Newsletter Archives

• Not getting the Free Newsletter?

  Posted on December 7, 2021 at 07:49 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  We’re in the process of scrubbing our mailing list for the free edition of the AskWoody Newsletter. We took some initial steps this past weekend and we will be making some other changes in the coming weeks. Most of what we are doing is removing invalid email addresses (usually the result of misspellings such as “gmal” instead of “gmail”) and removing addresses that, for whatever reasons, are not being delivered.

  A few people expecting to get this week’s newsletter wrote to tell us it did not arrive. We regret any inconvenience. However, it’s a simple matter to sign up for the free newsletter again, after which delivery will resume. The link to sign up is in the top banner of the site, on every page. If you missed an issue, all the issues are here on the site and available to you at any time.

  This is important work for us because we pay for emails sent, whether delivered or not. We appreciate your patience while we perform this business chore.

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, Editorial AskWoody FREE Newsletter, Email

• Browsers with the best security and privacy in 2021

  Posted on November 29, 2021 at 02:45 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.46 • 2021-11-29

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Most of us use a Web browser on our personal computers or smartphones every day, but few of us truly know what those browsers are really doing for us — or to us.

  Too many browsers “leak” information about us and our everyday activities to backend servers, which are run by ad-tracking firms, search-engine giants, or the browser makers themselves.

  It’s extremely difficult to guess which browser is the “most secure” for surfing the Web. There are, to be sure, many respectable review sites that rank browsers. But most of the reviews weigh a browser’s security against unrelated features — ease of use, speed of throughput, memory usage, etc. — producing only a composite score.

  In this article, I focus solely on how well browsers deliver security against malware and protect the privacy of your personal identity.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.46.0 (2021-11-29).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.46.F (2021-11-29).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, browsers, Public Defender

• Why is printing so hard to get right?

  Posted on November 22, 2021 at 02:45 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.45 • 2021-11-22

  Look for our special issue on November 29!

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  I work in an industry that keeps promising we are going paperless, but we still find ways to kill trees. Even though I regularly print to PDF, I continue to print to various desktop and network printers.

  Physical printing is still very important to me and many other professionals. Any problem with printing will affect productivity. Each month, when new updates come out, one of my top priorities is to test printing. Can I print? If I can, then I know I can keep the new patches installed. But why are we constantly fighting issues with printing, and why are we constantly patching our systems for printing?

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.45.0 (2021-11-22).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.45.F (2021-11-22).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, On Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Lady Posts, Print Spooler, Printing, Security

• Win11 Home never completely lets go

  Posted on November 15, 2021 at 02:45 CST by Fred Langa • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.44 • 2021-11-15

  LANGALIST

  

  By Fred Langa

  Even after upgrading to Pro, PCs that start with Windows Home can retain several critical Home limitations that royally foul up future from-scratch reinstalls and upgrades.

  Win11 (both Home and Pro) also continues to show other serious rough spots and omissions — with drivers, especially — that can turn a simple upgrade into a multi-day nightmare.

  Read on before you attempt an upgrade, especially if you’re using a Home edition!

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.44.0 (2021-11-15).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.44.F (2021-11-15).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, LangaList AskWoody Plus Newsletter, LangaList, Windows, Windows 11

• How Windows 11 changes File Explorer — for better or for worse

  Posted on November 8, 2021 at 02:45 CST by Lance Whitney • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.43 • 2021-11-08

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Lance Whitney

  File Explorer in Windows 11 works mostly the same as in Windows 10, but there are visual and layout tweaks as well as new menus and locations for key commands.

  Those of you who upgrade to Windows 11 have to contend with a new and decidedly unimproved Start menu, a more limited Taskbar, and other changes that may leave you cold. Fortunately, File Explorer is one feature that survived the move to Windows 11 without major damage.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.43.0 (2021-11-08).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.43.F (2021-11-08).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Windows 11 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, File Explorer, Windows 11, Windows Explorer

• Most corporate PCs can’t install Windows 11, study says

  Posted on November 1, 2021 at 02:45 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.42 • 2021-11-01

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Microsoft has issued many, shall we say, evolving requirements for Windows 11 — confusing people about which devices actually qualify — but now a study of 30 million machines worldwide reveals the answer: at least 55% of PCs used by businesses don’t meet Win11’s upgrade requirements.

  Surprisingly, the incompatibility is not due mainly to Microsoft’s insistence that version 2 of a motherboard-based device called a Trusted Platform Module be installed and enabled before a machine can upgrade to Win11.

  Instead, more than 55% of PCs lack a new-enough CPU to meet the requirements, according to Esben Dochy, technical product evangelist for Lansweeper, the Belgium-based tech-management firm that conducted the study.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.42.0 (2021-11-01).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.42.F (2021-11-01).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware, Public Defender, Windows 11

• What’s a NAS, and do I need one?

  Posted on October 25, 2021 at 02:45 CDT by Richard Hay • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.41 • 2021-10-25

  HARDWARE

  

  By Richard Hay

  If I were writing this to a group of aviators in the United States Navy, they would immediately respond by saying a NAS is a Naval Air Station. However, this article is not about a location where planes and helicopters take off and land.

  For this article, NAS stands for network-attached storage.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.41.0 (2021-10-25).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.41.F (2021-10-25).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware, Network, storage

• A single Registry line enables Windows 11 without TPM 2.0

  Posted on October 18, 2021 at 02:45 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.40 • 2021-10-18

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Microsoft has published a new support document revealing a one-line entry anyone can add to the Registry allowing Windows 11 to install on devices that do not have the so-called TPM 2.0 chip installed on the motherboard.

  The Trusted Platform Module, as I explained in the September 6 AskWoody Newsletter, is a small hardware component that generates and stores cryptographic keys, among other things. Until the release of the recent support document, Microsoft had repeatedly stated that the 2.0 version of TPM would be a requirement before Windows 11 would install. In addition, Win11 has CPU and other hardware requirements above those of Win10, as set forth in Microsoft’s Win11 specifications.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.40.0 (2021-10-18).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.40.F (2021-10-18).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft, TPM, Windows 11, Windows registry
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