Newsletter Archives

• Microsoft removes Windows 10 2004 block for Surface devices

  Posted on July 1st, 2020 at 10:37 joep517 Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  Per the erstwhile Mary jo Foley, Microsoft has removed the compatibility block for Windows 10 2004. If you have one of these devices you may see the upgrade offered to you in the next several days. If you don’t wish to upgrade take precautions now.

  See Microsoft removes the Windows 10 2004 block on Surface devices for more details on the block and what fixed it.

  Windows 10, Windows 10 Releases Windows 10, Windows 10 upgrade

• Windows 10 information hub

  Posted on June 27th, 2020 at 22:14 joep517 Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  Zdnet’s Ed Bott has put together an article he calls – The ultimate Windows 10 information hub: Everything you need in one place. Ed says if you are “Looking for technical information about Windows 10 releases, new features, known issues, troubleshooting, and tech support?” start there.

  The page is updated frequently. It has links to many of Ed’s articles on various aspects of Windows 10. It also has links to many Microsoft support articles and tools.

  All-in-all it is a good place to start Windows 10 information. Saving a bookmark to this article might be a time-saver in the future

  Windows 10 Win10, Windows help, Windows troubleshooting

• Windows 10 Insider Program Changes

  Posted on June 16th, 2020 at 09:45 joep517 Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  Microsoft has announced changes to the Windows 10 Insider Program. The rings will be renamed channels with the channel names better aligned with other Microsoft products. Additionally, Microsoft says that the focus of the releases will change from frequency to quality. See Introducing Windows Insider Channels for a more in-depth discussion.

  Windows News Windows 10, Windows 10 beta, Windows 10 Insider

• Microsoft Edge Privacy Whitepaper

  Posted on April 19th, 2020 at 09:23 joep517 Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  Microsoft has published a very detailed whitepaper on Microsoft Edge data collection. It is very long and detailed. It explains what data is collected, why it is collected, and how to turn off the collection. No doubt this is a response to the article that surfaced a couple of weeks ago concerning tracking in browsers. You may read the article at Microsoft Edge Privacy Whitepaper.

  Windows 10 Chromium Edge, Edge, Microsoft Edge

• Troubleshooting a failed Windows 10 upgrade or feature update

  Posted on March 23rd, 2020 at 09:38 joep517 Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  With the Windows 7 support expiration and more people working from home, an upgrade to Windows 10 is coming into focus for people who may have been avoiding it. This article covers both Windows 10 upgrade and feature update failures. There are a number of troubleshooting tips and tools. See Ed Bott’s article on ZDNet Windows 10 upgrade failed? Use these 5 tools to find the problem and fix it fast.

  Windows 10 Win10, Win10 updates, Windows 10 installation, Windows troubleshooting

• Late February optional update, KB 4535996, released for Windows 10 1903 and 1909

  Posted on February 27th, 2020 at 19:10 joep517 Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  The latest cumulative non-security update for the latest Windows 10 releases. See February 27, 2020—KB4535996 (OS Builds 18362.693 and 18363.693) for a long list of changes and fixes.

  Windows 10, Windows Patches/Security February 2020 Black Tuesday, KB 4535996

• Microsoft backtracks on Office search changes

  Posted on February 11th, 2020 at 08:12 joep517 Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  According to Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft has backed off its plans to change the search engine to Bing for its Office 365 Pro Plus customers. See Microsoft backtracks on ‘Bing-jacking’ Chrome with its Microsoft Search extension for more details.

  Office News Office 365, Office 365 ProPlus

• Significant changes for the FAST ring with latest Windows Insider build

  Posted on December 16th, 2019 at 16:44 joep517 Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  With the latest Windows Insider Preview Build 19536, Microsoft announced a significant change to the FAST ring of the Insider program. FAST ring releases will no longer be tied to a particular Windows 10 release.

  Microsoft says: “Internally, our engineers work in development cycles with various milestones. The active development branch (called “RS_PRERELEASE”) is where the teams check in all their latest code changes into the OS. Moving forward, the Fast ring will receive builds directly from this active development branch and new features will show up in these builds first.” More information is available at Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 19536. See the “The Fast ring going forward” section.

  Windows 10 Releases Windows 10 beta, Windows 10 Insider

• Autologon is NOT being removed in Windows 10 2004

  Posted on November 28th, 2019 at 09:16 joep517 Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  The erstwhile Martin Brinkmann reports that some users have noticed the automatic sign-in capability is missing from the latest Windows 10 2004 test build (19033). There is an explanation. If you have Windows Hello configured the option is not present. See No, Microsoft is not removing AutoLogin from Windows 10 version 2004 for more details.

  Windows 10 Win10 2004, Windows 10

• Office 365 ProPlus to get support on Windows 7 after January 14, 2020

  Posted on October 7th, 2019 at 17:25 joep517 Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  Microsoft has decided to give Office 365 ProPlus users running Windows 7 some grace time after Windows 7 goes out of support on January 14, 2020. Office 365 ProPlus users will continue to get security updates for Office 365 ProPlus until January 2023. According to Microsoft this is to transition to a “support operating system”.

  See Windows 7 end of support and Office 365 ProPlus for details and more information.

  Microsoft News, Office News, Security Office 365, windows 7

• Microsoft removes non-subscription SKUs from Home Use Program

  Posted on August 9th, 2019 at 17:18 joep517 Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  Microsoft giveth and Microsoft taketh away. This may not affect many but is a nice perk if you work for a large company using Office. Here’s an article by Mary Jo Foley describing the details of the changes – Microsoft removes Office 2019 from its Home Use Program benefits.

  Office News Office 2019, Office 365

• New Windows 10 Windows Update explained

  Posted on June 1st, 2019 at 14:28 joep517 Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  Ed Bott of ZDNet has published an article explaining the ins and outs of the new/revised Windows Update debuting with the Windows 10 May update (aka 19H1, version 1903) – Windows 10 version 1903: When will you get the next big feature update?. Don’t pay attention to the title there is an in-depth explanation of the Windows Update changes.

  As usual, Windows 10 Home users come out on the short end. They can not automatically defer any updates. All updates may be paused for a week at a time up to 35 days. On versions that have not yet reached their end-of-service date, feature updates are offered but are not installed automatically.

  Windows 10 Pro users can set deferral policies for both quality and feature updates. You can set these Windows Update for Business policies using the Windows 10 Settings app or by applying Group Policy.

  Enterprise and Education users have the same deferral policies as Pro users. Additionally, there is a 36-month servicing period for some versions.

  The biggest change though is that if you are running Home or Pro when a version nears its end-of-service date Microsoft will automatically upgrade the machine to the current release. In other words, end-of-service trumps deferral. Also, note that effective June 2019 there is only one servicing channel for Windows 10. That is the semi-annual channel.

  There is much more detail in the article. It behooves every Windows 10 user to read it.

  Windows News, Windows Patches/Security Win10 1903, Windows 10, Windows Update for Business, Windows Updates
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