12 Picks from 2019 to kick off the new year
Happy New Year everyone! The year 2019 has ended and I thought it would be nice to provide you with my top picks of articles and reviews that we published here on Ghacks in the past 12 months.
To make things more interesting, I decided to provide some stats and add the top commented article of the month as well.
Ashwin joined the ranks of Ghacks writers in 2019 and has put out great articles in 2019.
It would be great if you could list articles that you liked the most here on Ghacks in the comments.
January 2019
We published a total if 93 articles in January 2019. The three most popular articles based on the comments they received were the following ones:
- Basilisk browser drops WebExtension support
- Chrome Extension Manifest V3 could end uBlock Origin for Chrome
- A look at Firefox's new about:config page
All three were about browser changes and the discussion was quite heated.
My top pick is the guide on resetting Windows 10 account passwords.
February 2019
We published a total of 83 articles in February 2019. The three top articles based on comments were:
- How to remove DarkMatter Certificates from Firefox
- Microsoft: Don't buy Office 2019
- Pale Moon 28.4.0 released: security and stability update
Two of them about browsers, one about Microsoft's attempts at convincing customers to subscribe to Office 365 instead of purchasing Office 2019.
My top pick described my journey to drop all entertainment (streaming) subscriptions.
March 2019
A total of 82 articles were published in March 2019. The three top articles based on user comments were:
- This is the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser
- StartPage beats Google Search in test. Reason? Privacy
- The new Skype for Web does not work in Firefox or Opera
Again two browser based articles and one article about privacy. Microsoft did reveal the upcoming Edge browser that is based on Chromium in that month.
My topic pick in March 2019 was my review of VeraCrypt 1.24 which introduced lots of important improvements to the encryption software.
April 2019
We published 93 articles in April 2019. The three articles that received the most comments were:
- Mozilla plans to enable Hyperlink Ping Tracking by Default in Firefox
- Oh look, another broken Windows update! KB4493472 and KB4493446 causing issues
- Which Firefox extensions would you like to see promoted by Mozilla?
Two articles about Firefox and one about updates that broke functionality in Windows (again).
My top pick was the fix for Chrome blocking multimedia keys which was an annoying issue that many Chrome users faced.
May 2019
We published a total of 93 articles on Ghacks in May 2019. The top three articles were:
- Your Firefox extensions are all disabled? That's a bug!
- What Mozilla needs to do now (after cert add-on disabling disaster)
- Firefox 69: userChrome.css and userContent.css disabled by default
All three were about Firefox issues and Mozilla decisions.
My top pick is a story about Gmail tracking purchases and how it is impossible to stop the service from doing so.
June 2019
We published a total of 92 different articles on Ghacks in June 2019. The top three articles based on comments were:
- Mozilla might launch Firefox Premium in 2019
- VLC Media Player 3.0.7 released: security updates and improvements
- Firefox Preview 1.0 (Fenix) is now available
Again two Firefox/Mozilla articles, one about attempts to diversify the organization's revenue stream, the other about the upcoming new Firefox for Android browser.
My pick for June 2019 is the article about Mozilla enabling Tracking Protection by default in Firefox.
July 2019
Ashwin joined the ranks and articles increased to 101 in July 2019 as a consequence. The top three articles based on comments were the following ones in July 2019:
- Best Linux Distro for Windows 7 Refugees: Manjaro KDE
- Firefox 68.0 release information
- Pale Moon's Archive Server hacked and used to spread malware
Two browser articles and one review of a Linux distribution that may be suitable for Windows 7 users who face end of support in January 2020.
My top pick is my guide on downloading and installing Windows updates manually.
August 2019
We continued to hit the over-100 mark in published articles with 106 in total. The three most commented articles of August 2019 here on Ghacks were:
- What do you associate with certain web browsers?
- Goodbye Firefox Quantum, Hello Firefox Browser
- Chrome 76: no more https or www in address bar
Articles about browsers continue to get many comments.
My top pick for August 2019 is the look at Thunderbird 68.0, a massive update.
September 2019
We published a total of 100 articles in September 2019. The three top articles of September 2019 are:
- Mozilla plans to roll out DNS over HTTPS to US users in late September 2019
- Sandbox program Sandboxie is now freeware (soon open source)
- Mozilla will release a new Firefox version every 4 weeks from 2020 on
Sandboxie becoming freeware (and open source) was great news in September 2019.
My top pick for September 2019 is my comparison of free archivers to find the best tool for the job.
October 2019
We published 109 articles in October 2019. The top three articles of October 2019 based on the comments they received were:
- Ghacks has a new owner, and that is good for everyone
- The end of uBlock Origin for Google Chrome?
- Waterfox development splits into Classic and Current branches
Ghacks became part of Softonic and the announcement got lots of comments. Google's continued push to Manifest V3 and the potential impact for ad-blockers was a hot topic as well.
My top pick for October 2019 is that Mozilla started to work on native translation integration in Firefox.
