How to Run Android Apps on Your Desktop

If there’s an Android application you really love and wish you could run on your computer, now you can: there’s a dead simple way to run Android apps on your PC or Mac without fuss

What Is BlueStacks?

Let’s say there’s a mobile game you really love and want to play it on your PC with a bigger screen and a more comfortable interface. Or maybe you’ve grown used to a certain Android app for managing your to-do list or calendar. BlueStacks is essentially a self-contained virtual machine designed to run Android on a Windows or Mac computer. It comes with the Play Store pre-installed, and you can go from zero to running your favorite apps in a matter of minutes.

The entire experience is incredibly smooth on modern hardware (BlueStacks has been around for years and what was originally a pretty rocky alpha-software experience is now quite polished) and even things that previously didn’t works so well (like access to the host computer’s web cam or issues with applications that require GPS data) now work surprisingly well.

There are only two small quirks. First, the current version of BlueStacks only runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat, so if you need something newer than that, you’ll need to install the Android SDK instead. Second, multitouch is missing, unless you’re using BlueStacks on a computer with a touch screen monitor. If you are, you can use multi-touch, but otherwise you’re out of luck if the app you’re using requires it.

For more information read How-To-Geek article

Windows 10 updates are about to get a lot smaller to download

Microsoft has been promising smaller updates to Windows 10, through various methods, for what feels like years. MS is now starting to test a new Unified Update Platform (UUP) that will make a big difference. "One of the biggest community and customer benefits of UUP is the reduction you'll see in download size on PCs," explains Bill Karagounis, a Windows program manager. They will be publishing systems to enable differential downloads for all devices built on the Mobile and PC OS.

Differential downloads only include the changes that have been pushed out since you last updated a Windows 10 PC. This new change will debut with the Windows 10 Creators Update that's expected to arrive in March. Microsoft will start rolling this out to PC builds later this year. The real benefit for Windows 10 users will be when they move from one major update to another, as Microsoft expects download sizes to decrease by around 35 percent.

This new technology could also help Microsoft roll out changes to Windows 10 machines a lot faster.


source: UUP blog The Verge

Free Up Disk Space on Your Windows 10 PC

Is your Windows 10 hard drive showing signs that it's close to empty? You barely have enough room for your current applications and files, let alone new ones. Sure, hard drives are cheap, so you can always clone your existing one. But let's say you want to first try to get more mileage out of your current drive. There are a few ways you can do this.

The first and most obvious task is to delete files you no longer use. Granted, this chore will likely take a while since you may bump into hundreds or thousands of files you no longer need. To do this, open File Explorer, jump to the folders that contain your documents and other personal files, sort your files by modified date with the oldest ones appearing first, and then simply scrap the old and unneeded ones.

Another method to put the kibosh on unneeded files in Windows 10. Click on the Start button and then select Settings > System > Storage. Click on your main hard drive at the top of the window. Windows 10 calculates the types of files on your drive and how much space they take up. Click on a particular file type such as Documents, Pictures, or Music.

Empty your Recycle Bin. By default, any file you delete remains on your hard drive via the Recycle Bin so you can recover it if necessary. But at some point, the bin will get big, so you'll want to prune it. You can double-click on the Recycle Bin to view and delete any individual files you no longer need, or you can right-click on the Recycle Bin icon and click on the Empty Recycle Bin command to purge all the files within.

 The Windows Disk Cleanup tool can get rid of a whole mess of files in one shot. Click on the Start button and scroll down the Apps list, open the Windows Administrative Tools folder, and then select Disk Cleanup. The Disk Cleanup tool displays a series of file categories and determines how much space you can free up per category. Click on each category to view a description. In some cases, you can also view the files in that category. Click on the checkmarks next to the categories you feel comfortable deleting and then click the OK button.

Source & more info: PC Magazine

Barracuda's blacklist - keep out

Barracuda Spam Firewall is a popular spam filtering software. One of the ways it figures out whether an email is Spam or not is through the use of its "Intent Engine". The "Intent Engine" is a human run and maintained blacklist which is turned "On" by default with each new Barracuda installation.
To get blacklisted inside the "Intent Engine" you must first have had a complaint submitted to Barracuda by one of its customers. By default Barracuda assumes all mail is good mail, until that initial complaint is filed. Once a complaint is filed, a person will look at your email for three attributes to determine if it belongs on the blacklist.

1. "To:" line cannot be obfuscated. Anyone who uses blind carbon copy line (BCC line) to load up a list of recipients would fail this test.
2. The email must let the recipient know how they got on the email list inside the body of the message.
3. There must be a one-click unsubscribe link.

If the email fails in any of these areas, then the person analyzing the email will add URLs that are linked to in the email to the blacklist which means that future emails sent by that sender could be blocked. Once your URL gets on the blacklist, any Barracuda customer who has the "Intent Engine" turned on will likely not receive your messages.

