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Elton John fears he will not see his sons grow up and achieve their ambitions. At a press event in New York on Wednesday (24Jan18), the Rocketman star, 70, announced that his next three-year world tour will be his last, telling fans he wanted to spend more time with his family. Asked by WENN if he expected to see his sons Zachary, seven, and Elijah, five, follow in his footsteps and become touring musicians, he said, "I don't think I'm going to be alive by the time they're 18 or 19, they love the piano, they love the guitar, they love music, they can do what ever they want They can be a footballer or an astronaut." The star also confessed that he had thought he would continue forever, but that meeting his husband David Furnish and becoming a father had completely changed his outlook on life. "David and I sat down with a school schedule, and I thought, I don't want to miss too much of this," he said. "When I stop, they're going to be 10 and eight, and that's a very important time of their lives. I see them a lot anyway. But I love them so much. I don't want to miss them and I don't want them to miss me." He also gushed, "I love my kids so much, they really have taken over my life and they're the most important thing." To stay close to his kids, Elton said he would be taking them on tour with him, and will have them tutored on the road on the European leg of his trek. Elton insisted that his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, which begins in Pennsylvania in September (18), would be his last, joking that he was "not Cher" and explaining that he had been planning to bow out for a few years. "This was decided in 2015 in the South of France," he revealed, explaining that he hoped to go out in an "elegant and classy" way.

Jack Antonoff leapt to the defence of Lorde after she was heckled by a fan who objected to her decision to cancel a concert in Israel. The New Zealand singer, 21, sat beside Jack at a piano as they performed at a star-studded charity event at New York's Town Hall in aid of LGBTQ charity the Ally Coalition on Wednesday (24Jan18). Midway through Lorde's set, a heckler shouted, "In Israel, they're nice too!", referencing her controversial decision to cancel a gig in the Jewish state after coming under pressure from anti-Israel activists. In response to the heckle, Jack stood up from the piano and said, "No, no, we've raised a s**t-ton of money tonight. F**k that negativity." Jack, who confirmed he'd split from Lena Dunham, his girlfriend of five years, earlier this month, has been rumoured to be romancing the Royals singer, and he did little to quell speculation by praising her during an appearance on U.S. TV. Talking about they had bonded while he was helping her produce her latest album Melodrama, he told late night host Seth Meyers, "I was sort of doing nothing in New York, and we did this thing where for five days in a row we just kept having dinner every night, just getting to know each other." Discussing how Lorde had broadened his horizons, he added: "We've introduced each other to a lot of things because it's a vastly different culture in New Zealand (than) the United States. I think in the United States we have a tendency to think, 'This is it.' Like, for example, I have an Italian friend and I was like, 'Italian wedding soup! The best, right?' and they were like, 'That's not a thing in Italy.'" Lorde has also spoken about her closeness to the 33-year-old musician, telling Billboard magazine they FaceTimed "every day", and that they were close enough to consider buying each other Christmas presents. However, Jack previously hit back at the romance rumours between him and Lorde, tweeting: "Normally I would never address rumours but I resent having the most important friendships and working relationships in my life reduced to dumb hetero (sic) normative gossip. those relationships are deeply important and sacred. with that said, im not seeing anyone. lol (laugh out loud)." Lorde then retweeted his message.

Anti-Defamation League chief Johnathan Greenblatt has called on Erykah Badu to issue an immediate apology for comments she made about Adolf Hitler in an interview. The On & On singer said she sees the "good" in Hitler, the mastermind behind World War Two and the Holocaust, and other controversial figures, such as accused rapist Bill Cosby and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, in a new interview with Vulture, released on Wednesday (24Jan18). "I saw something good in Hitler...," she told the publication. "I'm a humanist. I see good in everybody... I know I don't have the most popular opinion sometimes." Anti-Defamation League leader Greenblatt insists the star's statements are clearly more than a casual opinion and he has slammed Erykah for using her platform to sympathise with one of the greatest villains in history, who orchestrated the largest genocide of all time by exterminating six million Jews. "Erykah Badu, I read your interview in @Vulture, and I have a few thoughts," the CEO of the charity, which is the largest Jewish civil rights organisation in the world, wrote on his Twitter account. "I also like to think that there is good in all people," he added, "but Hitler is pure evil. I don't care if he painted or was a vegetarian; Hitler is responsible for the deaths of 6 million Jews & a war that claimed the lives of tens of millions. Shame on you for downplaying that." He also took issue with her support of Farrakhan, who was widely criticised as a homophobe and anti-Semite, and demanded she take responsibility for her dangerous words. "You are a role model to many, and as such, you should immediately apologize for these irresponsible and misguided comments," Greenblatt insisted on Twitter. In response to the controversy surrounding her interview, Erykah took to her own Twitter account and suggested her words had been taken out of context. "The media is banking on our ignorance. Know we won't read the whole thing," she tweeted. "They'll use controversial quotes w/trigger (with trigger) words as Click Bait. We (love) controversy. So Blogs choose easiest thing to 'spin'. Get you mad. Help you get a little rage out. They get more adds (sic)." She has yet to explain what she was trying to say in the interview.

