Who knows what?

AI

By Will Fastie

A recent editing session for one of the newsletter articles turned up some interesting results, albeit confusing ones at first.

In our normal editing workflow, I review articles first, editing as necessary. Then our crack copy editor, Roberta Scholz, applies a second set of eyes.

An important step is checking links in the copy to make sure they work and will take the reader where expected. For Susan’s column last week, something was off.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.22.0, 2025-06-02).
This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

My top ten underappreciated features in Office

MICROSOFT 365

By Peter Deegan

Office software has been a cornerstone of productivity for decades.

Here are some underrated champions of Office, the ones that have quietly evolved to make our work better and easier.

Some are features that were a hassle at first but quietly became better over time, innovations that seem too complicated, or capabilities that have been in Office for so long that they’re overlooked. There’s also one that was supposed to be the “next big thing” and is now almost forgotten, despite Microsoft’s heavy heaping of hype.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.22.0, 2025-06-02).

WAU Manager — It’s your computer, you are in charge!

FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

By Deanna McElveen

Microsoft didn’t send you a card on your birthday with a thousand dollars in it to go toward a new computer. You worked hard for your computer, and you should be the one who says when it gets updated.

Oh sure, Microsoft is just trying to keep you safe — but that should be in the form of notifications, not forced updates. We’re not children.

Carifred, the French company that for years has been cranking out truly useful software — such as Clear Disk Info, Account Profile Fixer, Quick User Manager, and so many others — has brought us something new. WAU Manager is a free Windows Update manager that takes the updating out of Microsoft’s control and lays it squarely in your lap.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.22.0, 2025-06-02).

Misbehaving devices

TAME YOUR TECH

By Susan Bradley

When you deal with multiple computers, whether at home or in an office setting, sometimes odd issues occur.

Regardless of brand or type, regardless of operating system, many of these issues are easily explained away. But there are times when the behaviors make no sense whatsoever.

Here are some examples of issues I’ve recently experienced.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.22.0, 2025-06-02).

Office gets current release

Yesterday, Office got its near weekly update for Microsoft 365. For those of you on certain versions of Office, this is a reminder that Office updates in the background, silently — unlike Windows. On the current channel release, sometimes that updating triggers unusual behaviors.

I strongly recommend that you move to the semi-annual channel — if your version allows it — that does not get features as often and only gets security updates once a month. If you use Outlook (classic), I recommend taking the time to review which patching channel you are on now and whether you can move yourself to the semi-annual channel.

Outlook (classic) will behave much, much better.

Windows hosting exposes additional bugs

Lately, Microsoft has been releasing some out-of-band updates to fix specific deployments of Windows. Now that it is hosting desktops in its own cloud, you can tell additional issues are being identified.

KB5061977 is an out-of-band update for Windows 11 24H2: “[Hyper-V Platform] Fixed: An issue in the direct send path for a guest physical address (GPA) where confidential virtual machines running on Hyper-V with Windows Server 2025 might intermittently stop responding or restart unexpectedly, affecting service availability and requiring manual intervention. This issue primarily affects Azure confidential VMs.”

KB5061979 fixes the same issue for Windows 10 22H2. Also announced yesterday, the issue with Windows 11 23H2 and 22H2 where KB5058405 may fail to install.

All of these issues are more likely to be seen in cloud or hosted settings.  None will be seen in consumer settings.

May preview updates

Microsoft loves to release previews. These are updates released on the fourth week of the month that are advance looks at fixes that will be rolled up into the June updates.

Microsoft (so far) has released KB5058502 for Windows 11 23H2 and I expect a preview for Windows 10 22H2 as well as Windows 11 24H2.

The optional update includes stuff that annoys me — the dribbles, changes that won’t be seen on all machines but rather gradually. They include the ability to launch Copilot from WinC (uh, no thanks), search on taskbar that expands providers in the EEA (I actually disable external search on the taskbar – stay tuned for that tip next Monday), as well as a new Share tray when you drag an icon.

I’m surprised Microsoft is still making changes to 23H2. Aren’t we coming up to its end of life in October?

MS-DEFCON 4: As good as it gets

By Susan Bradley

There is never a time I consider perfect for updating your system.

Even if absolutely no issues were reported with updates, there might be side effects of the updating process itself.

But for now, for both consumers and businesses, it’s appropriate to lower the MS-DEFCON level to 4. I recommend installing updates.

Anyone can read the full MS-DEFCON Alert (22.21.1, 2025-05-27).

Choose the right apps for traveling

TRAVELING TECH

By Peter Deegan

When traveling all over our planet, I rely on these apps to help with navigation, keeping in touch with others, and communicating with locals.

Don’t waste travel time trying to learn new tech tricks. Do some setup and learning before you go. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen people trying to fix or learn about their devices instead of enjoying the fantastic places they are visiting.

If you haven’t read my previous article about being a digital nomad, check out Stay connected anywhere (AskWoody, May 12, 2025) for some important tips.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.21.0, 2025-05-26).
This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

BitLocker rears its head

PATCH WATCH

By Susan Bradley

The headlines look alarming.

“Windows 10 PCs are locking and crashing after May’s security update” and “Microsoft confirms KB5058379 BitLocker bug crashes Windows 10, wants recovery key.” Sounds alarming, for sure.

But what the headlines ignore is that the issue isn’t impacting all computer systems. After the installation of KB5058379, certain systems with Intel Trusted Execution Technology (TXT) enabled on 10th generation or later Intel vPro processors experience a Windows Automatic Repair because lsass.exe terminates unexpectedly. On systems with BitLocker enabled, the recovery key will be requested. In other words, the request for the recovery key is merely a side effect of the system not booting properly. It’s not a BitLocker bug.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.21.0, 2025-05-26).

Who are you? (2025 edition)

EDITORIAL

By Will Fastie

Here are a few things we learned from our 2025 reader survey.

First, many thanks to the very large number of Plus members who took the time to complete the 2025 reader survey earlier this year. Your response is very gratifying and greatly appreciated.

There are several reasons we do these annual surveys. Of greatest importance is making sure we understand the nature of your use of technology, which directs the content we produce. We also want to know a bit about you and your background — again, so we can gauge the level to which we write.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.21.0, 2025-05-26).

AskWoody at the computer museum, round two

HISTORY

By Will Fastie

The mailing list developed to manage tours of the System Source Computer Museum became longer than expected.

As a result, I organized a second tour for AskWoody Plus members on April 26. The tour was well attended. The mailing list is far from empty, even after two tours, so expect me to announce a third tour soon. I’ll solicit attendees as soon as I have a date, but check below for details about how to get on the list now.

As with the first tour, this one proved delightful. Our guests were uniformly impressed by the museum, and all seemed to enjoy themselves. It was great to meet our Plus members in person, and I am especially grateful to those who came from farther away than I expected.

I thank all who attended. And I appreciate the personal correspondence I have received praising the tour. It’s great to meet our readers!

The large AskWoody group completely obscures the Mergenthaler Linotype machine (which works).
Photo taken by Liam McDanolds, System Source

See more photos in our Plus Newsletter (22.21.0, 2025-05-26).