November 2019
We published 98 articles in November 2019. The top three articles based on comments were:
- Microsoft has no plans to make future Windows 10 updates like Windows 10 1909
- Startpage Search owner changes raise serious questions
- Here is why free upgrades to Windows 10 still work
Windows 10 and privacy dominate the articles in November 2019,
My top pick of the month is Microsoft will integrate DNS over HTTPS in Windows 10.
December 2019
We published 104 articles in December 2019. The top three based on comments were:
- Someone found a way to bypass Windows 7 Extended Security Updates checks
- Mozilla removes site specific user-agent override option from Firefox 71
- Mozilla removes all Avast Firefox extensions
Ashwin got his first top commented article this month. Congrats.
My top pick for December 2019 is Google removes options to always show www in the Chrome browser's address bar
Now You: Which articles did you like/dislike this year here on Ghacks?
based on my search history, my most visited article from ghacks is:-
https://www.ghacks.net/2018/12/05/deepl-translation-service-adds-russian-and-portuguese-to-language-list/
and am eagerly looking forward to the update where even more languages are included
My fave was from Ashwin
https://www.ghacks.net/2019/12/10/http-downloader-is-an-open-source-download-manager-for-windows
That was a much appreciated tip.
As for the value of “top commented” articles, as a visitor I see little value with that metric.
Hell, if you’re looking for more comments then simply end EVERY article with some dopey question, such as:
Do you value “top commented” articles?
> How to remove DarkMatter Certificates from Firefox
Yea.. that guide broke synchronicity. a credit service used by paypal and amazon..
Did you mean “kick off the new year”?
I’m surprised the CSP issue in Firefox was not mentioned.
I’m a huge supporter of Firefox, since they moved to Quantum and deprecated the old (obsolete) add-on system; however, they’ve known about the CSP issue for YEARS and haven’t bothered to fix it.
For anyone reading the comments who’ve been living in a cave, here’s Martin’s March 2019 article: “Firefox CSP Issue may cause extension conflicts”
https://www.ghacks.net/2019/05/23/firefox-csp-issue-may-cause-extension-conflicts/
I’m sure Pants (the maintainer of the ghack user.js) would agree that the Firefox CSP issue is the #1 bug that needs fixing in Firefox, yet the Firefox developers contine to ignore the problem (perhaps they view it as a web extension problem, rather than a Firefox problem, but Raymond Hill made it clear with his post that it’s a Firefox problem/no API available to mitigate it).
There’s no current solution to mitigate the CSP issue, but using fewer web extensions limits the end user’s exposure.
IMO, this was the most important article in 2019 on ghacks.
Happy new year to you too as well, and all the Ghacks community!
I can’t think of a favorite article and unfortuantely I’d have to go back quite a while to look for a few specifically (I should probably start to bookmark them…) but I do enjoy the content here at Ghacks very much. As the stats show I’m more interested in topics such as web browsers, privacy and security; but I really like the little gems that come up every now and then about small utility programs, extensions, etc.
A few of my favorite somewhat recent articles:
/jsoft-pdf-reducer-is-a-freeware-tool-for-compressing-pdfs-and-edit-them/
/earth-alerts-monitors-severe-weather-alerts-worldwide/
flameshot-is-a-brilliant-screenshot-tool-for-linux/
I also read most of the comments as there’s usually a lot of useful information and tips there from other people. Thank you all for those amazing contributions!
I top pick for year 2019 would be:
“Former Microsoft Employee explains why bugs in Windows updates increased”
https://www.ghacks.net/2019/09/23/former-microsoft-employee-explains-why-bugs-in-windows-updates-increased/
I liked the article and thought it was a rather important one.
It is interesting to see how browser articles were on top on comments constantly during 2019.
Even more interesting to me considering that I dont recall anything memorable of browsers in 2019 other than they are worse than in the past at very significant rate… For example, thanks to this summary I remembered the Firefox massive addons disabled fiasco… unbelivable!!
I invite you to continue the retrospective analysis identifying if the top comments were for something positive or negative opinions… That would summarize with proof if 2019 was a stagnat year for the internet and in general…
Another relevant article to me was the related to Ghacks new owner: Honestly I am still on the fence (for possitive I have seen Martin open to comments, supportive and taking action. But on the other hand, revenue only understand money…)
Long years ago I discovered Ghacks, when bookmarking in the browser was the method to return someday later for specific inquiries in mind…
Was until last year that I discovered your rss feed and my attention over your articles changed: Since then I fully read your article headlines and read those that keep my attention/needs (comfortably from feedly on my tablet)
Because on tablet, English not being my primary language and some self-intimidation for the expertise/level of the people who comment here, I honestly dont find attractive to participate (In fact, this is my first comment)
Anyway, what I want to say is that Ghacks articles are well made, useful and meaningful, but other very important part of the whole richness of this website are the comments: The users complement with points of view, tips, alternatives, suggestions and so on.
