Newsletter Archives

• Back to School, Back to patching

  Posted on September 20, 2021 at 02:39 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  September is the month for in-the-wild patching.

  September is a month of change. From going back to school here in the United States to seasons changing all over the world, one thing remains constant: we have to patch. No matter what technology we have or use, it seems like this month, we’re patching it.

  From Apple devices that are getting a fix for the targeted attack that allowed journalists to be spied upon, to Chrome’s several vulnerabilities that have already been used in targeted attacks, to Microsoft’s ActiveX and Office bugs that have already been seen in active attacks, you will probably be patching sooner versus later.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.36.0 (2021-09-20).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Lady Posts, Patch Tuesday

• June updates crash printing

  Posted on June 29, 2020 at 01:05 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  In a normal monthly Windows and Office patching cycle, I almost never roll out any optional updates that Microsoft releases between Patch Tuesdays.

  It’s hard to say what’s “normal” with Windows updating, but June is atypical even by the usual patching tribulations.

  Soon after the Patch Tuesday security updates dropped (on June 9), there were reports of printing failures. The problem hit close to home; after patching my systems, I could no longer print to any of my large multifunction Ricoh printers — a huge problem for my business. As a quick workaround, I updated the printer drivers from PCL5 to PCL6.

  Subsequently, Microsoft posted optional fixes on the MS Update Catalog for Windows 10, Win8.1, and Server 2012.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.25.0 (2020-06-29).

  Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Office updates, Patch failures, Patch Tuesday, Windows Updates

• The mechanics of Windows and Office patching — explained in plain English

  Posted on August 8, 2018 at 11:29 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  There’s a lot of confusion about “Week A” / “Week B” bafflegab and what constitutes a Preview. Microsoft’s explanations don’t make much sense.

  To top it off, the theoretical framework for Patch Tuesday and its precedents and antecedents varies wildly from how patches happen in real life.

  Here’s my attempt to untie the Gordian update knot.

  Computerworld Woody on Windows.

  Windows Patches/Security Patch Tuesday, patching