Newsletter Archives

• Look who’s stalking 2: Apple responds to AirTag security threats

  Posted on March 7, 2022 at 02:45 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.10 • 2022-03-07

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  The Apple AirTag, a $29 tracker the company started selling last year, has been criticized by experts for its weak protections against criminals who use the device to stalk people and pinpoint vehicles to steal. In response, Apple posted last month a response that promises only minor upgrades to the gadgets’ software.

  Meanwhile, a developer announced recently that he had built — using a few dollars’ worth of electronic parts — an AirTag-like clone that takes full advantage of Apple’s free and worldwide Find My communication network. As an illustration of the weakness of AirTags, the clone easily defeats all of Apple’s existing security and detection systems, including the new features the corporation said last month it was planning to implement in the future.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.10.0 (2022-03-07).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Newsletter 19.10.F (2022-03-07).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AirTags, Apple, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, privacy, Public Defender, security

• 11 settings to tweak on a new Windows 11 PC

  Posted on February 21, 2022 at 02:45 CST by Lance Whitney • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.08 • 2022-02-21

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Lance Whitney

  There are a bunch of settings you should configure before you fully dive into Windows 11.

  Let’s assume you’re running Windows 11 on a new or upgraded PC. Before you fully start working, playing, and hopping online, there are several key settings and features you should review, configure, or enable. By doing so, you’ll feel more at home with Windows 11. Among the settings to check are the Start menu, Taskbar, battery power, universal clipboard, and Windows Hello options.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.08.0 (2022-02-21).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Newsletter 19.08.F (2022-02-21).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Windows 11 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Settings, Windows 11, Windows 11 Settings

• A sweetheart of a patching month

  Posted on February 14, 2022 at 02:45 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.07 • 2022-02-14

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Is Microsoft trying to win back our love?

  Microsoft may be giving us a Valentine’s Day patching reprieve: this month, we have no critical bugs being patched. Everyone, from home users to small-business users to large enterprises, can take a bit of a breather.

  The Windows Update releases this month include 70 vulnerabilities, none of which has any known exploits. For businesses, there are no Exchange patches to worry about. I therefore consider this a bit of a “cleanup” month, especially for anyone who skipped the January updates that caused so many side effects and concerns.

  Updates to .NET include security updates for 5.0.211, 5.0.405, and 6.0.102 — but not for older releases such as 4.8 and other earlier versions. However, you may still see these versions offered to your systems.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.07.0 (2022-02-14).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Newsletter 19.07.F (2022-02-14).

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

• Our world is not very S.M.A.R.T. about SSDs

  Posted on February 7, 2022 at 02:45 CST by Ben Myers • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 19.06 • 2022-02-07

  HARDWARE

  

  By Ben Myers

  With solid-state drives (SSDs), the SMART ante is raised because an SSD can fail catastrophically — CLUNK! — without warning and with no possibility of recovering data.

  In my recent article “Hard drives — still pretty S.M.A.R.T.” (AskWoody, 2021-12-27), I was hardly overwhelmed by the treatment of the S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) data kept on traditional spinning hard drives by Microsoft Windows and the rest of the industry. But at least, if your computer started to hiccup, you could almost always look at the SMART data to find a possible cause.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.06.0 (2022-02-07).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 19.06.F (2022-02-07).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware AskWoody Plus Newsletter, hardware, SMART, SSDs

• A better remote desktop connection

  Posted on January 31, 2022 at 02:45 CST by Fred Langa • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 19.05 • 2022-01-31

  LANGALIST

  

  By Fred Langa

  Alas, it’s not the one built into Windows.

  A remote desktop connection (RDC) lets you access and use a distant PC just as if you were sitting at its keyboard, whether that second device is in the next room or halfway around the world.

  For yourself, RDC provides a way to access files and apps from anywhere. Need something from your PC back home, when you’re on the road? No problem: Use RDC to connect and send yourself the files you need.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.05.0 (2022-01-31).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 19.05.F (2022-01-31).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, LangaList AskWoody Plus Newsletter, LangaList, Remote Desktop Connection

• Twenty years of trustworthy computing

  Posted on January 24, 2022 at 02:45 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 19.04 • 2022-01-24

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Are we more secure now?

  It’s been 20 years since Bill Gates wrote the “trustworthy computing” memo and had Microsoft’s developers take a coding pause so they could be trained in how better to write secure software.

  Twenty years later, are we more secure? Do you feel more secure?

