Newsletter Archives

• Time for 23H2

  Posted on April 29, 2024 at 02:42 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  The Professional and Home editions of Windows 11 22H2 reach end of life on October 14, 2024.

  Between now and then, those of you on Windows 11 22H2 should begin the process of moving to 23H2. For users with Windows 11 Education and Enterprise editions, their demise arrives a year later, on October 14, 2025.

  If you run Windows 10 22H2, you don’t have to worry about upgrading — Windows 10 will no longer receive feature releases, even though Microsoft is still dribbling out changes to that platform.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.18.0, 2024-04-29).

  Patch Watch Enablement Package, Graphics Cards, Hardware drivers, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, tiny11builder, Windows 11 23H2

• Working with the Intel Driver & Support Assistant

  Posted on June 19, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Ed Tittel • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.25 • 2023-06-19

  WINDOWS

  

  By Ed Tittel

  Intel’s share of the x86 processor market at the end of 2022 came out at nearly a two-to-one ratio for Intel vs. AMD.

  The Statista survey ascribes 62.8% of that market to Intel and 35.2% to AMD; the remaining 2% presumably belongs to ARM and “other CPUs” sometimes found in PCs.

  But other Intel devices, including PC chipsets and controllers, show up in PCs of all kinds. And that means Intel also supplies drivers to connect devices to Windows and allow them to do their jobs.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.25.0, 2023-06-19).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Windows Hardware, Hardware drivers, Intel, Newsletters, Software, Utilities, Windows

• MS-DEFCON 4: Patching weather is clearing

  Posted on January 24, 2023 at 02:45 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.04.1 • 2023-01-24

  

  By Susan Bradley

  In general, the January updates have been well behaved.

  So far, I’m not seeing any trending issues with them; accordingly, I’m lowering the MS-DEFCON level to 4. But that’s not to say we haven’t seen some other issues related to other types of updates. In addition to describing those, I’ll discuss a vulnerability in a part of your computer you may never think about.

  Two issues recently impacted Start menus and shortcuts but were unrelated to one another.

  Anyone can read the full MS-DEFCON Alert (20.04.1, 2023-01-24).

  AskWoody Plus Alert, MS-DEFCON Alerts, Hardware drivers, macOS Ventura, MS-DEFCON, MS-DEFCON 4, Printer Drivers, Windows Recovery Environment

• Dealing with incremental updates, aka “dribbles”

  Posted on November 7, 2022 at 02:41 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Last year, Microsoft announced that Windows was moving to an annual release schedule rather than the twice-a-year release cadence.

  The impression at that time was that Microsoft would be settling into a nice, boring release schedule with only one disruption per year. But the reality so far has been the exact opposite. Even with the Insider testing program, the timing is such that you can’t really test things until they get to the general public.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.45.0, 2022-11-07).

  Patch Watch Hardware drivers, Newsletters, OpenSSL, Patch Lady Posts, Patch Watch, Windows Update

• Reader feedback on driver/software updaters, and more!

  Posted on August 2, 2021 at 02:44 CDT by Fred Langa • Comment in the Forums

  LANGALIST

  

  By Fred Langa

  CCleaner — the popular system-cleanup tool — recently added automated software and driver updaters to its features. A subscriber set out to see whether they’re any good.

  Plus: Another subscriber’s laptop is stuck at 79% battery charge and won’t charge any higher; and a third seeks advice on how to obtain the fastest possible PC-to-smartphone USB tethering.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.29.0 (2021-08-02).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, LangaList AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Battery charging, Hardware drivers, LangaList

• Finding working drivers for an older PC

  Posted on March 8, 2021 at 01:06 CST by Fred Langa • Comment in the Forums

  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

• Easily back up all your PC’s current drivers

  Posted on October 14, 2019 at 01:15 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  LANGALIST

  By Fred Langa

  Free tools, including Win10’s built-in export-driver command, make backing up your device drivers simple.

  Plus: Free security info from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. And, do new laptops really require a 100 percent initial charge?

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 16.37.0 (2019-10-14).

  LangaList AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Backup, Battery charging, Hardware drivers, Security advice