Monthly Archives: March 2022

• Is Windows 11 ready? Are we ready?

  Posted on March 21, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.12 • 2022-03-21

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Susan Bradley

  We are a few weeks away from an event that most of us in technology consider a bellwether for any software — its six-month birthday.

  On April 5, Microsoft’s Windows 11 will reach that milestone. Six months in software typically means that the bugs have been worked out, the polish is going on, and the new software is finally starting to look like a cute, cuddly puppy. But just like a puppy, it’s still annoying us, chewing up shoes and Kleenex, and doing all those other things that remind us that it’s not yet housebroken.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.12.0, 2022-03-21).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Windows 11 Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Windows 11

• Help for trouble with peer networking and ransomware protection

  Posted on March 21, 2022 at 02:44 CDT by Fred Langa • Comment in the Forums

  LANGALIST

  

  By Fred Langa

  In this week’s first reader-submitted question, a subscriber’s peer (serverless) network simply will not allow his three PCs to share files, despite there being no obvious flaws. Why won’t it work?

  In the second, a different subscriber wants to enable Windows’ excellent, built-in ransomware protection (via “Protected folders”) but is prevented from doing so by other elements of his setup. Here’s the fix!

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.12.0, 2022-03-21).

  LangaList Anti-malware, LangaList, Newsletters, Ransomware, Windows networking

• ‘Matter’ wants to talk to all your devices. Should you talk back?

  Posted on March 21, 2022 at 02:43 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  The most exciting development coming in wireless connectivity this year was quite the rage at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January. Since all the cool names were already taken, the new technology is called simply “Matter,” and it promises to unite the devices in your home or office that you can talk to — and which may even talk back.

  The platform isn’t the brainstorm of some garage startup. It’s being brought to the market by heavyweights such as Amazon, Apple, Google, and many other household names. They’re united under an umbrella organization called the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), which includes more than 400 companies. At first glance, that’s an impressive exercise in herding cats.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.12.0, 2022-03-21).

  Public Defender IoT, Newsletters, Public Defender, safety, Smart Devices, Smart home

• BitLocker and the dead: The story of a successful transplant

  Posted on March 21, 2022 at 02:42 CDT by Ben Myers • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE

  

  By Ben Myers

  The CPU is the heart of a laptop, but we do the brain transplants here. BWA! HA! HA! HA!

  Recently, a long-time client who had moved several towns away called me in a panic. A two-year-old Lenovo Yoga laptop had failed.

  When I got my hands on the computer, I surmised that the probable cause was the third-party charger, which had blown out a circuit inside the laptop when the charger itself had failed. The charger did not function when plugged into another laptop, confirming my suspicions.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.12.0, 2022-03-21).

  Hardware BitLocker, Hardware, Newsletters, Repairs, SSD

• Inspired to do a bit of weeding

  Posted on March 19, 2022 at 20:45 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  I’m a fan of the gardening show “Gardener’s world” and of gardening in general. And with any garden you need to do a bit of weeding and reorganizing.

  Tonight’s post is inspired by AskWoody plus reader who wanted to know if we could set up different areas of the forum for interests such as Windows users, Apple users, Linux and Android and honestly, we do, but because we tend to focus on Windows A LOT that’s what gets the focus. But if you look in the AskWoody support section – see that “non windows” that’s where they are hiding!

  

  In just a smidge I’m going to be pulling them out so they won’t be all tucked under the AskWoody support subhead of “non windows” rather they will be right below Windows so that they will be way more obvious.

  I’m also going to be a bit of reorganization so that when you go into a section, you’ll need to go into a category to post, rather than generically posting right where you end up.  When we added the new forum skin that has a much more prominent “new topic” button and because the forum sections weren’t originally set up as categories like they should have been, needless to say our garden needs a bit of weeding.

  I also moved down the “AskWoody Central” section a bit more and renamed it to “Frequently asked questions, feedback, suggestions” as that’s more descriptive of what it is.

  You’ll also see that I’m going to be putting “sticky posts” at the top of major sections pointing to the master knowledge base articles. For example I already put the “how to block windows 11” at the top of the Windows 11 forum.

  Gardens were not weeded in a day so you’ll see some of these weeding things take some time. But the Apple and Linux topics for sure will be dug up out of the hidden garden where they are hiding and put in a better more prominent place in the forum.

  Last and certainly not least, we are working on making search better on the site itself and I’ll let you know when that gardening project is done (it’s in the works), but in the meantime remember you can always use advanced search terms in your favorite search engine to make the search engine JUST look at the site.

  I’ve got a video here explaining the process but in general in your search box put in site:askwoody.com

  For example:  Block windows 11 Site:askwoody.com in the search box will narrow down the duckduckgo to JUST this site.

  Edit:

  I moved the Apple and Linux forums out into their own section. I realized we didn’t have a specific Office for Mac category so I’ve added that along with Backup, as with ANY computer you want to back it up.

  

  If you would like subforums for specific Linux distros, let me know which ones you would like?

  AskWoody

• Unicorn Friday – what do you want from updating?

  Posted on March 18, 2022 at 14:40 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  Microsoft product manager for Windows updating Aria tweets today:

  If I were to have a magic unicorn that could grant one wish that would give you what you have always wanted within the world of Windows Updating, what would your wish be?  She asks would it be related to:

  Good Reporting
  More Control(s)
  Better documentation
  Better enduser experience
  So what would your one wish be?

