump into action on the smartphone when you have to enter a password in an app.

Browser or dedicated password manager?

The integrated password managers in browsers are convenient, but do not offer the same high level of security as Dashlane or Keeper or Bitwarden. For this reason and due to their widespread use, they are repeatedly the target of hacker attacks.

A good compromise is to manage security-critical passwords and credit card numbers with a dedicated password manager and only open access to simple web services such as newsletters, stock market reports, or weather services via the browser tools.

This article was translated from German to English and originally appeared on pcwelt.de.

Staying safe online doesn’t mean having to learn coding or anything exotic. Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security recently published a brochure entitled “Using the internet safely” that contains ten helpful security tips that you should keep in mind while surfing the Internet to protect yourself from fraud and computer viruses.

The basic information is handy indeed, but we’ve expanded on these tips with recommendations on specific tools and security settings you can use to stay safe online.

Further reading: The best antivirus software for Windows PCs

Always keep Windows, browsers and applications up to date

Tip 1: “Set up your web browser securely and keep it up-to-date. Browser extensions should be disabled or uninstalled if necessary.“

Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox check for available updates every time they are started and install them automatically. This applies to Windows as well as Android and iOS devices. Refrain from experimenting with alternative browsers from dubious manufacturers. These programs are often not carefully maintained.

the best password manager overall

Dashlane

Read our review

Best Prices Today: $4.99 at Dashlane

Even among the browser extensions in the manufacturers’ stores, there are quite a few candidates for which it is unclear what information they access and to whom they pass on this data. So you should install as few extensions as possible. For most users, the only thing that is almost indispensable is a password manager. These programs are now mostly offered in the form of browser extensions. Our guide to the best password managers can help you find a great one.

Tip 2: “Keep your operating system and other software up-to-date by allowing updates to be installed automatically.”

Windows, Microsoft 365, and many other applications have an automatic update mechanism that installs new versions and patches as soon as they appear. For all other programs, there are tools such as Sumo or the Iobit Software Updater that check the version numbers of installed programs and indicate available updates.

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Tip 3: “Use applications for virus protection and a firewall. Some operating systems already offer such applications, but they must be activated.”

Windows includes virus protection and also a firewall, both of which are active by default, but they’re basic and aren’t very configurable. The best antivirus software suites include protect against threats like ransomware, phishing, and stolen identities.

Tip 4: “Create different user accounts and, if possible, refrain from using the device with administrator rights.”

Under Windows 10 and 11, you normally work with limited user rights. Even malware that has crept into the system only ever gets the rights that the current user has. It therefore does not have unlimited access to the system settings and cannot manipulate them. That’s why not using an admin account is one of our five easy tasks that supercharge your security.

If you need administrator rights, for example if a setup program wants to access the protected folders C:Programs or C:Programs (x86), the Windows user account control jumps in and asks you for permission. You can find it in the Control Panel in the icon view under “User Accounts -‘ Change User Account Control Settings”. For maximum security, set the slider to the highest level and confirm with “OK”.

the best windows antivirus software overall

Norton 360 Deluxe

Read our review

Tip 5: “Protect both your local user accounts and your online accounts with strong passwords. If possible, use two-factor authentication in addition.“

A secure password should be at least 16 characters long and consist of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters. But again, you should really manage your passwords with a password manager and never use one password for multiple services.

With two-factor authentication, which is already mandatory for online banking and some other accounts, you create an additional hurdle for hackers and criminals. The authentication apps from Microsoft and Google have proven themselves as key 2FA options.

A newer technology called passkeys uses the cryptochips in smartphones or PCs serve as a secure key for services and make many passwords superfluous. Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, and many password managers have already deployed passkey options.

Tip 6: “Be careful with mails and the attachments and links they contain. They are also used to infect devices with malware or to grab data.”

Phishing with fake emails is a preferred methods for criminals to spread malware and spy on access data. Either links lead to equally fake websites where you are supposed to enter your data, which is then tapped by the criminals, or an executable file is hidden in the attachment, which infects the computer with malware when opened. With the small, free add-in Attachment Scanner for Outlook, you can upload mail attachments with two clicks to Virustotal, a Google service that checks the files for malware with several dozen scanners.

For more help, be sure to read our guide on how to spot scam emails and texts.

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Unsplash

Unsplash

Tip 7: “Be careful with downloads, especially if they are programs. It is best to download them via the manufacturer’s sites.“

Avoid websites that offer illegal versions of commercial software, such as software where the request for the license number has been removed, or cracks that allow you to skip authentication checks. That sort of software is often contaminated with viruses that immediately take root on your PC. Only download programs from trustworthy sources and scan the downloads with an antivirus program.

On that note, do not click on Google ads for antivirus downloads. They’re dangerous and often abused by hackers. Scroll down to the legitimate, organic search link instead.

Tools like Free Download Manager offer an option to automatically scan downloaded files. You can find the function in the program’s “Settings” under “Antivirus”.

Tip 8: “Be cautious about sharing personal data and only share it via encrypted connections (https).”

Social engineering is a method used by hackers for many years. The criminals obtain as much information as possible about a person and then try to get account data, passwords, or a signature from your victim via a fake email, SMS, or even by phone.

To prevent this, you should disclose as little information about yourself as possible when contacted. This applies especially to social media. Do not publish your private address or telephone number in generally accessible services, do not talk about your partner, children or other relatives, do not give bank details if possible, and keep your holiday details to yourself.

Tip 9: “When surfing, always make sure you have an encrypted connection (https). You can recognise it by a lock symbol or similar marking in the address bar of the browser.”

If you call up a website via an http connection, the data entered is transmitted unencrypted and in plain text, so that an intermediary hacker can read it if they’re on your network or they’ve breached the site you’re using. If, for example, an online shop appears on an http page, it is almost certainly dubious.

