An update on the Windows Secrets/AskWoody transformation

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We’ve been busy over the holidays…. I hope to have the new Plus Membership routine up and working by tomorrow. Once we’re set for Plus donations (re
[See the full post at: An update on the Windows Secrets/AskWoody transformation]

Total of 29 users thanked author for this post. Here are last 20 listed.

petesmst, columbia2011, mo.eu, Nibbled To Death By Ducks, Pepsiboy, AlexEiffel, Pierre77, AusJohn, flackcatcher, PhotM, SueW, ch100, geekdom, Pim, HiFlyer, lanceboil, Propje, Fred, BobbyB, Ascaris

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I am sure that I am speaking for one and all of us when I express our gratitude and anticipation. Great to hear that Brian and Fred are aboard. Just one detail seems to be missing, Woody–

How often will the newsletter be published and on which day(s) of the week? (I cannot recall reading anything about that yet, or is memory failing me?)

Mike Dworkin

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The current Windows Secrets Newsletter appears on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There are benefits to having a fixed schedule like that, but it limits the kinds of topics that can be covered — if a patch blows up on a Thursday afternoon, there’s no notice of it until the following Tuesday; if Microsoft starts pushing a new version of Win10, a three or four day lag in notification can mean the difference between a working machine and a steaming pile of permanently-file-deleted junk.

The new AskWoody Plus Newsletter will appear on Monday mornings. It’ll cover how-to and broad trends, like the Windows Secrets Newsletter, aimed at Windows users, but with a scope beyond just Windows. During the week we’ll also have ad-hoc AskWoody Plus Alerts, which will be much more newsy.

People have been asking for the email Alerts for a long time. I think we’ve finally figured a way to get them delivered.

The first few weeks will be rocky, I’m sure, but I’m really stoked that we’re breaking some new ground.

13 users thanked author for this post.

Lori, TonyS, Pierre77, MikeyD215, AusJohn, Karlston, PhotM, dononline, Elly, SueW, CADesertRat, HiFlyer, Propje

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The newsletter will be weekly.
More details when the site goes live.

cheers, Paul

[ed – Woody]

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woody

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Sorry, don’t know what I was thinking. 

cheers, Paul

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woody

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Hopefully in all this change, the little folks who currently rely on AskWoody for direction regarding monthly updates and feature updates won’t be lost or required to give out personal information to stay informed and that future advice is only available in subscribed to Newsletters.

Thanks for what you currently do.

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Not to worry. The information will still be available, free. You’ll just be able to identify who’s paying for things by the gold ribbons on their avatars.

There are also benefits to Plus membership – but more on that later, when I get the $#@! thing to work…..

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Lori, petesmst

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Since I donated already by PayPal and the only reference to it is my email address, that I will receive the plus newsletter? The only receipt I got was from PayPal not the Ask Woody site.

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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Woody will endeavour to account for all donators and honor his word.
However, should there be, in the unlikely event, missing e-comms, that will be rectified accordingly.
For now, hang in there

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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woody, Customer Support, CADesertRat

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Gotcha covered. Hang on.

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I could not get to askwoody.com site for over 3 hours. I had use wired connection, another computer, a laptop, table, use public wifi connection at Starbucks and Xfinity store, etc and nothing worked. The update might have broken your site or your site was down. It seems to be working now. Has anyone else had issues with this?

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Strange, the site has been up all day.
No updates done here at askwoody as far as I’m aware.

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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I have been on here a number of times this morning and haven’t seen any glitches.

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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Microfix

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I was on the site from 4:00am CDT US until around 8:pm yesterday, and again today since close to 4:00am till the present. There has been no outage.

The transition has not taken place as yet. The site has not been broken OR down.

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Microfix

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I also accessed the site several times in at least two of the three hours ahead of your post earlier today. I am nowhere near Virginia, where I think the servers are located. With several reports of success, I would think the failure is in name resolution somewhere along the way. Outside of the control of AskWoody.com

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from @Woody #post-243879

The new AskWoody Plus Newsletter will appear on Monday mornings. It’ll cover how-to and broad trends, like the Windows Secrets Newsletter, aimed at Windows users, but with a scope beyond just Windows. During the week we’ll also have ad-hoc AskWoody Plus Alerts, which will be much more newsy.

A suggestion you may already have in hand, could the accumulated Alerts of the week be attached to the next Monday’s Newsletter? Or reference links to each if that is too verbose. In the unlikely event of no Alerts, a one line acknowledgement of that. This could serve as a reminder of things we may have been too busy to digest and assurance we did not miss anything.

Thanks for considering this.

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woody, OscarCP

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Is it possible to have AskWoody picture storage location? In other words, can pictures that are used here be stored here?

On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
offline▸ Acer TravelMate P215-52 RAM8GB Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1265 x64 i5-10210U SSD Firefox106.0 MicrosoftDefender
online▸ Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1992 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox116.0b3 MicrosoftDefender

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Why would you want to use this as an image store when there are so many available?

cheers, Paul

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Steve

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Pictures associated with this site could be stored with this site.

Delete the picture on a separate site and the picture used for instruction and illustration is no longer available.

On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
offline▸ Acer TravelMate P215-52 RAM8GB Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1265 x64 i5-10210U SSD Firefox106.0 MicrosoftDefender
online▸ Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1992 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox116.0b3 MicrosoftDefender

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About donations to help out Woody’s, but also to get the Plus membership: should one hold on donating for 2019 until the new site is up and running?

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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That part of the changes should be ready soon. They will be underway shortly.

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woody, Customer Support

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I am having problems opening this site yesterday and today. It finally open after install all Windows 10 updates.

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Coincindence?

What sort of message did you get when you couldn’t connect?

cheers, Paul

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I’m not having any problems opening the site, but I have noticed – definitely today and it might have started yesterday, I don’t recall – that users’ thanks are now listed vertically rather than horizontally. Hopefully just part of the transitional arrangements! Best of luck with it all.

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I noticed it late yesterday … dittos on wishing all a smooth and successful transition.

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I expect we’ll have lots of little… uh… opportunities. Make a note of the odd things you encounter. I’ll put up a Topic just for improvements/suggestions, once the dust has settled.

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Elly, dononline, Seff

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I’m just a “little” non-tech person who has been coming to this site for years. I come for info on Windows Update safety, when/how to install updates, to learn through the forum articles, and have also received guidance from forum members when having computer problems. Do these upcoming changes mean the site is going to be only for technical people now? I don’t know what Windows Secret is.

I learn a lot here; and appreciate greatly the advice on updates, software and all things computer. I never update until there is an all-clear here, but I don’t visit the site daily (due to health issues); so sometimes, I miss the Defcon change and have to wait till the next month. I firmly believe my Windows 7/8.1 computers are safe and functioning due to this great site and the wonderful people who contribute to it. Will people like me still be able to use the site after the changes? Is it going to be through subscription, and how do we do that?

Congratulations on the upcoming “merger”! Thanks, Woody, the MVP’s and all the fine people who contribute to this site!

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OscarCP, fernlady, Elly

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Some things change and some things remain the same. Once the idiosyncrasies related to the merger level out, you will find much of the same as in the past.

The format is going to be mostly the same, except we are adding paid benefits like the Newsletter and notifications. There will be additional support from Windows Secrets experts to answer questions and relieve the burden on some of the volunteers who have been putting in long hours here for the last two years.

Be patient. We aren’t going to turn things upside down.

4 users thanked author for this post.

Lori, fernlady, BobbyB, Elly

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