The No More Ransom project website has free decryption tools for many known ransomware types.
If a decryption tool is not found, one option is to replace the hard drive and operating system and save the locked drive offline. A decryption tool may become available months later to free the data at that point.
Microsoft has released Windows File Recovery, a new Windows Store app that may help you deleted or corrupted data. Instructions and FAQ for this are available at support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4538642/windows-10-restore-lost-files
Google’s Chrome OS is a secure choice for an operating system, but older devices may no longer be supported. When a Chrome device reaches its Auto Update Expiration (AUE) date, automatic updates from Google will no longer be provided.
IFixit has instructions on how to convert a working Chromebook past its expiration date to use CloudReady.
iXsystems announced in March 2020 that TrueNAS CORE is the new name for FreeNAS, the popular open source NAS (Network Attached Storage) operating system. This was done to unify branding with its TrueNAS Enterprise product. Additional features were added to the TrueNAS CORE product as well. Documentation for TrueNAS is available at www.truenas.com/docs/hub/.
Apple announced the upcoming releases of several new technologies at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June 2020, including:
Visual Studio Codespaces – formerly known as Visual Studio Online – allows you to create Visual Studio solutions entirely in the cloud across multiple devices. This development environment is currently in public preview.
Windows 10 Activity History has local records of apps and services in use, files that were opened, and visited websites. This information may be periodically sent to Microsoft under the default options. These settings can be changed and are found at Start Button > Settings > Privacy > Activity History.
Facebook will soon release a new feature – Manage Activity – that will allow users to archive or delete their user activity in bulk. Archived items can be still be made available, and deleted items can still be recovered up to 30 days later before they are permanently deleted.
Facebook also has a Photo Transfer Tool that will allow users to transfer their photos in bulk to a new website. This tool only works for Google Photos for now but other options will become available.
The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University has created a website with maps that tracks worldwide coronavirus (COVID-19) cases. More information about the website and its data sources can be found at its FAQ page.
Microsoft Build has been changed to an online only event this year, and runs from May 19 to May 21, 2020 starting at 8 AM Pacific Time. Registration for this online educational event is free at register.build.microsoft.com.