Chrome and Edge display http pages but mark them in the address bar with a preceding “Not secure”. Firefox contains a preset security mode that automatically switches to the https counterpart without prompting when an http page is called up. If no https version is available, the browser displays the warning “Secure website not available”. You will find the corresponding option in the “Settings” under “Privacy and Security” in the section “HTTPS-only mode”.

Tip 10: “Make regular backups on external storage media.“

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One of the biggest dangers for private users and companies are ransomware viruses. Hackers use them to encrypt your hard drive and demand a ransom for decryption. You can protect yourself with regular backups of your data on an external storage drive. (Here are the best external drives we’ve tested.) This must not be permanently connected to your computer, however, but should only be connected for the duration of the backup. Otherwise, if your computer gets infected by ransomware, your external drive might as well.

You can simply drag copies of your most important files over to the external drive if you want to keep things simple, but if you want a more full-featured option and the ability to take restorable “system images” of your Windows installation, check out our roundup of the best Windows backup software and best online backup services.

This article was translated from German to English and originally appeared on pcwelt.de.

The first sign that something’s wrong is almost always the same. Friends and business contacts complain that they’re receiving mail with advertisements from you. Dozens of notifications from mailer daemons accumulate in your inbox, claiming that your mail cannot be delivered. Either the addresses of the recipients were misspelled or they did not exist. Or, perhaps, you received a message from your mail provider saying that someone has changed your personal data.

Now your alarm bells should be ringing, as it’s possible that your mail account has been hacked. A Trojan virus that spied out the access data to your account and sent it to a criminal hacker via the Internet or a hardware keylogger on the USB port that records your keystrokes and mouse movements may be responsible.

Run a virus scan

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The first step should always be to scan the computer for viruses. To do this, run a deep scan or a complete scan of the hard disk with your antivirus software.

In Windows Defender, you can find the corresponding command by double-clicking on the Defender icon in the taskbar corner under “Virus and threat protection -‘ Scan options”. In the next window, select “Full scan” and then “Scan now”.

In addition, you should check the USB ports on your PC to see if the plugged in device is yours or not. Caution: Keyloggers are very small and inconspicuous and often look like plug-ins.

Stolen passwords from the Internet

If the virus scanner finds nothing and no keylogger is connected, your mail password has probably been hacked. In most cases, hackers resort to passwords that appear under your mail address in the Darknet. There are huge collections of addresses and passwords there that have been captured by criminals as a result of security leaks at companies or online services.

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Since many people use the same password to log in to online shops, streaming services, company websites, and even mail accounts, hackers also try out the combinations of mail address and password published on the Darknet with a whole range of popular mail services.

If you have been using the same password over and over again, you should change it as soon as possible, for all services and shops where you have used it. Define a different password each time to make such attacks impossible. Write down the passwords on a piece of paper or save them in the database of a great password manager.

Another possibility is that you’ve identified a weak and easy-to-guess password for your mail account, which the attackers can easily crack. Therefore, make sure that you only use strong passwords.

Send a warning to friends and colleagues

When criminals crack a mail account, they usually do so in order to be able to send spam via a legitimate address. This is because all major mail providers today keep blacklists of mail addresses of known spammers in order to automatically sort out their mails.

Spammers therefore always need new sender addresses. Addresses that have existed for a long time have the advantage, as recipients trust the sender and read the message instead of deleting it immediately.

As soon as you discover an intrusion into your mail account, you should send a message to your friends, colleagues, and business partners, warning them of the possible spam.

You should also check your account settings, especially for online accounts. It’s important to see if the list of people who have access to your account has changed. You should also check for automatic mail forwarding, out of office notifications, blocked mail addresses, and newly set up remote access and filters for incoming messages.

Access denied: What to do?

To prevent the owner of a mail account from taking control of their account again after a successful hack, criminals sometimes change the password so that it is no longer possible to access the account settings. However, the major providers have taken precautions and show ways and means for a reset.

Google Gmail: If you can no longer access your messages, you will not be able to use the other services of the search engine giant. To log in again, call up the account recovery via this address. There you can identify yourself using your e-mail address or the telephone number you have stored.

Pixabay

Pixabay

Pixabay

On the following page, Google offers you several options for confirming your identity, ranging from a message to your smartphone or tablet to an alternative mail address or a confirmation in Google Authenticator or SMS. After clicking on “Try with another login option”, you also have the option of entering an older password.

If Google detects that you want to sign in from a new device or a different location, you may have to answer some questions. If you have requested a code, enter it now. You can then change your password.

Microsoft Outlook: Microsoft’s Outlook.com mail service is tied to your user account. If your password no longer works, you need to recover the account. To do this, you need a working mail address to which the company can send further information. This can be a secondary address of yours, but you can also enter the address of another person. You can find the account recovery form at https://account.live.com/acsr.

Microsoft will send you a code, which you enter on the website. You will then be asked to enter your personal data such as first and last name, date of birth, postcode of place of residence, and to answer a security question. The next step is to ask for older passwords and whether you use other Microsoft services or have subscriptions for Windows or Microsoft 365, for example.

In this case, the assistant wants to know your credit card details. As soon as you have entered all the information, you will receive a message that says your details are now being checked and will receive an answer within 24 hours. Microsoft also registers your location and the device from which the account recovery request comes. If you want to log in to a new location using a different device, this process becomes more complicated.

Twp-factor authentication: For security reasons, you should set up two-factor authentication on your account. A smartphone app such as Google’s Authenticator or Microsoft’s Authenticator is recommended as a second factor in addition to password entry.

This article was translated from German to English and originally appeared on pcwelt.de.