Month: December 2018

A new exploit has been discovered in Google Chrome that can potentially freeze Windows 10 devices completely. The new bug is being used in a tech support scam that freezes Windows 10 and then tells the user that their device is infected by a virus.
The newly discovered bug uses Javascript code to create a loop and which makes it impossible to close the tab or the browser. The pop-up also claims to from the official Microsoft support website and claims that the computer is infected with a virus, which could compromise your passwords, browser history, credit card information and other data. Since it’s a loop, every time you try to close it, it will open again almost instantly and will push your resource usage to 100% which will eventually freeze the computer.
While this looks like a legit issue, it’s just a scam and you can fix your computer easily by following the steps below.
Open Task Manager from the Taskbar
Go to the Processes tab
Click on Google Chrome (or GoogleChrome.exe)
Click End Task button at the bottom right corner
Also, make sure you have not set Google Chrome to restore back the old tabs as this will open the website again. A good way to avoid tech support scams it to verify the information before paying anyone money to fix your device. This is not the first time, a tech support scam has been identified that targetted Google Chrome. Earlier this year, we reported how a Download Bomb exploit has targetted major web browsers and only Microsoft Edge was imune to the attack. A good thumb of rule to prevent from getting scammed is to remember that companies don’t usually ask users to pay money unless they have thoroughly checked the device and identified the problem.

Whether you have friends or family members who work and live different schedules than you, or you find yourself sending more “happy belated birthday” messages than you’d like, having the ability to schedule text messages ahead of time is an incredibly useful feature.
Unfortunately, only certain Android smartphones let you do this out of the box. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible if you’re using, say, a Google Pixel phone. There are multiple ways to schedule texts on Android—provided you have the right app for the job.
Schedule Texts on Samsung Smartphones
Samsung Galaxy and Note smartphones users have it the easiest since they can schedule texts messages using the default Samsung SMS app that comes pre-installed on these smartphones:
Open the Samsung SMS app
Draft your text message
Tap the “+” button near the text field, or the three dots in the top right corner of the screen to open the calendar
Select the date and time
Tap “Send” to schedule.
While this is great news for Samsung Galaxy and Note owners, the stock SMS app on non-Samsung Android phones—like Google Pixel phones— lacks an equivalent feature. Scheduling texts is still possible, but you’ll have to use a third-party app messaging instead.
Use Pulse SMS to Schedule Texts
In order to schedule texts on non-Samsung Android phones, you’ll need to replace the basic Android SMS app—that’s where Pulse SMS comes in.
Pulse SMS is not only one of the best looking alternative text messaging apps for available on all Android devices, it also includes features that make it better than the stock texting app. While some of these features are only available when you upgrade to the premium version (which costs $10 for lifetime access), the free version includes a text scheduler.
You’ll need to download Pulse SMS from Google Play and then set it to your default texting app, but once you’ve done that you can begin scheduling messages immediately. Here’s how:
Tap the orange “+” button and then select the contact you wish to text.
In the conversation window, tap the three vertical dots icon in the upper right, then tap “Schedule a message.”
Set the date and time using the calendar interface
Draft your message. When you’re finished, tap “add” to schedule.
How to find, edit, or delete a scheduled message in Pulse SMS:
Tap the menu icon in the upper left corner to open the sidebar.
Tap “Scheduled Messages”
Tap the conversation, then tap and hold the message you wish to modify. Select “Edit” to edit the text, or “Delete” to delete the scheduled message.
Use IFTTT to Schedule Texts
This method of scheduling texts is a little more complicated than directly scheduling a text via Pulse SMS, but if you don’t want to swap to a whole new SMS app, it’ll get the job done.
This IFTTT applet can be used to schedule a text message when a Google Calendar event is triggered. The only requirements are an IFTTT account linked to the necessary apps (IFTTT will request permission if you haven’t linked to proper accounts/apps yet). Simply use the links above and follow the on-screen instructions to set up the message.
Use Alarms or Calendar Reminders
This last suggestion is only a half measure since it requires you to follow through and send the text yourself, but having a reminder loaded with a pre-written message is better than nothing.
While you can’t directly schedule and send a text message through Google Calendar, you can still use it to set up event reminders to send a text for special occasions. You can even write up a draft of the text you’re thinking of sending in the “Notes” section when setting up the reminder; that way you can copy and paste the text when the time comes to finally send it.

