Welcome back to our 4th installment of the Defragg newsletter. If you’re new here, welcome and thanks for subscribing!
This week we’re sharing our favorite tools and tips for staying safe online, a tool that lets you install all your essential Windows apps with one click, a free productivity tool to save you time and a bunch of keystrokes, and some hilarious videos of scammers getting scammed. We’re also preparing you for the colder months with a life hack to help you keep your feet warm, a classic 90s ski game (Yeti included), and a throwback Windows autumn wallpaper. Let’s jump in!
You May Be Wondering Who We Are
We thought it was time to introduce ourselves to our readers. We’re Jamie (left) and Casey (right), the creators of the Defragg newsletter. Friends since high school and former co-owners of an IT services business, we have over 50 years of combined experience in the tech industry. We started Defragg because we love technology, but we miss how the internet used to be—before SEO, influencers, and AI content took over. Defragg is our way of sharing the best parts of the internet in a fresh, fun way. We mix our old-school knowledge with modern skills to bring back the excitement of exploring the web, just like before.
What else?
- We miss the excitement of the web in the 2000s—especially sites like Digg, Delicious, Stumbleupon, and Lifehacker—and we’re aiming to bring that energy back with Defragg.
- We are not paid for our articles or recommendations. Our picks come straight from our own interests and experiences.
- Our primary focus is growing our newsletter, and we could really use your help! Your friends can sign up here.
- We’re planning to send our newsletter more frequently, so stay tuned.
- We’re about to launch our social channels, so keep an eye out for an invite coming your way next week!
- We love hearing from our readers, so don’t hesitate to hit the reply button and share your thoughts!
Without further ado, here’s this week’s newsletter—enjoy!
Tech Tips
Our 10 Favorite Tools & Tips for Online Privacy & Security – My colleague and I, who run Defragg, have each worked in the IT industry for over 25 years. During this time, we also owned an IT services business together and saw firsthand the consequences of users not taking online privacy and security seriously. Based on our experience, we would like to share our trusted tools and tips to help you stay secure.
Tool of the Week
Ninite – Ninite is a simple and efficient tool that helps users install and update multiple programs at once. It’s especially useful if you’ve just reinstalled your operating system and need to set up your favorite software. Instead of visiting different websites to download and run separate installers, Ninite allows you to select the programs you want and then handles the entire process for you with a single click. You can also run it again later to make sure all your programs are up to date. What makes Ninite great is its ease of use—anyone can figure it out. You can even save the installer to a USB stick, copy it to someone’s desktop, and just tell them to run it once a week to keep everything up to date automatically, without any extra hassle.
Quick Tips
I love Google Docs, but staring at a bright white screen for hours can be tiring. While Google Docs doesn’t have a built-in dark mode, the following plugins will allow you to use it in dark mode on both PC and Mac. (Firefox | Chrome)
Productivity
The Ultimate Free Text Expansion Tool – Have you ever wished you could speed up repetitive tasks like typing out the same phrases, emails, or signatures over and over? Espanso, a free and open-source text expansion tool, offers a way to streamline your workflow and save precious time. Whether you’re writing emails, coding, or simply filling out forms, Espanso can help you reduce manual repetition. In this article, we’ll review Espanso and walk through its most useful features, showing how it can transform your productivity.
Life Hacks
How to Keep Your Feet Warm in the Winter – During the colder months, I’ve always struggled to keep my feet warm. After many years, I finally found a solution that works great, and I’d like to share it with you as the cold months approach for many of us.. Please note, we’re not making any money from this article—We’re simply sharing it in hopes of making your life easier and your feet warmer during the chilly seasons.
Nostalgia
Windows XP’s Autumn Wallpaper in Full Res, 4200×2800 – With its golden leaves and peaceful path, the Windows XP Autumn wallpaper brings back memories of simpler times and perfectly captures the cozy atmosphere of the season. With Fall finally here, we thought we’d share it with you to download and enjoy.
Retro Gaming
Remember SkiFree? Play It Online for Free! – SkiFree was a fun 90s skiing game—until the Yeti showed up to ruin your run. Just when you thought you were doing well, the Snow Monster would appear out of nowhere to eat you! In this article, you’ll get to play the game, laugh at a funny video, and learn more about the history of this classic snow-filled adventure.
Humor
Tech Support Scammers Getting Trolled & Scammed – If you’ve spent enough time in the tech world, you’ve probably heard of someone falling victim to a fake tech support scam. You might have even received one of those calls yourself. But what happens when the roles are reversed, and the scammer gets trolled or scammed? Here are some of our favorite videos where that’s exactly what happens.
The Angriest Scammer I’ve Ever Called: Steve
Calling Scammers by Their Real Names
Scammer Begs for His Deleted Files as I Drink His Tears
I Got Scammers Arrested on Their CCTV Cameras
Scammer Freaks Out After Epic Virus Hack (brand new)
Tech News
Chrome Canary Just Killed Ublock Origin and Other Manifest V2 Extensions – Pour one out for the ad-free Chrome browsing experience tonight. Chrome Canary, the pre-beta release version with the most far-out feature set, just reminded us that top extensions like the beloved uBlock Origin are not long for this Earth. This is just one more reason among many to move away from Google Chrome.
World’s First USB4 2.0 Cables Promise 80GBPS Speeds – USB4, which is supported on most recently launched motherboards and devices, caps out at an impressive 40Gbps throughput. But with USB4 2.0 cables finally here, users will soon experience double those speeds and up to 240 watts (48V/5A) power delivery.
TikTok Hit by Over a Dozen State Lawsuits for Allegedly Harming Teens – A group of 14 U.S. state attorneys general is suing TikTok, claiming its design harms kids’ mental health. They argue that features like endless scrolling and constant notifications keep young users online, leading to anxiety, depression, and disrupted sleep. The lawsuit seeks stronger protections to reduce these negative effects.
Meta Smart Glasses Can Be Used to Dox Anyone in Seconds, Study Finds – Two Harvard students developed “I-XRAY,” a project using Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses paired with facial recognition software to highlight privacy risks. The glasses can identify strangers and reveal their personal information, like names and addresses, by scanning public databases, demonstrating the potential for misuse of available technology and underscoring the need for stronger privacy protections.
Google Will Track Your Location ‘Every 15 Minutes’—‘Even With GPS Disabled’ – A recent report reveals privacy concerns with Google’s Pixel 9 Pro series, which allegedly sends location and personal data to Google servers every 15 minutes, even when GPS is disabled. Researchers found that the phones share data such as location, network status, and personal identifiers, raising concerns about user consent and the potential for misuse of this information.
This Week in Tech History
- Application filed for IBM’s first patent, a “perforating machine” (Oct 11, 1907)
- Co-founder of Adobe John Warnock born (Oct 6, 1945)
- Mortal Kombat released in US arcades (Oct 8, 1992)
- NVIDIA releases GeForce 256, widely considered the world’s first GPU (Oct 11, 1999)
- Google announces acquisition of YouTube (Oct 9, 2006)
- Video game Portal released by Valve (Oct 10, 2007)
- Dell announces intent to acquire EMC for $67 billion – largest in tech sector history at the time (Oct 12, 2015)
Bytes of Insight
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs