Daily Archives: October 16, 2023

• Copilot is here, sort of

  Posted on October 16, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.42 • 2023-10-16

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  The October security updates include Copilot.

  As I have alerted you before, if you have Windows 11 22H2 and live in North America or certain South American and Asian countries, Microsoft will be “dribbling” the “Chat for the operating system” update.

  Never fear — you can disable this “feature.” I didn’t say remove or block, but rather disable.

  In the European Union (EU), Copilot for Windows will probably be installed — but you won’t have the shortcut to it enabled, due to some EU digital rules. Expect Microsoft to make the changes necessary to bring it into compliance, at which point it will be enabled.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.42.0, 2023-10-16).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Patch Watch CVE-2023-36563, CVE-2023-44487, KB5031361, KB5031362, KB5031364, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Windows Copilot

• Can Microsoft Advertising just keep your money?

  Posted on October 16, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Scores of legitimate business owners report that they were rejected by Microsoft for “egregious behavior” shortly after applying for an account to advertise in the Bing search engine.

  If Microsoft doesn’t want to accept more advertising revenue, well, fine. But the new account holders say Microsoft failed to promptly refund hundreds of dollars that the potential new advertisers had deposited to fund their initial ad buys.

  Talk about adding insult to injury: US applicants, among others, receive a formulaic email message telling them to call a phone number in Brazil for support!

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.42.0, 2023-10-16).

  Public Defender Advertising, Microsoft, Newsletters

• Tax simplification

  Posted on October 16, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Max Stul Oppenheimer • Comment in the Forums

  LEGAL BRIEF

  

  By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq.

  The Inflation Reduction Act gave the U.S. Treasury Department billions of dollars to create a world-class customer experience for taxpayers.

  Let’s put aside the question “Do we want a world-class customer experience, or do we deserve something better — maybe an Amazon-class customer experience?” Because I’m not really sure how customer-friendly the typical world tax system is. I mean, half the world’s population is in India and China.

  Maybe they’re great — I just don’t know.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.42.0, 2023-10-16).

  Legal Brief Government, Newsletters, Privacy, security, Taxation

• Apps vs. applications

  Posted on October 16, 2023 at 02:42 CDT by Ed Tittel • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS

  

  By Ed Tittel

  In Windows 10 and 11, there are two parallel architectures for building executables.

  Let’s call the older and more familiar architecture “applications.” It uses traditional, more conventional development tools and frameworks and results in programs that typically run as .exe files.

  The newer alternative was introduced with the debut of Windows 8 in 2012 as “Metro-style apps,” using tiles in the Windows Start menu with a variety of executable formats based on what is called .appx technology.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.42.0, 2023-10-16).

  Windows Development, Newsletters, UWP, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Store