Newsletter Archives

• Email authentication and older clients don’t mix

  Posted on August 5, 2024 at 02:42 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  For many years, email was the standard way to communicate.

  I still remember a business study from long ago about how plain old email was used on a car manufacturer’s shop floor to keep track of the inventory. It was fast, it was immediate, and everyone used it.

  What happened to that “just works” platform?

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.32.0, 2024-08-05).

  On Security DKIM, DMARC, Email Clients, Modern Authentication, Newsletters, OAuth, Outlook, Outlook (classic), Outlook (new), Patch Lady Posts, PST files, smtp2go, SPF

• Lessons learned from CrowdStrike

  Posted on July 29, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.31 • 2024-07-29

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  It’s been over a week since the technology meltdown that impacted airlines, some banks, and even my sister’s Starbucks order through Uber Eats on Friday morning.

  Despite the carnage, only a very small segment of computer systems was impacted. In the Official Microsoft Blog, the post Helping our customers through the CrowdStrike outage pointed out that less than one percent of all Windows machines were affected.

  So why was this so impactful? More important, what lessons have we learned from this event? Is there anything we can do better next time?

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.31.0, 2024-07-29).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  On Security BitLocker, Crowdstrike, CVE-2024-26184, CVE-2024-28899, Microsoft Defender, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Recovery, Recovery Keys, Windows 11 24H2

• The resources you need for a secure computer

  Posted on July 22, 2024 at 02:42 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  With over a year left before Windows 10 stops being supported in its current fashion, are you reviewing its health and well-being?

  Just the other day, I came across a home computer that was not a happy camper. Its C (boot) drive was too full. Upon review, I found that it also had a D drive with room for data, so I went into storage settings and moved 30GB of photos from the pictures folder to the D drive.

  Why was this important? Because the PC was not installing updates. Clearing out space on the C drive provided the room for updates, and soon the PC was acting normally. Now we can wait to see how it responds to the constant pull of AI — and decide its future later, perhaps next year.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.30.0, 2024-07-22).

  On Security Backup, Boot Drive, Corruption, Internet Speed, Local Storage, Newsletters, RAM, storage, Windows Updates

• Security information for an end-of-life operating system is lacking

  Posted on July 8, 2024 at 02:42 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Lately, I’ve been working on painting the trim on my house.

  We have old-fashioned caulked windows. To make sure that the caulk doesn’t crack with the weather, maintenance is required. That means painting.

  I like doing it because it gets me off the computer and thinking of other things. Painting the house is great for appearances and — more importantly — protects it from weather and other damage.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.28.0, 2024-07-08).

  On Security 0patch, CISA, Clickbait, CVE-2024-27867, CVE-2024-30078, Headlines, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Security, Windows 10, Windows 11

• Whom can you trust with your data?

  Posted on June 24, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.26 • 2024-06-24

  Look for our BONUS issue on July 1, 2024!

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Taming that technology

  Two years ago, we added a tagline to our logo: “Tame Your Tech.” My idea was that you must be in control of the technology that surrounds you, and that we’re here to help.

  But lately, I’ve been feeling as if I ought to add yet another tagline: “Whom should you trust with your technology?”

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.26.0, 2024-06-24).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  On Security Apple, Copilot+ PCs, Hardware, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Recall

• Debug your browser

  Posted on May 27, 2024 at 02:43 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  It all started the other day when the social media website Twitter moved completely to its new domain, x.com.

  Before you shame me for using any sort of social media these days: I have very good reasons.

  One is that it’s still, hands down, the best way to determine whether a problem with a cloud service is your problem or the cloud’s problem. Microsoft still uses 𝕏 as a means to send out status alerts. Thus for many in IT, this continues to be a key way to remain aware of issues in technology.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.22.0, 2024-05-27).

  On Security Chrome, Edge, extensions, Fiddler, Firefox, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Web Browsers, X

• Do you need antivirus for your phone?

  Posted on May 13, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.20 • 2024-05-13

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  For many years, I thought it silly to consider adding an antivirus program or other security software to our phones.

  Phones were seen as gated communities the bad guys couldn’t enter. Windows was the Wild West, where anything could be downloaded, and we found ourselves with malicious software installed on our systems.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.20.0, 2024-05-13).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  On Security Android, Antivirus, App Dashboard, App Privacy, Apple Store, CleanTalk, iPhone, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Private Relay, Smartphones, VirusTotal, VPN

• How secure is your most-used operating system?

  Posted on April 1, 2024 at 02:43 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  This is the April Fool’s edition of the newsletter.

  But don’t worry. I’m not going to try to trick you by saying that Microsoft made an announcement that it is giving up on Copilot and AI (with its huge investment, it won’t). Or by telling you that every tech vendor just announced that all security fixes will be free forever (after all, they want incentives for us to upgrade). Or explaining that suddenly, your major operating system is absolutely, positively secure and will remain so for the rest of our lives (check out the newest vulnerability tomorrow).

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.14.0, 2024-04-01).

  On Security Browser Extensions, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Virtual Machines, Web Browsers
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