  I’m not sure I do. You know I watch this every hour of every day, and it sure feels like we are doing the same updating and patching dance over and over, without feeling more secure. We are promised that the hardware and software we buy will meet the safety promises. We certainly deserve that — period.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.04.0 (2022-01-24).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 19.04.F (2022-01-24).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Bill Gates, Patch Lady Posts, security, Windows

• Let your PC start the new year right! (Part Two)

  Posted on January 17, 2022 at 02:45 CST by Fred Langa • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 19.03 • 2022-01-17

  LANGALIST

  

  By Fred Langa

  Taking a little time now to thoroughly check and proactively service your Windows PC can pay off big time in the coming year.

  Whether you’re planning to move to Windows 11 or stick with Windows 10 (or even 8.1!), this easy-to-follow annual checkup is preventive medicine that can help ensure that your PC begins 2022 in the best shape possible!

  Editor’s note: This topic is an AskWoody tradition. We plan to refresh and republish it in January every year. In this year’s two-part edition, Fred provides abundant references to classic, detailed PC-maintenance how-tos originally published in Windows Secrets and AskWoody!

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.03.0 (2022-01-17).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 19.03.F (2022-01-17).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, LangaList AskWoody Plus Newsletter, LangaList, Personal Computers

• Let your PC start the new year right!

  Posted on January 10, 2022 at 02:45 CST by Fred Langa • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 19.02 • 2022-01-10

  LANGALIST

  

  By Fred Langa

  Taking a little time now to thoroughly check and proactively service your Windows PC can pay off big time in the coming year.

  Whether you’re planning to move to Windows 11 or stick with Windows 10 (or even 8.1!), this easy-to-follow annual checkup is preventive medicine that can help ensure that your PC begins 2022 in the best shape possible!

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.02.0 (2022-01-10).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 19.02.F (2022-01-10).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, LangaList AskWoody Plus Newsletter, LangaList, Personal Computers

• Special Edition: Building Opal

  Posted on January 3, 2022 at 02:45 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 19.01 • 2022-01-03

  EDITORIAL

  

  By Will Fastie

  Our writers have the week off.

  The AskWoody newsletters are published 48 times per year, leaving four Mondays on which we would have no issue. Last year we tried an experiment on one of those off Mondays, reprinting a few articles that we thought you would like to see in one place.

  That experiment went well; your feedback was positive. We ended up doing it twice last year and now we’re doing it again.

  This time, we’re bringing you the four published articles about Opal, my new Windows 11 PC DIY build. That is complemented with a brief new piece in which I describe my lack of progress.

  We hope you like it!

  Read the full AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.01.0 (2022-01-03).
  Read the full AskWoody Free Newsletter 19.01.F (2022-01-03).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware AskWoody Plus Newsletter, DIY, hardware

• Opal: The Update

  Posted on January 3, 2022 at 02:44 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE DIY

  

  By Will Fastie

  It hasn’t gone as smoothly as I had hoped.

  Maybe I’ve just been lucky. Maybe I’m getting older and slower. Or dumber. Whatever it is, I’ve run into some problems getting Opal up and running.

  I’ve done the basic configuration steps and I’ve installed Windows 10 Pro. The computer is running fine. The UEFI BIOS sees all the hardware and I think I’ve done the RAID 1 configuration correctly. So what’s the problem?

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.01.0 (2022-01-03).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 19.01.F (2022-01-03).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware AskWoody Plus Newsletter, ASUS, DIY, hardware, Motherboards

• Roll back Windows 11 after more than 60 days

  Posted on December 27, 2021 at 02:45 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.50 • 2021-12-27

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  I wrote “Win11 isn’t a must-have upgrade yet” in my October 18, 2021, AskWoody column. However, for true experimenters, I explained a single Registry line that enables you to install Win11 on what Microsoft calls “unsupported” CPU and TPM chips, in case you really need one of four new Win11 features.

  Since that time, it turns out you can fix one of Microsoft’s most restrictive new policies. To the frustration of many, Win11 can’t be rolled back to Win10 a mere ten days following an upgrade. Fortunately, you can end that limitation by using a couple of very simple steps.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.50.0 (2021-12-27).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.50.F (2021-12-27).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender, Windows 10, Windows 10 rollback, Windows 11

• Freeware Spotlight — Free alternatives to Quicken

  Posted on December 20, 2021 at 02:45 CST by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.49 • 2021-12-20

  BEST UTILITIES

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  Let’s be honest here. If your finances are tight or in a shambles, the last thing you need to deal with is figuring out how to pay for an expensive program to fix said finances.

  This week, I’m going to give you more bang for your buck by featuring four totally free alternatives to Intuit’s Quicken software. Try each of them until you find the one that’s right for you. It’s not as if you’ll need to sit on hold for an hour to get a refund if you don’t like one!

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.49.0 (2021-12-20).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.49.F (2021-12-20).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Best Utilities, Freeware Spotlight Accounting Software, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight
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