Newsletter Archives

• Time for tech upgrades

  Posted on April 21, 2024 at 00:15 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  Now that busy season is over for me, I’ll be doing some long overdue upgrade projects. At the office I’ll be planning on upgrading my Windows 11 22H2 machines to 23H2 (more on this in an upcoming newsletter) ensuring that I do not enable Copilot in the process.

  Here at home I upgraded my older no longer supported wifi system to a TPlink mesh system and while setting it up I made the conscious decision to enable automatic updates on the units themselves. Now you would think that a person who says to delay updates wouldn’t be so quick to upgrade their wifi networking towers, but I’m going to be a bit of a beta tester for purposes of seeing how automatically updating edge devices will work out. I’ll be monitoring on this and will report back.

  I did make it easy on myself, I set up the wifi ssid name and password to be what the previous unit was. I run cameras and devices on the guest network and some of the cameras are located too high for me to easily reset a username and password.

  What about you? Do you check for updates on your wifi/routers?  Do you turn on automatic updates? Do you check them for firmware updates on a regular basis?

  Survey Patch Lady Posts

• The novelty factor

  Posted on March 23, 2024 at 23:54 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  Spotted this post the other day….  “In our recent analysis of Copilot for Microsoft 365, we observed a notable trend: a 64% decrease in user interactions with Copilot over a 9 week period. This decline suggests a concerning “Novelty Effect,” where initial enthusiasm for new technology gradually wanes. Initially, users exhibited a robust engagement with Copilot for Microsoft 365, leveraging its features extensively. However, this engagement significantly diminished over time, a phenomenon evident in 10 out of the 14 test users.”

  In my current tests, we find that more targeted programs like Grammarly.com does a much better job of what we expected AI to do.  We typically don’t want AI to write a letter (it honestly does not do a good job at all and makes way too many assumptions regarding the content) rather ideally, you’d want a secure AI to make your letter better.

  So have you tried AI in all of the places on the web that it’s showing up?  Are you impressed or having waning interest over it?

  Survey Patch Lady Posts

• Have you dropped cable?

  Posted on October 28, 2023 at 22:11 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  The other day I was chatting with the gentleman who was installing the voice over IP at the office and we were agreeing about how much not only voice over IP but television has been changed by technology. Lately I am seeing more and more people cutting the cord and going back to either antenna television or just picking one streaming service.

  Of interest is seeing the number of streaming services ADDING advertising as a means to either lower the price tag on the lower tier or keep the price down as they increase the fees for the other tiers. But the worse thing about all of these streaming services is trying to remember WHICH one has what program.

  The next thing to be aware of it speed. For some streaming services, unless they have the ability to adjust the quality, you may see buffering unless you have decent web speed.

  What about you?  Have you dropped cable?  Tell me in the comments or in the survey link!

   

  Survey Patch Lady Posts

• Sneak peak – testing out a new skin on the forum

  Posted on September 24, 2021 at 14:59 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  Over on a test forum (where we turn it on when we want to test updates and new plug ins) I have a test going on a new “skin” for the forum. Note we’re still in testing – at the present time if you want post anonymously you have to enter anon as the user and anon@askwoody.com as the email address – we’re working on making that prefilled in if you don’t want to log into the site.

  https://testaskwoody.holbihost.com/forums/

  Bottom line check it out. Let me know please if you have any issues?

  The goal is to make it WAY more obvious how to start a topic or reply.

  Feedback please!

  Survey Patch Lady Posts

• The new management wants to get to know you

  Posted on December 20, 2020 at 21:15 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums
  

  SURVEYS

  By Susan Bradley

  As most of you should know by now, Woody Leonhard has retired from AskWoody operations, and I’ve taken over the reins.

  Transitions of this level are an excellent time to take stock of where we’ve been and where we’re going.

  So I’d like to get to know more about you, the AskWoody member. And the best way to start that process is with a survey. I’d love to learn about the technology you’re using, what tech you’re interested in, and how the AskWoody newsletter can help you navigate our digital world.

  The survey — AskWoody newsletter – what do YOU want? — is quick and simple; it should take no longer than a few minutes.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.50.0 (2020-12-21).

  AskWoody, AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus membership, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Survey AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Issue scheduling, Readership survey

• Patch Lady – if you use WSUS can I get your feedback?

  Posted on October 23, 2020 at 12:52 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WSUSSurvey

  The first ever unofficial survey on Microsoft’s on premise patching tool called WSUS.

  If you use the platform, can you fill out my unofficial survey please?  I will be sharing the results in a few weeks.

  Survey, Windows Patches/Security Patch Lady Posts, WSUS

• Keizer: PatchLady: Win10 upgrades aren’t worth the effort, per poll

  Posted on September 17, 2020 at 09:47 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Gregg Keizer at Computerworld has another look at Susan Bradley’s latest poll.

  A majority of IT administrators polled this summer said that the twice-a-year Windows 10 feature upgrades are not useful – or rarely so – a stunning stance considering how much effort Microsoft puts into building the updates.

  About 58% of nearly 500 business professionals who are responsible for servicing Windows at their workplaces said that Windows 10 feature upgrades – two annually, one each in the spring and fall – were either not useful (24%) or rarely useful (34%)…

  “Microsoft spends the greatest amount of development in releasing these twice-a-year feature releases and … enterprises are not rolling them out fast enough to take advantage of them,” noted Bradley in an email reply to questions.

  If you’re a Plus Member, you can read the full results of the poll in the Plus Newsletter 17.33.0.

  Survey, Windows Patches/Security Patching experience survey, PatchLady

• Patching survey: Consumer — 2020

  Posted on August 30, 2020 at 21:15 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums
  

  PATCHING SURVEY

  By Susan Bradley

  Over 1,400 Windows and Office users contributed to our survey on the state of Microsoft patching.

  Consumers’ overall impression of keeping Win10 up to date was similar to that of business respondents: Microsoft needs to make the process easier to manage and more reliable. (If you missed last week’s article on our survey of IT pros and consultants, see “Patching survey: Business — 2020,” AskWoody Plus Newsletter 2020-08-24.)

  On the other hand, individual Office users were relatively comfortable with the patching process — among those who use the suite.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.34.0 (2020-08-31).

  Survey AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Consumer patching impressions, Office patching satisfaction, Windows 10 updating satisfaction

• Patching survey: Business — 2020

  Posted on August 23, 2020 at 21:15 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums
  

  PATCHING SURVEY

  By Susan Bradley

  What do IT pros and consultants think about the current status of Microsoft updating?

  Based on our just-concluded survey, the folks in Redmond could do a lot better at keeping business PCs stable and secure.

  In this first article of a two-part series, I focus on the business perspective on Windows and Office patching. Next week, I’ll show the results of our consumer input.

  This is not a highly scientific survey, but we think the results provide valuable insight into how well Microsoft’s current system of product updating is working for those on the receiving end.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.33.0 (2020-08-24).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Survey AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Business patching, Patch satisfaction, Patching experience survey, Update frequency