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No authentication was required to access a database of information concerning more than 350 million customers.
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McAfee told to refund customers following auto-renew probe
Popular antivirus company McAfee will be forced to refund a number of customers who were hit with unwanted subscriptions following a ruling from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
The ruling followed a super-complaint filed by the Citizens Advice watchodg following numerous consumer reports that their subscriptions auto-renewed without their approval.
Customers will be able to unsubscribe and demand a refund for the remaining months, with McAfee needing to allow refunds for those who were previously denied following similar complaints in 2020.
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But the company will need to do a lot more than just refund those who demand their money back - it will also need to improve how it communicates services and prices going forward.
The process of killing auto-renewals needs to be more visible, easier and more straightforward, with McAfee told it needs to be clearer on how much it charges for what, especially about the increase in pricing in the second year of the subscription.
“People should not be tied into auto-renewing contracts for products they no longer want or need," said CMA chief executive Andrea Coscelli.
“Subscriptions should be clearly described, easy to exit and customers should not be tied into ongoing auto-renewals without adequate refund rights.”
Improving the customer experience
McAfee has looked to spin the decision as an opportunity to improve its services, saying in a statement that:
“McAfee is pleased to have reached an agreement with the CMA on our shared goal of improving the ease, fairness, and transparency of business-to-consumer practices and policies.”
“Our work with the CMA aligned with our efforts to enable customers to maintain ongoing protection while retaining control over their McAfee subscription.”
The CMA has pursued several other antivirus companies and shady renewal practices for some time, having recently also taken Norton to court for refusing to provide information on how it handles auto-renewals.
- Here’s our rundown of the best Windows 10 antivirus out there
Via: City AM
Date
26 May 2021Sources
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Migrating your data to Google Workspace is about to get a whole lot easier
Read MoreGetting your data moved over to Google Workspace should soon be a much smoother process thanks to a new release from the company.
Google says the Workspace Migrate tool offers an easier way for admins to assess and plan migration projects, and "confidently migrate their users and large amounts of critical content directly into Google Workspace."
Previously announced in beta way back in 2019, the tool is now generally available to admins across the world for select Google Workspace Editions.
Google Workspace Migrate
In a blog post announcing the news, Google noted that its new tool should be particularly useful for those admins looking to move a large amount of enterprise data, offering a secure and effective way to migrate information and set up on-premises infrastructure.
This includes the ability to migrate data from a wide range of sources, including Microsoft Exchange (covering Exchange 2010, 2013, 2016, and Microsoft 365), Microsoft SharePoint (including SharePoint 2010, 2013, 2016, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business), Microsoft OneDrive, file shares, and Box migrations.
(Image credit: Google Workspace) It will also support legacy G Suite Business and Google Workspace environments, enabling admins to selectively migrate Gmail, Calendar, Drive, and more data between Google Workspace environments.
Alternatively, the tool will allow admins to migrate all users from one environment to another, or move specific user data (such as organizational units, users, or subsets of data) between Google Workspace environments.
The tool will also allow admins to easily identify project progress and status through frequently updated and detailed logs, as well as being able to quickly scan source environments to help accurately plan for key project milestones and watch points.
Google Workspace Migrate is available now for users on Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, and legacy G Suite Business - however not for Google Workspace Essentials or legacy G Suite Basic users just yet.
Read moreThe news comes soon after Google revealed it would be cutting down on users accessing Google Workspace for free.
The company announced that all G Suite legacy free edition users would soon be shifted over to a paid version of Google Workspace from July 1 in order to ensure they kept access to tools such as Gmail, Meet and Docs.
Google Workplace plans start at $6/user/month for its Business Starter option, with Business Standard ($12/user/month) and Business Plus ($18 /user/month) also on offer, providing an increasing level of services with the amount paid.
Google plans to automatically move free users from May 1 to "an upgraded Google Workspace paid subscription", based on its analysis of the customer's usage and the features it thinks you'll need. The company is also offering businesses who don't want to pay or upgrade the chance to export their data at no extra cost.
- Here's our list of the best productivity tools on the market
Via 9to5Google
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Windows 10, iOS, Chrome, hacked - but for a good cause
China's third annual Tianfu Cup saw teams of hackers exploit new vulnerabilities in popular software and devices.
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Gaming laptops with Intel Arc Alchemist GPUs are about to launch
Read MoreIntel’s first Arc Alchemist graphics cards will be officially revealed on March 30, in just a few days, and will be followed in short order by the launch of the initial batch of gaming laptops carrying these GPUs.
We’d already been told about the press event on March 30, although now we know the exact timing – 8am PST (which is 3pm GMT) – and a fresh teaser tweet (showing a video of a closed laptop to indicate that these will be laptop graphics cards) was accompanied by an interesting reply from the Intel Support account on Twitter.
Yes! We are about to launch our brand-new Intel Arc graphic solution. The OEM devices featuring Arc GPUs will be launched by the end of this month. You may take a first look at our discrete graphics for laptops on March 30th at 8 AM, PST via https://t.co/rKmNtFEPYFMarch 26, 2022
As you can see, that latter tweet clarifies that this launch is for the first Arc graphics cards, and that “OEM devices featuring Arc GPUs will be launched by the end of this month” (meaning laptops, of course).
So, apparently we’ll get our first look at Alchemist cards on March 30, with multiple notebooks carrying these GPUs being launched at the same time, or the day after.
Analysis: Arc finally launches – but when will we see the big guns?
As VideoCardz, which spotted the tweet, points out, there are several leaks around laptops expected to carry the first Arc GPUs, and these include the Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro and Acer Swift X which have been spotted via retailer listings that jumped the gun.
As for the Alchemist graphics cards revealed, these are expected to be the lower-end laptop models (likely two of them). More powerful gaming laptop GPUs will be in the pipeline, and also coming later will be Intel’s desktop graphics cards which are pencilled in for a Q2 launch. As some of the more cynical online comments point out, maybe the date to mark in your diary is the second-to-last day of June.
Joking aside, the launch date for desktop Alchemist GPUs is still likely to be a fair way down the road – as in at least a couple of months, or that’s what we’ve heard most recently from the rumor mill. Speculation has indicated a May or June launch, and this makes sense given the delays we’ve seen from Team Blue so far.
As we’ve said before, we think it’s sensible for Intel to take its time and get these cards (and graphics driver) right, rather than risk a poor first impression when they go on sale; a perception that might hang over the Arc range for some time thereafter, even after any missteps have been corrected.
- These are the best graphics cards
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