Newsletter Archives

• Stumped for gift ideas this holiday season?

  Posted on November 6, 2021 at 20:58 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  Are you racking your brain trying to think of a gift for Aunt Betty? For your brother’s birthday? And is that super-duper cool thingamabob that should be the best present EVER for your niece Kathy stuck on a container ship outside Long Beach?

  Forget all that stuff. We’ve got the best present EVER – us! Give the gift of a one-year subscription to the AskWoody Plus newsletter. That’s a full year of newsletters brimming with tips that will remind your special person that you care about them and their tech.

  Following in the footsteps of our regular memberships, gift subscriptions are based on our donation model. Visit the subscription page, choose an amount, add a personalized message if you like, and we’ll take care of the rest!

  Happy holidays!

  AskWoody Plus membership AskWoody Plus, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Gifts, Patch Lady Posts

• Freeware Spotlight — Preparing your PC for Windows 11

  Posted on October 4, 2021 at 02:45 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.38 • 2021-10-04

  BEST UTILITIES

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  Nothing can ruin the excitement of a major Windows upgrade like an error message halfway through installation.

  You know — that pit in your stomach when you don’t know if you now have your old Windows or the new Windows. Are you stuck on a transitional plane? Have you created a half-breed, mutant operating system? Are your personal files gone!!? Let’s try to prevent all that with some good old-fashioned housecleaning before you are offered Windows 11 this month.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.38.0 (2021-10-04).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.38.F (2021-10-04).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus membership, Best Utilities, Freeware Spotlight AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, Windows 11

• Is your smartphone giving you brain cancer?

  Posted on August 9, 2021 at 02:43 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  A group of scientists and researchers is actively promoting findings that the use of smartphones is associated with an increase in brain cancer and related tumors.

  Joel Moskowitz, director of the Center for Family and Community Health at the University of California, Berkeley, told the Berkeley News on July 1: “More than 250 scientists … have signed the International EMF Scientist Appeal, which calls for health warnings and stronger exposure limits.” He added that the new 5G standard, which is replacing the old 4G network, “is an even bigger reason for concern.”

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.30.0 (2021-08-09).

  AskWoody Plus membership, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, health, Public Defender, Smartphones

• The Trusted Platform Module has just become important

  Posted on July 12, 2021 at 02:43 CDT by Ben Myers • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE

  

  By Ben Myers

  Microsoft has said that the Trusted Platform Module 2.0 is a firm requirement for Windows 11. Why?

  The leak of an early version of Windows 11 forced its hasty announcement by Microsoft, rather than the usual smooth, well-orchestrated effort supported by thorough technical information about the requirements to run the new operating system. The eye candy of a perky and pretty Mac-like desktop wallpapered over many technical details, some still unclear. It is somewhat ironic that an operating system intended to be trusted was leaked.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.26.0 (2021-07-12).

  AskWoody Plus membership, Hardware, Windows 11 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware, Security, Windows 11

• Computing should adapt

  Posted on April 26, 2021 at 01:00 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Even though the 21H1 version of Windows is not yet officially released, Microsoft is already planning on changes for the next feature release.

   We’re getting hints of what Microsoft has in store for 21H2. BleepingComputer reports that many of the changes will be in the Start Menu, Taskbar, Action Center (notification center), and File Explorer, among others. One of the most visible changes will be to icons, as Microsoft itself has hinted. In fact, if you want to obtain the icons without going through the insider program process, there are websites where you can download the bundle of icons and install them on your computer running 20H2 and perhaps earlier versions.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.15.0 (2021-04-26).

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

• Known Issue Rollback

  Posted on April 12, 2021 at 01:00 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Patches that fix themselves

  Every month we receive updates to keep us secure, but sometimes they cause other side effects. If only Microsoft had a mechanism to roll back the side effects of any update. But wait — at least for some updates, it does.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.13.0 (2021-04-12).

  AskWoody Plus membership, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Lady Posts, Patch Watch, Windows Update

• MS-DEFCON 4: Install the February updates, skip that Secure boot

  Posted on February 27, 2021 at 22:12 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  More details will be in tomorrow’s newsletter along with a Plus membership only video that discusses my patching recommendations for the month.

  I always use the weekend for maintenance tasks, so for those of you that were waiting for the Defcon 4 green light I just flipped the beacon so you can do so anytime this weekend.

  As a reminder I am not recommending installing KB4535680 and recommend you to use Wushowhide (or your favorite patching hiding tool).

  If you aren’t a plus member, you can sign up now and you’ll get not only the private video but all of the other great newsletter articles coming out tomorrow.  Hope to see you on the Plus side!

  AskWoody Plus membership MS-DEFCON 4, Patch Lady Posts

• The latest vulnerabilities in the network stack

  Posted on February 22, 2021 at 01:02 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  The latest vulnerabilities in the network stack

  By Susan Bradley

  Focusing on business risk

  For this week’s security focus, I’m going to home in on the impact of three security vulnerabilities considered by Microsoft the most critical security issues of the month and on their impact on businesses. Microsoft even released a specific blog post to focus on these risks; it urges installation as soon as possible. But I disagree with that assessment. I urge you to test first, ensure there are no issues with your systems, then patch as normal. I’m not yet ready to give the go-ahead for consumers to patch just yet.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.7.0 (2021-02-22).

  AskWoody Plus membership, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Lady Posts, Windows Update
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