Mastodon test and review

Every computer has to have a graphic card, it is one of the essential components in order for the computer to work. If you have a second-hand computer, got one as a gift, or similar, there is a high chance that you do not really know which components are inside. Luckily finding out which graphic card you have inside is quite easy. Right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager Click the Performance tab at the top of the window, if you don’t see the tabs, click “More Info.” Select “GPU 0” in the sidebar. The GPU’s manufacturer and model names are displayed at the top right corner of the window. You’ll also see other information, such as the amount of dedicated memory on your GPU, in this window. Windows 10’s Task Manager displays your GPU usage here, and you can also view GPU usage by application. If your system has multiple GPUs, you’ll also see “GPU 1” and so on here. Each represents a different physical GPU.

Hello and welcome to our software series review. Weel this time we could say this is more of a service review since the application we are going through today is online and you can use it freely without ever needing to install it.

When we choose software that we are going to review and recommend we really try to recommend something that is worth your time and money, Cartoonize fits in both categories in my opinion.

First of all basic plan of this graphic software is completely free and as mentioned it is working online, also as one more feature basic plan does not even require you to have an account of any kind, all you need to do is go to the website of the application and you can start using it right away. There is also paid plan for extra features if you need them billed monthly or annually.

Features

First things first, this is not Photoshop or GIMP and it does not aim nor want to be. This is something else, directed and pointed at the different types of users. This application is aimed at people that want to make some quick graphics and post them on social media and it does that very well. Even without knowledge to use graphic software this one is so well designed and straightforward that even a complete newcomer can do something right away.

So as the application that wants to be used by people that want to place some cool pictures or ads on their social media what it offers. For starters simplicity and ease of use, every option that you can use is on the left side of the screen nicely packed into the vertical toolbox. Inside the toolbox, you have access to various tools, effects, and filters that you can apply to your image.

Tools explained

Image manager

The first section on the tool panel is the image manager, here you can upload your images, delete them, search stock images, and so forth. nothing more to say about this one as it is only a basic file manager.

Edit

In this tool panel, there are a lot of basic settings for your image manipulations divided into 3 sections: Basics, Enhance, and Creative. In the basic section, you can crop, resize and rotate your image. Enhance panel will let you set exposure, color, vibrance, tint, and details (sharpen). Finally, the Creative part will let you remove the background with AI in a single click, replace colors in the image, and add a vignette and round image.

Effects

In the effects panel, you will be given 4 options to choose from Cartoonizer, Digital art, Sketcher, and painting. Each option once clicked will open another set of options tied to chosen preset where you will be able to choose a different style from chosen template. Once you click on the desired template it will be applied to your image and in the upright corner, you will have edit options to tweak it to your liking. You can play around as much as you want because only once you click on the apply button, the effect will be applied to your image.

Filters

Same as in the effects tool panel here you will also get a series of different filters that you can apply to your image. As in the previous tool once clicked on the chosen filter, you will be given options for its variations and details edits. How there is really plenty of filters options and combined with its own presets I will not focus on explaining what each one is doing since picture thumbnails are pretty accurate and just one look at them will explain to you everything you need to know.

Overlays

In the overlays panel, you can as the name says overlay different kinds of effects on your image. You can add snow, fog, sun flares rain, and many more. Presets work identically to previous effects and filters.

Masks

If you want to place your image in a certain shape or in-text this is the section for you. You will be presented with sections as custom text, shapes, brushes, floral, animals, and patterns. Each section will once again lead to plenty of variations on the chosen subject where you can pick one that you like the most and tweak its options.

Text

As the name suggests, this section is to add text to your picture or design. If you are making some cool ad for Facebook, Instagram, or other social media I believe that you will spend most of your time in this section adding text and tweaking it so it looks best. You have all the tools that you will need to make a catchy title or smaller block of text and you can add multiple texts to your picture tweaking their own visual appearance, the font used, color, and some effects like a drop shadow.

