Newsletter Archives

• Great Father’s Day present: the perfect keyboard

  Posted on June 18, 2011 at 06:46 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Yes, I’m a fanatic.

   

  InfoWorld Tech Watch.

  Other keyboard, Northgate

• How Steve Ballmer could exit Microsoft gracefully

  Posted on June 16, 2011 at 22:50 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  SteveB is going to have a whale of an opportunity.

  Patience, grasshopper.

  InfoWorld Tech Watch.

  Microsoft News Steve Ballmer

• MS-DEFCON 2: Make sure automatic updates is turned off

  Posted on June 15, 2011 at 00:25 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  It’s that time again. Black Tuesday is here, and we’re about to be bombarded with a ton of patches.

  Of course, you’re all patched up, and you’ve turned off Windows Automatic Update, right?

  I’m moving us up to MS-DEFCON 2: Patch reliability is unclear. Unless you have an immediate, pressing need to install a specific patch, don’t do it.

  Windows Patches/Security June 2011 Black Tuesday

• More info on installing Windows 7 Service Pack 1

  Posted on June 12, 2011 at 21:56 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Some good friends of mine, here in Phuket, are ready to install Windows 7 Service Pack 1. They followed my advice (which echoes Susan’s advice) and took a gander at the TechNet post that goes through many steps, to increase your chances of not messing up your system with the SP 1 installation.

  As several of you have noted in the Comments to my Windows 7 SP1 post, that article is a bit, ahem, obtuse. Noel & Tina couldn’t get through it either. So here are their questions, and some straightforward answers, all keyed to the numbered points in that TechNet article:

  1. I don’t think we have any unnecessary language packs on the system – do I need to downlownd and install KB2534366?

  Very few people have language packs – you need Windows 7 Ultimate to install them. You have a language pack if it’s possible to change the entire language of your Windows system – the menus, the help system, the whole nine yards.

  2. I don’t have a dual boot system – but my hard drive is partitioned – does this have implications?

  Nope.

  3. I don’t know what 3rd party tools are to clean my system – we just run Microsoft Security Essentials and Secunia

  Good for you. The TechNet article is really talking about Registry Cleaners, and I sure hope you haven’t been using one!

  4. I don’t know what thrid party intrusion software is so don’t know if I have any to disable

  They’re talking about McAfee in particular, and big third-party anti-everything software in general. As you know, I recommend that you get rid of all of it. Another good reason to use Microsoft Security Essentials.

  5. Don’t know what ‘group policies’ so don’t know if they lock down specific environments…

  If you don’t know what they are, you don’t have any Group Policies.

  6. How do I find out if we have any pre-release versions of SP or any Microsoft OOB tools installed?

  You don’t need to be concerned, unless you were somehow running the beta test version of Service Pack 1. Highly unlikely.

  7. We don’t run a network so this one should be okay

  Even if you do have a network, as long as it’s a “normal” network, you’ll be fine.

  8. Where and how do I look for CBS.log or any stand out errors – or review the system event log for any issues that I might see and how will I be able to identity them as errors. – How do I run a CheckSUR utility?

  It probably doesn’t hurt to run the Check System Update Readiness tool. It’s pretty easy, actually. Go to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947821 . If you’re using 32-bit Windows 7, hit the download button to the right of “All supported x86 based versions of Windows 7”. If you’re using 64-bit Windows 7, choose the next one. Run the tool and see if it bellyaches. If it doesn’t, use the downloaded Windows 7 Service Pack 1 DVD to install SP1.

  To get SP1, go to http://windows.microsoft.com/installwindows7sp1 . Near the bottom of the page, click the link for Downloading and installing SP1 from the Microsoft Download Center. It’s a big download.

  Windows Patches/Security

• Why won’t Microsoft say something about Silverlight?

  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 06:47 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Say anything, for heaven’s sake.

  InfoWorld Tech Watch.

  Windows News Silverlight

• Internet Explorer loses market share rapidly

  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 07:25 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  This is an unusual week – I have two stories in Windows Secrets newsletter, both of which cover important ground for Windows users.

  This one talks about the fall in use of IE. Interesting to see what’s in its place.

  This is paid content – but remember that you can subscribe to Windows Secrets Newsletter for whatever subscription fee you want to set. You pay what you think it’s worth to you.

  Windows News Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer

• What you need to know now about Windows 8

  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 07:22 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  It’s this week’s Top Story in Windows Secrets Newsletter.

  Windows News

• Microsoft loses big time as PC shipment estimates decline

  Posted on June 8, 2011 at 10:46 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Microsoft’s hurting as IDC revises PC sales downward.

  China’s the exception to the trend – and if you’ve been following along here, you know that increased PC sales in China do not equate to increased Windows sales for MS.

  See my InfoWorld Tech Watch post.

  Microsoft News PC shipment estimates adjusted down, Windows sales down
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