Replies

b wrote:

woody wrote:

It looks like the announced-but-not-fixed CVE-2020-0796 “CoronaBlue” vuln is only for Server 2013 and 2019

2013?

Ditto, I was wondering about this.

Server 2016 and 2019, perhaps?

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

As someone who does MSP-work (and automation), I have our onboarding scripts delay patching across all systems like so:

Feature updates – Delayed for 120 days

Cumulative/security updates – Delayed for 14 days

This removes most of the gotchas.

I do push this patch from time-to-time to improve feature updates as they become mature, because some systems can be very recalcitrant about upgrading.  I do like that they’re working to add system cleanup features to improve things.

Windows 10 1909 wouldn’t be half bad if they could simply fix the file search issues.  That, and I can’t stand (but this is personal) the “grouping” feature that Downloads and several other places defaults to; I’ve already got mine set the way I want it, and this overrides that until I disable it.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

That may be so…but right now, I’m trying to reach anyone who listens.

During Ballmer years (no matter how anyone feels about him), I had engagement.  Microsoft TechNet Briefings held here in town. Demonstrating new product, but also people who listened to the admins who showed up, and had the ability to relay concerns, or needs.  A group of Microsoft folks who liked the tech folks in my (300k in a county of 1mil) city and who kept their finger on the pulse.

I haven’t seen that in the Nadella years. I’ve heard silence, and seen a Microsoft whose rush to embrace new tech has displayed a decidedly reticent attitude towards those who keep their platform running on a day-to-day basis.  It seems sometime as if Microsoft’s long-term goal is to become a very large, very badly-managed MSP that replaces IT deparrtments as a whole.  Having worked with Microsoft at the (extremely painful) Level I and the somewhat better but harder-to-get-to Level II, I don’t see that going well.

It’s harder to manage systems where it’s clear the vendor doesn’t really care about the clients, and is surviving on monopoly inertia. I can easily see the difference in quality in this area from my other partner vendors and Microsoft and it pains me, because IT admins *want* to be evangelists for Microsoft like they once were, but are finding it difficult to be more than “yeah, that’s what people use” themselves.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

3 users thanked author for this post.

AlexEiffel, fk5353, Cybertooth

[LoneWolf]

Thank you, both @SB and @Woody for this.

Fat lot of good it will do, but I tweeted both Susan’s article and Woody’s ComputerWorld article to Panay discussing the frustration and pain of thousands of IT admins around the globe (if not more). It has been 4-5 years since I have seen good QA coming out of Redmond with Windows (and to a degree, Office), and Microsoft has been entirely apathetic at best, and deaf at worst.

I hope that “changes gonna come” -but I’m not holding my breath.  Still, I thank you for expressing the frustration we all share with more weight than those of us also behind enemy lines.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by LoneWolf.

3 users thanked author for this post.

deuce120, woody, Cybertooth

I have scripted out the registry adds in the link I posted, and they work.  A system restart is required.  We are now pushing these fixes to clients.

Since nobody we manage gives a fig about Bing or Cortana, having them disabled is just fine.  As @woody mentioned, this is concerning, because it’s an indicator of just how dependent (in default mode) the Taskbar search is on Microsoft’s cloud.  I plan to implement these changes in our client onboarding scripts for additional privacy.

To say it not-so-politely: On this one, Microsoft can get bent.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Cybertooth, woody

[LoneWolf]

So far, we are seeing the issue on Windows 10 1903 systems. I saw it with one client yesterday, and another client reported it today.

My Windows 10 1909 system is not having the issue.  My colleague running Windows 10 1903 is having the issue. Another colleague also with 1909 is not seeing the issue, and coincidentally, his mother just messaged him to ask if he was seeing this search issue from clients.

EDIT:  The colleague is having the issue in 1909 actually.  I have found a link that purports to fix the issue.

https://mspoweruser.com/windows-search-not-working-for-windows-10-users-across-the-world/

Still investigating and if this fixes the issue, we’ll script it and push out to our clients.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by LoneWolf.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by LoneWolf.

1 user thanked author for this post.

woody

It’s those weak immune systems the elderly have. Far more vulnerable to Windows 7 infections.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Cybertooth, Seff

Charlie wrote:

I’m not completely sure about this but it seems like Windows, starting with Win XP puts up one heck of a fuss if you don’t have an Antivirus Program installed.

Windows Defender is present in Windows 10, and holds that function.

Microsoft Security Essentials (or its descendant) has gotten an extended lifespan for Windows 7 through 2023, although it is no longer available for download (I’m sure several OldApps type sites still make it available)

As both are no cost, it’s relatively easy to get around needing a paid antivirus.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

Note that Avast owns AVG too.  Something to think about.

I used Avast when it was free for education, and perhaps a decade ago for personal use.  Since then, it became a pile of multiple modules that take too much resources, when you really only want the program to do one or two things well. They make it deliberately difficult to tell which module you need for what.

When Avast! stopped its free-for-education, I stopped using it; by then, I had long since stopped using it or recommending it for personal use.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

If Google Sheets ever gets to the level of formulas and Macros Excel can use, Windows might be in trouble.

Not until then, though.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

My work lock/login screen mimics the look of a DHS secure network login, because I’m silly like that.

My home ThinkPad, the Secret Service.

I also have fun ones for the ATF and FBI (I make them with cool department badges or seals found through an image search). Always gives novice users a double-take when they see me sign in. =)

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

I just needed to add this after reading the article:

For people who ask what a RAMDAC is

(Short answer:  Commonly used in video cards, nowadays part of the GPU chip, but once-upon-a-time separate.  The IBM ones were particularly pretty compared to the plain-jane looking ones from Bt).

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

1 user thanked author for this post.

SueW

Until patch release and until analysis, I treat the prophecies of doom with exactly what they’re due.

Fool me once.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

4 users thanked author for this post.

_lightshow, fk5353, Microfix, woody

Susan Bradley wrote:

If the computer was built for Windows 7, buy a new computer.

I would agree with this, with the one exception of the Skylake CPU systems that because of OEM exceptions (Dell, HP) were allowed not only Windows 7 downgrades, but Windows 7 patching via Microsoft exception.

Also, if it doesn’t have an SSD and 8GB of RAM, you should be recycling it unless you’re a techie (in which case you probably already did these things anyway).

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

Brave Browser has already replaced  Chrome (and Vivaldi) as my Chromium-engined browser of choice.  I don’t use all of Vivaldi’s features; I don’t like Google’s possible hooks into their browser for their own purposes.  Brave has a similar interface to Chrome but much better privacy protections.

There are a few situations where I need to disable Shields (2-factor auth through Azure<->Duo being my best-known one) but I think it’s one of the most mature options in a world of browsers.  And while I like Firefox (and use it), Brave feels snappier.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.