Newsletter Archives

• Ensuring you can recover

  Posted on March 13, 2023 at 02:41 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Anyone reading the title of this edition of Patch Watch may think I’m talking about a Windows update issue.

  But no matter what your technology, I want to remind you that having a backup means that you will be able to recover.

  A good friend of mine, totally ensconced in the Apple world, reported that her older Apple computer running Monterey was not a happy camper. She had been traveling and did not want to install updates. Once at home after her travels, she attempted to update. That’s when the “fun” started.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.11.0, 2023-03-13).

  Patch Watch backup, Group Policy Editor, Intel, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Reinstall, Upgrade blocking, Zero Day

• The “Intel Processor”

  Posted on September 26, 2022 at 02:41 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  INTEL NEWS

  

  By Will Fastie

  For two decades, it’s been confusing to figure out what the name of an Intel processor or an Intel processor family meant.

  Now, Intel has thrown a real wrench into the works by announcing the “Intel Processor.”

  Funny — I thought that phrase referred to all Intel processors, not a family or a segment. I thought I could just write, “That PC has an Intel processor inside” and then wait for the inevitable question: “Which one?”

  No longer, apparently.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.39.0, 2022-09-26).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Intel News AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Intel, Intel News, Processors

• Will Intel be a dominant chip company going forward?

  Posted on May 16, 2022 at 02:44 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  SILICON

  

  By Brian Livingston

  All the headlines seem to be bad for Intel lately — poor yields on bleeding-edge technologies, disappointed customers, lagging performance compared with competitors from around the world, and on and on.

  The truth of the matter is a bit more complicated.

  Most of the stories you’ve been reading in the mass media about Intel are telling only half the tale — if that.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.20.0, 2022-05-16).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Silicon Apple Silicon, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Intel, Samsung, Silicon, TSMC

• What technology will run your life a few years from now?

  Posted on April 11, 2022 at 02:43 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  SILICON

  

  By Brian Livingston

  “My interest is in the future, because I’m going to spend the rest of my life there,” said Charles Kettering, the head of research at General Motors from 1920 to 1947.

  I’m sure his statement is true. Time travel into the future isn’t science fiction — we all do it every day at the usual speed. But what kind of a future will it be, and can we head off the worst aspects of it?

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.15.0, 2022-04-11).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Silicon AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Intel, Samsung, Semiconductor Manufacturing, Silicon, TSMC

• Opal: How I planned my new build

  Posted on August 30, 2021 at 02:40 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE DIY

  

  By Will Fastie

  I’ll say it again — it’s not the building, it’s the planning.

  A favorite saying about war plans is that they do not survive first contact with the enemy. A slight paraphrase is that a plan does not survive first contact with reality.

  Reality caused me to make a change in my build plan, which is the first thing I want to tell you about. Onyx may be dying.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.33.0 (2021-08-30).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware, Windows 11 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, DIY, hardware, Intel, PC

• Opal: I’m building a new PC

  Posted on August 2, 2021 at 02:41 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE DIY

  

  By Will Fastie

  Hardware for the future. Windows made me do it.

  I wasn’t expecting to need a new computer just yet. My current PC is a bit long in the tooth, but I chose well when I built it and it has lasted six years, still providing the performance and capability I need on a daily basis. I have no urgent need for Windows 11.

  Except that I work for this newsletter.

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

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware, Windows 11 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, DIY, hardware, Intel, PC

• Update: Where does TPM live?

  Posted on July 26, 2021 at 02:44 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Will Fastie

  Trying to find out where Trusted Platform Module is implemented in Intel-based systems was harder than I thought. Intel finally, and helpfully, gave me some pointers.

  The problem is one of terminology.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.28.0 (2021-07-26).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Windows 11 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Intel, Microarchitecture, TPM, Trusted Platform Module, Windows 11

• Nvidia is now worth more than Intel

  Posted on July 10, 2020 at 06:25 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  I saw that headline and couldn’t believe it.

  As of this writing, very early Friday morning, Nvidia lists at $420.36, for a total market capitalization (number of outstanding shares * share price) of $258.52 billion.

  Intel lists at $58.42, for a market cap of $247.35 billion.

  Absolutely phenomenal result of Nvidia’s branching into more-than-graphics.

  Other Intel, nvidia

• Microsoft Patch Alert: August is much, much better than July

  Posted on August 23, 2018 at 14:17 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  There are still some well-known (even acknowledged) bugs, and the inanities performed in the name of Meltdown and Spectre continue to boggle my mind.

  And, of course, you can’t post any before-and-after performance statistics about the Intel microcode patches.

  Computerworld Woody on Windows.

  UPDATE: Intel has backed off its ridiculous (and likely unenforceable) gag order. See Paul Alcorn’s article on Tom’s Hardware.

  Windows Patches/Security August 2018 Black Tuesday, Intel, Meltdown, Microcode, Spectre

• Rumors of a new, updated Coffee Lake chipset for Win7

  Posted on August 10, 2018 at 09:25 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  It isn’t like you’ll be able to install and update Win7 on a fancy new power-mad PC. But it’s looking more and more like Intel and Microsoft may come to a cease-fire long enough to slip in a new, more powerful version of the old Coffee Lake processor.

  Interesting, if it comes to pass – specifically for those who would like to run new-ish hardware with a stable operating system.

  Computerworld Woody on Windows.

  Windows News Coffee Lake, Intel, windows 7

• Intel releases more Meltdown/Spectre firmware fixes, while Microsoft unveils a new Surface Pro 3 firmware fix that doesn’t exist

  Posted on February 21, 2018 at 09:01 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  You’d have to be incredibly trusting — of both Microsoft and Intel — to manually install any Surface firmware patch at this point. Particularly when you realize that not one single Meltdown or Spectre-related exploit is in the wild. Not one.

  Computerworld Woody on Windows.

  Windows Patches/Security firmware, Intel, INTEL-SA-00088, KB 4073119, KB 4078130, Meltdown, Spectre, Surface Pro 3

• Intel says its new Spectre-busting Skylake firmware patch is ready

  Posted on February 8, 2018 at 07:08 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Oh boy. I love the smell of fresh bricked PCs in the morning.

  Yesterday, Intel said it has released new firmware that — this time, really, for sure, honest — plugs the Meltdown/Spectre security hole. Says honcho Navin Shenoy:

  Earlier this week, we released production microcode updates for several Skylake-based platforms to our OEM customers and industry partners, and we expect to do the same for more platforms in the coming days.

  What he’s actually saying is something like, “Hey, we spent six months coming up with new firmware to fix Spectre, released it, and bricked a bunch of machines. We went back to the drawing board and, two weeks later, came up with new firmware that won’t brick your machines. Have at it.”

  According to the freshly updated Microcode Revision Guidance, Intel has released updates for Skylake U-, Y-, U23e-, H-, and S- chips.

  Shenoy goes on to say:

  Ultimately, these updates will be made available in most cases through OEM firmware updates. I can’t emphasize enough how critical it is for everyone to always keep their systems up-to-date. Research tells us there is frequently a substantial lag between when people receive updates and when they actually implement them. In today’s environment, that must change.

  To which I say:

  Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice… well, you know.

  Folks, you’d have to be absolutely batbox crazy to install these new BIOS/UEFI patches as they’re being rolled out. Give them time to break other peoples’ machines — or to prove their worth in open combat. I’m sure the folks who made the new firmware are quite competent and tested the living daylights out of everything. But they did that the last time, too.

  Again, I repeat, for emphasis, there is exactly NO known Meltdown or Spectre-based malware out in the wild.

  Other firmware, Intel, Meltdown, Spectre
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