Newsletter Archives

• Minor Lounge Button Tweaks

  Posted on January 5, 2021 at 01:15 CST by Kirsty • Comment in the Forums

  A long time ago when the Lounge was new, our wish list included having the Lounge posts with Reply, Thanks and Quote buttons in the header row of each post, and the Report button at the bottom. In the meantime, we have all got used to how we were forced to have it.

  Well, we now have the tools to make those wanted changes, which have just been activated.

  We are aware that some of us will be in the habit of the old button locations, and that this may be a bigger issue for those with sight impairments of varying degrees.

  We hope this change is found to be usable, and not too disorientating, in the short-term.

   
  UPDATE:
  The feedback received has been firmly on the idea that the header buttons should be in the footer, and vice versa. So we’re going to give this a try – Reply, Thanks and Quote in the Footer, with Report in the Header.
  Keep that feedback coming, please!

  AskWoody AskWoody Lounge

• Today’s the day – Flash EOL has arrived

  Posted on December 30, 2020 at 18:02 CST by Kirsty • Comment in the Forums

  Today’s the day – Flash EOL has arrived

  Back in 2017, Adobe announced it was “planning to end-of-life Flash”. Yes, this has been posted about before… Well, the time has now come. Pop-ups have been seen in those machines still using it, for a bit now.

  If you have questions about what happens next, Adobe has a page full of questions and answers here.

  If you’re looking for articles on how to uninstall, check out Martin Brinkmann’s ghacks post.

  (and yes, only half the world is having New Year’s Eve already – Happy New Year to all)

  Security EOL, Flash

• Windows 7 “not dead yet”

  Posted on December 30, 2020 at 17:34 CST by Kirsty • Comment in the Forums

  Nearly a year after Win7’s EOL, Ed Bott has been diving into how many might still be using the OS. He hints it’s a big number.

  …as December 2020 draws to a close, the proportion of PCs running Windows 10 has gone up 12%, to 87.8%; the Windows 7 count has dropped by more than 10 points, to 8.5%, and the population of Windows 8.x holdouts has shrunk even further, to a minuscule 3.4%
  …
  If my calculations a year ago were on the mark, that means more than 100 million Windows PC were retired, recycled, or upgraded in the past 12 months.

  It is somewhat reassuring to hear that WinXP is now in the region of a “fraction of a rounding error”. And of course, that doesn’t quantify how many of those Win7 machines are or aren’t enrolled in the ESU program.

  You can read Ed’s write-up on Zdnet here.

  Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows News Ed Bott, Win7 EOL, Win7 ESU, Win7 market share, Windows market share

• SetUp Guides for Microsoft 365 – request for feedback

  Posted on November 30, 2020 at 21:24 CST by Kirsty • Comment in the Forums

  Are you an IT Admin that sets up Microsoft 365 / Office 365 services? If you are, @mikebailey2000 is looking for feedback on SetUp Guides.

  Mike’s a Microsoft Program Manager. It’s great to welcome his interest in the opinion of our members.

  Please, head over to Mike’s first post here at AskWoody, wish him a very warm AskWoody welcome, and help him to improve the setup guides. He explains the limitations on accessing the documents.

  Office Microsoft 365, Office 365, Setup Guides

• Adobe license revoked … Hello, Updated Terms

  Posted on May 8, 2020 at 15:21 CDT by Kirsty • Comment in the Forums

  Yesterday, while busy working in Adobe Acrobat Pro (as part of Creative Suite 6), I had an unwelcome pop-up appear while I was in a hurry, telling me that my license had been revoked, and that to continue working on the document that my client was waiting for, I had to re-enter the software’s license number.

  This isn’t a cloud product with a dreaded monthly fee, but one of those where I paid a pretty penny for the software in advance, and don’t owe the company to be able to use it after that purchase.

  Finding the license number slowed me down a little. Then when I entered it, I was advised that a log-in was required or I would be in demo mode for up to 7 days, when it would again fail. I had to waste more time searching out the log in details, and in that log-in process, I received a screen headed Updated Terms – accept or else. I was rushing, and flustered. You can imagine how much time I had to read screeds of legalese.

  Now, this isn’t the first time I’ve had an issue with Adobe needing to have the license number reinstalled to take me out of demo mode for a paid suite, usually at an equally inconvenient moment. But I did wonder if I was the only one getting a license revoked pop up now.

  A little searching led me to find:

  Adobe General Terms of Use

  Published March 16, 2020. Effective as of April 16, 2020. These Terms replace and supersede all prior versions.

