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Patch reliability is unclear, but widespread attacks make patching prudent. Go ahead and patch, but watch out for potential problems. |
Youtube here Unless you’ve been’ living under a rock, you’ll know that Windows 11 is to be officially released on October 5th. We don’t know when 21H
[See the full post at: Tasks for the weekend – September 25, 2021 – but what if you DO want Windows 11?]
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
OK, this isn’t a good thing to read. Might be time to update a BIOS (off line for Dell, CVE-2021-21571 and CVE-2021-21572 not being much mentioned..) if you can but basically we have to hope this one goes away.. Microsoft will no doubt adjust defender rules but will that be enough? Alternatively it might mitigate some added software which isn’t to everyone’s taste.
…Also, I have apparently opted into the Windows Insider Program – I wasn’t aware that I’d done that; is it a good idea?…
The Windows Insider program enables folks to preview future editions of Windows, such as Windows 11, future editions of Windows Feature Updates or even preview versions of the monthly Quality Updates before they’re made public. If you like this concept, then its a great feature to have enabled and be signed up for.
However, if you don’t want to be the proverbial canary in the coal mine, then you might want to opt out of the insider program. To do so is just a matter of changing some settings within Group Policy to prevent you from being in the program and from inadvertently being signed up for it in the future. If you’re interested in just what these settings are and what to change them to, simply reply back to this post and we’ll let you know just what to set to which setting.
Sorry Microsoft but this just sucks!
Why can’t I make the decision if my CPU has enough juice?
In post 2393282 above (in reply to @The-Surfing-Pensioner ) I said:
If you’re interested in just what these settings are and what to change them to, simply reply back to this post and we’ll let you know just what to set to which setting.
Well, here’s the requested reply. I have two settings in Group Policy (GP) and one outside of GP that help keep me off the radar for the Windows Insider Program (as far as I know, anyway).
The setting I have outside of Group Policy is to set the feedback from Windows to Microsoft to the “Required diagnostic data” level. To do this, go to Settings>Privacy. Now, select “Diagnostics & feedback” from the choices in the grey area on the left side of the window. That will bring up a screen by the same name. On that screen, there will be two settings to choose from, “Required diagnostic data” and “Optional diagnostic data”. Click on the circle for “Optional diagnostic data”, and that should be all you need to do there.
Now, in Group Policy, go to an area you’re already somewhat familiar with, the Windows Update for Business folder in GP. As a reminder, it’s in Computer Configuration>Administrative Templates>Windows Components>Windows Update, tucked “under” the Windows Update folder.
But first, let’s revisit a setting @Alex5723 referred to above, the Notify setting being set to 2. The actual name of this setting is “Configure Automatic Updates”, and it’s located within the actual listings/settings in the Windows Update folder of GP. Double click on it to open its options, or settings. There’s a screenshot of this in AKB2000016, at this location. Click the blue link (“this”) to be taken directly there in a new tab. As you can see in the first screenshot in that post, this is to be set to “2-Notify for download and auto install” in the first drop-down box in the “Options:” section of that window. What this will do is prevent Windows Update from automatically downloading and installing updates without telling you. You’ll have to click the “Download and Install” button (or whatever it’s called when WU is ready to download and install an update) in Windows Update to install any updates it finds on its own. Once you have set it to “2-Notify for download and auto install”, click the “OK” button at the bottom of the window to save the settings.
OK, on to keeping you out of the Insider program. There are two settings in Group Policy that have kept me off the program thus far, and one of those settings is shown in AKB2000016. The screenshot is in the very same post I referred you to above, but it’s the second screenshot in that post. Click here to open the screenshot in a new tab where you can enlarge it to see it better. The name of the setting is “Select when Preview Builds and Feature Updates are received”. Per the instructions in the post, this should be Enabled, and in the drop-down menu on the “Options” side of the window should be showing “Semi-Annual Channel”. If it doesn’t, click on the drop-down menu to change it to that. As PK says in the text above the screenshot, you can select to defer these Feature Updates up to 365 days, but I just set the number of days to 1. Please leave the box labeled “Pause Preview Builds or Feature Updates starting:” BLANK, DO NOT enter a date. Click OK to save the settings.
Now, go down to the Windows Update for Business setting labeled “Manage preview builds” and double click on it to bring up its options. In this box, select the “Enabled” circle and then below that in the “Options” box, select “Disable preview builds” from the choices in the drop-down menu. Per the setting’s built-in help/description:
Selecting “Disable preview builds” will prevent preview builds from installing on the device. This will prevent users from opting into the Windows Insider Program, through Settings -> Update and Security.
Once you’ve set this option in the drop-down menu, simple click the OK button to save the setting. This will keep you from inadvertently being signed up for the Windows Insider program in the future, unless Microsoft decides they know better than we about what should be on our machines. 😉
I believe these settings will also opt you out of the insider program currently as well. If I’m incorrect @PKCano , @sb , @b , @EP , or any of the other MVPs here, please feel free to correct me/this sentence.
Any further ??s, please start a new thread, as this is off topic for this thread. I put my response here for the sake of simplicity in finding it. Any further discussion of being put into the Windows Insider program inadvertently, or avoiding such fate, merits being on its own thread. My apologies to the Mods/Managers.
. Reason: Added warning about being off-topic for this thread
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