Neowin News Feed for: Block

Windows 11 blocks Google Chrome due to a Microsoft safety feature, fix out

Sayan Sen — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 15:56:01 +0000

Windows 11 systems are automatically breaking and blocking Google Chrome as it is triggering a Microsoft safety feature. Read more...

Microsoft shares details on Teams block if app is not updated after 90 days

Sayan Sen — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 08:16:01 +0000

Microsoft has confirmed that Teams will be warning users who are on an outdated app version and will eventually block it after 90 days. Read more...

Cash App leaving the UK on September 15 to focus on the US

Paul Hill — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 17:21:45 +0000

Block's Cash App is pulling out of the UK market to focus its efforts on the US. The company said it had not made the decision lightly as it knew the impacts it would have, but it decided to continue. Read more...

A way to block users on X could be going away, according to Elon Musk

John Callaham — Fri, 18 Aug 2023 18:22:01 +0000

The founder and chairman of X, Elon Musk, is now saying that he wants to get rid of a way that lets users block other accounts on the social network, claiming, "It makes no sense." Read more...

Italian deputy Prime Minister calls ChatGPT block excessive

Paul Hill — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 11:38:01 +0000

Italian deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has said that the ChatGPT block is excessive. The service was blocked at the end of last week by the country's Data Protection Authority. Read more...

Over 200 Chinese mobile apps banned in India, reducing competition for Paytm

Usama Jawad — Tue, 07 Feb 2023 09:26:01 +0000

Inda has banned over 200 mobile apps and services operating in the country. While some of these were created by Indian developers, they are suspected of transferring customer data to China. Read more...

Pakistan unblocks Wikipedia after its Prime Minister intervenes

Justin Luna — Tue, 07 Feb 2023 04:06:02 +0000

Wikipedia can now be accessed again on Pakistan after the country's Prime Minister ordered its unbanning. The PM said that the blanket ban's unintended consequences outweighed its benefits. Read more...

Pakistan degrades access to Wikipedia and threatens to block it over "sacrilegious" content

Usama Jawad — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 09:10:01 +0000

Pakistan's government has degraded access to Wikipedia following news of the platform hosting certain content deemed objectionable by local authorities. The website could soon be blocked completely. Read more...

Microsoft's latest Sysmon 14.0 could help block dangerous malware

Sayan Sen — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 22:32:01 +0000

Microsoft's latest Sysmon version 14.0 can be used to block or prevent malicious and other dangerous files from opening. This is thanks to a new event type addition to the Sysinternals utility. Read more...

VideoLAN claims that its VLC media player is being blocked in India

Usama Jawad — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 10:50:02 +0000

VideoLAN's president and lead developer has claimed that Indian internet service providers are restricting customers from downloading VLC media player from the official website for unknown reasons. Read more...

Google joins Microsoft in restricting access to RT and Sputnik

Usama Jawad — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 05:28:01 +0000

Google has announced a series of steps to stop the spread of disinformation by state-sponsored Russian media outlets on its platforms. Its services continue to remain available in Russia. Read more...

Microsoft admits that it is purposely making it difficult to switch browsers in Windows

Usama Jawad — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 04:10:01 +0000

Following the block on third-parties to easily switch the default browser in Windows 11, Microsoft has now publicly admitted that its implementation is actually a "fix" for "improper redirection". Read more...

Twitter's Progressive Web App now allows you to remove followers on the platform

Karthik Mudaliar — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 12:48:01 +0000

As part of its monthly update, Twitter is bringing the ability to soft-block a user on its Progressive Web App. This allows users to remove an account from following them, without blocking them. Read more...

Twitter web users can now soft block unwanted followers

Usman Khan Lodhi — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 21:32:01 +0000

The feature, tested with a small group of users since September, has been released to all web users today. The safety-focused feature will curb abuse and harassment on the platform. Read more...

Russia says “nyet” to ProtonMail as it blocks the privacy-friendly e-mail provider

Paul Hill — Thu, 30 Jan 2020 08:20:01 +0000

Russia's digital regulator, Roskomnadzor, has said that it's banning ProtonMail after it asked for help tracking users behind bomb threats and not getting a response; ProtonMail said it wasn't asked. Read more...

Turkey lifts ban on Wikipedia for the first time since 2017

Paul Hill — Thu, 16 Jan 2020 14:16:01 +0000

Turkey's Constitutional Court has ruled the country's ban on Wikipedia is a violation of free expression. ISPs that serve the country have now started to lift the ban on the website. Read more...

Russian watchdog considers unblocking Telegram in the country

Paul Hill — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 13:10:01 +0000

The Russian regulator, Roskomnadzor, has announced that it is willing to reconsider the block against Telegram in Russia, but only if Telegram meets its terms. Telegram seems unlikely to comply. Read more...

Bangladesh government blocks mobile internet after protests turn violent

Usama Jawad — Sun, 05 Aug 2018 16:16:01 +0000

Reports claim that the Bangladeshi government has blocked mobile internet in some regions after protests against the killing of two students in a road accident turned violent, with over 100 injured. Read more...

The bitcoin mining hash rate has increased by a huge 155% this year

Paul Hill — Fri, 13 Jul 2018 18:42:01 +0000

Since the start of the year, the bitcoin hash rate has boomed by 155%. Hash rate charts indicate the amount of computing power mining bitcoin, which makes us ask: why are so many mining it now? Read more...

Russia blocks Telegram - company responds by saying that updates will bypass ban

Paul Hill — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 14:08:01 +0000

Russia has blocked Telegram after the messaging firm decided not to hand over encryption keys to the FSB. Telegram developers will make back-end changes in order to keep the app working. Read more...

