AskWoody

Tech Author Brian Livingston returns

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Tech Author Brian Livingston Returns as “Public Defender,” Weekly in AskWoody.com

Author of “Windows Secrets” and “Muscular Portfolios” is Back in Business, Solving Crimes of Technology at AskWoody.com

Well-known and sometimes beloved technology author and investigative journalist Brian Livingston has been appointed columnist at the Ask Woody newsletter. His new weekly column, entitled “Public Defender,” will offer insights to help consumers resolve technology frustrations.

“If it’s irritating you, and it has an ‘on’ switch, I’ll take the case,” said Livingston. His first column will focus on the recent ruling that stops cable companies from charging customers a fee to use the equipment they already own. “I’ll go beyond reporting. I’m going to help solve the crime. In this case, you’ll get specific answers on how to easily fix the problem. I see myself as offering consumer protection from technology.”

As technology continues its pervasive march into our lives, we are now not just frustrated and exasperated by Microsoft Windows, where Livingston spent his early career. Instead, we’re frustrated by our appliances, our tele-healthcare, and our watches. They’re all just technology, after all.

The column can be read in the Ask Woody newsletter, which is free but supported by donations. It can be read at https://www.askwoody.com/ starting January 11, 2021.

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About Brian Livingston
Mr. Livingston is an award-winning journalist with more than three decades of experience covering the tech industry. He founded the “Windows Secrets” Newsletter, which grew to 400,000 subscribers, and co-authored 11 books in the Windows Secrets series (John Wiley & Sons), which sold 2.5 million copies. In 2018, he turned his attention to the investment industry as a contributor to MarketWatch and StockCharts, and the author of “Muscular Portfolios.”

About Ask Woody
AskWoody.com is a reader-supported website that focuses on news, tips, advice and support for Windows, Microsoft Office, personal computers, the Internet of things and other technologies. AskWoody.com receives its support through reader donations. Readers can sign up for a free newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/AskWoody.

Is Windows back?

ZDnet has an article based on a job posting.  Say what you ask? How could an article about future versions of Windows be based on a job posting on Microsoft’s site?  I’ve seen that done before and it’s honestly an interesting way to “read the tea leaves” of what is in the future for Windows – or Office – or any of the job openings they post.  If you read between the lines of some of these postings you can get a feel for what Microsoft is working on.

If you have a spare hour or two and can figure out what Kubernetes is and other interesting terms, take a look at the job postings.

January 2021 Office non-Security Updates are available

The January 2021 Office non-Security updates have been released Tuesday, January 5, 2021. They are not included in the DEFCON-4 approval for the December 2020 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 Access 2016 (KB4484509)
Update for Microsoft Office 2016 (KB4493157)
Update for Microsoft Outlook 2016 (KB4493166)
Update for Microsoft Project 2016 (KB4493159)

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 (persistent). 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).

Minor Lounge Button Tweaks

A long time ago when the Lounge was new, our wish list included having the Lounge posts with Reply, Thanks and Quote buttons in the header row of each post, and the Report button at the bottom. In the meantime, we have all got used to how we were forced to have it.

Well, we now have the tools to make those wanted changes, which have just been activated.

We are aware that some of us will be in the habit of the old button locations, and that this may be a bigger issue for those with sight impairments of varying degrees.

We hope this change is found to be usable, and not too disorientating, in the short-term.

 
UPDATE:
The feedback received has been firmly on the idea that the header buttons should be in the footer, and vice versa. So we’re going to give this a try – Reply, Thanks and Quote in the Footer, with Report in the Header.
Keep that feedback coming, please!

Win7 ESU License purchasing now open

For the second year Harbor Computer Services has agreed to make the Win7 ESU licenses available for small quantity purchasers. What do you know? Microsoft and the distributors both got their act together this year and opened up Windows 7 – Year 2 Extended Servicing Updates license for sale on time. That means it’s available now! The cost of year two licensing is $142.

To prepare for your license purchase you will need:

• Your tenant information from last year. Find that email from Ted. It’s in there and you were instructed to keep it in a safe place.
• Credit card
• Number of licenses needed
• email address

If you have any Windows 7 computers that do not have year 1 applied, then you will also need to purchase year 1 for that computer. There’s a note section to let Ted know that you need one of those too. After you submit the form, Ted will process the information, make the purchase and the send you an email response with the license and instructions for installation. Just like last year. Please be a bit patient as we get ramped up to process these.

Here ‘s the link to the form

What does the SolarWinds attack mean to us?

Heard about the SolarWinds attack and how attackers had access to Microsoft’s source code?  Here’s my views on the SolarWinds attack.

I don’t think it means that attackers can inject things into Windows.  I don’t think it gives them any more information than they probably already had.

But I think that over time Microsoft will make the Attack Surface Reduction rules to be easier to use to add protection even down to us lowly home and small businesses.

I currently do not enable these rules on my home computers.  But I’m keeping an eye on them for sure.  And patching my machines, but just not immediately.

More at Computerworld.

MS-DEFCON 4 – reminder for December updates

Just a reminder – it’s time to install the December updates.  If you received a bit of an unusual alert tonight/this morning that had a heading of November updates but content regarding December updates that left you slightly scratching your head, blame yours truly (me!) that clearly didn’t read the manual well enough to get all the parts of the alert template right.  Like a typical geek I missed a step or two.

For those WindowsSecrets former newsletter subscribers who are receiving unusual renewal reminders saying that their subscription is about to expire on November 10, 2206, no we having been drinking the leftover egg nog a bit too much, clearly the technology gods are slightly freaking out on the year change.  Apologies for any unusual emails you may be receiving, have received or will be receiving as we work through the issues.  I have someone looking at that.

Ah isn’t technology fun?

Remember we are taking a break this week from the newsletter and will be back next week with some exciting new content and authors.  Stay tuned!

Tasks for the weekend – January 2, 2021

Youtube video here

When you are on a web site do you check the SSL certificate?

Do you review the site or perhaps use an extension tool like https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere ?

Some sites even today don’t fully encrypt all parts of the site.  This ensures that all part of the browser experience are protected with a SSL handshake between you and the web site.  This is to make sure that other sites and attackers can’t “sniff” the transmission … such as a chat window or a text box in the window of a site.  Mind you Firefox has added this natively since version 83.

So?  Do you check if all sites have padlocks on them?