  For those that are consumers/home users we often have to ride the leftovers from the enterprises. If THEY want something we then GET that something.  I think there is one more item we want that EVERYONE wants:  That of quality updates that don’t break our stuff.
  Windows Patches/Security Patch Lady Posts

• Microsoft and the future of Hybrid work

  Posted on March 15, 2022 at 22:45 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  Microsoft is indicating that they will be doing a presentation on April 5th on Hybrid work and upcoming changes to Windows 11 professional.

  Meanwhile hopefully they’ve gotten enough feedback to NOT bring “ads” inside of file explorer.

  “This was an experimental banner that was not intended to be published externally and was turned off,” says Brandon LeBlanc, senior program manager for Windows, in a statement to The Verge

  Anyone else want to ask “Why were you even testing it internally in the first place?”

  I’ll be talking about Windows 11 in the upcoming newsletter coming out next week.

  Windows 11 Patch Lady Posts

• Mac OS Monterey 12.3 is out

  Posted on March 14, 2022 at 14:22 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  MacOS Monterey 12.3 — Restart Required

  5.26 Gigs download.

  The release notes indicate:

  MacOS 12.3 adds Universal Control so you can use a single mouse and keyboard across your Mac and iPad. This release also includes new emoji, dynamic head tracking for Music, and other features and bug fixes for your Mac.  (Susan comment:  I’m not sure I’ve ever used or needed a mouse on an iPad?  The keyboard is nice especially when you are composing emails)

  Universal Control (beta)
  • Universal Control allows you to use a single mouse and keyboard across iPad and Mac
  • Text can be typed on either Mac or iPad and you can drag and drop files between them

  Spatial Audio
  • Dynamic head tracking is available in Music with supported AirPods on Mac computers with the M1 chip
  • Customizable spatial audio settings for Off, Fixed, and Head Tracked are now in Control Center with supported AirPods on Mac computers with the M1 chip

  Emoji
  • New emoji including faces, hand gestures, and household objects are available in emoji keyboard
  • Handshake emoji allows you to choose separate skin tones for each hand

  This release also includes the following enhancements for your Mac:
  • Siri now includes an additional voice, expanding the diversity of options
  • Podcasts app adds episode filter for seasons, played, unplayed, saved, or downloaded episodes
  • Safari webpage translation adds support for Italian and Chinese (Traditional)
  • Shortcuts now supports adding, removing, or querying tags with Reminders
  • Saved passwords can now include your own notes
  • Battery capacity readings have improved accuracy

  This release also includes bug fixes for your Mac:
  • News widgets in Today View may not open articles when clicked
  • Audio may sound distorted while watching video in the Apple TV app
  • Some photos and videos may be unintentionally moved when organizing albums in Photos

  Some features may not be available for all regions or on all Apple devices. For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222 

  Apple Patch Lady Posts

• Ratool — Because firewalls can’t stop everything

  Posted on March 14, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.11 • 2022-03-14

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  Everyone is walking around with the storage of a 1990s supercomputer in their pockets. Jingling around with the pennies and nickels, flash drives are an old-school data thief’s best friend.

  Remember those first computer-hacker movies where the thief, spy, or 14-year-old had only a few minutes to copy a file from a computer before being caught red-handed? Oh, the suspense of watching that file-copy window slowly progress as the floppy drive ground away.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.11.0 (2022-03-14).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Newsletter 19.11.F (2022-03-14).

  Freeware Spotlight Blocking, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, External Drives, Newsletters, USB drives, Utilities

• Salvaging a fatally hacked PC

  Posted on March 14, 2022 at 02:44 CDT by Fred Langa • Comment in the Forums

  LANGALIST

  

  By Fred Langa

  A subscriber’s PC was commandeered by malware; even the administrator’s account is now inaccessible! How can this PC be safely returned to service, especially now that Windows 11 is closing some of the old back-door admin-access workarounds?

  Plus: Is Google’s Remote Desktop just another way for Google to snoop on us? Does using Remote Desktop create new privacy vulnerabilities?

  And: A question about analog versus digital audio in portable devices, and their relative effects on battery life.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.11.0 (2022-03-14).

  LangaList Audio, Google Remote Desktop, LangaList, Newsletters, Remote Desktop Connection, System Recovery

• Roberta Scholz: Editing in the mind’s eye

  Posted on March 14, 2022 at 02:43 CDT by Chris Husted • Comment in the Forums

  PROFILES

  

  By Chris Husted

  Everyone needs that mental space to better appreciate whatever they are doing at that point in time, whether it be working on a project or assignment, organizing their day, or even writing an email.

  It’s that mental step back to understand exactly what they are doing and the impact it will have on other people, and feel empowered to make changes for the better.

  Roberta Scholz, the woman behind the editing of all the AskWoody articles that you read, has this skill down to a fine art.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.11.0 (2022-03-14).

  Profiles Newsletters, Profiles

• The M1 Ultra debuts

  Posted on March 14, 2022 at 02:42 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  APPLE NEWS

  

  By Will Fastie

  Keeping to schedule, Apple drops the next shoe in its master plan to get all its products running on its own, proprietary, silicon.

  It’s been about 18 months since Apple announced the original M1 system on a chip (SOC), introduced several products based on it, and laid out its plan to transition to its own silicon in roughly two years.

  At its spring event last week, the company took its next step in that transition and went so far as to tease the last shoe. Perhaps “tease” is the wrong word because the company came right out and said it — the last brick in the wall will be a transition of the insanely expensive Mac Pro to Apple silicon.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.11.0 (2022-03-14).

  Apple Apple M1, Apple News, Apple Silicon, Mac Studio, Newsletters
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