Draw

In the draw section, you will be able to freely draw whatever you like with your mouse or pen if you have one. you have basic options for a brush and eraser so you can erase stuff. Pretty basic tool but it gives a nice touch to underline something, circle it, etc.

Graphics

This panel will let you place various already made graphic assets into a picture. You have hearts, hats, glasses, etc. There really are tons of premade graphics along with thematic ones like new year, st. Patric day and more.

Frames

As the name suggests this section will place a frame of your choice around your picture. You can choose the style of frame, position, color, and many more. There are various styles and each style has its own options.

Conclusion

Cartoonize is a great online application that will let you quickly and easily do cool and nice image edits. As mentioned you can also add various effects, text, and graphics and use this app to make some quick and nice ads for social media. You have the option to publish to your social media right from the app in the save dialog but you can also of course download your image or design to your local computer.

Please note that for this review we used the pro, paid version so all of the features were unlocked. We wanted to give you a full overview of the full potential of the app. In my opinion, the small monthly fee that they charge is well worth it when you see all things that you can do with it.

Go to the cartoonize website and check it out, basic option is completely free and it does not even require making an account. Have fun, be creative and take care, I hope to see you again tomorrow.

Windows 10 has a Cloud Clipboard feature that allows users to have a list of multiple copied text in place so that they can reuse it. And each time the computer restarts, the Clipboard Data is cleared. However, you can actually do it manually. How? Read on as this post will walk you through how you can turn on or off as well as clear the Clipboard history in Windows 10. This kind of feature is already available in Windows 10 v1903. In the previous versions of Windows, there was no feature to turn off history in the clipboard and users have to use other ways to clear the clipboard history. And now it seems that Microsoft has put an end to this dilemma as it now allows users to clear the clipboard history. To turn on or off or clear the Clipboard history, here are some instructions you need to follow: Step 1: Tap the Win + X keys to open the power menu and select Settings. Step 2: After that, navigate to Settings > System > Clipboard. Step 3: From there, turn off the toggle button under the Clipboard history section. This will turn off the Cloud Clipboard feature. As a result, the default clipboard will hold one last item and will not display the data on the clipboard. Note: When you tap the Win + V keys to invoke the clipboard manager, you will see a prompt that says, “Can’t show history, See all copied items in place, Turn on clipboard history”. You have the option to turn it back on by simply clicking on the available button. Doing so would only hide the existing data and makes sure that no copy of the data is kept.

Conclusion

On the other hand, if you want to clear the clipboard without affecting its history data, you have to make sure to pin the items on the clipboard that you want to stay. After that, click on the three-dotted icon for the menu and click on the “clear all” option. This will delete all the entries but will keep the pinned items on your clipboard.

If you suddenly receive an error saying, “Error 105 (net:: ERR NAME NOT RESOLVED): Unable to resolve the server’s DNS address” when browsing the web, then this means that the DNS lookup has failed. This kind of error is one of the most commons ones you can encounter while using the Chrome browser. And since it’s a pretty common error, the solutions for this one are pretty easy as well.

Option 1 – Disable both the Antivirus and Firewall temporarily

There are times when antivirus programs and the firewall blocks a website that they consider to be malicious or even because of false-positive effects. Thus, you need to disable these programs temporarily as it might be the reason why you’re getting the “Error 105 (net:: ERR NAME NOT RESOLVED): Unable to resolve the server’s DNS address” error in Chrome.

Option 2 – Check the Network Cables and restart the router then reconnect

Of course, the next thing you have to do is to check if the network cables connected to your computer or router are properly connected. And if your computer is connected via Wi-Fi, you need to make sure to restart your router once. In addition, you can also forget the Wi-Fi your computer is currently connected to and then try reconnecting again to see if it would work.

Option 3 – Try running the Chrome Cleanup tool

You might want to run Google Chrome’s built-in Malware Scanner & Cleanup tool as it could also help in getting rid of any unwanted ads, pop-ups, and even malware, as well as unusual startup pages, toolbars, and anything else that might overtake the network and could affect the performance of the browser.