Beyonce and JAY-Z were just two of the guests at a star-studded dinner party thrown by Diddy in Los Angeles on Tuesday night (23Jan18) to celebrate Mary J. Blige's double Oscar nomination. The No More Drama hitmaker is up for the Best Supporting Actress prize for her role as family matriarch Florence Jackson in Netflix film Mudbound, about two men who experience racism in rural Mississippi upon their return from World War II. Mary will also compete for the Best Original Song prize at the 2018 ceremony for Mighty River, the theme tune she wrote with singer-songwriter Raphael Saadiq and his longtime collaborator Taura Stinson. To celebrate her incredible feat, her rapper pal Diddy called together some of her most famous friends to Tao in Los Angeles, where they drank to her success. Mary was seen arriving at the celebrity hotspot in a leather jacket, tight leather trousers and an incredible pair of thigh-high green velvet boots, while Beyonce also went for a leather jacket, adding a pencil skirt and Tom Ford heels. JAY-Z was spotted sporting a more casual look of jeans and sneakers as he accompanied his wife to the event. According to Entertainment Tonight, DJ Khaled, Nas and Diddy's long-term girlfriend Cassie were also in attendance at the dinner party. The New York Post's gossip column Page Six added that the group included Pharrell Williams and actor Jesse Williams, and that they were all "in a festive mood". "They took turns toasting Mary with Ace of Spades Champagne and Ciroc. Mary was also surprised with two cakes," an insider told the outlet. Mary previously revealed that she spent the morning "yelling and screaming and about to cry" after the Oscars shortlist was announced. "This is a new one, the actress nominee, and this is beautiful. This is really special," she adds to The Associated Press. "So is the song because it's something that I love to do. I love to sing. And that's something I've been doing for a very long time that's special to me, and the Oscars have recognised it. So it's all special."

Pop star Demi Lovato is continuing to encourage fans to prioritise their mental health by providing free wellness treatments on her upcoming tour. The Confident hitmaker launches her Tell Me You Love Me Tour with DJ Khaled and singer Kehlani next month (Feb18), and each stop on the trek will feature pre-show inspirational speeches, wellness events, and group therapy sessions for those interested in receiving a little professional advice from the CAST on Tour team. The bipolar star has previously battled issues with drugs and alcohol, eating disorders, and self-harming, but managed to turn her life around in 2012 with the help of officials at the Los Angeles-based CAST Centers, a health and wellness organisation Demi has since become a co-owner of. She previously took staff members from CAST on the road with her in 2016, when she performed on the Future Now Tour with Nick Jonas. Sharing the news of the latest CAST on Tour events, Demi told U.S. breakfast show Good Morning America: "It's basically like a therapy session before the concerts, and we have speakers from all over and we're also helping out with different charities from around the country. So it'll be an incredible, very moving and inspiring experience." The singer's business partner, Mike Bayer, the CEO and founder of CAST Centers, added, "For Demi and I, we believe mental health should be mainstream. It should be just as cool as going to the gym, working on yourself, so we just really want to encourage people to better themselves." Demi was inspired to keep up the CAST workshops following the huge success of her 2016 trek. "I want to do this because one, it was such an incredible experience the last time we did this on tour," she explained. "I've actually met people that go to CAST because they went to CAST on Tour and realised they needed to get sober or they needed to better themselves in some other way. "It's changed lives and I want to be able to do that again. It's a part of my whole... life, (it's) about giving back, and I think it's really important that I continue to do this while I'm on tour." The Tell Me You Love Me Tour kicks off in San Diego, California on 26 February (18), and features stops in cities including: Las Vegas, Nevada; Dallas, Texas; Detroit, Michigan; Brooklyn, New York; Toronto, Canada, and Nashville, Tennessee. It will wrap in Tampa, Florida on 31 March (18).

Elton John is to make a major announcement about the future of his career, amid speculation he may retire from touring. The Rocket Man singer, 70, is set to address his fans at an event in London on Wednesday (24Jan18). Ahead of the announcement, a report in Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper claimed Elton is planning to retire from performing live after a year in which he has been forced to cancel gigs due to ill health. According to the newspaper, the veteran singer is considering bowing out after one last farewell tour for fans. The rock superstar spent two nights in intensive care and 12 days in hospital in April last year (17) after picking up a "potentially deadly" bacterial infection. Elton apparently contracted the bug while on the South American leg of his world tour fell "violently ill" upon returning to the U.K. His health scare forced him to cancel all his April and May Las Vegas residency dates. "I am so fortunate to have the most incredible and loyal fans and apologise for disappointing them," a statement released by Elton at the time read. "I am extremely grateful to the medical team for their excellence in looking after me so well." However, the rocker has since returned to complete his residency in Sin City, which finishes in May, and released a new album in November (17) celebrating his 50-year collaboration with songwriting partner Bernie Taupin. Ahead of his "special announcement", which will be broadcast live via his website and on YouTube Elton appeared in 'augmented reality' form at London's King's Cross station on Tuesday (23Jan18). The attraction allowed fans to experience what it feels like to sit alongside the rock legend at the piano as he performs his 1970 hit Your Song.

Sir Elton John is hanging up his tour clothes after one big farewell trek. The 70-year-old rocker announced the news at a press conference in New York on Wednesday (24Jan18), and told CNN's Anderson Cooper he'll spend the next three years saying goodbye to fans on a world tour. The Rocket Man singer explains he wants to spend more time with his husband David Furnish and their two young sons after spending almost 50 years on the road. It is not clear if his Las Vegas residency will continue after his farewell tour, but sources close to the rock star insist he'll still to record and perform. The 300-plus date Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour kicks off in North America in September (18) and will include dates on five continents. Confirming the news, Elton says, "Performing live fuels me and I'm ecstatic and humbled to continue to play to audiences across the globe. I plan to bring the passion and creativity that has entertained my fans for decades to my final tour. After the tour finishes, I'm very much looking forward to closing off that chapter of my life by saying farewell to life on the road. I need to dedicate more time to raising my children." It was also announced that Gucci designers will exclusively create Elton's Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour wardrobe. The rocker wore a bespoke outfit as he announced the news at Manhattan's Gotham Hall, explaining many items were inspired by his own style archives.

