AskWoody

Windows Update for Business isn’t just

Over on Computerworld I have an article about how Windows Update for Business isn’t just for business. I use it all the time on my standalone machines.

If you are an IT Pro, I’d recommend following the twitter account of AriaUpdated. She’s the Microsoft Product manager for Windows Update for Business.

April 2021 Office non-Security Updates are now available

The April 2021 Office non-Security updates have been released Tuesday, April 6, 2021. They are not included in the DEFCON-3 approval for the March 2021 patches. Unless you have a specific need to install them, you should wait until Susan Bradley (Patch Lady) approves them and any problems have been reported.

Remember, Susan’s patching sequence and recommendations are based on a business environment that has IT support and may have time constraints on the updating process. Consumer patching should be more cautious due to limited technical and mechanical resources. The latter is the reason for the AskWoody DEFCON system.

Office 2016
Update for Microsoft Office 2016 (KB4486672)

There were no non-security listings for Office 2010 (which reached EOS on October 13, 2020) nor for Office 2013.
On April 10, 2018, Office 2013 reached End of Mainstream Support. Extended Support will end for Office 2013 on April 11, 2023.
Office 2016 also reached  End of Mainstream Support on October 13, 2020. EOS for Office 2016 is October 14, 2025.

Updates are for the .msi version (perpetual). Office 365 and C2R are not included.

Security updates for all supported versions of Microsoft Office are released on the second Tuesday of the month (Patch Tuesday).

Touchscreen misregisters point-and-clicks

ISSUE 18.12 • 2021-04-05

LANGALIST

By Fred Langa

Touchscreens are ubiquitous and usually reliable, but when one malfunctions, even simple pointing and clicking can become an exercise in extreme frustration.

Here are the likely causes of touchscreen miscalibration, and several easy ways to get things working properly again.

Plus: How to protect yourself from Windows’ dangerous, semi-secret back door!

Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.12.0 (2021-04-05).
This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.12.F (2021-04-05).

AskWoody Improvements

EDITORIAL

By Will Fastie, Editor

We continue to make changes to AskWoody, to make it easier and faster for you to use.

Susan Bradley and I have been subscribers to AskWoody and its predecessors from the get-go. And we’ve both been contributors, Susan for a very long time and I for about a year. We’ve been on the outside looking in, but that’s been reversed: we’re now the ones behind the curtain.

Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.12.0 (2021-04-05).
This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.12.F (2021-04-05).

The best laptop docking stations and hubs for 2021

PUBLIC DEFENDER

By Brian Livingston

More and more of us have been spending part of our time working in a business office and part of our time in a home office (which may sometimes be called “the kitchen table”).

Even if you work primarily at home, there are always times when you want to work on your laptop in a hotel room or maybe that beach house you like to retreat to on weekends.

Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.12.0 (2021-04-05).

The problem with copyright: fair use

LEGAL BRIEF

By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq.

All might be fair in love and war, but not in copyright

If you think about copyrights for a moment, it might occur to you that they are unconstitutional. After all, the First Amendment says that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech. Yet there it is, in Title 17 of the U.S. Code: a law saying that Congress has given copyright owners the power to stop others from copying or publicly performing their copyrighted words.

Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.12.0 (2021-04-05).

Take control of your privacy – iPhone & iPad

APPLE

By Nathan Parker

Apple heavily promotes its devices and services as being focused on your privacy, especially for those who heavily use Apple’s built-in apps and services.

Apple has a prominent page on its site devoted to its view of privacy.

Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.12.0 (2021-04-05).

It’s time for 20H2

PATCH WATCH

By Susan Bradley

Are you ready for 20H2? I am!

If your computer hasn’t yet been offered 20H2, you aren’t alone. I’ve seen several laptops, including high end Dell gamer-style models, that haven’t been offered 20H2. A notification is shown in the bottom corner indicating that the system is coming to the end of support but when you click on the notice, nothing happens.

Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.12.0 (2021-04-05).

Tasks for the weekend – April 3, 2021 – Event Viewer

YouTube here

The event log can be the most helpful – or the most confusing thing you’ve ever seen. To find it go to the search box, type in event viewer and launch it. The main log files are Application, Security, Setup and
System.

One of THE MOST annoying events thrown off in the event log is the DCOM error. I see it typically with vendor software and 99.99% of the time it can be ignored. If you are having issues with your computer – sometimes the event viewer can help to identify a problem. Other times it’s like many things with Windows – annoyingly confusing.

If you are an IT admin/IT pro I often recommend the subscription site of www.eventid.net as a great place to get guidance as to issues in the event log. If you don’t go into event log that much merely googling the event ID you see in the log files is enough to give you the guidance you need.

Of course you can also ask here in the forums and we’ll try our best to help figure out the confusing event logs as best as we can.

Remember we’re back this week and will be sending out the newsletter late Sunday night, early Monday morning!

Ready for change?

Microsoft is working on new icons for the fall release of Windows.

Now there are some icons that probably do need updating… for example I’ve heard that the younger generation thinks the file save icon looks like a coke machine. Seriously. As a person who still questions why Outlook’s yellow icon had to change to blue,  so far the changes aren’t as jarring to me as that was. If you are an insider beta tester you’ve seen the posts about the upcoming changes.

Also be aware that the current insider release causes pinned Quick Access folders to be lost. It’s a bug, not intentional. Stay tuned, I’m planning on an article in the next few weeks with a preview of 21H2 (the fall release) which will be the big release of the year.

Windows update for business – fun fact

#FunFact

A user clicking "Check for updates" when you have #WUfB policies enabled (deferrals, target version, etc.) will ONLY offer updates that meet your specified policies.

Typically devices scan every ~22hours, this button = scan now. Please don't be afraid of the button.🧙‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/QWAWMdgy4r

— ariaupdated (@ariaupdated) March 18, 2021

AH HA! The first unofficial documentation I’ve seen that confirms what @PKCano and others have noted: If you have certain settings in place, you DON’T get offered up the preview updates.

Windows Update for business is merely local group policy settings that set certain patch settings.

Tomorrow is World Backup Day

Tomorrow, March 31, is World Backup day, a day that you are supposed to take stock and make sure your computers are truly backed up.

“I solemnly swear to backup my important documents and precious memories on March 31st.”

So what do you use for backing up your device? Personally, I’d urge you to do more than just backing up your documents and memories – you need to have a full image backup of your computer because you never know when a hard drive will fail, a patch will cause issues, or you accidentally save over the top of a file you didn’t intend to save over.