Option 4 – Try removing the Proxy

Removing the Proxy might also help you in fixing the ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED error in Chrome. Here’s how you can do it:

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• Then type “inetcpl.cpl” in the field and hit Enter to pull up the Internet Properties.
• After that, go to the Connections tab and select the LAN settings.
• From there. Uncheck the “Use a Proxy Server” option for your LAN and then make sure that the “Automatically detect settings” option is checked.
• Now click the OK and the Apply buttons.
• Restart your PC.

Note: If you are using a third-party proxy service, you have to disable it.

Option 5 – Disable Prefetch in Chrome

In case you don’t know, Google makes use of a prediction service that helps users in completing searches and typing URLs in the address bar. This prediction service uses the already resolve IP address to connect to the website you’ve already visited. Thus, it would be better if you disable it in cases like this one.

• Open Chrome’s Settings.
• Next, go to Privacy and Security then look for “Prefetch”.
• After finding Prefetch, toggle off the “Use a prediction service to help complete searches and URLs typed in the address bar” setting and then restart Chrome.

Option 6 – Flush the DNS, reset Winsock and then reset TCP/IP

• Click the Start button and type in “command prompt” in the field.
• From the search results that appear, right-click on Command Prompt and select the “Run as administrator” option.
• After opening Command Prompt, you have to type each one of the commands listed below. Just make sure that after you type each command, you hit Enter
  • ipconfig /release
  • ipconfig /all
  • ipconfig /flushdns
  • ipconfig /renew
  • netsh int ip set dns
  • netsh winsock reset

After you key in the commands listed above, the DNS cache will be flushed and the Winsock, as well as the TCP/IP, will reset.

Option 7 – Try using the Google Public DNS

• The first thing you have to do is right-click on the network icon in the Taskbar and select Network and Sharing Center.
• Next, click on the “Change Adapter Settings” option.
• After that, search for the network connection that you are using to connect to the internet. Note that the option might be “Wireless Connection” or “Local Area Connection”.
• Right-click on your network connection and click on Properties.
• Then select the new window to choose the “Internet Protocol 4 (TCP/IPv4)” option.
• After that, click on the Properties button and click the checkbox in the new window for the option “Use the following DNS server addresses”.
• Type in “8.8.8” and “8.8.4.4” and click OK and exit.

Option 8 – Reset Chrome

Resetting Chrome can also help you fix the error. Resetting Chrome means restoring its default settings, disabling all the extensions, add-ons, and themes. Aside from that, the content settings will be reset as well and the cookies, cache, and site data will also be deleted. To reset Chrome, here’s what you have to do:

• Open Google Chrome, then tap the Alt + F keys.
• After that, click on Settings.
• Next, scroll down until you see the Advanced option, once you see it, click on it.
• After clicking the Advanced option, go to the “Restore and clean up the option and click on the “Restore settings to their original defaults” option to reset Google Chrome.
• Now restart Google Chrome.

If you encounter an error while trying to burn files to a CD or disk on your Windows 10 computer, stating, “Windows Media Player cannot burn some of the files”, read on as this post will guide you in fixing the error. Here’s the complete error message:

“Windows Media Player cannot burn some of the files. To investigate the problem, click the icon next to the files in the burn list.”

As you know, the Windows Media Player helps you burn songs or audio files to CD or disk but it does not always end up successfully as you could encounter some setbacks such as this particular error. Usually, this kind of issue occurs if an audio file does not comply with some restrictions so the Windows Media Player pops up this error instead. You can encounter this error message if:

• You include a file that’s not an audio file.
• If the total time limit exceeds 80 minutes (even though a CD has 700 MB storage capacity, you can’t burn audio of more than 80 minutes long)

To resolve the error, you have to remove the unsupported files from the burning list, change the burning speed or execute some tweaks in the Privacy settings. For more details, refer to the instructions provided below.

