March 22 tech news roundup: YouTube warns that ad blockers violate its ToS, Microsoft suggests users trade or recycle their old PCs, 8-year old Windows security issue remains unpatched

YouTube displays banner to warn that ad blockers violate its Terms of Service

Google is pushing harder in its fight against ad blockers. The company began an aggressive campaign in 2023, to prevent users from watching videos on YouTube if they were using an ad blocker. YouTube would show a banner that stated that the video would not be accessible unless the user disabled their ad blocking extension or their browser’s built-in ad blocker. The streaming service has made several changes since then, including server-side ads in videos, preventing third-party browsers from functioning properly on YouTube, etc.

Now, YouTube has started displaying a new banner that warns the viewer that “Ad blockers violate YouTube’s Terms of Service”. Like the previous banner that the service started displaying last year, the new message also tries to entice the user to subscribe to YouTube Premium to watch videos without ads. Google’s campaign appears to have been quite successful, as YouTube Premium amassed a record $10.4 Billion in ad revenue Q4, 2024, despite a steep price hike.

However, to Google’s dismay, some content blockers such as uBlock Origin have been successful in their attempts to thwart such annoyances, to allow users to watch videos without ads.

Can’t upgrade your old PC to Windows 11? Microsoft suggests trading or recycling it

Windows 10 will be reaching its end of support in October 2025. Users will need to upgrade their PCs to Windows 11 to continue receiving OS and security updates. But, not everyone will be able to upgrade to the latest operating system, because Windows 11 has some rather strict requirements, particularly concerning TPM 2.0 (Trusted Platform Module). Older computers that do not support TPM 2.0 are not eligible to be upgraded. Microsoft has begun sending out emails to users with PCs that don’t meet the system requirements, to warn them about the upcoming end-of-life date of Windows 10.

The mail explains that PCs on Windows 10 will still continue to work, but also warns that it will no longer provide support or Windows Updates for the system. The Redmond company is suggesting users to either trade their old PC in for a new one, or to recycle it, instead of continuing to use the computer because it could cause some potential security issues. This move is sure to annoy some users because not everyone can afford to buy a new computer. Besides, there are other options that one should consider, such as switching to Linux.

Firefox to add support for Progressive Web Apps

Mozilla recently added support for Vertical Tabs in Firefox 136, and is already testing Tab Groups in the Nightly version of its browser. The organization is planning to release more features to Firefox. One of these upcoming changes is to add support for Progressive Web Apps, also called PWA. PWAs allow websites to function like a native app, which grants users more control over the options that it might offer. For example, you could access it offline, or pin it to the Start Menu or Taskbar, get notifications, etc. This option is already supported in Google Chrome, and Chromium-based browsers, so Firefox has actually been lagging behind, at least on Desktop, PWAs are supported in the Android version of the browser.

According to a Mozilla employee, the organization is actively developing its version of PWA support. It is unclear when it will be ready, but a preference for it exists in Firefox’s advanced configuration page indicates that the option will be named Taskbar Tabs, though the feature itself is not working at the moment.

Vivaldi 7.2 update makes the browse faster, and the address bar smarter

Vivaldi 7.2 update is now available for all users of the browser. The new version improves the responsiveness of the address bar. It also displays results that are more relevant to your query, these are based on your browsing history, and search suggestions which now have improved accuracy. Vivaldi says that the overall speed of the browser has also been optimized, so pages load instantly.

Another nifty little feature that Vivaldi 7.2 brings is support for priority shortcuts, which allows users to customize specific shortcuts that will always be used by the browser, even when a website tries to override it. For example, Ctrl + K is used to focus the cursor on the browser’s search box, but if you use the shortcut on ChatGPT, the website overrides it to shift the focus to its own search field. Priority Shortcuts can be used to force the browser to trigger the action set by the user.

Users can now access the RSS Feeds without adding an account to Vivaldi’s Mail and Calendar.

Windows has a security bug that has existed for 8 years

Microsoft is often criticized for buggy Windows Updates, but this time it could have outdone itself. Security researchers at Trend Micro have discovered a vulnerability in Windows that has existed since 2017, and still remains unpatched.

The security flaw targets .lnk shortcuts, which are commonly used as shortcut files to run different programs. The vulnerability allowed threat attackers to initiate malware downloads using specially crafted links consist of whitespace characters, these shortcuts are at least a few megabytes in size. According to the report, several thousand of these malicious links have been found in the wild, and that the attacks originated from China, Iran, North Korea and Russia, which the researchers claim were used in state-sponsored attacks, targeting Government, Private and Financial Sectors. The vulnerability was exploited to steal data and spy on users. Interestingly, the attackers used different payloads for the malware, including the infamous Lumma Stealer and GuLoader, possibly trying to cover their trackers.

Microsoft reportedly did not act on the information provided by Trend Micro, which said that it had to go public with the data because the security risk is significant due to the valuable and confidential data that is maintained by Governments for critical infrastructure. Microsoft on the other hand claims that it is a low severity issue, and that it may not be patched in the immediate future. The company is advising users to exercise caution when downloading files from unknown sources. Some antivirus software solutions may identify the malicious shortcuts now.