Hundreds of Neil Diamond fans have donated their ticket refunds to Parkinson's disease research, after the Sweet Caroline singer announced he has been diagnosed with the condition. The 77-year-old singer announced on Monday (22Jan18) that he is retiring and had cancelled the latest leg of his 50th anniversary tour, which was set to begin in New Zealand in March, on doctor's orders. Those who had tickets to the gigs were refunded in full, but many chose not to keep the money and instead donate it to causes close to Diamond's heart. The singer's wife and manager Katie took to Twitter on Tuesday to reveal how touched they were by the gesture, writing: "Wow, I’ve received a bunch of messages from people in Aus & NZ who are donating their ticket refunds to good causes: Parkinson’s research, animal rescue groups, fire victim funds, etc. My heart is so full of joy to see this silver lining. Faith in humanity = restored. Thank you!" Diamond himself then retweeted his wife's message, adding: "This makes me smile. Thank you. Thank you to everyone for your outpouring of love and support. It makes a difference." The music icon previously revealed his diagnosis in a statement on his website, in which he wrote that the onset of Parkinson’s disease had made it "difficult to travel and perform on a large scale basis but will allow Mr. Diamond to continue his writing, recording and development of new projects". He added, "I plan to remain active in writing, recording and other projects for a long time to come." "My thanks goes out to my loyal and devoted audiences around the world. You will always have my appreciation for your support and encouragement. The ride has been 'so good, so good, so good' thanks to you," he concluded, referencing the refrain from the chorus of Sweet Caroline. Following his announcement, Diamond was flooded with messages of support from his peers, including Barry Manilow, who tweeted: "#Neil Diamond So, so sorry to hear about the great Neil Diamond’s illness. I’m rooting for you Neil! Fight on from another Brooklyn boy!" Beach Boys star Brian Wilson wrote, "I’m sorry to hear about Neil Diamond’s Parkinsons diagnosis. Neil, I wish you all the best, buddy", while Reba McEntire shared a picture of the singer on Instagram, alongside the caption: "Thank you Neil Diamond for 50 wonderful years of your great music, amazing personality and love for your audience. Keep up the good fight, we love you! @neildiamond."

Ed Sheeran has bought up the properties neighbouring his mansion in Suffolk, England to create a country estate in his hometown. The Castle on the Hill singer, 26, bought his first home in a sleepy village near Framlingham in Suffolk, the town where he grew up, for $1.26 million (£895,000) in 2012. Land registry records obtained by Britain's Daily Mail newspaper show that at the same time Ed, who recently announced his engagement to childhood sweetheart Cherry Seaborn, snapped up a 16th Century farmhouse for $634,000 (£450,000). He has since bought two more adjacent properties, one for $1.3 million (£925,000) in 2016, and a neighbouring bungalow for $740,000 (£525,000) in October last year (17). According to the Mail, the musician's property spree has led to locals dubbing the mini-estate 'Sheeranville', but there is little resentment towards the star. "Ed is a super guy and really friendly," an unnamed neighbour said. "He is just a down to earth Suffolk boy at heart - so who can blame him for wanting to settle down here? It is a lovely part of the world. He has bought all the properties next door. I guess it means that there is nobody to complain if he plays his music too loudly." Planning documents show Ed is undertaking extensive renovations on his properties, and plans to build two luxury underground entertainment rooms, a cinema and a music room, connected to his main house and a barn he has converted into his own private pub. Ed's previous home improvement ideas initially fell foul of local planning officials, who blocked his scheme to build a one-and-a-half-storey "cart lodge" to store vehicles. However, he later won an appeal lodged with Britain's Planning Inspectorate and was granted planning permission. In documents submitted to the Inspectorate, the star's agent Laurie McGee explained the new building was to replace an old cart lodge which had been demolished to make way for an indoor swimming pool. Ed also has a treehouse in the grounds of his properties. Tickets for Ed Sheeran's shows are on sale through Amazon Tickets.

Pop star Meghan Trainor is open to the idea of eloping with her new fiance Daryl Sabara, because it's exactly what her parents did when they were young lovers. The All About That Bass hitmaker became engaged to the former Spy Kids actor just before Christmas (17), but they have yet to make plans for their big day. "I have no clue, no idea (what kind of wedding we'll have)," she shared on Tuesday (23Jan18) while serving as a guest co-host on U.S. breakfast show Today. "My parents ran away to Jamaica and got married alone and it was kind of magical, so we're deciding either like, (a) huge wedding of everyone I've ever met, or run away together and tell no one." The singer, who was joined by her fiance, her brother, and her parents at the New York TV studio, also confessed she had envisioned herself as Mrs. Sabara just weeks after they were introduced by their mutual friend, actress Chloe Grace Moretz. "We talked about getting married like, month one - I was aggressive!" laughed the bride-to-be. "I wrote a song called Marry Me with him, month one, just on my ukulele, like, 'I'm obsessed with you!' We kinda knew (we would get married). We didn't tell anyone but we knew." Meghan has a busy few months ahead of her - in addition to planning her wedding, she is also serving as a judge on new U.S. talent show The Four, and putting the finishing touches to her new album, the follow-up to 2016's Thank You. She has been previewing her latest material for industry officials while in New York, and Meghan reveals her family has been cheering her on by joining her in each meeting. "I need them there everywhere, it makes everything better," she gushed. "I had a bunch of meetings yesterday and we played my new music for big companies, and they were in there dancing with me the whole time, and everyone was so surprised, like, 'I love this!'." Meanwhile, the star has more news to celebrate - her debut single, 2014's All About That Bass, has just been certified diamond by officials at the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Country star Dierks Bentley has dedicated his new album to his wife Cassidy because she inspired him to write songs about everything he is grateful for in life. The singer created the tunes for The Mountain while on a remote retreat and reveals the first track, Woman, Amen, was all about his childhood sweetheart, who became his wife in 2005. "I wrote this up in the mountains and you feel really alive up there... so there's a lot of gratitude, and it just feels inspiring and I think it all starts at home with her," Dierks tells Access Live. "That's the reason why I'm able to feel it at all, because she grounds me and at the same time she also allows me to grow personally and she's there for all the crazy stuff... and I feel I'm a much better man... than I was 10 years ago. "I still get to go onstage and be wild and crazy and reconnect with those younger years but I would never want to go back to the way I was even five years ago." The retreat also brought back happy memories of his first crush, who turned out to be his wife and Bentley reveals he still has shoe boxes full of all the love notes he wrote to Cassidy when she was off limits. "She was dating a friend of mine and I was dating one of hers but it all worked out in the end," he shares, before recalling the first time he realised he wanted to take their friendship to the next level. "I was opening for George Strait in Las Vegas and she was coming out there but strictly as a friend... and I was on the back of the bus with my bass player watching (movie) Old School, and she came on the bus... and I knew right away," Dierks says. "That was February 5th, and then we went to Mexico that same year, 2005, and we got married three days later."

Singer-turned-actress Mary J. Blige has been fighting off tears of joy after learning of her two Oscar nominations for Mudbound. The No More Drama hitmaker has been winning critical acclaim for her supporting role as family matriarch Florence Jackson in the Netflix film, about two men who experience racism in rural Mississippi upon their return from World War II, and on Tuesday (23Jan18), she was named among the contenders for the 2018 Academy Awards. Mary will compete for the Best Supporting Actress prize, as well as Best Original Song for Mighty River, the theme tune she wrote with fellow hip-hop star Raphael Saadiq and his longtime collaborator Taura Stinson. The superstar spent the morning "yelling and screaming and about to cry" after the Oscars shortlist was announced, and she is still in awe at the double nomination. "This is a new one, the actress nominee, and this is beautiful. This is really special," she adds to The Associated Press. "So is the song because it's something that I love to do. I love to sing. And that's something I've been doing for a very long time that's special to me, and the Oscars have recognised it. So it's all special." Saadiq is equally stunned by his first Academy Award nod: "I couldn't be more surprised or thrilled that Mighty River got a nomination," he tells WENN. "Working with Mary J. Blige and Taura Stinson is always a breeze, they are very talented. I am truly blessed." Mudbound is also up for Best Adapted Screenplay for director Dee Rees and co-writer Virgil Williams, and Best Achievement in Cinematography for Rachel Morrison. Both mentions make Oscars history - Rees is the first African-American woman to be nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, while Morrison is the first female to ever be mentioned in her category, and Blige insists it was a real pleasure working with the pair. "(Dee) gave me new life with Florence and she gave me courage to play this character," Mary shares. "And Rachel was just amazing. Seeing these women every day on set, it was so refreshing and such a treat and just beautiful." The 90th Annual Academy Awards will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on 4 March (18).

Britney Spears will perform at the Brighton Pride festival in August (18), as her Las Vegas show heads to the U.K. and Ireland this summer. Brighton Pride announced that the superstar's headline slot on Twitter on Tuesday morning (23Jan18), with the response to the news crashing the event's website just minutes later. "We are thrilled to announce that Legendary pop icon Britney Spears will be the headline act for Pride on Sat 4th Aug. Pride will be the first place in Europe to see the global megastar performing her spectacular Las Vegas show Britney - Piece of Me" the organisation declared via Twitter. Britney follows in the footsteps of the Pet Shop Boys, who performed at the festival last year. In her first U.K. tour since Femme Fatale in 2011, Britney will also be performing her Piece of Me production in London, Scarborough and Glasgow, Scotland. She also took to Twitter to express her excitement, writing: "I'm so excited to announce that we're bringing the #PieceOfMe tour to select cities in North America, Europe and the UK! See you guys this summer." Britney's Las Vegas residency ended in December (17) after a huge 250 performances, which generated more than $130 million (£93 million) through the 900,000 tickets sold, according to Billboard. The gigs later this year won't be the first time the Toxic singer has given fans a taste of the Vegas show - she previously perform a one-off scaled back version of it at London's Roundhouse in 2016. News of the Grammy winner's U.K. tour has emerged in the wake of reports that Britney is in talks for another Las Vegas residency. Sources tells Us Weekly magazine she is close to signing a new deal to perform at the Park Theater, where Lady Gaga will kick off a run of 74 shows in December. "They made the offer and she just couldn’t refuse," an insider told the publication. "She loves Vegas." Britney's spectacular show was one of the most successful residency shows in Las Vegas, beaten only by Celine Dion and Elton John. London O2 tickets on sale through Amazon Tickets at 10am 27th January 2018.