Google builds 3D objects repository for developers

Paul Hill — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 23:46:02 +0000

Google has launched its new 3D objects discovery service, Poly. The site acts as a place to upload 3D objects while allowing other people to come and reuse them in their own AR and VR projects. Read more...

Federal court rules politicians can't block users on social media

Mina Esapa — Sun, 30 Jul 2017 08:40:01 +0000

A federal court ruling in Virginia has found that a politician contravened a constituent's freedom of speech rights when she blocked him from commenting or sending her messages on her Facebook page. Read more...

Custom patch bypasses update block for Windows 7, 8.1 PCs with newest-generation processors

Justin Luna — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 10:40:01 +0000

A GitHub user has devised a method to re-activate updates on Windows 7 and 8.1 PCs on new generation processors. He modified two functions that determine if a processor is still supported. Read more...

Some new PCs running Windows 7 and 8.1 won't receive further updates

Usama Jawad — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 20:24:01 +0000

It appears that Microsoft has started blocking updates to some new PCs running older versions of Windows including Windows 7 and 8.1 in an effort to encourage users to upgrade to its latest OS. Read more...

Google kills off CAPTCHA, might determine if you're a robot by your browsing activities

Usama Jawad — Mon, 13 Mar 2017 15:36:01 +0000

It appears that Google is finally killing off CAPTCHA in text and the checkbox saying "I'm not a robot" for legitimate users, instead using "a broad range of cues that distinguish humans from bots". Read more...

Porn site Brazzers has been banned in Russia for 'damaging the human psyche'

Justin Luna — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 11:52:01 +0000

Adult video website Brazzers has now been banned in Russia, after a recent decision by a district court. The porn site was found to have a 'negative influence on the human psyche.' Read more...

Philippine government blocks Pornhub and other adult websites

Justin Luna — Sat, 14 Jan 2017 14:50:01 +0000

In what seems to be an effort towards suppressing child pornography, the Philippine government has now banned access to legitimate adult websites like Pornhub and xvideos. Read more...

South Carolina wants to block porn on all new computers, charge punters a $20 'unblock fee'

Michael Firth — Tue, 20 Dec 2016 19:52:01 +0000

South Carolina lawmakers have tabled a draft amendment that would see new computers blocked from accessing pornography. But there's a caveat; you'll be able pay $20 to unblock the whole filthy web. Read more...

Microsoft Edge and IE11 to block websites using SHA-1 certificates next year

Usama Jawad — Sat, 19 Nov 2016 06:44:02 +0000

Microsoft has detailed how it plans to prevent sites using SHA-1 certificates from loading on Edge and Internet Explorer 11 starting next year. The hashing function was deemed insecure in 2005. Read more...

Vodafone will now automatically block scam calls for its customers in the UK

Justin Luna — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 11:12:01 +0000

As a move towards helping its customers stay secure, Vodafone UK will now automatically block fraudulent calls right from the source, so the potential victim won't have to deal with it anymore. Read more...

Ericsson sues Apple, wants ITC to block iPhone sales in the U.S. market

Adrian Potoroaca — Fri, 27 Feb 2015 19:24:01 +0000

Erricson has filed not one, but seven patent related lawsuits against the Cupertino tech giant in a U.S. court, and is asking the International Trade Comission to block iPhone sales in the U.S. Read more...

TalkTalk becomes latest UK ISP to block adult content by default

Usama Jawad — Fri, 23 Jan 2015 15:54:01 +0000

As the battle between Internet service providers and their customers who want to view adult content on the web rages on, TalkTalk has become the latest UK ISP to filter such material by default. Read more...

Marriott to pay $600,000 fine, stop blocking guests' WiFi

Jett Goldsmith — Sun, 05 Oct 2014 17:14:01 +0000

Marriott hotels has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $600,000 to the FCC as well as cease their unlawful actions in response to an investigation claiming that they illegally blocked guests' WiFi. Read more...

YouTube confirms it will remove indie labels' videos for not signing up to new music service

Andy Weir — Tue, 17 Jun 2014 16:30:09 +0000

YouTube confirms that, "in a matter of days", it will remove videos from its site from artists such as Adele and Arctic Monkeys who haven't agreed to its terms for its new music subscription service. Read more...

Iraq blocks access to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in an attempt to halt militants

Jett Goldsmith — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 21:15:42 +0000

Officials in Iraq have reportedly blocked access to all social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, in an attempt to hinder Jihadist militants who are slowly moving towards Baghdad. Read more...

China blocks almost all Google services in anticipation of Tiananmen Square anniversary

Jett Goldsmith — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 19:36:06 +0000

Following suit with other nations as of late, China has moved to block almost every single Google service, including Gmail, Google's search engine, and Google images. Read more...

Iran bans Instagram over ‘privacy concerns'

Andy Weir — Sun, 25 May 2014 17:02:54 +0000

Just a few weeks after Iran banned WhatsApp, calling Mark Zuckerberg - CEO of Facebook, which is acquiring the company - an "American Zionist", an Iranian court has now ordered a ban on Instagram. Read more...

UK web traffic for porn higher than for all social networks combined

Andy Weir — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 07:01:16 +0000

As the UK prepares for porn to be blocked by default on all ISPs, user data shows that 8.5% of all UK web activity is based around adult content - more than the US, but not as much as Germany. Read more...

EZTV and YIFY-Torrents latest in series of UK ISP blockades

Steven Parker — Tue, 23 Jul 2013 10:20:25 +0000

Following yesterdays news on blocking porn through ISP filters for UK citizens, anti-piracy group FACT has won a court order to block two more torrent sites, citing "mass access to infringing content" Read more...

UK Court orders blocking of more "illegal" websites

Steven Parker — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 11:38:51 +0000

The UK High Court strikes back: Following last years ruling that The Pirate Bay and its known addresses must be blocked by all major ISPs, the Court has now added three other sites to the ruling. Read more...