Everything to love about Android, there is still one deeply annoying problem. One that can be so annoying it could make you swear off the OS altogether. It takes forever for the Google’s OS updates to trickle down to products manufactured by companies like Samsung, OnePlus, and Huawei. So while Samsung S9 and OnePlus 5 owners can now rejoice in the fact that they could have Android 9 Pie by the end of the year (depending on where they live), other Android users, including owners of year-old Samsung devices, get to wait until well into next year. And that’s really stupid!
Android 9 Pie has had slow to rollout thus far. When Google released the latest numbers of Android version adoption back in October Pie was entirely absent despite being out for nearly two months. Which means either Pie was purposely excluded or it has had a miserable adoption rate of 0.1-percent (the minimum required for Google to include a version in the chart).
So it’s not surprising it has taken Samsung this long. As many in America settled down to enjoy a couple of days off work this week, Samsung began rolling out the update from Android 8 Oreo to Android 9 Pie to a select number of Samsung Galaxy S9 handsets. So far, the update is only rolling out in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Netherlands, and Turkey. Tech Radar notes that the rest of the S9 family should have the update next month, but that’s still five months after Pie first became available in August 2018. Note 9 owners will have to wait until February 2019, while Note 8 and S8 owners will have to wait until March 2019 at the earliest.
That’s right, the older the handset, the longer the wait. Android 9 Pie, known as Android P before its launch, isn’t exactly the biggest update to come to the operating system, but it does include cool features like a Digital Wellbeing app to help you manage how much you stare at your phone, as well as more refined control over myriad notifications. These are great features that anyone with a Pixel can already enjoy, and have been able to since Google released the update in August.
The giant gap between Android Pie’s release and anticipated global availability for the Samsung S9, which launched back in March, feels excruciatingly obnoxious at this point. But this has also been the curse of Android from the get-go. The vanilla operating system might have been available in August, but Samsung runs a custom skin over it, and it takes time to update and test that customized version of the operating system. There’s no clear and easy way to speed up that timeline—apart from Samsung going vanilla, or hiring more software engineers.
Samsung isn’t the only manufacturer plagued with this problem. Nvidia has suffered its own update woes this year. Its 4K set-top box, the Shield, was finally updated to Android 8 Oreo back in June, months late and nearly a year after Google released Oreo. Meanwhile, the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T are both getting Pie by the end of this month (the 5 launched June 2017, the 5T launched November 2017). Their successor, the OnePlus 6, got Pie a few months ago.
It’s hard to produce these updates, but one can’t deny that these companies also look like absolute clowns when compared to Google or Apple. Google is going with a vanilla version of Android that can be updated very quickly after a new release because nothing really major needs to be tweaked, while Apple’s closed ecosystem allows it to build its operating system to work perfectly with a handful of devices designed in-house. Thus Google and Apple can roll out updates quickly.
Sure, companies like Samsung tweak and modify Android to add their own innovative features, but dang, it’s annoying that it comes at the cost of being six months to a year behind Pixel devices on the core OS.

New code found in Samsung’s Android Pie update suggests that the company’s upcoming Galaxy S10 may include support for 3D facial recognition. While current Galaxy models already boast facial recognition, Samsung’s offering is far less secure than what Apple uses with Face ID, for example. The reason, quite simply, is that Samsung’s implementation relies upon a 2D map of a user’s face and, as a result, the devices can easily be fooled with photos and video.
As to the newly discovered code, XDA Developers found data strings that make reference to Time of Flight cameras, technology which is commonly used with 3D mapping and can help differentiate between a 2D photo and an actual 3D face.
“Now, as was previously rumored, there’s evidence that at least one upcoming Samsung Galaxy smartphone will use a ToF sensor,” the report notes. “Hidden within the code for Samsung’s system application responsible for handling facial biometric authentication are new fields and methods explicitly mentioning a ToF camera.”
The news shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given that rumors regarding Samsung’s plan to significantly boost the reliability and security of its face recognition feature have been making the rounds for months now. Assuming the rumors pan out, it will be interesting to see how close Samsung’s implementation comes to keeping up with Face ID on Apple’s current iPhone XR and XS.
What remains unclear, though, is if the improved facial recognition feature will be implemented on all Galaxy S10 models. As you may recall, it’s widely believed that Samsung at Mobile World Congress is planning to introduce four S10 models, including a flagship device with 5G support. While it’s entirely possible that Samsung may save its improved facial recognition feature for the higher-end S10 device, it would be nice to see it available even on the entry-level model.