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MS-DEFCON 3:
Patch reliability is unclear, but widespread attacks make patching prudent. Go ahead and patch, but watch out for potential problems.
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Blog Archives
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Hello! Has anyone seen 2004?
Posted on August 2nd, 2020 at 23:12 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).
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July’s Outlook Click-to-Run update lays an egg
Posted on July 20th, 2020 at 01:05 Comment on the AskWoody LoungePATCH 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).
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June updates crash printing
Posted on June 29th, 2020 at 01:05 Comment on the AskWoody LoungePATCH 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).
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Windows 10 2004 is slowly rolling off the assembly line
Posted on June 15th, 2020 at 01:05 Comment on the AskWoody LoungePATCH WATCH
By Susan Bradley
The Win10 May Update is coming to a PC near you — sooner or later. Best to make it later.
The other news for June is vulnerabilities — lots of them. On June 9, Microsoft started sending out updates with an astounding 129 security fixes ranging from remote-code-execution threats to privilege escalations.
And yet the number of actual patches is virtually unchanged from previous months.
Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.23.0 (2020-06-15).
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Windows 10 2004 has left the barn
Posted on June 1st, 2020 at 01:05 Comment on the AskWoody LoungePATCH WATCH
By Susan Bradley
Microsoft’s latest “feature” update is being offered up. Here’s my immediate recommendation: Don’t install it!
No newly released version of Windows has ever been problem-free, and Win10 2004 (aka May release) is no exception. For example, there are already reports of driver issues. As always, we need to give Microsoft time to iron out the wrinkles.
Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.21.0 (2020-06-01).
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.NET Framework oddities and ESU issues highlight May patching
Posted on May 18th, 2020 at 01:05 Comment on the AskWoody LoungePATCH WATCH
By Susan Bradley
For some Windows 7 users, May’s .NET Framework security updates proved to be a patching speed bump.
On Patch Tuesday (May 12), Microsoft released .NET fixes for three new vulnerabilities. CVE-2020-0605 is a remote-code execution threat, CV-2020-1066 might allow elevation of privileges, and CVE-2020-1108 could result in denial-of-service attacks.
But soon after the updates appeared, Win7 users reported installation failures. The upshot? The patches generally worked fine on systems with genuine (paid) and up-to-date Extended Security Updates (ESU) subscriptions.
Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.19.0 (2020-05-18).
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Is it safe yet?
Posted on May 4th, 2020 at 01:05 Comment on the AskWoody LoungePATCH WATCH
By Susan Bradley
Every month, Windows users have to ask the same question: “Is it safe to patch yet?”
As is all too common, the issues and concerns I had at the beginning of this month are not the ones I have a few weeks later. Case in point: I thought for sure we’d have more screams of frustration when the recent Office updates started blocking Web information requested by Visual Basic apps.
But no: I’m mostly tracking possible issues with the Windows 10 1909 update. It’s sort of similar to how we’re feeling these days about staying in or going out; I don’t think you’ll see any issues, but I also can’t guarantee you won’t. It’s confusing, I know.
Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.17.0 (2020-05-04).
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Microsoft Office gets a drenching of updates
Posted on April 20th, 2020 at 01:10 Comment on the AskWoody LoungePATCH WATCH
By Susan Bradley
COVID-19’s impact on patching doesn’t extend to Office releases.
If April’s updates prove anything, it’s that Office is a prime target for malware attacks. This month, all supported versions of Microsoft’s productivity suite received a dozen or more security patches. And most of these fixes have a common purpose: breaking a specific risk to our networks — Office apps using Visual Basic scripts to pull information from the Internet. This change is good, for the most part, but it might cause line-of-business apps with sloppy coding to stop working.
Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.15.0 (2020-04-20).
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