Miranda Lambert has been accused of making a dig at ex-husband Blake Shelton with a subtle lyric change during a recent concert. The 34-year-old singer, who lived with Blake in his home state of Oklahoma during their marriage from 2011 to 2015, was performing on the opening night of her Livin' Like the Hippies Tour at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina, when she changed the words in her tune Little Red Wagon. Miranda usually sings "I live in Oklahoma" in the tune, but altered it to instead sing "I got the hell out of Oklahoma" - leading to applause and cheering from the audience. One Twitter user who shared a clip of the moment on social media, captioned the footage: "'I got the hell out of Oklahoma' akskkssk (crying laughing emojis) @mirandalambert did THATtttt (sic)." However, others defended Miranda, insisting she hadn't been digging at Blake with the lyric change, with one tweeting: "It's a tongue-in-cheek lyric change because she doesn't live in Oklahoma anymore. Is she supposed to keep singing that she lives in OK when she doesn't or stop singing a fan fave song? People are reading way too much into it." Oklahoma has become a home-from-home for Blake's current girlfriend Gwen Stefani, who took her three sons there with her last autumn. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight in October, Blake shared that Gwen’s whole family has been enjoying his native region. "It's been a lot of fun for me to be the one to get to expose them to this - out in the country. They love it so much, her entire family. And when I say her family, I mean all of them,” he smiled. “I'm talking about the kids, the mom, the dad, the brother. There's times when we've had holiday gatherings, and I'm talking about 30-plus family members from her side, from my side. "We have so much fun. I don't think you should be able to have that much fun. It's probably not legal in California."

Drake has been accused of copying the artwork for his latest single from a tour poster designed for an electronic music star. The rapper released his two songs under one title, Scary Hours on Friday (19Jan18), with promotional art featuring gothic text superimposed on bold text in a less elaborate font, with the letters descending vertically in front of a black background. On Instagram, electronica musician Rabit pointed out similarities between the single cover and a poster an artist named Collin Fletcher designed for his 2015 Communion tour. "Today I wake up to see OVO (Sound, Drake's own label) has redone one of my 2015 tour posters designed by @collindfletcher for Drake's new single," he wrote. "Poor Collin is always having his style stolen." In a statement to Pitchfork Media, Collin backed up the musician's claim, saying, "This is a story that too many artists, musicians, and designers identify with. Hopefully this results in a larger conversation about popular culture's relationship to underground artists." Drake's representatives did not respond to a request for comment. On Twitter, a representative of Rabit's label Tri Angle Records wrote that they would not be getting "bogged down in negativity" over the similarity between the two designs, but hoped the controversy would "shine a light" on Collin's design skills. Canadian hip-hop star Drake, 31, is the latest musician to be accused of lifting the work of lesser known artists to use as promotional artwork. Last week (end21Jan18), London-based designer Dom Sebastian criticised Katy Perry for allegedly using his work without permission. Sebastian alleged that a piece from his 2012 'Holographic Melt' series appeared as the cover for Hot Chip's remix of her track Chained to the Rhythm.

Over time, files on your hard drive get fragmented, and your computer slows down because it has to check multiple places on your drive for those pieces. To have your computer run more efficiently, use the built-in tool in Windows to defragment those files. Here's how and when you should do it. Windows 10, like Windows 8 and Windows 7 before it, automatically defragments files for you on a schedule (by default, once a week). However, it doesn't always run consistently, so if you notice files are taking longer to load or you just want to double-check every month or so, you can see how fragmented the drive is in Windows. https://img.purch.com/o/aHR0cDovL3d3...R4NDAwLnBuZw== A note about Solid State Drives (SSD): SSDs work differently than traditional mechanical hard drives. Conventional wisdom is that SSDs don't need to be defragmented and doing so can also wear down the drive. However, Windows does defragment SSDs once a month if necessary and if you have System Restore enabled. This isn't something to worry about, though, because the automatic defragmentation is meant to extend your drive's life and performance. So with SSDs, just let Windows do its thing and don't worry about defragmentation. You can use the Optimize Drive tool below to do a general optimization of the drive, including sending the TRIM command to optimize performance. This doesn't do a traditional defrag on the SSD, though. For your mechanical drives, you can check and fix its fragmentation status with the steps below. 1. Open the disk optimization tool by searching for "optimize" or "defrag" in the taskbar. https://img.purch.com/o/aHR0cDovL3d3...N4NDAwLnBuZw== 2. Select your hard drive and click Analyze. Note that if you have a SSD, this option is grayed out and not available. https://img.purch.com/o/aHR0cDovL3d3...U0eDQwMC5wbmc= 3. Check the percentage of fragmented files in the results. https://img.purch.com/o/aHR0cDovL3d3...R4NDAwLnBuZw== There's no hard and fast rule about how fragmented your drive should be before you defrag it. You might want to keep your fragmentation percentage under 5% or so, however, so that the defragmentation process doesn’t take too long to finish. 4. If you want to defragment your drive, click Optimize. It's best to do this when you don't need to use your computer for anything else, so you can let Windows defragment the drive efficiently. https://img.purch.com/o/aHR0cDovL3d3...U1NHg0MDAucG5n When Windows is done, your drive should say 0% fragmented in the Optimize Drives utility.

A video on YouTube, Twitch or Facebook stutters? You experience frame drops in your favorite game or video chat, or notice other performance issues on your system? While old or less capable hardware may be the reason for that, performance issues may sometimes be caused by less than optimal settings. If you run a Windows PC with Nvidia hardware, you have some options to tweak the system in general and specific programs in particular. Most PC games include options to change graphics settings. You can change the quality of textures or other graphical effects, or turn them off completely. But what if you run into performance issues in applications? Say, stuttering video playback in Firefox or Chrome. You could change the resolution of the video if that is an option and hope that it resolves the issue, or upgrade your system directly. Sometimes, however, there is an even better option to address these issues. Improve Nvidia performance Nvidia's Control Panel includes options to manage global and program-specific settings that may impact performance on the system. You open the Control Panel with a right-click on the desktop and the selection of Nvidia Control Panel from the context menu. Select Manage 3D Settings in the Control Panel window to display the configuration screen. Switch to Program Settings and select the program that you want to customize settings for. If the program is not listed, click on the add button to add it using the displayed list or by selecting it manually. The preference that you want to modify is called Power Management Mode. If it is not set to "prefer maximum performance," you may not get the optimum out of your graphics card. Note: Setting this to the level may increase power consumption on the device. This may not be an issue for desktop PCs, but if you use a laptop on battery, you may notice that power drains faster than before when those applications run. Set the level to "prefer maximum performance" and then on apply to save the change. Run the program afterward to find out if that setting changed the performance of the device. You should see higher framerates and better overall performance when playing games, watching videos, or doing other things that benefit from faster hardware. You may restore the previous setting at any time, for example when the device runs on battery or when you don't notice a considerable improvement.

