AskWoody

WUshowhide is back!

A big thank you to Bruce to providing feedback to Microsoft to get WUshowhide resigned with a SHA-2 certificate. It’s now been reposted to the download site.

Sure enough it was what we thought….

Thank you all for your patience. The troubleshooter was initially removed as part of our SHA-1 deprecation, where we removed all content on the DLC which had only SHA-1 signing. We are working to re-sign this with a SHA-2 certificate and verify that it works as expected, and will re-publish. I will follow up again shortly.

He did and just reposted it tonight.

Got a Western Digital My book?

Dan Goodwin on Twitter says:

Western Digital is advising customers to disconnect their My Book storage devices while the company investigates the mass wiping of data from devices all over the world.

See more here

MS-DEFCON 4: Get those June updates installed

ISSUE 18.23.1 • 2021-06-24 MS-DEFCON 4: Get those June updates installed By Susan Bradley It’s time to deal with “News and Interests.” Consumer and home users If you’ve been procrastinating with the June updates so you didn’t have to deal with the new “News and Interests” feature and its side effects, the time has come. Microsoft has released KB5003698 to fix issues with blurry images in 1909 for Enterprise. Windows 10 2004/20H2 and 21H1 received KB5003690 to fix the blurry text on the News and Interests button for some screen resolutions. KB5003690 also fixes a problem with search box graphics on the Windows taskbar, which occurs if you right-click the taskbar and turn off News and Interests. This graphics issue is especially visible when using dark mode. If it is a problem for you, install this optional update. There are other issues to work out, such as interactions with the desktop if you are using Classic Shell or other menu programs. AskWoody readers have noted cases in which sign in to customize the news selections did not work. If you have problems with the News and interests feature, try setting it to icons only instead of icons and text. For Office updates, open up any Office software application, click on File, Account, Office Updates, and enable updates. Then click on Update Now to trigger their installation. Business users This month’s releases showcase that timing is everything. If you apply updates to workstations before applying them to servers and then attempt to use remote event-log tools, you will find that you cannot access the event logs. As noted by Microsoft, affected apps are using certain legacy Event Logging APIs. Ensure that you apply the updates for both workstations and servers before attempting to use such software. References AskWoody Master Patch List Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Alert 18.23.1 (2021-06-24).

2004’s being pushed?

In the Windows update twitter account they indicate:

Today we are starting a new rollout phase for Windows 10, version 21H1 using our latest machine learning model to begin the multi-month process to automatically update devices running Windows 10, version 2004, that are approaching end of servicing.

So. What does that mean? Same old, same old, unfortunately.

If you have a device on 2004 and do not have the targetreleaseversion in place to keep it on 2004, Microsoft will begin pushing you to 21H1.

Well first I think they are pushing a little too quickly as 2004 doesn’t age out until December.  Furthermore I still see people struggling to get off of 1909 and on to 2004. So if you have a reason to stay on 2004 – even if that reason is that you are too busy right now to deal with it- make sure you have the targetreleaseversion setting in place otherwise you may find yourself rebooting when you don’t want it.

I’ll be soon adding the approval of 21H1 to my recommended versions.  Bottom line my recommendation is to use the TRV (aka targetreleaseversion) setting to be the guard rails on your system.  You then get to choose exactly when you want to go through the feature upgrade process. It’s on your time schedule, not Microsoft.

Will spotted this video the other day… scroll to the 9 minute mark and listen.

Reminder: What’s next for Windows?

Microsoft’s live event entitled “What’s next for Windows” is set for Thursday, June 24 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Watch here. You can also visit that page to get a reminder.

What’s your feedback for Windows 11?

In Computerworld this week I started my list of feedback for Windows 11.  Before we get to the next version of Windows, I have a list of things that need to be fixed on Windows 10.

So what’s your feedback to Microsoft?

Anom: A $2,000 smartphone that let the FBI listen in

ISSUE 18.23 • 2021-06-21

PUBLIC DEFENDER

By Brian Livingston

Special smartphones that were supposedly the most super-secretive in the world actually resulted in at least 800 arrests, the seizure of eight tons of cocaine, and the recovery of $48 million in currency from organized-crime gangs on June 6 and 7.

The FBI, Europol, Australian Federal Police, and the law-enforcement agencies of several other countries announced on June 8 that they had quietly intercepted 27 million messages from what’s being called “WhatsApp for criminals.”

Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.23.0 (2021-06-21).
This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.23.F (2021-06-21).

Short takes: Three interesting reader-submitted Q&As

LANGALIST

By Fred Langa

In today’s first item, a subscriber asks for help after experiencing a bizarre partial keyboard failure, but the diagnosis is complicated by some unusual hardware.

In the second item, a different reader is concerned about what might happen to the data in his PC’s BIOS/UEFI during a planned mainboard battery replacement.

And in the third item, a reader wonders about the standby power draw of his device’s plug-in battery charger.

Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.23.0 (2021-06-21).

Why Wi-Fi 6, aka 802.11ax, for wireless?

HARDWARE

By Ben Myers

Now that there is broad availability of routers compatible with the new Wi-Fi 6 standard, it’s easy to ask, “What’s in it for me?”

There is a myriad of devices that are compatible with the 802.11ac specification, from laptops to cell phones to tablets to Internet of Things (IoT) devices. But the 802.11ac spec is not without limitations.

Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.23.0 (2021-06-21).

Freeware Spotlight — Notes Keeper

BEST UTILITIES

By Deanna McElveen

When I find something I need, you get something you need.

I decided that I wanted a note-taking program for service calls and in-shop repairs, but I wanted it to meet certain criteria. It had to be portable so I could use it from my flash drive. It had to be free because I’m a cheapskate. And I wanted it to have word-processor type features but be super-easy and fast. And, last but not least, I wanted it to allow me to add pictures to my notes.

Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.23.0 (2021-06-21).

Getting rid of local administrators

ON SECURITY

By Susan Bradley

Administrator rights are easy to set up but hard to remove.

Once upon a time, we always configured Windows computers with full administrative rights. We thought nothing of it; it was an expected and a normal part of getting a computer system ready to go. We took being an administrator for granted because we needed to install software and run programs that required administrator rights.

Then people — attackers — began to realize that user accounts with administrative rights were the keys to the kingdom, making it easier for them to gain access to a system and do their dirty deeds.

Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.23.0 (2021-06-21).

Tasks for the weekend – June 19, 2021 – how hot is your computer?

YouTube Video

So where I live we hit a heat record today and it reminded me that heat can impact and damage computers.

One of the things you need to think about – computers are like you – they don’t work well in too cold – or too hot places.

Make sure a device has plenty of ventilation, even going to far as to open up the computer and either use a small vacuum cleaner or compressed air to blow out the dust bunnies.

Check what applications are causing the computer to run too hot, look for a bios update and check out the other suggestions in this article. You can also download the CPUID monitor to see the value of the temp on your computer.

So how hot is it where you are? (It’s 92 degrees outside still at 10 P.M. per the “News and Interests” icon!)