Blog Archives

• It’s the end of the line for Office 2010

  Posted on October 18th, 2020 at 21:05 Tracey Capen Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  Microsoft is closing the book on two business workhorses: Office 2010 and Exchange 2010.

  From a productivity-app perspective, 2010 was an excellent vintage for all Windows users from individuals to small businesses to the Enterprise. Whether it was managing email, building massive spreadsheets, or creating complex documents, Office and Exchange gave us an excellent foundation. But as of October 13, Microsoft dropped all support for both platforms.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.41.0 (2020-10-19).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Office, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Office updates, Win7 vulnerabilities, Windows Updates

• I’m almost ready for Windows 10 2004 … almost!

  Posted on September 27th, 2020 at 21:10 Tracey Capen Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  The fall release of Windows 10 — 20H2 — is rolling into the station. But we’re still waiting to board Version 2004.

  If you’re a prudent patcher like me, you see a new release of Windows as the call to prepare for the most current release — i.e. Version 2004. As we’ve said more than once, even if you’re not ready to catch 2004, download a copy and save it for later. Next, take stock of your system and acquaint yourself with any Win10 2004 issues.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.38.0 (2020-09-28).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Domain-controller threats, Feature updates, Win10 2004, Win10 20H2, Win10 Preview updates, Windows Updates

• Microsoft will make business patching a bit easier

  Posted on September 13th, 2020 at 21:00 Tracey Capen Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  As I look over the September updates on this smoky, orange-colored day, I see some interesting changes coming for businesses.

  The forecast for September Windows and Office updating is a bit murky as well. Woody is already tracking a variety of patch flaws, and we don’t yet know whether they’re widespread or limited in scope.

  In one example, the Bitdefender AV application was blocking the cumulative update for Win10 1909/1903 (more info), but that’s already been fixed by the app’s vendor — so it’s no longer an issue.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.36.0 (2020-09-14).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Deferring updates, Office patching, Patch reboots, Windows updating

• August patching: One less thing to worry about

  Posted on August 30th, 2020 at 21:10 Tracey Capen Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  We may have numerous events keeping us awake at night — COVID-19, fires, hurricanes, elections, and more — but August patching isn’t one of them.

  The Windows and Office updates I installed on my business and personal systems were well mannered: no printing issues, no blue screens of death, no major hiccups! It’s nice to have a break from month after month of patching issues.

  Microsoft decided that enterprises need a break, too. It’s once again pushing off Windows 10 1803’s end of life (more info). The final security updates for business editions of Version 1803 will now be released on May 11, 2021 — not November 10, 2020.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.34.0 (2020-08-31).

  Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Office updates, Out-of-band patch, Preview patches, Win10 2004 upgrades, Windows Updates

• A new threat to the Windows print spooler

  Posted on August 16th, 2020 at 20:05 Tracey Capen Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  The 2020 virtual Black Hat USA 2020 and DEF CON 28 security conferences are now history.

  These were two for the books: totally virtual conferences. Instead of masses of hackers, hacker wannabees, security researchers, and government employees gathering in hot Las Vegas, everyone was online and watching from home.

  One of the highlights of these shows is the development and unveiling of new exploits — by security researchers, not malicious hackers. Typically companies such as Microsoft scramble to patch the vulnerabilities revealed at these two conferences.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.32.0 (2020-08-17).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Def Con, Office updates, Print Spooler vulnerabilities, Virtual Black Hat, Windows Updates

• Hello! Has anyone seen 2004?

  Posted on August 2nd, 2020 at 23:12 Tracey Capen Comment on the AskWoody Lounge
  

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  Have you received the May feature release of Windows 10 — aka Version 2004?

  So here it’s the start of August — 68 days after the release of Microsoft’s newest Windows — and I have not seen Win10 2004 offered to any of my home PCs. These are my unmanaged machines: a home-built SilverStone small-form-factor desktop, a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon laptop, an older Surface, and a newer Surface Go.

  On every one of my systems, Windows Update taunts me with a message that effectively says “your machine isn’t worthy.”

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.30.0 (2020-08-03).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patching experience survey, Upgrade blocks, Virtual tech shows, Win10 2004

• July’s Outlook Click-to-Run update lays an egg

  Posted on July 20th, 2020 at 01:05 Tracey Capen Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  Yes, it’s a bit macabre, but I affectionately call the day after Patch Tuesday “dead-body Wednesday.”

  I coined that term because Wednesday morning is when we get to see whether our systems survived the updates installed the night before. (These are, of course, my test platforms; I would never subject my production machines to immediate/automatic updating.)

  There’s always some anticipation as to which Windows or Office component will be wounded by an update. This time around, it was Outlook’s turn to be placed on the life-support list.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.28.0 (2020-07-20).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Chromium Edge, Microcodes, Office Click-to-Run, Office updates, Outlook failure, Windows Updates

• June updates crash printing

  Posted on June 29th, 2020 at 01:05 Tracey Capen Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  In a normal monthly Windows and Office patching cycle, I almost never roll out any optional updates that Microsoft releases between Patch Tuesdays.

  It’s hard to say what’s “normal” with Windows updating, but June is atypical even by the usual patching tribulations.

  Soon after the Patch Tuesday security updates dropped (on June 9), there were reports of printing failures. The problem hit close to home; after patching my systems, I could no longer print to any of my large multifunction Ricoh printers — a huge problem for my business. As a quick workaround, I updated the printer drivers from PCL5 to PCL6.

  Subsequently, Microsoft posted optional fixes on the MS Update Catalog for Windows 10, Win8.1, and Server 2012.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.25.0 (2020-06-29).

  Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Office updates, Patch failures, Patch Tuesday, Windows Updates
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