If you run Google Chrome on a Windows PC and monitor processes that run on the machine, you may notice the Software Reporter Tool process eventually. Software Reporter Tool, the executable file is software_reporter_tool.exe, is a tool that Google distributes with the Google Chrome web browser. It is part of the Chrome Cleanup Tool which in turn may remove software that causes issues with Chrome. Google mentions crashes, modified startup or new tab pages, or unexpected advertisement specifically. Anything that interferes with a user's browsing experience may be removed by the tool. Chrome Software Reporter Tool The Software Reporter Tool scans the computer's drive and reports these scans to Google. Google Chrome uses the scan results to determine whether it should prompt the user to remove unwanted software from the computer as it impacts the browsing experience. Google Chrome users may have two main issues with the Software Reporter Tool: It may cause a high system load when it scans the system. User reports range from it using 30% and more CPU while running. Since it may run for as long as 20 minutes, that is something that may interfere with other activity on the computer. The tool informs Google about the scan results which some users may dislike because of privacy concerns. A Google community specialist mentioned that the tool scans folders related to Chrome only, but its scope is not exposed to the user in any way. You find the Software Reporter Tool under the following path on Windows 7 and newer versions of Windows: C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\SwReporter\VERSION\software_reporter_tool.exe The Version changes regularly, it was 24.137.203 at the time of writing. Block the Software Reporter Tool Note: Blocking access to the program may prevent Google from removing problematic software from the system or informing you about it. You may use other software, antivirus software for instance, to remove threats or potentially unwanted programs from the system. While you can delete the content of the entire folder or rename the executable file itself, doing so offers a temporary recourse only as Google will push the Software Reporter Tool to the system again when you update the web browser. A better option is to remove permissions so that no user may access the folder or run the Software Reporter Tool. Right-click on the folder SwReporter and select Properties from the menu. Switch to the Security tab. Select Advanced on the page that opens. Click on "Disable inheritance" and select "remove all inherited permissions from this object." Select apply and in the Windows Security prompt "yes." Select ok. Select ok again. No group or user should have access anymore to the Software Reporter Tool. The advantage of this method is that the tool cannot be run anymore and that updates cannot be applied to it anymore either. Closing Words Unless you run into problematic third-party software regularly that interferes with Chrome, you may not need the Software Reporter Tool. Its disadvantages, high CPU load or privacy implications, may be reason enough to block it from running.

The following guide offers tips and instructions for staying safe when you download extensions for the Mozilla Firefox web browser. The past year has been eventful for users of the Firefox web browser. Mozilla introduced features such as multi-process support or Firefox Quantum that moved the browser closer to the all-powerful Google Chrome browser. Mozilla dropped the old add-on system of Firefox and replaced it with WebExtensions. WebExtensions is the same system that Google Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers support. Mozilla’s plan was, however, to extend the capabilities of WebExtensions further than what Chrome supported. Firefox WebExtensions have access to features that can make them more potent than their Chrome counterparts. One of the reasons that Mozilla offered for switching to WebExtensions was that classic add-ons had too much control over the browser. WebExtensions limit what developers can do which benefits security and stability of the browser. A look over to Chrome’s Web Store for extensions shows, however, that WebExtensions may still be abused to spy on users, steal data, or abuse user devices in other ways. Staying safe when downloading Firefox add-ons AMO, Add-ons Mozilla Org, is the primary hub for Firefox extensions. It is the official extension directory, and users may use it to browse, search for and install browser extensions. The store lists classic add-ons and WebExtensions currently. Mozilla announced plans in 2017 to remove traditional add-ons from the Store after Firefox ESR hits version 60. Firefox ESR is the only official Firefox version right now that supports legacy add-ons. The next version of the extended support release will end that. Automatic and manual approval of extensions Mozilla changed the extension submission system on Mozilla AMO. The organization verified each add-on manually in the past before allowing it to become available on AMO. The new system runs automated checks and adds any extension that passes these to the store. This is the same system that Google users for Chrome extensions. Mozilla will check add-ons manually eventually but only after the fact. That’s different to how Google handles things and improves security. There is no manual verification indicator on the site right now which means that you don’t know if an extension was reviewed manually. Crypto-mining extensions slipped passed the automatic review process already, and while the situation is arguable a lot better than on Chrome’s Web Store, there is a chance that problematic extensions may end up on AMO. So, what can you do about it? If you have the skills, verify extensions yourself. Download the extension to your local system, extract the XPI file, and go through the code. If you cannot do that, you may use the following methods to reduce the chance of installing problematic extensions: Don’t install extensions directly when they are made available. You increase the likelihood that an extension was reviewed by Mozilla if you wait a couple of days. Check the permissions. Do they match the purpose of the extension? Read the user reviews and check general stats (rating, number of users, add-on history). Extensions with good ratings, lots of installs and good reviews are better than extensions with no reviews, no ratings, and no comments. This is not a 100% safeguard either. Hackers managed to take over Google accounts of Chrome developers in the past to upload manipulated new versions of trusted extensions to the Store. Check the developer profile. Developers who maintain multiple extensions and maintained extensions for a long time are more trustworthy. Closing Words Don’t get me wrong. I’m not advocating that Firefox users should not install add-ons anymore. Firefox users need to be aware of the dangers of the new review system. It is easy enough to see how bad things can become by looking at the situation over on Chrome’s Web Store. Mozilla’s system is still better than Google’s. The organization should consider adding a visible flag to extensions that have not been reviewed manually yet.