Option 1 – Get rid of the unsupported files from the burning list

You must get rid of the unsupported files from the list of files to burn. This list can be found on the right-hand side of the Windows Media Player. One of the indications that a file is causing problems is when there is a white cross in a red circle next to the file. You can simply click on that icon to remove the file from the burning list. Once you’ve gotten rid of all the unsupported files, try to burn your files to the CD or disk once more.

Option 2 – Try to modify the Privacy settings

In case you don’t know, the Windows Media Player comes with privacy settings that help you in various situations. However, on rare occasions, those settings could also trigger errors and this might be the one that’s causing the “Windows Media Player cannot burn some of the files” to pop up. Thus, you can try disabling these options to resolve the error. How? Refer to these steps:

• Open the Windows Media Player.
• Then go to Tools > Options. If you aren’t able to find the Tools menu, just tap the Ctrl + M keys. On the other hand, you can also tap the Alt key to display the menu options.
• Once you’ve opened the Options window, go to the Privacy tab where you can the “Enhanced Playback and Device Experience” section.
• In this section, you can find the following options. Make sure to disable them all.
  • Display media information from the Internet
  • Update music files by retrieving media info from the Internet
  • Download usage rights automatically when I play or sync a file
  • Automatically check if protected files need to be refreshed
  • Set clock on devices automatically

• After you disable the options listed above, click on the Apply and OK buttons to save the changes made and then try to burn the files again.

Option 3 – Try to change the burning speed

Since the burning speed is set to fastest by default, you can try to change the burning speed to resolve the problem. All you have to do is open the Options window and then go to the Burn tab. From there, select either Medium or Slow burning speed and save the changes made. Now try to burn your files to the CD or disk once again.

Windows and Devices chief Panos Panay has revealed new focus sessions feature that will be in Windows 11 on his Twitter account today. He himself is referring to it as a game-changer especially with Spotify integration.

So what is a focus session?

From the video clip provided on Twitter, we can see that focus session users will be able to choose a specific task from the previously made task list, choose songs that will play in the background while the task is active, and set a timer for the chosen task with breaks. Maybe the best comparison and explanation would be a desktop google calendar task with music, basically, that’s it. A neat and good organizer inside your Windows 11 operating system. I think that this is generally a good idea and for sure it will find its audience.

VSSControl: 2147467259 Backup jobs failed. Cannot create a shadow copy of the volumes containing the writer’s data. VSS asynchronous operation is not completed. Code: [0x8004231f]

This message pops up when you are creating a snapshot system restore, usually, the issue is tied with insufficient space or service stopping. We will go into detail about how to fix both so you can finish the operation without any issue.

1. Check Volume Shadow Copy Services

   Easier and faster fix than the next one. Launch Services from the Start Menu, look for Volume Shadow Copy, double-click on it, and check the Service status. If it is stopped, click on the Start button. If it’s running, restart it by clicking Stop > Start.

2. Increase Shadow Storage Space

   If the first fix didn’t resolve the issue then you need to increase Shadow Storage Space. Launch Command Prompt as an administrator. Now, type the following command to check your Shadow Storage Space. vssadmin list shadowstorage Now, type the following command to allocate more storage (you can change 10GB with the amount of space you want to allocate) vssadmin resize shadowstorage /For=C: /On=C: /MaxSize=10GB

The author of the famous software library mode-ipc that gets over a million downloads per week found that it has some questionable code inside. The code itself behaves like this: if it finds out that your location is within Russia or Belarus it will try to replace the contents of all files on the computer with a heart emoji.

One important thing is that we here are not supporting the current Ukrainian situation and are against any type of violence or war but we also do not support this kind of behavior as well. If we look at this only from a technical perspective, we would then classify the mode-ipc library as malware and a harmful piece of code no matter the motivation behind it.

So this so-called protestware is well basically malware, but not always, it will protest when certain conditions are met. The issue with this is that companies and users should not be placed under harm if they do not share the personal view of the code author. Imagine if, for example, I would publish code to delete all pictures from your computer if my code found out that you do not like metal music. I guess you not liking metal music and war in Ukraine are two very different things but the source is the same, unreliable code that invades your privacy in order to serve one purpose, punishment for disagreeing with my personal views and that should not be allowed.