We encourage our customers to add a quick one-line explanation to the body of their messages that explain how and where permission was gained from the customer to be on your list. This line can be in the header or the footer of the message. Not only would this help with deliverability, but it would also help make transparent your relationship with the end recipient which is always a good thing.

source: Campaigner
read more: Barracuda Lookup

Barracuda's blacklist - keep out

Barracuda Spam Firewall is a popular spam filtering software. One of the ways it figures out whether an email is Spam or not is through the use of its "Intent Engine". The "Intent Engine" is a human run and maintained blacklist which is turned "On" by default with each new Barracuda installation.
To get blacklisted inside the "Intent Engine" you must first have had a complaint submitted to Barracuda by one of its customers. By default Barracuda assumes all mail is good mail, until that initial complaint is filed. Once a complaint is filed, a person will look at your email for three attributes to determine if it belongs on the blacklist.

1. "To:" line cannot be obfuscated. Anyone who uses blind carbon copy line (BCC line) to load up a list of recipients would fail this test.
2. The email must let the recipient know how they got on the email list inside the body of the message.
3. There must be a one-click unsubscribe link.

If the email fails in any of these areas, then the person analyzing the email will add URLs that are linked to in the email to the blacklist which means that future emails sent by that sender could be blocked. Once your URL gets on the blacklist, any Barracuda customer who has the "Intent Engine" turned on will likely not receive your messages.

We encourage our customers to add a quick one-line explanation to the body of their messages that explain how and where permission was gained from the customer to be on your list. This line can be in the header or the footer of the message. Not only would this help with deliverability, but it would also help make transparent your relationship with the end recipient which is always a good thing.

source: Campaigner
read more: Barracuda Lookup

Barracuda's blacklist - keep out

Barracuda Spam Firewall is a popular spam filtering software. One of the ways it figures out whether an email is Spam or not is through the use of its "Intent Engine". The "Intent Engine" is a human run and maintained blacklist which is turned "On" by default with each new Barracuda installation.
To get blacklisted inside the "Intent Engine" you must first have had a complaint submitted to Barracuda by one of its customers. By default Barracuda assumes all mail is good mail, until that initial complaint is filed. Once a complaint is filed, a person will look at your email for three attributes to determine if it belongs on the blacklist.

1. "To:" line cannot be obfuscated. Anyone who uses blind carbon copy line (BCC line) to load up a list of recipients would fail this test.
2. The email must let the recipient know how they got on the email list inside the body of the message.
3. There must be a one-click unsubscribe link.

If the email fails in any of these areas, then the person analyzing the email will add URLs that are linked to in the email to the blacklist which means that future emails sent by that sender could be blocked. Once your URL gets on the blacklist, any Barracuda customer who has the "Intent Engine" turned on will likely not receive your messages.

We encourage our customers to add a quick one-line explanation to the body of their messages that explain how and where permission was gained from the customer to be on your list. This line can be in the header or the footer of the message. Not only would this help with deliverability, but it would also help make transparent your relationship with the end recipient which is always a good thing.

source: Campaigner
read more: Barracuda Lookup

Ammyy Admin Website Compromised

The website of the Ammyy Admin remote desktop management tool has been compromised to spread malware for the God-knows-what time in the past year.

Softpedia detected that something was wrong after we started receiving worrisome comments from readers on two articles detailing past infections of the Ammyy Admin website.

 Ammyy Admin website compromised for at least two days

The contaminated Ammyy Admin file MalwareHunterTeam managed to obtain had been uploaded on VirusTotal 20 times by 19 different people, between 2016-09-14 07:47:04 and 2016-09-15 06:50:39.

Some users have the habit of double-checking downloaded files by scanning them using VirusTotal. The period above is most likely the interval during which the website had been compromised, and some of its users had scanned the file.

A hybrid analysis of the file reveals a binary called "encrypted.exe" packed with the original AA_v3.exe, the legitimate installer. Every user running the installer would also run this file, which installs the Cerber ransomware.

Ammyy Admin website serving latest version of the Cerber ransomware

Cerber, which appeared at the start of the year, had several major branches, some of which were cracked and security researchers created a free decrypter to help victims recover their files.

The version distributed via the Ammyy Admin installer packs the latest v3 version that locks files via the .cerber3 extension. This version is uncrackable, at the time of writing.

Cerber 3 ransom note

MalwareHunterTeam also said that he didn't inform the website admin of the compromise and that it stopped on its own. Either the crooks realized they were exposed or they're just preparing another version of the Ammyy installer that would spread other types of malware.

Ammyy Admin website has spread at least six other types of malware

In the past, both ESET and Kaspersky have put out reports about how the site was used to spread all sorts of malware, such as the Ranbyus, Lurk and Buhtrap banking trojans, the CoreBot and Fareit infostealers, and the NetWire RAT.

ESET reported that the Ammyy Admin website spread malware in October and November 2015, while Kaspersky reported numerous similar incidents that took place between February to July 2016.

Softpedia has reached out to Ammyy Admin's team for additional comments. At the time of writing, even if Ammyy Admin downloads are clean, we can't vouch that they'll stay this way, taking into account the website's track record.

Read more: Softpedia,Google search