Web browsers are the main target for attacks targeting the recently disclosed Spectre vulnerability. For home systems, one could argue that web browsers are the major attack vector. Why? Because browsers connect to remote sites, and these sites may run JavaScript to exploit the vulnerability. Some browser makers pushed out patches fast. Mozilla and Microsoft did for instance whereas Google and the whole Chromium-based group of browsers are not patched yet. There are ways to mitigate the issue in Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers such as Opera or Vivaldi. To mitigate known attack forms, users or admins have to enable strict site isolation in the web browser to do so. While you can check whether your Windows operating system is vulnerable, you could not check whether your web browser is patched or vulnerable up until now. Web browser Spectre Check This uncertainty is a thing of the past however as Tencent’s XUANWU Lab released an online tester that checks whether web browsers are vulnerable to Spectre. Visit the Lab’s website to get started. You find a “click to check” button at the top that you need to activate to run the test. It does not take long to test browsers. Some checks complete almost right away while others take longer to complete and involve cache processing. Here is a quick list of tested browsers and their vulnerability status (always assume the latest version): Firefox — not vulnerable Firefox ESR — not vulnerable Internet Explorer 11 — not vulnerable Microsoft Edge — not vulnerable Pale Moon — not vulnerable Waterfox — not vulnerable Chromium (latest) — not vulnerable Google Chrome Canary — not vulnerable Google Chrome Stable — vulnerable* Opera Stable — vulnerable* Vivaldi Stable — vulnerable* Brave — vulnerable *not vulnerable if you enable strict site isolation in the web browser. Tencent’s security team notes that a result of vulnerable means that Spectre-based attacks will work in the browser. A status of not vulnerable, however, does not necessarily mean that the browser is adequately protected. It is protected against a known attack, but it is possible that unknown attack methods may exist that can exploit the issue still. The team promises to improve the tool in the future. Closing Words While there is still a bit of uncertainty left after your browser tested as not vulnerable in the test, it is still reassuring that known attacks can’t exploit the vulnerability. A good defense against potential attacks is the disabling of JavaScript or scripts in general. This makes the web less usable, however.

Devices running Linux are affected by Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities as much as their Windows counterparts. Development teams work on updated kernels for the various distributions, and users need to update browsers and other software to protect data against potential attacks. We talked about identifying whether your Windows PC or web browser is vulnerable already. A recently published script does the same for Linux systems. You may use it to check whether your Linux distribution is vulnerable. Spectre and Meltdown detection for Linux You run the script if you want to know whether a Linux distribution is vulnerable to Spectre variant 1 and 2, or Meltdown attacks. Check it out on the official GitHub project page. You find the source there so that you may analyze it before you run it on a system. You may run the script without parameters to check the running kernel or use options to check a kernel that is not used. A simple shell script to tell if your Linux installation is vulnerable against the 3 “speculative execution” CVEs that were made public early 2018. Without options, it’ll inspect you currently running kernel. You can also specify a kernel image on the command line, if you’d like to inspect a kernel you’re not running. Here is how it works: Open Terminal on the Linux system you want to check. Type cd /tmp/ Type wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sp...own-checker.sh. This downloads the script from the GitHub server. Type sudo sh spectre-meltdown-checker.sh. This runs the script with elevated privileges. Type the password. The script checks each variant individually and lists its finding. If you get “status: vulnerable,” the system is vulnerable to the variant. The checks for Spectre variant 2 and Meltdown reveal additional information. A system that is vulnerable needs a kernel update to protect against potential attacks exploiting these vulnerabilities. How you get the kernel update depends on the Linux distribution. You select Menu > Administration > Update Manager in Linux Mint to check for available updates. The kernel is not available yet, however. Once you run the update, rerun the script to verify that the system is no longer vulnerable. The Spectre & Meltdown Checker supports the scanning of offline kernels as well. Use the parameter −−kernel vmlinux_file for that and if available −−config kernel_config and −−map kernel_map_file as well

Still using BitTorrent to exclusively download content such as operating system images or files you want to share privately with friends? If so, you might want to double-check your security settings to protect yourself from what researchers at Google's Project Zero are calling a "low complexity hack" affecting Transmission and other popular BitTorrent clients. The flaw could leave your computer vulnerable to control by malicious hackers, but you can protect yourself by following a few steps until official fixes are in place. The proof of concept attack, affects users who control their BitTorrent client through their web browser, which lets them manage their transfers remotely. Many clients with remote access enabled are left unprotected, and don't require the user enter a password. The flaw, explained by Project Zero researcher Tim Ormandy, takes advantage of the lax security, and lets hackers execute commands through that web interface, turning your BitTorrent client into an access point where the wrong person can run whatever code they want after gaining access to your torrent downloads. While Project Zero only disclosed the flaw in Transmission after providing a fix, other BitTorrent clients might face similar security issues according to this tweet from Ormandy discussing the flaw present in unspecified BitTorrent clients. https://twitter.com/taviso/status/951526615145566208 How to Protect Yourself A fix is coming from Transmission,, but you can protect yourself from the hack in the meantime by modifying a few security settings. To quickly render the hack useless, you'll need to disable the remote access service in your BitTorrent client. In Transmission, you can simply visit your Preferences, hit the Remote tab, and uncheck the "Enable remote access" option. If you'd rather leave your remote access option enabled, you should be sure to at least password-protect it (and store that information in your password manager). You can do it from the Remote tab where you enabled (or disabled) remote access to your computer.

