Newsletter Archives

• Don’t forget to reboot

  Posted on December 13, 2024 at 12:09 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  This is the time for testing updates, so I must remind the folks who are my patching guinea pigs to watch out for weirdness. One of the things I always watch for in this early testing ring is those who have machines that didn’t auto reboot but should have.

  Strange things occur on machines that have not rebooted. For example, beta tester #1 (better known as my sister) lost her mouse.  I walked over to the computer and realized the pending reboot icon was sitting in the system tray.

  

  Anytime you see that in your system tray, it’s a sign that your system is in an unstable state. It has installed updates but hasn’t rebooted.

  Beta tester #2 is at the office and gets the updates earlier than the rest. He could not use the Snipping Tool yesterday. I walked over to his computer to diagnose and saw the same pending reboot icon.  It should have rebooted last night when I told it to. A reboot cured that problem.

  I consider this wise advice for any device other than an iPad or iPhone. Rebooting when weird stuff is occurring just might help. On an iPhone or iPad, I recommend swiping up and closing the apps and then restarting.

  Updates Patch Lady Posts

• Exchange patchers – August heads up

  Posted on August 8, 2023 at 23:41 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  Still in the process of testing and evaluating updates but be aware that I am seeing failures to install the Exchange updates potentially on German language servers — unsure if it’s other languages see the comments in this post.

  Normally I would be urging you to patch Exchange mail server (Microsoft’s email server) updates as soon as possible but I’m seeing patching admins indicate that on some  machines it’s failing to install the patch. Note that when Exchange fails to properly install it will often turn the services off completely and then fail to turn them back on. Bottom line don’t panic, just go into your Exchange server and turn the services manually back on. Chances are it will recover.  Note it MAY be that this just impacts German language servers. Note that it is impacting all non English versions of Exchange. Seeing indications in the blog that it may be that locale only?  But given the time zones they may be the ones patching and those of us in North America are still testing. Bottom line, be aware of potential installation issues.  You may want to hold back a bit and see what happens.

  More on this in the Newsletter on Monday. I will also keep the Master Patch List page up to date on the latest.  In the meantime I would keep an eye on the Exchange blog site.

  Updates Master Patch List, Patch Lady Posts

• First new Windows 11 functionality released in a cumulative update

  Posted on February 15, 2022 at 16:58 CST by joep517 • Comment in the Forums

  Microsoft has released February 15, 2022—KB5010414 (OS Build 22000.527) Preview (microsoft.com). Even though the title has “Preview” in it, this update is being released to everyone today. In addition to a long list of fixes, there is a new media player and notepad. Taskbar changes include adding the clock and date to multiple monitors. When the taskbar is center aligned the weather now appears on the taskbar at the left. An Amazon app store preview app is available in the Microsoft Store. See the above release notes for more details.

  Here is the blog post that Panos Panay published about this release – Bringing you closer to what you love with new experiences in Windows 11 | Windows Experience Blog.

  (Note from Susan – this is a preview update and will not be pushed to all, you have to ‘check for updates’ to get it. It WILL be in the next month’s cumulative update – look for the Alert for more info)

  Microsoft News, Updates, Windows 11, Windows News

• Patching printers

  Posted on July 13, 2020 at 01:30 CDT by Jamie • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  Patching printers

  The June bugs in Windows 10 that caused all of my PCL 5 printers to not print reminded me that there are several ways that printers need updating. The days when we could install a printer and never worry about it again are over.

  By Susan Bradley

  If you haven’t updated your printer lately, the first thing to review its printer driver. The older the printer, the more likely you will need something like a universal PCL 6 driver in order to have it work with Windows 10.

  Last and certainly not least, even in a home setting, I often have very good luck by setting up the printer on the wireless or wired network to determine the IP address assigned to the printer.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.27.0 (2020-07-013).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Security, Updates AskWoody Plus Newsletter, patching, Printers

• A Win10 guide for Windows Update settings

  Posted on June 29, 2020 at 01:15 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums
  

  PATCHING

  By @PKCano

  For most PC users, the basic task of keeping Windows up to date involves a bewildering pantheon of terms.

  To make the process of patching Windows and Office a bit easier, here’s a simple summary of Microsoft’s updating system. This article isn’t aimed at business users who have the support of IT departments. It’s dedicated to consumers and small-business owners who strive to keep their machines safe from malware, operating-system flaws, and other threats. The descriptions below apply to Windows 10 Versions 1903 and 1909. I’m still looking at the updating-process changes in the new Win10 2004.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.25.0 (2020-06-29).

  Updates AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Feature updates, patching, Quality updates, Windows Update

• Update to AKB2000016 Guide for Windows Update Settings for Windows 10

  Posted on June 25, 2020 at 12:23 CDT by PKCano • Comment in the Forums

  For those of you that have upgraded to (or been pushed into without forewarning or your permission) Win10 v2004, there will not be much difference dealing with Windows Update if you are running the Home Edition. “Pause” and “Metered connections” remain the best built-in controls. And, of course, there is always wushowhide.diagcab and third-party software.

  But those running the Pro Edition have lost one of the major means of Windows Update control. The pulldown settings for deferral of Quality and Feature updates have gone missing from the GUI at Windows Update\Advanced options.

  AKB2000016 Guide for Windows Update Settings for Windows 10 has been revised to reflect the changes between v1909 and v2004. Previous setting suggestions have been differentiated as applying to v1909 and earlier. And possible suggestions have been made for dealing with Windows Update in v2004 and later(?).

  So, those of you with v2004 (voluntary, or otherwise) who want to try one of the methods (you don’t need both), please let us know how well they work.

  Updates, Windows 10 AKB 2000016, Win10 2004, Windows Update