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Photo by Andy Leonhard All of us here extend our deepest sympathy and condolences to Woody’s entire family, and we look forward to carrying on his leg
[See the full post at: Gregory Forrest “Woody” Leonhard (1951-2025)]
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
Thank you for everything, Woody. May your soul rest in peace.
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Home machines: Windows 10 Pro (21H2), Windows 7 Home (Group B)
Work machines: Windows 10 Enterprise (21H2)
This is such sad news. It was our honour to meet Woody and his family 6 years ago, and those memories will be a blessing to us as we remember a wonderful man, who always had time to share, even very recently.
Heartfelt condolences to his family.
So sad to hear this. Woody was one of the very best in human kindness, got us through the “Save Win7” phase and so much more in passing along his tech expertise. He was a great writer, and knew how to throw around the best in humor on the worst days. My heart goes out to Woody’s family and friends. Rest well dear man.
MacOS iPadOS and sometimes SOS
Very sad to learn of Woody’s passing. I’m of an age where more than half of my friends are no longer around. I considered Woody a friend for all the computer support he provided via his websites, magazine articles and books. He was always helpful and good spirited during the times I reached out to him. RIP Woody
Sad news
I am so sorry to read this, my sincere sympathies to his family and friends. I also came here originally because it was a safe haven for us Win7 hold-outs and i’m glad to see his legacy still carrying on.
My condolences to his family and friends. Although I discovered him and his website rather late compared to others, I immediately liked his honesty and sometimes bluntness in the way he approached the IT-industry. The result is that on AskWoody there are a lot of Woody-like-minded people, which I really like.
From now on the name AskWoody will have an extra meaning: a memory of the man who was kind to people, but brutally honest about the IT-industry and its “professionals”.
My condolences to his family and friends.
R.I.P
Thank you for the years of wisdom, unjamming the jammed, rebooting the in bootable and all with such flair.
My outlook folder is still called “Woody’s office watch”
From across the pond, I send condolences to family and friends of dear “Woody”
Woody and Ask Woody have been my “go to” resources for many years. Gone too soon. RIP friend.
It was a shock to see this announcement this morning.
Woody always had a great sense for providing guidance to the people following his reporting and technical insights. I was sorry when he decided to give up the reins of this AskWoody Lounge, but I am sure he was comforted by the way we all have continued to keep his legacy alive and thriving.
May you rest in peace Woody
Thank you, Woody! You (and your various related sites and newsletters) have provided me with a vast amount of knowledge, over the years, and you will be missed.
I am really sorry to see the news of Woody’s death. He taught me how to use Office and how to use Windows (various flavours) through his books (I still have some on my bookshelves) and his newsletters, starting about 30 years ago. For a non-technical person wanting to use these tools without corporate support he was invaluable.
My sympathies to all his family.
Chris
Win 10 Pro x64 Group A
R.I.P. Woody, we will miss you. Condolences to your family… 🙏 😇
My condolences to family and friends.
We have lost one of the great ones. His guidance has helped so many.
I was following Woody from long before the AskWoody site was here.
Newsletters, Windows Watch, Windows Secrets, books, this site before before it became AskWoody and the Forums were created……
I will definitely miss him.
wavy, 
Speccy, 
DrBonzo, 
Slowpoke47, 
Elly, 
Fred, 
NetDef, 
bowled845, 
LH, 
Bob99, 
Microfix, 
jburk07, 
opti1, 
Kirsty, 
Will Fastie, 
SueW, 
cobber2076, 
Cybertooth, 
Myst, 
satrow My condolences to family and friends.
We have lost one of the great ones. His guidance has helped so many.I was following Woody from long before the AskWoody site was here.
Newsletters, Windows Watch, Windows Secrets, books, this site before before it became AskWoody and the Forums were created……
I will definitely miss him.
Yes, Till far past the Atlantic Ocean, Woody did shine his light.
Thanks so very much!
My sincerest condolences to all his friends and family.
R.I.P Woody, you will be missed
Just seeing the headline was a gut punch. Sad. RIP Woody. You made a difference.
Desktop Asus TUF X299 Mark 1, CPU: Intel Core i7-7820X Skylake-X 8-Core 3.6 GHz, RAM: 32GB, GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti 4GB. Display: Four 27" 1080p screens 2 over 2 quad.
