Air Controller Macias: Captain, maybe we ought to turn on the searchlights now.
Rex Kramer: No… that’s just what they’ll be EXPECTING us to do.

Sometimes it takes more than a week for all the reports to come out.

Woody has implemented the MS-DEFCON method. There is a button at the top of website that leads to a more detailed description. But basically, when the number is 1-2, it means to hold off on patching because there are problems. When the number is 3-5, patching is safe and Woody will publish instructions with any caveats.

Because of the problems with patches in June, the HOLD time was almost a month, and all the problems have still not been resolved to date.

how long have you been on this site. I suggest you go through the history and read what most people have missed by waiting for the all clear. Woody has been a lifeline to us for the past many years.

anonymous wrote:

As a cyber security professional…

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

As a professional software engineer with 41 years experience, I feel that if you believe malware infections are a certainty without immediately-applied patches then you aren’t embracing the entire reality of how high tech things work.

We have entered the time of Microsoft treating customers as testers of work that may not be quite right, and which has not been tested by an internal testing organization.

It’s all about weighing risk against benefit.

There is risk – and it’s not large if you’re conscientious – that malware will wreck your data.

But there is ALSO risk – and it’s seen time and again lately with patches that claim to fix a vulnerability but also break functionality – that Microsoft will bork your system. Maybe it’ll break something you need, and maybe it won’t. But pretty much every patch Tuesday comes with something being broken for someone.

Woody and many others are here to offer advice to help to minimize BOTH of these risks.

Please, by all means, join up and let’s talk about this further. We love to discuss these things.

-Noel

Umm, WannaCry was blocked by some antimalware applications (I know of Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools [BEST] because we use it) before MS released their patch protecting Windows against it.

The notion that you have to update the day a patch hits to stay secure is asinine; there are more variable at play here, and I would think that a self-proclaimed “cyber security professional” would already know that.

Cyber Security Professional!
Your ill-informed rant betrays the depth of your ignorance.
Any new to The Lounge please ignore this childish foolishness.
I always follow Woody and The Crew’s expert advice.
It has saved my computer so many times.

Thanks again guys and gals – in you we trust!

sainty??⛵️??

anonymous wrote:

How many people go to sites like this and say they have no issues ? I have not had 1 issue with a patch under Windows 10 since original release. Would love to see had data on how many have issues vs don’t besides on scare sites like this.

Many of us here report when we have no problems. It’s one of the beautiful things about information sharing via the Internet – we can learn from others’ experiences.

I haven’t had a problem personally with an update in quite a long time.

Nor have I ever had a malware infection, yet I have been waiting until the dust settles on new operating system patches, sometimes for months at a time, since well before there even was a Microsoft. It’s only common sense.

I’ll ask, in counter to your question: How many updates have been re-issued with fixes to the fixes after Microsoft hears back en masse from folks who installed the patches immediately then had problems?

-Noel

Is that you again Cyber Security Professional?
If so it appears your IQ and Age are identical.
Sadly nothing can be done for either.
You are in my thoughts and prayers.

sainty??⛵️??

Check out the relevant Disable Automatic Updates topics for your WinOS version in the AskWoody Knowledge Base

I don’t believe that stat is applicable to many of the readers here at AskWoody.com, but in general, you may have a point (with the exception of borked updates, of course) 🙂

100% of my computer problems have all come from Microsoft…

Your point? My computer is anyway an extension of my brain.

Thanks for the info… but the last one is not good advice.

For a clean installation, existing versions must first be uninstalled: Adobe Flash Player Uninstaller 26.0.0.137 | 1.22 MB

Flash is one of those things which should be configured for automatic updates. This configuration avoids the offers of trial software or other software which may be unintentionally accepted in manual mode.
If running as non-admin or as admin with UAC enabled, it will still prompt in most situations for installation.

EDIT: My comments above in regards to ad-supported Flash and other Adobe software apply to the public web site and the software downloaded from there and not to the direct URLs posted by @ajnorth which are direct download links, free from advertising.
The considerations related to uninstallation and automatic update configuration are accurate and still apply.
Thank you @Ajnorth for your clarifying about the URLs

I’m surprised anyone is still using Flash…

Uninstalled that (and everything else adobe) years ago and never missed it. Don’t come across any websites either, where it’s “needed” either?

It’s always been a buggy and unsafe program app, imho.

Well, so much for the reply that I [thought I] had posted at zero-dark thirty (US PT); in any case, it is just as well as additional comments have since appeared.

People, what were posted are official enterprise download links from Adobe Systems, Inc., and the executables supplied are all “clean” (that is, devoid of any cr*pware).

Every link I post has been checked (at a minimum) through URL Void, Norton SafeWeb and ScanURL. Additionally, if a download is involved, then it is checked through VirusTotal utilizing PEStudio.

Finally, should there be any question whatsoever about safety or reliability, then the link in question is simply not posted.

That’s actually malware, right? Not a legitimate flash player update?

Can’t say I’ve personally seen that particular panel. As I recall, the legitimate Flash installer only offers to install Google Chrome or a toolbar or something at its worst, and some checkboxes may need to be cleared to opt out.

-Noel

Agree with Noel and the others… That is NOT a legitimate Flash installer dialog!

Dunno where you got that installer, but I sincerely doubt it came from an official Adobe site.

anonymous wrote:

I hope the IE browser crashing thing gets fixed. It crashes about every 15 minutes, and crashes immediately on askwoody’s site.

I suspect you have a specific problem; I’m not aware of any “IE browser crashing thing”, and it’s the only browser I use.

3rd party Add-ons are usually the reason Internet Explorer gets a bad rap.

My suggestion: Click the gear icon, choose “Manage Add-ons”, and disable any you don’t KNOW that you need (that may be all of them). Then close all instances of Internet Explorer and reopen it. I’ll bet it stops crashing for you.

You can always re-enable ones you discover you do need – if any. There’s no requirement to run ANY Add-ons in order for Internet Explorer to be a proper browser. IMO, the fewer the better!

-Noel

“…Gee, I’m glad Windows 10 and Edge are the most secure ever”

Well, if you take the advice in the article and don’t install the patches, then your version currently isn’t no.

All computing devices have vulnerabilities, therefore I’d be more concerned about not receiving security updates than receiving them, as has quite often been the case with Android devices not receiving updates (or slow to receive updates) due to OEM’s and carriers.

We take security very seriously in these parts. Just a quick look should remove any doubt of that:
https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic-tag/ms17-010/
https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic-tag/wannacry/
https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic-tag/wannacrypt/
https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic-tag/vulnerability/
https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic-tag/ransomware/

PS Forgot to link Code Red – security advisories!

Please go back and read the article again. You missed a couple of key points.