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My computer shuts down completely upon watching certain video. For example, the earlier posted Tom Cotton speech. When I clicked onto it, I was able to watch essentially the introduction, then, BLANK. The thing just shuts off. FR, or stuff like my library account, or the weather forecasts, etc, are fine. But the minute I switch to a video format, or try to watch a CD...blank. It suddenly shuts down completely. Is it my system, or is there a fix that I'm unaware of? I know there are many knowledgeable herein. Thank you all in advance.

The end is finally in sight for Microsoft’s long-fraught Internet Explorer. At the Microsoft Convergence conference yesterday in Atlanta, Georgia, Chris Capossela, Microsoft’s head of marketing, said that the new flagship browser for Windows, which was announced in January and is codenamed Project Spartan, will not be associated with the Internet Explorer brand. While Internet Explorer will still exist on Windows 10 for compatibility purposes, it will take a back seat to the new browser.

A judicial advisory panel Monday quietly approved a rule change that will broaden the FBI's hacking authority despite fears raised by Google that the amended language represents a "monumental" constitutional concern. The Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules voted 11-1 to modify an arcane federal rule to allow judges more flexibility in how they approve search warrants for electronic data, according to a Justice Department spokesman. Known as Rule 41, the existing provision generally allows judges to approve search warrants only for material within the geographic bounds of their judicial district. But the rule change, as requested by the...

I am doing some clerical work for an insurance adjustor and he has asked that I assist in setting up a system where one email would be sent to 50 recipients. He does not want it done in BCC format as he claims those on the BCC list would be able to discover who the email was sent to. I do not want to make this more difficult than it has to be. He said an email blast program may be the way to go but I know nothing about these. Your advice/assistance is most appreciated.

Theresa and Billy Niedermayer paid an $800 ransom to get precious family photos of their three young boys back from cybercriminals. Their home computer had been seized by one of the more malicious malware programs spreading fast around the world. Ransomware takes computer files hostage. Cybercriminals target photos, videos, spreadsheets, documents, slide presentations — anything that someone will pay to recover. The initial infection takes seconds. In some cases, the malicious software encrypts the files so their owners can no longer read them. The data isn't compromised or removed, just locked down and inaccessible. Try to access them and a...

IÂ’ll be honest, when it comes to coding IÂ’m just about the last person anyone would consider asking advice from. DonÂ’t get me wrong, I find what programmers do to be both extremely interesting, and (of course) integral to our continued push for innovation in a digitized world, but studying the developers at my day job is like monitoring a team of archaeologists making sense out of hieroglyphics. There are countless people who feel the same way, which is unfortunate since development is a potentially rewarding career path, and one thatÂ’s constantly expanding. One of the stumbling blocks, as mentioned...

Many new devices are cluttered with programs that you never installed, never requested, and many not want. There’s nothing like the fresh, clean feeling of unboxing a brand-new computer or smartphone. Too bad the feeling usually comes to an end the moment you hit the power button. ... Bloatware isn’t all bad — you might end up buying that antivirus program. But it can also slow down your machine and waste valuable storage space. And every now and then, these unwanted programs will even threaten your privacy. Late last month, the Chinese computer maker Lenovo admitted that a bit of...

This is turning into a curse. I'm getting ads which come up making all kinds of noise and racket ten or twenty minutes after I've had a website open and if I've had ten or fifteen sites open, it can be all but impossible to figure out which one is even causing the trouble. Do any of the current browsers offer any way to block audible ads?

It might actually be that something like this would be possible with today's technology or it may be more like five or ten years out, but this is the computer I'd like to have. The thing would look like two Iphones held together face to face with magnets or snaps of some sort and fit in a shirt pocket. You'd take it out of your pocket, take the two halves of the thing apart, and set the one half on any flat surface to be the mouse. The other half would sit on the same surface and somehow generate a...

Sinister Circuit Board Peter Shanks via Flickr CC By 2.0 In late summer of 2006, the Japanese division of McDonald’s decided to run a new promotion. When customers ordered a Coca-Cola soft drink, they would receive a cup with a code. If they entered that code on a designated website and were among 10,000 lucky winners, they would receive an MP3 player pre-loaded with 10 songs. Cleverly constructed, the promotion seemed destined for success. Who doesn’t like a Coke and a free MP3 player? But there was one problem the marketers at McDonald’s could not anticipate: In addition to 10...