I saw this news last night and have been speechless since. But…
I first landed on AskWoody in late 2016 after my Dell laptop was filling its HD at the rate of 2 to 5 GB/day. Web searches made it apparent that neither Dell nor MS was going to fix the problem even though they knew it was affecting a fair number of computers and knew how to fix it; they each blamed the other for the problem. I didn’t find anything of use on any number of other help sites/forums. I finally poked around this site and there it was: the solution that Woody himself had tested and verified. It worked like a charm.
But more importantly, the other AskWoody quality I noticed was the civility with which everyone treated each other. No cursing, no “you’re too stupid to live if you can’t figure that out” attitude, etc., just honest sincere efforts to help. All of which was surely a direct reflection of Woody’s character.
RIP
Thank you for all the help you provided, Woody. May you rest in peace. My prayers and condolences to friends and family.
Condolences and appreciation for all the info he and by extension this community provided for everyone over the many years.
I have been following him and this page for so long that it has become a religious experience to share and discover information.
We share with his family and friends in wishing him the best as he soars with the angels.
RIP Woody, you assisted many in times of distress and discussion and most of all because of your honesty and practicality.
My condolences to all his family, friends and those who knew him.
Win 10 Home 22H2
It is so sad to lose someone who always held as his primary goal and responsibility to help others. Rest In Peace, Woody.
May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sunshine warm upon your face.
May the rains fall upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.
And may his soul reside at the right hand of God
Here we are, thanks to ‘Woody’ who brought us together through learning, frustration and a driven passion of computing through the ages and many pages.
He will, and has been, missed already..RIP
Our sincere condolences to his nearest and dearest during this difficult time..
I’m saddened to hear of his passing. I found out about the AskWoody website by reading his book on Win XP. He made me more aware of the dangers in computing and how to avoid them. I enjoyed reading his computer books and have always considered the AskWoody website the best site I ever found for help with computers and software especially after integrating the Windows Secrets website.
My condolences to all his family and friends.
I’ve been trying to recall when I first started corresponding with Woody. I believe it was in the late 1990s and likely involved inside information or research that I wanted disclosed to the public. Being the same age and tech curmudgeons, our friendship grew over the years. Both of us had became increasingly distressed over the direction the industry was headed and when Woody told me that he was giving up the ghost, I understood why and didn’t attempt to dissuade him.
I hadn’t talked to Woody since well before the holidays (health, email problems, yada) and had intended to reach out to him this week. Now I regret not having done so earlier and am left without proper words.
Woody was a man with integrity, honesty, civility and willingness to share and it has been an honor knowing him. And, like everyone here, I want to thank him for laying the foundation of this great site.
Good-bye old friend. I’ll be seeing you soon.
My deepest sympathy to Woody’s family, friends, and all those who worked with him, or took over from him.
The brevity and suddenness of this announcement rather shook me, and I hope there will in time be a full obituary here that will detail his life’s work and pay tribute to the major contribution he undoubtedly made to so many people’s understanding and handling of computers.
I am saddened to learn of Woody’s passing. I was a PC holdout until 2011. Woody guided me through my introduction to Windows 7, and later Windows 10, via Windows for Dummies and AskWoody. He was a gifted teacher and communicated in language the everyman could understand. Woody, you are now update free.
My sincere condolences to his family and friends.
https://www.askwoody.com/forums/forum/remembrances/
If you would like to post a permanent tribute, thought, or how Woody impacted your life, we have opened up a permanent place for your comments. I will be copying these comments over at a later time.
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
Hi Sue,
Perhaps an image link in the right side bar similar to below?
Somebody on Reddit posted this newsletter timeline ….
1997 — Fred Langa starts the LangaList newsletter.
1998 — Woody Leonhard starts the Woody’s Windows Watch newsletter.
2003 — Brian Livingston starts Brian’s Buzz on Windows.
2004 — Brian merges Brian’s Buzz and Woody’s Windows Watch to create the Windows Secrets Newsletter, named after Brian’s best-selling books.
2004 — Woody starts AskWoody.com to broadcast news and advice on Windows and Office.
2005 — Susan Bradley starts the Patch Watch column in Windows Secrets
2006 — LangaList merges with Windows Secrets
2008 — Gizmo Richards’ Support Alert Newsletter merges into Windows Secrets
2009 — Windows Secrets takes the Woody’s Lounge website under its wing, becoming the Windows Secrets Lounge.