Not all protestware are equal, some will not harm your computer on purpose, they will just annoy you with some messages like viruses did in their infancy stages, others might place some developer sanctions but no matter the outcome basic principle is the same, it does something without user consent and without informing the user that something like that might happen.

On the internet, many blog posts and discussions were open about this issue and its morality. Discussion is still active with different takes on the situation and how to prevent it. Our take on this matter is that professional developers should have standards and not submit to doing harm for the sake of personal views and feelings.

In the long run, this kind of behavior and practice can only harm developers involved in this kind of entanglement. Infected libraries will in time stop being used since people would not trust them and authors will have a stain on their name as impulsive or not trustworthy.

169 IP address error can stop your computer from connecting to the internet which could be a very frustrating experience. In this guide, we will cover simple but effective tips on how to fix this error so you can continue with internet use.

1. Reconnect your Modem or Router

   Simple and sometimes effective solution, unplug and plug back in modem or router so IP is fetched again, it is very likely that computer will pick right IP address with this stunt.

2. Use built-in Windows Network troubleshooter

   Press ⊞ WINDOWS + X top open secret menu Go to settings Go to Network & Internet Inside click on Network troubleshooter Follow onscreen instructions After the troubleshooter ends reboot your PC

3. Reconfigure IP address

   Press ⊞ WINDOWS + R to open the run dialog Inside run dialog type ncpa.clp and press ENTER Right-click on your network adapter and select properties Uncheck Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) and click on OK Now press ⊞ WINDOWS + X and click on Command prompt (admin) In command prompt type and after each line press ENTER netsh winsock reset catalog netsh int ip reset reset.log ipconfig /release ipconfig /renew Reboot your computer

4. Restart DHCP client

   Press ⊞ WINDOWS + R to open the run dialog In run dialog type services.msc and click on OK Find DHCP client Right-click on it and choose Restart Reboot PC

5. Reinstall Network Adapter

   Press ⊞ WINDOWS + X to open the windows menu Click on Device Manager Expand Network Adapter and right-click on wireless or ethernet adapter, click on Uninstall device Reboot the computer to automatically reinstall the device driver

6. Reset IP and subnet mask

   Press ⊞ WINDOWS + R to open the run dialog In run dialog type in ncpa.cpl and press OK Right-click on your network adapter and select properties Uncheck Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) Double click on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Select Use the following IP address and change it to 192.168.0.1 Change Subnet mask to 255.255.255.0 Leave default gateway blank Click OK to save changes

When trying to run Computer Management, or when running mmc.exe or compmgmt.msc from a command prompt you get the error that the application has been blocked for your protection then keep reading in order to solve the issue. This is a permission issue where if a regular user tries to run such system tools will result in saying that it has been blocked. Along with this, you may have a Group Policy issue. This can be fixed, but you will need admin permission to achieve it. It’s because when they are run from the command prompt with elevated privileges, it works.

1. Change Group Policy Settings

   If your account is an admin account, and you are still facing the issue, then change the group policy settings: Open Group Policy Settings by typing gpedit.msc in the run prompt followed by pressing ENTER Navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Microsoft Management Console > Restricted/Permitted snap-ins Locate Computer Management policy, and double click to open it Enable it, exit Group Policy. When Enabled: The snap-in is permitted and can be added into the Microsoft Management Console or run from the command line as a standalone console. When Disabled: The snap-in is prohibited and cannot be added into the Microsoft Management Console or run from the command line as a standalone console. An error message is displayed stating that the policy is prohibiting the use of this snap-in.

2. Temporarily disable UAC

   UAC is the user access control panel, and if you need to run the command right away, you can choose to disable it for some time. Click on the Start button, and then type UAC to find the User Account Control Settings. Click to open, and then slide down the notification setting at the bottom. It will temporarily allow launching the application as there is no check. However, make sure to switch to default once you are done.