Newsletter Archives

• RIP Office 2010? Not so fast!

  Posted on November 15, 2020 at 21:05 CST by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  Well … we thought we’d seen the last of Office Version 2010.

  But Microsoft surprised us by pushing out a batch of November updates for its suite of productivity apps. Note that this isn’t a completely novel event. Microsoft has dribbled out patches for other products that have reached their end of service.

  Going forward, Office 2010 will become more dangerous to use — especially when it comes to email phishing attacks.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.45.0 (2020-11-16).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microcode, Office patching, Win7 vulnerabilities, Windows patching

• Windows 10 20H2 makes its official debut

  Posted on November 1, 2020 at 20:05 CST by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  On October 20, Microsoft formally released the next feature update for Win10.

  If you’re already running Version 2004, this will be a fast transition. It’s a relatively minor update. In fact, it’s already been offered to my Lenovo laptop — and even to my Surface device. And upgrading a test system took just a few minutes.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.43.0 (2020-11-02).

  Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Win10 20H2, Windows feature updates, Windows patching

• 2020 patching starts with a bang!

  Posted on January 20, 2020 at 01:05 CST by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  Patch Tuesday arrived on January 14, and it was not an auspicious start to the new year.

  An NSA warning about a newly revealed Windows vulnerability isn’t the only newsworthy event for January. Let’s recap:

  As we’ve discussed thoroughly on askwoody.com, millions of Windows users are saying goodbye (sort of) to the beloved Windows 7. For consumers, January’s updates are the last they’ll receive — barring some extraordinary event. Businesses still relying on Win7 machines (and there are possibly millions) get a three-year reprieve — if they take advantage of Microsoft’s Win7 Extended Security Updates (ESU) offering.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.3.0 (2020-01-20).

  Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, NSA alert, Win7 ESU, Windows patching

• No fireworks, closing out 2019 updating

  Posted on January 6, 2020 at 01:05 CST by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  The past year of Windows and Office patching sure had its ups and downs, false alarms, and true debacles.

  Fortunately, we seem to be ending the year on a relatively positive note.

  The new decade starts off with the official end of Windows 7 support — for most users. As regular readers know, we’ve come up with a process for acquiring extended security updates. It’s not free, but the cost is relatively low for any small business that can’t easily upgrade to a newer OS. (See my article “Hunting for an elusive Win7 ESU license” in the 2019-12-23 AskWoody Plus Newsletter.)

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.1.0 (2020-01-06).

  Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Extended Security Updates, Windows 7 EoL, Windows patching, Windows Servers EoL

• Ready or not, Win10 Version 1909 is here

  Posted on November 18, 2019 at 01:05 CST by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  The September Windows 10 feature release … um … no, the November feature release — well, in any case, the 1909 version is finally out.

  This time around, Microsoft is apparently doing something new that just might take some of the pain out of upgrading Windows 10. As Woody notes in a Computerworld column, Version 1909 has the feel of a Windows 7–style service pack.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 16.42.0 (2019-11-18).

  Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Enablement Package, November updates, Windows patching

• Getting ready for Windows 10 1909

  Posted on October 28, 2019 at 01:05 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  Many of us are still pondering Win10 1903 — and now Version 1909 is almost upon us. Here’s how not to be the next release’s beta tester.

  If the rumors are true, the next feature release for Windows 10 will begin trickling out on November 12. It looks like Version 1909 won’t be the big deal we thought it might be, which is all the more reason to not be one of the early adopters — unless you really like testing “beta” operating systems.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 16.39.0 (2019-10-28).

  Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Office patching, Win10 1909, Windows 7 EoL, Windows patching

• Shedding light on September’s out-of-band Windows patches

  Posted on October 7, 2019 at 01:15 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  WOODY’S WINDOWS WATCH

  By Woody Leonhard

  Microsoft delivered three different sets of patches in the past two weeks, all aimed at preventing a potentially devastating security hole known as CVE-2019-1367.

  The updates are still something of a mystery. Here’s what we know — and what you should do about them.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 16.36.0 (2019-10-07).

  Windows Patches/Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, CVE-2019-1367, Internet Explorer threat, Windows patching

• August updates still dribbling in

  Posted on September 2, 2019 at 01:05 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  With August rapidly coming to a close, it’s time to review the status of Windows exploits and any lingering patch side effects.

  The Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) threats — BlueKeep and the follow-on DejaBlues — are still missing in action. To my knowledge, there are no in-the-wild attacks using the original BlueKeep or this month’s BlueKeep II and BlueKeep III.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 16.31.0 (2019-09-02).

  Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, BlueKeep, Office updates, Remote Desktop, Windows patching
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