  THE MANDATORY ARBITRATION PROVISION AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER IN SECTION 14 (DISPUTE RESOLUTION) BELOW GOVERN THE RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES. PLEASE READ THEM CAREFULLY. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THE MANDATORY ARBITRATION PROVISION AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER IN THE TERMS, PLEASE DO NOT USE THE SERVICES OR SOFTWARE.

  Yes, I have been using the product since April 16th. So why now?! Have you seen this?

  If you’d like to read the new terms, you can find them here

  Other Adobe, Adobe Acrobat, Terms of Service

• Plea for spare computing power in new disease therapies

  Posted on March 4, 2020 at 01:15 CST by Kirsty • Comment in the Forums

  Until today, I’d heard of distributed computing but I hadn’t heard of Folding@Home.

  From their website:

  Folding@home is a project focused on disease research. The problems we’re solving require so many computer calculations – and we need your help to find the cures!

  Naturally, they are now focused on Covid-19.

  By downloading Folding@Home, you can donate your unused computational resources to the Folding@home Consortium, where researchers working to advance our understanding of the structures of potential drug targets for 2019-nCoV that could aid in the design of new therapies. The data you help us generate will be quickly and openly disseminated as part of an open science collaboration of multiple laboratories around the world, giving researchers new tools that may unlock new opportunities for developing lifesaving drugs.

  Elly posted about this in the Lounge this afternoon, with their plea for computing resources, along with a good deal of relevant information. Check out her post: Assist COVID19 Researchers.
  Thanks Elly!

  Other COVID-19, Distributed Computing, Open Science

• Nearly time to start tracking Santa again

  Posted on December 24, 2019 at 01:42 CST by Kirsty • Comment in the Forums

  While children, young and old, are readying the milk and cookies for Santa in New Zealand and Australia right now (where it is already Christmas Eve), Norad and Google are readying their trackers, so we can track the progress of Santa Claus and his eight Reindeer.

  You can also follow the Norad Tracks Santa Twitter account!

  #NORAD was just informed #Santa checked the time at the Clock Tower in his North Pole Village! He is getting ready for his magical journey around the world! https://t.co/gSvRD6ezKo#NoradTracksSanta #SantaTracker #NoradSanta #ChristmasEve #Christmas

  — NORAD Tracks Santa (@NoradSanta) 24 December 2019

  From all of us here at AskWoody, Merry Christmas to one and all.

  Other christmas, Norad, Santa Tracker, seasons greetings

• The web has a padlock problem

  Posted on November 30, 2019 at 13:29 CST by Kirsty • Comment in the Forums

  Danny Palmer (ZDNet) has just written about recent changes to websites showing “security padlocks” in browser bars, in a very easy-to-digest article.

  Internet users are being taught to think about online security the wrong way, which experts warn might actually make them more vulnerable to hacking and cyberattacks.

  HTTPS encrypts that information, allowing the transmission of sensitive data such as logging into bank accounts, emails, or anything else involving personal information to be transferred securely. If this information is entered onto a website that is just using standard HTTP, there’s the risk that the information can become visible to outsiders, especially as the information is transferred in plain text.

  Websites secured with HTTPS display a green padlock in the URL bar to show that the website is secure. The aim of this is to reassure the user that the website is safe and they can enter personal information or bank details when required. Users have often been told that if they see this in the address bar, then the website is legitimate and they can trust it.
  …
  “This is why phishers are using it on phishing sites, because they know that people who use the websites think that means its OK when it’s not,” said (Scott) Helme. “The padlock doesn’t guarantee safety, it never has, that’s just a misunderstanding of the interpretation of what this actually means.”

  …the (cybersecurity) industry needs to improve its messaging, because cybersecurity can be complicated for the average web user and changing advice all the time isn’t going to help, especially if people stick to adhering to the first thing they were told – like believing the padlock automatically means the website is safe.

  I’m sure many of us will have seen information by Troy Hunt and Scott Helme in recent months, on browser security. Changes are afoot in how browsers indicate websites’ security; e.g. Firefox’s recent changes on how padlocks work is related.

  WSJ indicate the depth of the problem here:

  The use of security certificates, once a badge of authenticity for the internet, among phishing websites has almost doubled, rising to 15% in 2019 from 8.5% in 2018

  Even CASC (Certificate Authorities Security Council) recently published, in a very interesting article:

  The padlock is putting users in danger

   
  We all need to get used to these changes, for our own safety.
   

  On Security, Security Browser security, phishing
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