Monthly Archives: September 2021

• Sneak peak – testing out a new skin on the forum

  Posted on September 24, 2021 at 14:59 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  Over on a test forum (where we turn it on when we want to test updates and new plug ins) I have a test going on a new “skin” for the forum. Note we’re still in testing – at the present time if you want post anonymously you have to enter anon as the user and anon@askwoody.com as the email address – we’re working on making that prefilled in if you don’t want to log into the site.

  https://testaskwoody.holbihost.com/forums/

  Bottom line check it out. Let me know please if you have any issues?

  The goal is to make it WAY more obvious how to start a topic or reply.

  Feedback please!

  Survey Patch Lady Posts

• Do we need firmware and software updates forever?

  Posted on September 23, 2021 at 14:24 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  Check out this article:

  https://spectrum.ieee.org/we-need-software-updates-forever

  Consumers have relied on the good graces of device makers to keep our gadget firmware and software secure and up-to-date. Doing so costs the manufacturer some of its profits. As a result, many of them are apt to drop support for old gadgets faster than the gadgets themselves wear out. This corporate stinginess consigns far too many of our devices to the trash heap before they have exhausted their usability. That’s bad for consumers and bad for the planet. It needs to stop.

  We have seen a global right-to-repair movement emerge from maker communities and start to influence public policy around such things as the availability of spare parts. I’d argue that there should be a parallel right-to-maintain movement. We should mandate that device manufacturers set aside a portion of the purchase price of a gadget to support ongoing software maintenance, forcing them to budget for a future they’d rather ignore. Or maybe they aren’t ignoring the future so much as trying to manage it by speeding up product obsolescence, because it typically sparks another purchase.

  Legislation Patch Lady Posts

• Clearly they didn’t get my feedback

  Posted on September 22, 2021 at 11:15 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  The Surface Go device is one of the lightest, best devices for traveling if you need a Windows device.  But there is a BUT in there.  The keyboard is a little too small/off and I kept hitting the wrong keys. So I traded up for a Surface Pro 7 + but it is a little heavier.

  The Surface event is being held today and the Surface Go 3 doesn’t look like it got a larger keyboard.

  Next up Surface 8 devices.

  Interesting change that I didn’t realize was happening … my favorite business way to buy Surface devices WAS through the Liftforward/Surface all access program that you paid over time and then could upgrade/swap out as needed.  Looks like this shut down in March of 2021. Now they have Klarna as their partner.

  You can watch the recording here.

  Windows News Patch Lady Posts

• Real-time MS-DEFCON alerts debut!

  Posted on September 20, 2021 at 02:45 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.36 • 2021-09-20

  MS-DEFCON

  

  By Susan Bradley

  The new AskWoody SMS alert system is now available for Plus members.

  The MS-DEFCON system has been a staple of the AskWoody site for many years now. You know it as a visual system of numbers and colors that provides a quick indicator of the relative safety of applying updates (patching) to Windows and other Microsoft apps and services.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.36.0 (2021-09-20).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.36.F (2021-09-20).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, MS-DEFCON AskWoody Plus Newsletter, MS-DEFCON, Patch Lady Posts

• Older Geeks: Keeping it clean

  Posted on September 20, 2021 at 02:44 CDT by Chris Husted • Comment in the Forums

  PROFILES

  

  By Chris Husted

  Hidden away in a small town of 5,000 in the Missouri Ozarks is a small computer-repair shop run by a pair of self-confessed “super nerds” who over more than a decade have amassed some 4,000 freeware programs that all satisfy one steadfast credo: “No ads, no crapware, no b.s.”

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.36.0 (2021-09-20).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.36.F (2021-09-20).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Profiles AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, Profiles

• Apple gives privacy one minute

  Posted on September 20, 2021 at 02:43 CDT by Silvia Eckert • Comment in the Forums

  APPLE NEWS

  

  By Silvia Eckert

  “California streaming” ducks the controversial CSAM issue at last week’s annual iPhone event.

  As reported by Brian Livingston in his column Apple plans to break its end-to-end encryption (AskWoody 2021-08-30), Apple announced about a month ago an initiative to limit the distribution of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) by looking for inappropriate imagery on its customers’ devices and reporting occurrences to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. But because the technology represented what amounted to surveillance that could be applied to virtually anything, an enormous amount of backlash against the initiative occurred.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.36.0 (2021-09-20).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.36.F (2021-09-20).

  Apple, AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter Apple, Apple News, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, privacy, security

• Reader wants the deets on failed Home v. Pro test

  Posted on September 20, 2021 at 02:42 CDT by Fred Langa • Comment in the Forums

  LANGALIST

  

  By Fred Langa

  OK, this is embarrassing: A reader called me out after my planned side-by-side Home/Pro test drive fell apart. (“Crashed and burned” might be more descriptive.)