A tool just released by the TVAddons team might carry interesting copyright implications. Github Browser enables Kodi users to install third-party addons directly from development platform Github. This removes the requirement for sites like TVAddons to host repositories containing potentially infringing add-ons, something which forms the basis of two lawsuits against the platform. Kodi is the now ubiquitous media player taking the world by storm. In itself it’s a great piece of software but augmented with third-party software it can become a piracy powerhouse. This software, known collectively as ‘add-ons’, enables Kodi to do things it was never designed for such as watching pirated movies, TV shows, and live sports. As a result, it’s the go-to media platform for millions around the globe, but for those distributing the add-ons, there can be risks attached. As one of the most prominent Kodi-related sites around, TVAddons helped to distribute huge numbers of add-ons. The platform insists that if any add-on infringed copyright, it was only too willing to remove them under a DMCA-like regime. Last year, however, it became clear that copyright holders would prefer to sue TVAddons (1,2) than ask for takedowns. With those lawsuits still ongoing, the site was left with a dilemma. Despite add-ons being developed and uploaded by third-parties, rightsholders are still trying to hold TVAddons responsible for what those add-ons can do. It’s a precarious situation that has led to TVAddons not having its own repository/repo (a place where the addons are stored for users to download) since the site ran into trouble last summer. Now, however, the site has just launched a new tool which not only provides some benefits for users looking for addons, but also attempts to shift some liability for potential infringement away from the service and onto a company with much broader shoulders. TVAddons’ Github Browser was released yesterday and is available via the platform’s Indigo tool. Its premise is simple. Since many third-party Kodi add-ons are developed and first made available on Github, the world’s leading software development platform, why don’t users install them directly from there instead? The idea is that this might reduce liability for distributors like TVAddons but could also present benefits for users, as they can be assured that they’re getting add-ons directly from the source. Github Browser welcome screen “Before the GitHub Browser, when an end user wanted to install a particular addon, they’d first have to download the necessary repository from either Fusion Installer or an alternative,” a TV addons spokesperson informs TF. “This new feature gives the end user the ability to easily install any Kodi addon, and empowers developers to distribute their addons independently, without having to align themselves with a particular release group or web site.” Aside from the benefits to users, it also means that TVAddons can provide its users with access to third-party add-ons without having to curate, store, or distribute them itself. In future, storage and distribution aspects can be carried out by Github, which has actually been the basic behind-the-scenes position for some time. “GitHub has always been the leading host of Kodi addons, and also respects the law. The difference is, they are big enough to not be bullied by draconian legal maneuvers used by big corporations to censor the internet. We also felt that developers should be able to develop without having to comply with our rules, or any other Kodi web site’s rules for that matter,” TVAddons explain. The screenshot of the Github Browser below reveals a text-heavy interface that will probably mean little to the low-level user of Kodi who bought his device already setup from a seller. However, those more familiar with the way Kodi functions will recognize that the filenames relate to add-ons which can now be directly installed via the browser. The Github Browser While the approach may seem basic or even inaccessible at first view, that wrongfully discounts the significant resources available to the sprawling third-party Kodi add-on community. Dozens of specialist blogs and thousands of YouTube videos report in detail on the most relevant addons, providing all of the details users will need to identify and locate the required software. Developer usernames could be a good starting point, TVAddons suggests. “We have already seen many social media posts, blogs and developers advertising their GitHub usernames in order to make it easier for users to find them,” the site explains. From our tests, it appears that users really have to do all the work themselves. There doesn’t appear to be any add-on curation and users must know what they’re looking for in advance. Indeed, entering the Github usernames of developers who produce software that has nothing to do with Kodi can still present zip file results in the browser. Whether this will prove problematic later on will remain to be seen. While most keen users won’t have a problem using the Github Browser, there is the question of whether redirecting the focus to the development platform will cause copyright holders to pay more attention to Github. This has certainly happened in the past, such as when the Federation Against Copyright Theft targeted the SportsDevil add-on and had it removed from Github. It’s also worth noting that Github doesn’t appear to challenge takedown requests, so add-ons could be vulnerable if the heat gets turned up. Nevertheless, TVAddons believes that the open source nature of most addons coupled with Github’s relative strength means that they’ll be able to stand up to most threats. “Open source code lives on forever, it’s impossible to scrub the internet of freely distributed legitimate code. I think that GitHub is in a better position to legitimately assess and enforce the DMCA than us. They won’t be sued out of nowhere in circumvention of the DMCA in similar fashion to what we have been the victim of,” TVAddons says. Several years ago, when The Pirate Bay got rid of torrents and relied on magnet links instead, the platform became much more compact, thus saving on bandwidth. The lack of a repository at TVAddons has also had benefits for the site. Previously it was consuming around 3PB (3,000,000 gigabytes) of bandwidth a month, with a hosting provider demanding $25,000 per month not to discontinue business. Finally, the team says it is working on new browser features for the future, including repository distribution over torrents. Only time will tell how this new system will be viewed by copyright holders but even with add-on hosting taken care of externally, any form of curation could be instantly frowned upon, with serious consequences.

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