Newsletter Archives

• Windows 11 announced

  Posted on June 28, 2021 at 02:45 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.24 • 2021-06-28

  Watch for our special issue on July 5!

  MICROSOFT NEWS

  

  By Will Fastie

  Why this? Why now? And what the heck is going on?

  On June 24, 2021, Microsoft announced Windows 11. I have no idea why. It is surely not for the cobbled-together reasons the company gave during its rather brief briefing on Thursday.

  Visit our new Windows 11 section in the forums and these topics: Questions about Windows 11 Hardware questions relating to Windows 11

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.24.0 (2021-06-28).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.24.F (2021-06-28).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft News, Windows 11, Windows News AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Security, Windows, Windows 11

• Anom: A $2,000 smartphone that let the FBI listen in

  Posted on June 21, 2021 at 02:45 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.23 • 2021-06-21

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Special smartphones that were supposedly the most super-secretive in the world actually resulted in at least 800 arrests, the seizure of eight tons of cocaine, and the recovery of $48 million in currency from organized-crime gangs on June 6 and 7.

  The FBI, Europol, Australian Federal Police, and the law-enforcement agencies of several other countries announced on June 8 that they had quietly intercepted 27 million messages from what’s being called “WhatsApp for criminals.”

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.23.0 (2021-06-21).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.23.F (2021-06-21).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Privacy, Smartphones

• Buying crypto? Watch out for these 100 problems

  Posted on June 7, 2021 at 02:45 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.21 • 2021-06-07

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  People in the tech industry tend to find cryptocurrency very attractive as a concept. After all, crypto coins are totally digital — there are no paper bills or metallic coins to handle — and you can transfer these “digicoins” to anyone in the world, instantly (in theory).

  The reality is that digital money is prey to all kinds of hacks and cons. Many people have lost their life savings because they converted their hard currency into crypto and got hacked. Bad actors used one security flaw or another to transfer the victims’ funds to themselves.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.21.0 (2021-06-07).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.21.F (2021-06-07).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Cryptocurrency, Public Defender

• The Next Windows

  Posted on June 7, 2021 at 02:44 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT NEWS

  

  By Will Fastie

  What is it? We don’t really know.

  By now, the news is out that Microsoft will host a livestream event on Thursday, June 24, 2021, at 11 a.m. Eastern Time. The event does not have a title; the livestream page on Microsoft’s site just says, “Join us to see what’s next for Windows.”

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.21.0 (2021-06-07).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.21.F (2021-06-07).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft News, Windows News AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft, Microsoft News, Windows

• Securing sensitive files in OneDrive’s cloud

  Posted on May 31, 2021 at 01:04 CDT by Fred Langa • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.20 • 2021-05-31

  LANGALIST

  

  By Fred Langa

  Does it feel like rolling the security dice when you save your files to a cloud-based service? When the files move out of your control and protection and into who-knows-what security measures the cloud-provider is using? You feelin’ lucky?

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.20.0 (2021-05-31).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.20.F (2021-05-31).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, LangaList AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, LangaList, OneDrive

• A quiet month of May

  Posted on May 31, 2021 at 01:00 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  21H1 is released. Quietly. With no fuss.

  The big release of this month is not the security patches released earlier but rather the May appearance of Windows 10 version 21H1. Microsoft currently has released 21H1 to “seekers” — that is, those people who click on Check for Updates in the Windows update interface. The 21H1 release is a bit anticlimactic; it doesn’t contain many changes. 21H1 even shares the same “base” as 2004 and 20H2. On my test laptop, the install of 21H1 was very fast and caused no side effects.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.20.0 (2021-05-31).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Watch AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Lady Posts, Patch Watch

• Click here to agree

  Posted on May 24, 2021 at 01:04 CDT by Max Stul Oppenheimer • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.19 • 2021-05-24

  LEGAL BRIEF

  

  By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq.

  Any time you install new software or a new service, you are faced with a seemingly simple task: checking a box confirming that you agree to the company’s terms of service.

  If you’ve followed the associated link, chances are you’ve encountered 20 or 30 (or 40) pages of pseudo-English. Using the ubiquitous Microsoft Services Agreement as an example, here’s what you are typically agreeing to. For simplicity, we’ll stick with basic U.S. accounts. Most specific products and some special types of account (for example, accounts for minors, education accounts, and organizational accounts) have additional rules. Other rules apply in other countries. Your mileage may vary.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.19.0 (2021-05-24).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.19.F (2021-05-24).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Legal Agreements, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Legal Brief, Microsoft, Microsoft Service Agreement, Terms of Service

• Other Apple privacy practices

  Posted on May 17, 2021 at 01:03 CDT by Nathan Parker • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.18 • 2021-05-17

  APPLE

  

  By Nathan Parker

  Not all privacy settings are neatly contained in the main Settings app in iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.

  In my previous articles in this series on Apple’s privacy settings, I enumerated those found in what we might call the “usual places.” There are some others involving privacy that are found elsewhere. This final article in the series will help you find those “out of the box” controls.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.18.0 (2021-05-17).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.18.F (2021-05-17).

  Apple, AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Privacy Apple, Apple privacy, AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Privacy

• Anatomy of a malware

  Posted on May 10, 2021 at 01:08 CDT by Ben Myers • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.17 • 2021-05-10

  SAFETY

  

  By Ben Myers

  Things are not always as they seem. What might appear to be a devastating, PC-destroying piece of malware can sometimes be a spoof.

  Recently, a client gave me his laptop, which displayed a frightening message as soon he logged in. This variety of malware is all too popular. Here is a step-by-step process to remove it, expecting that the antivirus software installed in the computer cannot do its job. Along the way, you will see where malware is often hidden.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.17.0 (2021-05-10).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.17.F (2021-05-10).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware, safety, Security

• Take control of your Mac’s privacy

  Posted on May 3, 2021 at 01:08 CDT by Nathan Parker • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.16 • 2021-05-03

  APPLE

  

  By Nathan Parker

  Apple’s emphasis on privacy is focused on personal devices, such as iPads and iPhones. But Macs have privacy settings, too.

  In my recent article “Take control of your privacy — iPhone & iPad” (AskWoody 18.12, 2021-04-05), I discussed many of the settings provided by iOS and iPadOS to control the privacy and security of the device and the apps running on it. Although one might think all Apple systems would be in lockstep, I have noticed that the settings in macOS are not quite as granular, not quite as detailed, as those in iOS/iPadOS.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.16.0 (2021-05-03).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.16.F (2021-05-03).

  Apple, AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Privacy Apple, AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, macOS, Privacy

• New PC? Lost your Microsoft account password?

  Posted on April 26, 2021 at 01:10 CDT by Ben Myers • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.15 • 2021-04-26

  MICROSOFT

  

  By Ben Myers

  If your dog ate your Microsoft account credentials, Microsoft will welcome you to the tenth circle of hell.

  You probably don’t want to hear this, because you’ve been nagged this way before; but make sure you have a safe record of your user credentials for every online account you maintain. Just do it.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.15.0 (2021-04-26).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.15.F (2021-04-26).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft, Passwords

• New M1 devices from Apple

  Posted on April 26, 2021 at 01:08 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  APPLE NEWS

  

  By Will Fastie

  Last week Apple welcomed more models into its family of M1-powered devices, including two new iPads!

  I listened to last Tuesday’s Apple event announcing a new iMac and the new iPads as well as several other less important products. I have a lot of thoughts not only about the products, but also about how Apple might interact with us in the future.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.15.0 (2021-04-26).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.15.F (2021-04-26).

  Apple, AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter Apple, Apple Silicon, AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, News
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