Lenovo Has Been Selling Laptops with Malware Pre-Installed Computer maker Lenovo has been shipping laptops prepackaged with malware that makes you more vulnerable to hackers — all for the sake of serving you advertisements. Made by a company called “Superfish,” the software is essentially an Internet browser add-on that injects ads onto websites you visit. Besides taking up space in your Lenovo computer, the add-on is also dangerous because it undermines basic computer security protocols. That’s because it tampers with a widely-used system of official website certificates. That makes it hard for your computer to recognize a fake bank website,...

The malware reprograms the hard drive’s firmware, creating hidden sectors on the drive that can only be accessed through a secret API (application programming interface). Once installed, the malware is impossible to remove: disk formatting and reinstalling the OS doesn’t affect it, and the hidden storage sector remains. “Theoretically, we were aware of this possibility, but as far as I know this is the only case ever that we have seen of an attacker having such an incredibly advanced capability,” said Costin Raiu, director of Kaspersky Lab’s global research and analysis team, in a phone interview Monday.

Alan Turing and the New Emergentists Erik J. Larson February 18, 2015 4:29 AM | Permalink The acclaimed Alan Turing biographical film The Imitation Game is up for multiple Oscars on Sunday. It is a tale of Turing as a tragic hero and misunderstood genius, irascible, certainly idiosyncratic, who insinuates himself into a job interview at Bletchley Park as a self-proclaimed mathematical genius, which later is born out as true. He "invents" the digital computer to solve the decryption challenge posed by the German Enigma machines, and thus saves the Allied powers from Hitler.  The film is a human-interest story,...

The Operation Arid Viper campaign has successfully stolen more than 1 million files with current malware campaigns underway, though it's not the usual suspects, according to Kaspersky Lab and Trend Micro. The Arab-speaking group, with ties to Gaza, have targeted foreign government offices, critical infrastructure, military, universities, and other high-profile targets. The attacks likely occurred starting in mid-2013 and a full investigation into their actions is underway.   "Whoever the real culprits are, it is clear that they are part of the Arab world, evidence of a budding generation of Arab hackers and malware creators intent on taking down their...

Vint Cerf, a "father of the internet", says he is worried that all the images and documents we have been saving on computers will eventually be lost. Currently a Google vice-president, he believes this could occur as hardware and software become obsolete. He fears that future generations will have little or no record of the 21st Century as we enter what he describes as a "digital Dark Age".

(Reuters) - The U.S. National Security Agency has figured out how to hide spying software deep within hard drives made by Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba and other top manufacturers, giving the agency the means to eavesdrop on the majority of the world's computers, according to cyber researchers and former operatives.

CORBIN, Ky. (AP) — A 16-year-old boy killed in a shootout Saturday with police in Maryland, prompted the search of his home over 500 miles away in Kentucky, where authorities found the bodies of his parents and younger sister. Friends and relatives of Jason Hendrix were struggling to understand how the boy, a faithful churchgoer who was baptized just two months ago, could end up as the suspect in the slayings. Hendrix, a Kentucky high school ROTC student and active church member, was angry at his parents for taking away his computer privileges when he's suspected of killing his family...

Looks like Bank of America is down. I was just told to call back on Monday to pay my credit card bill. WOW.

Voxel8, creator of the world’s first multi-material 3D electronics printer and backed by Braemar Energy Ventures, announced pre-order availability of its initial product – the Voxel8 Developer’s Kit. Voxel8 also announced its partnership with Autodesk to develop a new design tool called Project Wire for creating 3D electronic devices printed on Voxel8’s platform. Together, Voxel8 and Autodesk are enabling designers and engineers to create three-dimensional parts with embedded circuitry for the first time. Rapidly design novel devices, such as 3D printed antennas, electromagnetic coils, or stack ICs in ways that were previously impossible. Eliminate wire harnesses by combining them with...

<p>Records show the National Security Agency data center in Utah used more water in 2014, though the usage is still far lower than expected. The water usage peaked at 6.6 million gallons for the month of August.</p>