News
8
IN BRIEF
THE WORLD’S
GONE MAD!Czech firm Somnium Space,
which makes virtual-reality
headsets, now offers a
‘Live Forever’ mode that
immortalises you as an
avatar after you die. All
you have to do is give it
permission to record massive
amounts of your personal
data while you’re still alive,
including conversations and
facial expressions. Don’t all
volunteer at once.BRAVE ADDS FORUM
POSTS TO SEARCH RESULTS
Brave has added a
‘Discussions’ tool to its
search engine which shows
results from online forums.
For example, typing ‘Should
I upgrade to Windows
11?’ gives answers from
Reddit forums. Most of the
results are currently from
Reddit, but Brave says more
sources will be added. It
claims the feature provides
a “different entry point to
real-human conversations on
certain topics” than Google
offers (see http://www.snipca.
com/41776).AMAZON’S IMDB TV IS
NOW CALLED FREEVEE
Amazon-owned streaming
service IMDb TV has been
renamed Freevee, and will
offer more shows and films.
The service, which is free
but has adverts, is available
online and through the Prime
Video and Fire TV apps. You
need an Amazon account,
but not a Prime subscription.
Read more at http://www.snipca.
com/41777.Update now from Windows 10
20H2 as support ends
install version 21H1 (released
in May 2021) before offering
the option to upgrade to 21H2.
Version 21H2 was one of the
smallest updates to Windows
10 since the operating system
launched in 2015, adding
minor tools to Wi-Fi security
and for Linux compatibility.
It has caused hardly any
problems since launch.
Microsoft will continue to
support 21H1 until 13 December,
2022, and 21H2 until 13 June,
2023 – see Microsoft’s Lifecycle
page for more details: http://www.
snipca.com/41770.M
icrosoft has now ended
support for version 20H
of Windows 10, released in
October 2020, so you should
update your system now if
you’re still running it.
It stopped providing
security updates on 10 May,
in line with its policy of
supporting versions for 18
months after launching. It
applies to both the Home and
Pro editions of Windows 10.
If you contact Microsoft
Support after this date, you’ll
be asked to update your
computer to the latest version
of Windows 10 in order to
receive support.
Microsoft says that 21H2,
released in November 2021, is
now in ‘broad deployment’
(www.snipca.com/41771),
which means it’s being rolled
out to all computers that are
able to run it.
It’s likely, therefore, that
you’ve already been updatedfrom 20H2 to 21H2, but you
can check by opening Settings
(press Windows key+I),
selecting System, then scrolling
down and clicking About.
Now scroll down the central
pane until you reach the
‘Windows specifications’
heading and look next to
Version (see screenshot).
If it shows 20H2 or 21H1,
return to the Settings home
screen and click ‘Update &
Security’. Click ‘Check for
updates’ in the central pane,
and Windows should update
to version 21H2. It may firstLenovo fixes flaw for over 100 laptop
models
L
enovo has
released
emergency security
updates for over 100
laptops to fix three
BIOS flaws that leave
them open to attack.
To see if your
model is at risk, visit
Lenovo’s support site (www.
snipca.com/41773), then scroll
down looking for your laptop’s
name on the left.
If it’s there, make a note of
what the three fixes are called
in the far-right columns,
under CVE-2021-3970,
CVE-2021-3971 and CVE-2021-- All of the fixes end in
‘WW’ or ‘ww’.
Now click the blue link
showing the laptop model in
the left-hand column to go to
Lenovo’s ‘Drivers & Software’
page. Next, click BIOS/UEFI
under the ‘What Component
Are You Looking for?’ heading,
then the down-pointing
arrow under See Files.
Check that the downloads
have the same code as you
noted down earlier (under the
‘Version’ heading –^1 in ourscreenshot) and, if so, click
the Download button on the
right^2.
The vulnerabilities were
found by Slovakian security
firm ESET (www.snipca.
com/41774), which said two of
them were meant to be used
only during the manufacturing
process, and were “mistakenly
included” in models that went
on sale to the public.1
2
11 – 24 May 2022 • Issue 631