  So, with a deep gulp to swallow my pride, here’s where things went really, really wrong — and why.

  Plus: Beyond simple disk wipes and overwrites, a better way to prep an old hard drive for safe resale!

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.36.0 (2021-09-20).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, LangaList AskWoody Plus Newsletter, HDD, LangaList, Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro

• Sanas makes emerging-market English sound American or British

  Posted on September 20, 2021 at 02:41 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  A tiny tech startup says its software can almost instantly convert the accent of an ESL (English as a Second Language) speaker into a stream of audio that sounds almost exactly like an American or a British native speaker.

  Sanas — whose domain name is Sanas.ai — is based in Palo Alto, California, and has used artificial intelligence to analyze thousands of ESL speakers in India, Latin America, the Philippines, and elsewhere. The AI system picks up differences in their speech patterns compared with Western speakers who learned English in childhood. The software’s output is like a 3-D printer for sound.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.36.0 (2021-09-20).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender, Speech

• Freeware Spotlight — SageThumbs

  Posted on September 20, 2021 at 02:40 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  BEST UTILITIES

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  Some of the most common things I get asked about at our computer store are how to email a picture and how to make it smaller. Or, how to make a picture my desktop background image.

  To us geeks, these tasks are pretty straightforward because we have done them hundreds of times; but to a novice who is just learning to use a computer, it can seem rather confusing.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.36.0 (2021-09-20).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Best Utilities, Freeware Spotlight AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, utilities

• Back to School, Back to patching

  Posted on September 20, 2021 at 02:39 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  September is the month for in-the-wild patching.

  September is a month of change. From going back to school here in the United States to seasons changing all over the world, one thing remains constant: we have to patch. No matter what technology we have or use, it seems like this month, we’re patching it.

  From Apple devices that are getting a fix for the targeted attack that allowed journalists to be spied upon, to Chrome’s several vulnerabilities that have already been used in targeted attacks, to Microsoft’s ActiveX and Office bugs that have already been seen in active attacks, you will probably be patching sooner versus later.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.36.0 (2021-09-20).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Lady Posts, Patch Tuesday

• Tasks for the weekend – September 18, 2021 – it’s squirrel away time

  Posted on September 18, 2021 at 23:38 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  (Video here) It’s squirrel away time. Time to download a copy of Windows 10 21H1 and ensure you have a copy in case you need it to do a repair install or a clean install.

  To do this go to the Windows 10 ISO page and download a copy and place it on your computer or to a spare flash drive.

  We think that 21H2 might be coming out soon but we’re not sure when. Microsoft is very focused on Windows 11 and I’ve yet to see an announcement surrounding the release of 21H2. Regardless I recommend downloading a copy and keeping it aside.

  The other day I reinstalled from scratch on my home Lenovo laptop due to the fact that I wanted to really clean it up and it was slow in connecting via RDP. Once I got done installing the Windows 10, I went into device manager to see if there were any missing drivers. There were some missing. Even looking at the optional updates via Windows updates didn’t find all of the drivers. I ultimately went to the vendor web site and downloaded the drivers from there. There are a lot of third party websites out there that advertise that they can update your drivers. I strongly recommend not using these sites as some of them have less than stellar reputations.

  As always if you have any issues with your computer, we’re here to help.

  Tech Help Patch Lady Posts

• November 1 – basic auth is really being shut off

  Posted on September 16, 2021 at 23:59 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PK reminded me of this the other day:

  New minimum Outlook for Windows version requirements for Microsoft 365 – Microsoft Tech Community

  What is it?

  Microsoft is finally (after a delay due to the pandemic) shutting off “basic” authentication to Microsoft 365. So if you have an older Outlook that you are using to access Microsoft 365 this will impact you as there is no longer any grace period. Basic authentication is older, less secure way of passing usernames and passwords to the hosted email.  Attackers go after basic authentication and can gain access, thus it’s EXTREMELY good that they are FINALLY shutting this off once and for all. But that said, it doesn’t make it easier for you if you love Outlook 2010.

  But I don’t have Microsoft 365, what do I care?

  Ah but do you have your email through a service like Godaddy which these days uses Microsoft 365 on the back end? I’ve also seen some ISPs offer their email through Microsoft 365.

  Bottom line if you use an older Outlook – like Outlook 2007 or 2010 you need to migrate off of those desktop versions if you connect to Microsoft hosted email.

  Remember if you are not a fan of the newer Outlook there are other options including the web based version of Outlook but be aware that Thunderbird may not work, especially in a business setting.

  How can I know what my ISP uses?

  I’d check their help forums (yea, I know that’s not a great answer), or ask here and we’ll see if we can figure it out for you!  I’ll remind you again in the newsletter when it gets closer to November 1.

  Office Patch Lady Posts
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