Are both parts who compose Ghacks as a true comunity
Please continue valuing and respecting each other the same way as today. I wish this community to keep alive many years to come helping people like me a ton
Happy 2020, my best wishes and thanks to everyone for this great info source!!
Can’t think of a favorite article but appreciate the wide range of subjects presented in plain language as opposed to tech jargon.
All the best for the new year to all the contributors.
I liked “Blocking Telemetry in Windows 7 and 8.1” https://www.ghacks.net/2017/02/11/blocking-telemetry-in-windows-7-and-8-1/.
Even though it’s from 2017 I still liked and found it very helpful in 2019.
Thanks for wishing me a great new year. I am wishing you Martin and Ashwin and all people you love not only a ferry healthy year but also a happy one.
Hopefully Ghacks.net will keep up his standard of producing great articles all year around.
I finding it ferry hard to answer the question you put to me to name a favorite article maybe even impossible for me to answer.
This because I not only like all subjects Ghacks.net reports about but also all different articles about all specific subjects. I always think that when I less interested (or found) of a specific subject or article Its because of me that is not fully developed, about that specific subject. That makes me than automatically even more interested about that specific subject (article).
So when I have to choose its maybe this article who challenge me to make me think about the absolute joy, of reading ghacks.net there articles.
Thank you Martin and Ashwin. I think browser news are interesting (Mozilla Firefox, Waterfox, Palemoon etc.), extensions (uBlock Origin) and operating systems. Many â€how toâ€, security warning articles and remindings about updates are also very useful.
I would also thank Tom Hawack, John Fenderson other Anonymous, owl, Yuliya, Pants and others for helpful comments.
Interesting articles in my opinion for example:
https://www.ghacks.net/2019/10/25/waterfox-development-splits-into-classic-and-current-branches/
https://www.ghacks.net/2019/11/20/ublock-origin-for-firefox-addresses-new-first-party-tracking-method/
What happened to Mike the Linux dude, no Linux news in months?
Happy 2020!
Happy 2020, Martin!
Happy new year, and happy new decade, everybody! 🤗
Here are my favourite, or most important, articles of 2019:
Microsoft explains the lack of Registry backups in Windows 10
https://www.ghacks.net/2019/06/29/microsoft-explains-the-lack-of-registry-backups-in-windows-10/
What is devicecensus.exe on Windows 10 and why does it need Internet connectivity?
https://www.ghacks.net/2019/09/23/what-is-devicecensus-exe-on-windows-10-and-why-does-it-need-internet-connectivity/
Play old PC games in widescreen resolutions with Game Widescreener
https://www.ghacks.net/2019/10/23/play-old-pc-games-in-widescreen-resolutions-with-game-widescreener/
Intel started to remove old downloads from its Download Center
https://www.ghacks.net/2019/11/18/intel-started-to-remove-old-downloads-from-its-download-center/
How to block the automatic installation of suggested Windows 10 apps
https://www.ghacks.net/2019/12/23/how-to-block-the-automatic-installation-of-suggested-windows-10-apps/
Baseed on the fact that I’ve actually bookmarked them for future references.
Still, nothing beats the 2018 article regarding mozilla forcing telemetry, which was the article that convinced me to switch to other browser, but that’s a 2018 article, so…
As every geek should know, the next decade does not start until 2021. 2020 is the last year of the current decade.
The first digit/number/numeral of the base 10 number system (and all others, I guess) is 0. 0 – 9 = 10 digits/numbers/numerals. 10 = a/1 decade, in this case, 2020 – 2029. 10 years, a/1 decade. Is my logic and/or math flawed somehow?
Hmmm, new decades do start on year one. It’s not apparent that’s the case, more a result of zerophobia.
From a wiki:
“In the AD year numbering system, whether applied to the Julian or Gregorian calendars, AD 1 is immediately preceded by 1 BC. There is no year “0” between them, so a new century begins in a year which has “01” as the final digits … is at odds with the common conception that centuries and millennia begin when the trailing digits are zeroes (1800, 1900, 2000, etc.)…”
Dating systems are arbitrary, so if one wants 2023 to be the beginning of a new decade, go for it!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini
Yup, numbering starts at zero, not one.
This confusion is in part due to semantics, but more so that most folks suck at real-world math.
Decades are of 10 yrs, not 11 years. So the first started with 2010 and ended with 2019(yes count the 2010 year and it will add up to 10 when you reach 2019, so don’t even think of arguing about that), that’s 10 years, so you’re wrong. 2020 starts a new decade and 2029 will be the end of the new decade.
Tarmin, he’s referring to the fact that there was no year zero. If you go back enough decades, you will reach a point where the first year is 1 so that decade would go from 1 to 10, the next 11 to 20, 21 to 30, etc. He is counting 10 years, just from a different starting point. Technically there was no year 1 either and the system of dating is completely arbitrary so what does is matter, anyway?