Newsletter Archives

• Woody Leonhard – A new life in paradise

  Posted on March 15th, 2021 at 01:08 Chris Husted Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ISSUE 18.10 • 2021-03-15

  PROFILES

  

  By Chris Husted

  Is he having fun yet?

  Late last year, after 28 years of publishing everything everyone needed to know about Windows, esteemed AskWoody founder Woody Leonhard retired. He disappeared from our screens, but never drifted far from our thoughts. That voice we had grown accustomed to, calling out Windows for its shortfalls – sometimes with a roar, sometimes a grumble, but never a whimper – had gone.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.10.0 (2021-03-15).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.10.F (2021-03-15).

  AskWoody, AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter AskWoody Plus Newsletter

• Windows’ semi-secret “back door” still exists!

  Posted on March 15th, 2021 at 01:06 Fred Langa Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  LANGALIST

  

  By Fred Langa

  All current Windows, including Win10 20H2, contain an old, sneaky workaround that lets you log in to a PC even if the usernames and passwords are scrambled, unknown, or forgotten.

  You can even use this method to create a new administrator account on a PC that doesn’t have one and then use that new account to log on and perform recovery or repair operations.

  Plus: Win8/10’s free, automated, Robust File Copy — Robocopy — to the rescue!

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.10.0 (2021-03-15).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, LangaList AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Back Door, LangaList, Windows

• Windows and Linux Interoperability

  Posted on March 15th, 2021 at 01:04 Sandra Henry-Stocker Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  LINUX

  

  By Sandra Henry-Stocker

  If you, like me, have both Windows and Linux systems on your network, you don’t have to walk from one desk to another to work on each of them in an isolated fashion.

  Instead, there are some very useful options for Windows-Linux interoperability. They allow you to move files between the systems, log in from one system to the other, and mount file shares so that you can use Linux files on Windows or vice versa. You can even run commands remotely between the systems. In this article, we’ll take a quick look at these options.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.10.0 (2021-03-15).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Linux AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Linux, Windows

• A $1,000 hot technology? It’s quite a steal.

  Posted on March 15th, 2021 at 01:02 Brian Livingston Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Every technology has unintended consequences, but this is ridiculous.

  Essential elements in the devices we use every day — lithium, platinum, palladium, rhodium, basic semiconductors — are soaring in price as demand outstrips the facilities we humans have built to extract and produce them.

  It’s gotten so bad that common street thieves are stripping tech parts from autos and trucks simply to fence the “hot” components, which are literally worth more than their weight in gold.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.10.0 (2021-03-15).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Crime, Precious metals, Recycling

• March madness drives printers to blue screen

  Posted on March 15th, 2021 at 01:00 Susan Bradley Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  The month of March is not starting off well for those of us who patch Windows 10 machines.

  Patchers who have installed the March Windows 10 updates are reporting that upon printing to various printers, they receive a blue screen of death (BSOD), thus crashing their machines. While it doesn’t appear to impact every Windows machine/printer combination, it is widespread enough that Microsoft pulled these particular updates while it investigates.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.10.0 (2021-03-15).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Blue screens of death, Patch Lady Posts, Printer Drivers

• MS-DEFCON 1 – Blue screens of death triggered by patches

  Posted on March 10th, 2021 at 17:23 Susan Bradley Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ISSUE 18.9.2 • 2021-03-10

  

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Don’t patch!

  I’ve moved the patching alert status to DEFCON 1.

  I don’t do this lightly but we are seeing issues with printing after the March updates are installed. Ghacks reports blue screens of death (BSOD) are being triggered after printing. At the moment, it is unclear whether this is the result of the March operating system updates or just the Windows 10 versions, but for sure the Windows 10 releases are triggering these blue screens of death.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Alert 18.9.2 (2021-03-10).
  Learn more about MS-DEFCON!

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, MS-DEFCON 1, Patch Lady Posts, printing

• MS-DEFCON 2 — It’s time to defer March updates

  Posted on March 8th, 2021 at 14:45 Susan Bradley Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ISSUE 18.9.1 • 2021-03-08

  

  

  By Susan Bradley

  It’s the start of the patching week.

  We are a day away from the official start of patching season. While Microsoft started the March patching madness early, with a critical patch needed for its mail servers, we have yet to see what’s in store for those of us that merely use their Windows as workstations.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Alert 18.9.1 (2021-03-08).
  Learn more about MS-DEFCON!

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Windows Patches/Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Exchange Server, MS-DEFCON 2

• Using Windows 10 Quick Assist in reverse

  Posted on March 8th, 2021 at 01:08 Will Fastie Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ISSUE 18.9 • 2021-03-08

  

  QUICK TIP

  

  By Will Fastie

  Instead of helping someone with remote control, Quick Assist can be used as a demonstration tool.

  The simple difference between a screen-sharing tool (Skype, Zoom) and a remote-control tool such as Quick Assist is that the latter is one-way. Once the session is underway, the roles of the two systems involved cannot be swapped.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.9.0 (2021-03-08).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.9.F (2021-03-08).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Windows 10 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Quick Tips, Windows 10

• Finding working drivers for an older PC

  Posted on March 8th, 2021 at 01:06 Fred Langa Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  LANGALIST

  

  By Fred Langa

  Drivers are the software ‘glue’ that connects your PC’s hardware to its operating system. Without drivers, nothing works.

  Once a PC is no longer supported by the manufacturer, its abandoned drivers can become incompatible as new versions of Windows roll out.

  Here’s one known-good way to track down a still-working driver for an older PC.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.9.0 (2021-03-08).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, LangaList AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware drivers, LangaList, Windows Update

• There are no USB cables any more

  Posted on March 8th, 2021 at 01:04 Brian Livingston Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  It used to be that you could run any old USB cable between just about any two USB ports, and the devices on each end would simply work. But that hasn’t been true for a long, long time.

  As more and more manufacturers wanted to bring different devices with different needs to market, the standard USB-A cable was lost in the shuffle. Instead, we got a gaggle of novel USB connectors named Mini-A, Mini-B, Micro-A, Micro-B, Apple’s similar-but-different Lightning, and more.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.9.0 (2021-03-08).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender, Thunderbolt, USB, USB standards

• You think you’ve been hacked?

  Posted on March 8th, 2021 at 01:02 Susan Bradley Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Have you been hacked?

  Attackers these days are of two varieties — those that want you to know you’ve been attacked and those that don’t. The first camp is quite obvious about it. They are the ransomware attackers, the ones that throw up a note to let you know that your system is no longer your own and is instead held hostage. The second type of attacker is silent, lurking inside your computer with the goal of harvesting information or — worse yet — as a means to attack someone or something else.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.9.0 (2021-03-08).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Lady Posts, security

• Freeware Spotlight — DISM_GUI

  Posted on March 8th, 2021 at 01:00 Deanna McElveen Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  Best Utilities

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  It’s the little things that make me happy.

  Little electric bills, little chocolates, and little utilities.

  DISM_GUI by Dirk Paehl is just that sort of utility. Tiny, but super useful and always on my flash drive. If you like fixing Windows without typing, so you can keep that Slurpee in one hand, this is the tool for you!

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.9.0 (2021-03-08).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Best Utilities, Freeware AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight
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