MS-DEFCON 3: Should we patch?

By Susan Bradley

I have good news and bad news.

Some of you will install the June updates and see absolutely no issues whatsoever. Others have tried to install the June updates and experienced side effects. Microsoft has acknowledged some, but not all, of the issues. This makes it a hard month. I don’t like to let people get to the end of the month and not install updates, but at the same time there are some bugs that are deeply impactful to both consumers and businesses.

Based upon my recommendations below, I am lowering the MS-DEFCON level to 3. I commonly set the level to 4 after giving the month’s updates a chance to settle, but this time greater caution is warranted.

Anyone can read the full MS-DEFCON Alert (19.26.1, 2022-06-28).

The right to repair

LEGAL BRIEF

By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq.

Purchasing a product gives you broad rights to do with it as you please.

Those rights are not unlimited. For example, you can’t drive your new Ferrari through town at 120 mph; you can’t use your new hammer to smash anyone’s thumb but your own.

Those rights are also limited by two legal constraints: you cannot infringe on someone else’s intellectual property rights, and you cannot use the product in a way you promised not to by entering into a contract to that effect.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.26.0, 2022-06-27).
This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

The hard drive is dead; long live solid-state storage

SILICON

By Brian Livingston

The death of hard disk drives may be greatly exaggerated — after all, HDD manufacturers sold more than 250 million units worldwide in 2021 — but solid-state drives, which store data in semiconductors with no moving parts, finally overtook the unit sales of HDDs last year. The writing is on the wall for ye olde spinning platters.

SSDs have many advantages over HDDs, including being much smaller in size and offering faster throughput. But even after years of cost improvements, SSDs are still a much more expensive choice.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.26.0, 2022-06-27).

Getting to one OneNote on Windows

ONENOTE

By Mary Branscombe

It’s finally becoming less confusing to pick the right Windows OneNote app, but you still have some decisions to make.

After 16 years of OneNote, you might have liked the fresh new look of OneNote for Windows 10 and the way it could sync custom tags from one device to another. If that was the case, you might have liked Microsoft’s 2018 claim that it was “making OneNote for Windows 10 the best version of OneNote on Windows.”

The official angle then was that no new features would be coming to OneNote 2016.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.26.0, 2022-06-27).

FocusWriter — Don’t get distracted by squirrels and things

FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

By Deanna McElveen

We have so many distractions on and near our computer screens that it can be a real chore to stay focused when writing. Whether it be an article, a family Christmas letter (we still do those), or a novel, you have to concentrate if you ever want to be done and see the sun again.

FocusWriter by Graeme Gott has been around since 2008 (same year OlderGeeks.com was born) and is one of the most popular freeware programs for writers. FocusWriter can’t keep the bluebirds away from your window or turn down your TV, but it is very good at keeping things on your screen from distracting you.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.26.0, 2022-06-27).

Dealing with DCOM

PATCH WATCH

By Susan Bradley

In the June updates, Microsoft continues its journey to harden the Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM), with the goal of making it more resilient to attack.

DCOM is a proprietary Microsoft software component that allows COM objects to communicate with each other over a network. Network OLE was the precursor to DCOM (remember Windows 3.1.1?). Because DCOM can run programs on other computers, hackers can leverage it for lateral-movement attacks through your network, gaining access to more data. This activity can be difficult to detect because it’s not malware or hacker tools — all it takes to access DCOM is PowerShell.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.26.0, 2022-06-27).

Windows 8.1 is getting close to the finish line

I know there are a fair amount of Askwoody readership that are still using Windows 8.1. Microsoft will be including a nag notification soon to indicate that the end of life for Windows 8.1 will be January 10, 2023.

Now just a reminder, your computer will still work. It just won’t receive security updates. You’ll need to ensure that your antivirus will continue to get dat files, and that browsers are supported. I don’t see Chrome posting any drop dead date at this time. Remember Windows 7 has a drop dead support date for Chrome as of January 15, 2023.

They are not planning to offer extended support packages for Windows 8.1.

I will have to investigate if 0patch is going to continue to update after 8.1 drops out of support.

Bottom line, if you LOVE Windows 8.1, start planning now.

So they tortured Windows 10 users first?

Windows Update on Twitter: “We’ll be introducing the search highlights feature to Windows 11 over the next several weeks. This feature presents notable and interesting moments unique to each day, such as holidays, anniversaries, and other educational moments. https://t.co/GNzRiDn4yK https://t.co/GOrQk6882y” / Twitter

Okay you Windows 11 people, … or maybe person… listen up.  You get to enjoy Windows search highlights next!

Remember you can disable this via registry, group policy and “Settings > Privacy & Security > Search Permissions > Show search highlights”

Microsoft is releasing an OOB update to address Arm devices issue

Microsoft is releasing Out-of-band (OOB) updates today to address an issue with Azure Active Directory services on Arm-based devices. These cumulative updates are available on Windows Update and other channels.

Consumer impact:  None

Business impact: Only needed for Arm-based devices

• Windows 11, version 21H2: KB5016138
• Windows 10, version 21H2: KB5016139
• Windows 10, version 21H1: KB5016139
• Windows 10, version 20H2: KB5016139

Susan comment:  Reminder This will only offer or install on Windows Arm-based devices.

Thus for many of us you won’t see it/you won’t care about it.

We are still tracking an issue where Internet connection sharing /being able to surf at the same time is impacted.  No ETA of a fix at this time but Microsoft has acknowledged the issue. Also tracking issues with RRAS and VPN but not sure if something third party vpn is triggering the problem?

Terabyte update 2022

HARDWARE

By Will Fastie

This year, the trend line for storage prices is harder to discern.

In last year’s installment of this series, I wrote, “There has never been a time when I have been so uncertain about what comes next.”

I’m glad I made that “prediction,” because I would never have guessed no change in prices. That’s pretty much what we got.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.25.0, 2022-06-20).
This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

Want more power and control? Turn on developer mode.

PUBLIC DEFENDER

By Brian Livingston

Most digital devices and software applications have a little-known side of themselves called “developer mode.” Once you turn this baby on, you can have previously undreamed-of power literally at your fingertips.

Tech companies normally remain quiet about these features — except with regard to actual app developers — because boneheaded users can fall into hidden bear traps and not know how to get themselves out. But if you read up on the capabilities you want, you can enable features that you’ll wish you’d had from Day One.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.25.0, 2022-06-20).

How to access Microsoft 365 from PowerShell

MICROSOFT 365

By Peter Deegan

PowerShell can be daunting at first, no doubt about that. But it can be very useful and sometimes essential for managing Microsoft 365, so I’ll explain how to use PowerShell from the very start.

From the Microsoft 365 Web dashboard, it is difficult (and sometimes impossible) to make certain changes. Only PowerShell can make them, but the online help makes a lot of assumptions and isn’t easy for beginners to understand.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.25.0, 2022-06-20).