Microsoft says the two “Exploited” security holes in the September patches aren’t actually exploited

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I took a lot of flak over this on Twitter. In this month’s Patch Tuesday crop were five potentially dangerous security holes — two listed as “Exploit
[See the full post at: Microsoft says the two “Exploited” security holes in the September patches aren’t actually exploited]

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abbodi86, Seff

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Exploited or not I’m not Patching my system with any “Security Only” patches that have that telemetry foisting that’s actively being exploited by the maker of the OS.

 

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An anonymous with a different opinion would like to point you toward abbodi86’s work on combating telemetry at AKB2000012. It was updated to cope with the July 2019 telemetry package. Watch that space for information on September and whether it needs additional adjustment or not.

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Not playing that game of telemetry Whack-A-Mole for telemetry that’s On or Off( but one can ever be totally sure) with MS, like users of Windows 10 are eternally having to do. So it’s no telemetry on no patching for that month and that’s 2 months with no patches on my Windows 7 machines.

And that “But You can turn that OFF” argument is not convening enough as who knows what happens before on logs in and before any of their monitoring software can be fully enabled to see if things are actually remaining off.

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Fair enough. But that position brings my mind back to the question of the last several years. If you do not trust the company that wrote your operating system, why are you using that operating system?

The valid answer has been, because it is the only system that meets my needs. Well, that too is also changing. I urge you to find an operating system that is supported and maintained by a corporation or hive of like minded people you do trust. Because things will go crosswise eventually. There will be new problems develop that are not fixed by reverting to a three year old image. Having support when faced with these troubles will be worthwhile.

All the best with your path forward.

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Under windows 7 and to a lesser degree 8/8.1 the end user retains more control over their own hardware. And yes Linux is the option for any machines that are only licensed for Windows 7 and are too depreciated in value to be worth any further investment in any licensing fees for any newer OS but the low/no cost Linux OS Distro Option. And they can not pay me to take windows 10, or GWX me against my better judgment either.

But one of my machines is a Windows 7 Pro machine running 7 Pro via Pro Windows 8/8.1  version downgrade rights so it’s licensed for 8/8.1 Pro and getting no telemetry updates as well once Windows 7 goes EOL.

Then there are the loads of Windows 8.1 “OEM” license keys still legally available in the retail channels and that’s an option as well with no telemetry installed at a very low price point for 3 extra years until 2023. Plenty of Third party TIFKAM tackling software  as well for the 8/8.1 Pro licensed machine and maybe the next oldest Quad core i7QM running one as well with an OEM 8.1 Pro license for around $25-$35 and more non telemetry based Security Only updates until 2023, hopefully.

It’s not like I can not just purchase a Linux OS based laptop from a Linux OS based Laptop OEM as it’s more that I’m waiting for a Linux OS based laptop OEM to begin offering AMD’s Ryzen APUs in some of their Linux OS laptop offerings. And that should happen by 2023 looking at AMD’s Zen/Zen+ based first and second generation Ryzen APU based laptop offerings that use Vega integrated graphics they are great performers, and Zen-2 based APUs(3rd generation Ryzen APUs) probably being available in Q1 2020 for Laptop OEMs.

 

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Yes, it is a familiar frustration. Yet the tide will not wait, tempus fugit and all that. Others will continue on, both the white hat “good guys” and those pesky black hat folks who make our lives difficult. It is good that you’ve had a chance to vent about the undesirable things in our shared technological life. And you still have the same opportunities in front of you to choose from. You have listed several, you have done the work to find your options. You give your own reasons for eliminating some of them.

Your choice may be to stand still and abide with what you already have. Then you have made a choice, and I still wish you well with it.

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Spot on as always Woody, 100%.

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