2010 — Brian hands the editor-in-chief reins to Tracey Capen.
2010 — iNet acquires Windows Secrets.
2015 — Penton Media acquires iNet.
2016 — Informa acquires Penton.
2017 — AskWoody.com grows an appendage called the AskWoody Lounge, opening the site to contributions from everyone.
2019 — AskWoody LLC acquires the Windows Secrets Newsletter, merging the Windows Secrets Lounge into the AskWoody Lounge and creating the AskWoody Plus Newsletter.
2020 – Woody Leonhard retires to a tropical location after surviving the Pandemic year.
2021 – Susan Bradley takes over the mantle of the site and welcomes Brian Livingston back along with Fred Langa, Deanna McElveen and the rest of the AskWoody contributors to continue the excellent tech information provided over the years. Will Fastie is named editor in chief.
2025 – Woody Leonhard passes away at the age of 73.
My condolences to his family and all his friends. You did good works, Woody. Thank you.
Woody’s knowledge, vision, integrity and community building have been an integral part of my Windows journey for many, many years – going back to the days of his early books and newsletters. The AskWoody site has been my primary tech side-kick since it began. The community here is diverse, civil, genuinely helpful and has a ‘deep bench’ of technical expertise. Thank you Woody for all you created for our benefit. Farewell and rest in peace..
Win10 Pro x64 22H2, Win10 Home 22H2, Linux Mint + a cat with 'tortitude'.
I bought my first PC (an AST Premium 286) in 1988, and to this day CD-MOM (1993) and PC MOM (1995) — a pair of thick, informative, funny and highly-opinionated books about Windows and PCs, both co-written by Woody and Barry Simon — remain my all-time-most-beloved computer-related books.
To quote from one review of CD-MOM (in the Sarasota PC Monitor), “Talk about different — you’ve never seen the likes of this one! It’s got to be both the most outrageously humorous, yet practical computer book I’ve ever laid my eyes on…. You will get the kind of information, intelligence, and advice you won’t find anywhere else.”
RIP Woody. No one’s ever going to dethrone you as my lifetime-favorite (and most-trusted) advisor when it comes to all things Microsoft.
R.I.P. Woody.
Paul Thurrott, Richard Campbell, and Leo Laporte remember Woody in the latest episode of the Windows Weekly podcast.
Paul Thurrott also wrote an article about Woody on his website, stating the big impact Woody had on his life.
Very sorry to hear this news, we lost a titan in Woody. Glad that his legacy lives on here.
Oh so sad. Condolences to family and friends. Rest In Peace O Mighty One. Woody is a fine example of the “GOAT” classification, truly one of the ‘Greatest Of All Time’ members. Thank you Woody for creating this friendly helpful community here at AskWoody.com – may Susan, Will, PKCano, Kirsty, and all the MVPs continue to keep the Spirit of Woody alive for as long as possible. Bless your work here good friends. This website with these fine Forums is one of the very best in the entire world. Heartfelt Truth.
Have really appreciated all help seen over decades – condolences to family
– marhn
Woody had a real knack of taking what could be a sleep-inducing topic describing how to do some of the more geeky things within Windows and put it in a very folksy, everyday, manner, just as if he were on the front porch with you having an ordinary everyday friendly chat with a very well liked neighbor or two.
Because of that gift, he’ll be very sorely missed both far and wide by many!
R.I.P. Woody! 😢
I am so, so sad to learn this. No one, and I mean literally no one, was more instrumental in guiding me through the computing maze than Woody. He will be remembered every time I pull his books off the shelf. I/we have lost a friend and mentor. Sincere sympathy to his family and loved ones.
Rest in Peace, Woody!
As an Ask Woody member for just 7 years or so now, my cyber education has flourished in this atmosphere of civility and helpful resources in this current age of acrimony and petulance.
My few interactions with Woody before he retired were, as all have said, models of clarity and patience. Grateful for his guidance, readily dispensed, with no eye-rolls or judgment.
Condolences to Woody’s family. He has left a fitting and. I suspect, a lasting legacy.
Woody’s become an involuntary beta tester for the Afterlife v. 1.0 upgrade. Surely he prepared a good O.S. backup to reboot and restore his soul in the next world.
Condolences to those who feel his loss.
We’re actually posting the obituary/memorial tomorrow morning.
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
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